Tech Trading: Promiscuous or Virginal?

[xanadux]

You aren't always getting screwed when you think you are in a trade. If the AI has already invested a lot of beakers in a tech, you won't get much for it. you can be pretty sure that you will generally get the same kind of deal all the time, and shouldn't be so concerned if you only get 1000gold for something like steam power.

 

[mscellaneous]

I voted for the second option.

I like to trade techs as much as possible. When I trade a tech I try to trade / sell it to all AIs.

There are a couple of situations where I never trade:
+ I never trade millitary techs and Alphabet;
+ I never trade techs that reveal strategic resources;
+ I never trade techs 'in the beeline' I am researching, like Liberalism for example;
+ I never trade a tech to an AI that unlocks their UU/UB;
+ I never trade techs to AIs that give them a bigger bonus than myself, PP for example;

As you can see I am a bit carefull. I have the feeling that the above strategy can be improved. This might be needed when playing higher levels. I am playing on Prince now.

Regards,
Rob

 

[Tirse]

I always disable the possibility at startup. Guess this makes me one the few people voting for the last option (the fourth one here)...

 

[Antilogic]

One of the advantages of trading techs away for gold is that when you trade techs for techs, each civ in the trade is basically getting something for nothing. (in the sense that sharing a tech with someone else doesn't slow your research, your production, etc) whereas when an AI civ gives you gold for a tech, they are giving up gold that they could have used to deficit-research (part of) that tech themselves! Meanwhile the human player gets the chance to do some deficit research (well, that's usually what I do with my gold.)

As far as I'm concerned, gold is transient, but tech is forever. I rarely trade techs for gold unless I'm getting a really sweet deal (as in, at least two-thirds the cost of the tech in pure money). I can take gold from the AI by declaring war and taking cities, which nets a tidy profit as well as giving me more productive land. However, you typically can't capture techs by taking cities unless you get them in a peace settlement...which prevents you from invading more cities and taking techs/money.

I do moderate this position for backwards AIs if I need the money to upgrade troops or do my own deficit research, and I'm wary of trading certain techs like mscellaneous above, but I still will if I think it's worth it.

 

[Diamondeye]

I rarely trade techs for gold unless I'm getting a really sweet deal (as in, at least two-thirds the cost of the tech in pure money).

I consider a sweet deal getting more money than the tech is worth. Everything else is bunk and I won't accept it.

 

[Antilogic]

I agree with you, DiamondEye, but I rarely find AIs that have that much cash on hands to fork over for the tech. When they do, though, I'll give it to them.

 

[cabert]

I agree with you, DiamondEye, but I rarely find AIs that have that much cash on hands to fork over for the tech. When they do, though, I'll give it to them.

play on higher levels.
you can sell oldies for twice their beaker price

 

[Antilogic]

I'm on Prince (and Monarch before all the AI improvements)...they typically have some cash on hands, but not enough.

I don't play or practice enough to play on anything higher. It already takes me roughly three weeks of intermittent play to finish a game.

 

[6K Man]

I play at Prince level, and trade a fair bit in the early going. Whenever I meet an AI for the first time and see that it has a tech (or two or three or four) that I don't have, I not only worry about those 1-4 techs that I can see, but also wonder if the AI also has the techs that the ones I can see are prerequisites for. Consequently it's always in the back of my mind to either research or trade for those techs.

I don't trade away key techs unless someone else has them already (if I don't trade with the backwards AIs, another AI will, I figure). If I'm heading for liberalism, I try not to trade its prerequisites. If I haven't finished the Great Library, I won't trade Literature. And so on.

I tend to get on par or ahead of the most advanced AI by midgame, making trading pointless. I will sell older techs (doesn't everyone?), but have gotten better about not taking a pittance for them. Sure, by the time I have Steam Power, Guilds is old hat... but at least have 500 gold for me, fercryinoutloud.

 

[oyzar]

I always sell techs for under half their beaker value...

 

[6K Man]

I always sell techs for under half their beaker value...

I know I'm getting ripped off - but if I can sell the same tech to 2 or more AIs, it's a bit more palatable. And it's all about relative value - if by selling an obsolete tech to a backward AI, I can jack up my science rate by 10-20% and pull (further) ahead of the advanced AIs, I figure it's worth it. I don't care if I'm helping the last place AI if helping them means I can gain against my true rivals.