Tech Tree inconsistancy (ies?)

[erfael2]

So in my first game the first thing I researched was Polytheism. All went well. A little while down the line I wanted to pick up monotheism. Even though there are no lines between Masonry and Monotheism on the in-game tech tree, the computer required that I pick Masonry before Mono. Looking at the tech tree that came with my game, I see there are optional routes and mandatory routes. It appears looking at that that Masonry and Polytheism are both mandatory requirements for Monotheism. It also states this in the Civolopedia.

In fact, none of the "optional" versus "mandatory" paths through the tech tree seem to be differentiated between on the in-game tech tree, and a path between Masonry and Monotheism is missing entirely. Now, I am color blind, so if there is something subtle going on, I'm likely not able to see it. Also, I only had a little while to play and wonder if there are toggles in there somewhere to show mandatorys and optionals. Otherwise, this is a minor bug. It's a little tough to plan if the tech tree isn't showing all the paths.

 

[Mason11987]

http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/techtree/

If you look at monotheism on the top right it has the icon for masonry, which means masonry is a requirment for monotheism, polytheism just has the line, because it's optional. That's the differentiation

 

[erfael2]

That wasn't at all intuitive. Thanks. I do see now. I withdraw my earlier statement.

EDIT: I can't get in game right now, but mine in game didn't have the line at all.....I'll look later to see if it has the masonry symbol.

 

[Harrier]

That wasn't at all intuitive. Thanks. I do see now. I withdraw my earlier statement.

EDIT: I can't get in game right now, but mine in game didn't have the line at all.....I'll look later to see if it has the masonry symbol.

A new game play concept with Civ4. I guess it will puzzle a lot of us civ1/2/3 players for the first few games until we get used to it.

Just learn to look for the icon on the right of the tech box (for pre-requisites).

 

[Jazz_Newton]

To clarify even slightly further... Definite pre-requisites are listed in the top right corner, while arrows are optional... but you must still complete ONE of the techs that arrow into the new one.

With Monotheism, there's only a single arrow (from Polytheism), meaning that Polytheism is ALSO a required tech.

 

[erfael2]

Yeah, I've been in game again and all this makes sense. It just makes it kind of hard to see up front what the bare minimum to get to a point on the tree is. Something could look two techs away and take 7 to fill in the reqs. But just clicking on it will get you there in the shortest time possible, I suppose.

 

[SmCaudata]

To clarify even slightly further... Definite pre-requisites are listed in the top right corner, while arrows are optional... but you must still complete ONE of the techs that arrow into the new one.

With Monotheism, there's only a single arrow (from Polytheism), meaning that Polytheism is ALSO a required tech.

LOL, if you need one arrowed tech, Why have single arrow boxes then? They could have just made icons=mandatory and arrows=optional. As I haven't played it could just be that the UI only has space for one icon..but it just seems like a silly design to me...maybe I am misunderstanding you though.

 

[Jazz_Newton]

No, you understood ok... and what you said makes sense in theory. What I said mightn't be logical (as a programmer or mathematician understands logic), but it is still actually common sense.

In practice, having a tech with no arrows leading to it would just be weird and counter-intuitive. Why should i have to search and match up two little ambiguous icons when they could use a line to represent one of them, thus conveying the same info but saving me half the work?

 

[Mason11987]

And you can't have two arrows, because then you'd only have to do one .

But when we say "optional" it doesn't mean you don't have to do it to get the tech, it means you have to do ONE of the optional ones to get the tech.

 

[erfael2]

Yeah, it's all very clear on the paper tech tree that came with the game. And I can see why they went with the look they did in the game, as that would make a lot of arrows all over the place...but I would almost rather see all the arrows with dotted ones for optional and solid for required techs. Or even add the arrows necessary to get to a tech if you hover over a tech....so hovering over Mono would show a line of some sort from Masonry...but, again, now knowing what's going on, I was able to make it through the rest of my first game with no confusion...it's just harder to get all that info at a glance.