Tech tree incorrect?

I've noticed that there seem to be pre-requisite techs that are not visible in the tech tree, and vice versa.

Example: Monarchy is listed as a pre-requisite to Divine Right, but on the tech tree, Divine Right looks like a tech without pre-requisites.

In general, if a tech in the tech tree has two lines leading to it, do I need either one of those techs, or both? Is the a "corrected" version of the tech tree somewhere?

 

2 lines leading to the tech means you need either or both techs (you get a bonus to research if you have both). Pre-requisite techs (such as monarchy for Divine Right) means you must have that tech before you can start researching it.

 

So if no lines lead to Divine Right, the tech tree seems to be missing something, right?

Ah, thanks for clearing up the way two lines leading to a tech are treated.

Would you say it's better to research all pre-requisite techs to save on research, or rather rush to important techs?
(I guess the answer will start something like "Of course, it depends on which strategy...", but I'd still like to hear your views).

 

Nothing's missing. The prerequisites are shown at the top right corner of the box for the tech. For Divine Right you can see icons for Monarchy and Theology.

The important difference between having two required techs and one required & one optional is the research bonus, so there is a good reason for some techs having no lines/optional prerequisites.

 

So the lines actually show the optional requirements, not the compulsory ones? Or are the lines only used when "one out of two" is required?

 

the lines show "one out of two" (with both giving bonusses). The icons in the tech box show the "must haves". Example: Pottery. It has a two lines, one from agriculture and one from fishing. It has the icon of the wheel in the box. This means, you need to have the wheel AND Agriculture OR Fishing, while you receive a slight bonus if you have all three.

On the strategy. There are some techs that are thus important you better rush to them while others you can easily wait. If you don't need something immediately, wait ;-). The boni are not that big that you should change your whole strategy just because of it. In any case, I think, techs get cheaper as well the more players having researched them (but I'm not sure).

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Just in case you were talking about the tech tree poster that comes on a sheet of paper with the manual, that *is* wrong. It gets a bit messed up somewhere around Replaceable Parts. But it sounds to me like the mean the one in the game, which is definitely accurate.

If there is a single white line leading to a tech, then it is an 'AND' prerequisite, and you definitely need it. If there is more than one white line, you only need one of them.

As for whether you should research multiple 'OR' prerequisites, it certainly does depend on strategy; I use a few rules of thumb. If it is very important that I'm the first person to reach a tech (eg. Alphabet, religions), I'll not bother to research multiple prerequisites for it, unless I'm very confident that no-one else is heading for it yet. If that's not the case, I'll usually research multiple prerequisites if they give me any immediate benefit at all , or if they are much cheaper than the target tech (eg. I'll research Priesthood before Code Of Laws even if I already have Currency). If an optional prerequisite is not likely to be useful to me for a long time, I'll usually skip it and hope to trade for it later. Divine Right is of course the ultimate example of this (in fact, it's not usually even worth trading for it later!).

 

OK, there are two types of prerequisites; optional and mandatory.

Optional prerequisites are indicated by the arrows in the tech tree. If any are present leading to the tech, you must have at least one of them to research it. Any additional optional prerequisites you research increase the rate you get the tech, but are not essential.

Mandatory prerequisites are indicated by small icons in the top right corner of the tech box (mouse over them if you can't recognise them). You need all of these to research the tech.

The tech tree displayed in game is accurate. Paper copies that come with the game are almost invariably wrong in a number of places, partly due to changes to the tree in some of the patches.

 

Lines show the optional ones, but if there is 1 line it is compulsary of course. All techs in the top right hand corner are compulsary.

 

Thx everyone for clearing that up. I find the "compulsory" pre-requisites without lines pretty confusing, but, ok, at least I understand now.