Tech Troubles

[zaphod2016]

Howdy.

Can someone point me towards a good tutorial for n00bs seeking a tech advantage?

In every game I play I either expand too far, and fall behind in tech, or gain a slight tech advantage, but end up with an easily conquered territory. Clearly, my old strategies for Civ 1 do not apply in this game!

I want to invade warriors with Marines. I was nukes before my competitors have Galleons. I want a production powerhouse coupled with a strong technical advantage. And I would like to achieve this without resorting to chieftan mode.

Can someone help me?

 

[ecuwins]

You can easily keep a tech advantage at regent/monarch. It is possible at emporer albeit tougher. Personally I have not been too effective keeping up on deity level but maybe still possible. Sid -- let me know cause I have not tried it yet. Read some war academy articles: http://www.civfanatics.com/civ3/strategy/

Coming from civ1 the biggest thing you must overcome is the whole settler/worker thing. Settlers cost 2 pop vs 1 pop. Suggested readings: Spotting Settler Factories by RFHolloway, Cracker's Civ3 Opening Plays Site by Cracker, and City Placement Guide by Ginger Ale.

You should also look at the "Civ-Specific Articles". Civ 3 introduced civ-specific abilities that might affect your strategy.

Don't forget to grab resources and luxuries. Iron is very important!!! If you expand correctly the only culture you will need can come from the librarys in your core save a few temples on your border.

 

[rysingsun]

I want to invade warriors with Marines... And I would like to achieve this without resorting to chieftan mode.

... sounds like you've been playing civ I or II.

well you may as well know, civ III is WAY harder than either of those two games.

 

[zaphod2016]

Yep, good ole civ 1. Losing battleships to phalanxes. Good times.

Indeed Civ 3 is a whole new league of challenge. I love it so far.

I have finished one game, in easy mode, by assaulting the planet with wave after wave of Persian immortals. I've been reading the strategy guides, but haven't found anything specifically dedicated to a tech race.

Perhaps I am being blind and dumb?

 

[ecuwins]

To effectively keep up in tech at higher levels you need to understand what and when to research and how to trade. Here are some links to articles that discuss this:

What will the AI research next? by alexman

Trading Tips for Beginners by Bamspeedy

Trading Reputation by microbe

This one is worth a look as well:
Free Tech Tricks by DaveMcW

 

[AutomatedTeller]

I've had rifles vs longbows on SID... but that was on an arch map. Course, on SID, it doesn't matter - you lose your invasion force anyway

It's difficult on any reasonable level to have a tech advantage as large as what you are looking for. But it's quite possible to send cavalry vs. pikes and MDI, or Tanks vs. cavs and muskets.

Best tips:

1) trade a lot
2) Research horizontally, not vertically.
3) Don't research military techs yourself - the AI will get them for you, so you can get the other techs and get to the next military tech faster.

 

[Aabraxan]

To everything that's been said, I would just add: Don't choke your economy. You probably already know that commerce fuels research, but one of the common mistakes among new players is that they tend to build every improvement in every city. The result is they wind up paying so much in maintenance that there's nothing left over for research. Don't build every improvement. Build those improvements that you need for a city to have. Your core cities will get some improvements, your semi-core cities will get a few, and the specialist farms get nothing.

Speaking of which, I'll add to your homework: The Role of the Specialist Citizen. Once you're settling out in the hinterlands far from your core, specialist farms are a very powerful tool for generating science and revenue.

 

[zaphod2016]

Thanks for all your help. I'm currently winning my first (regent) game ever! I'm the Greeks on an arch. map and I am maintaining a slight tech advantage. I'm making a beeline for marines in hopes of destroying the hated French.

Quick Q for ATM: what do you mean by "research horizontally"?

 

[Walliard]

It means to research left to right across the tech tree. For example, in the Ancient Age, you could research Alphabet->Writing->Literature, then trade writing and lit for all the other techs you missed. This generally gets you a good deal, since you have a monopoly on the upper techs.

 

[Aabraxan]

Thanks for all your help. I'm currently winning my first (regent) game ever I'm the Greeks on an arch. map and I am maintaining a slight tech advantage.

Congratulations!

There's one other comment that I just can't resist making. This comment caught my attention in the opening post.

I want to invade warriors with Marines. I was nukes before my competitors have Galleons.

ATM is correct when he says:

It's difficult on any reasonable level to have a tech advantage as large as what you are looking for. But it's quite possible to send cavalry vs. pikes and MDI, or Tanks vs. cavs and muskets.

Because tech trading is so important to the human player's research, you rarely see games where the human has truly huge tech lead over the nearest AI. But it's not enough for the AI to know the tech. Just like you, they've got to have the appropriate resources to build their units. A similar effect to what you described can be achieved through resource deprivation. So your Marines may not invade against warriors, but if you go in and pillage their oil, rubber, iron, saltpeter, etc., it won't be long before your Marines are facing warriors.

 

[Skibatized]

it's way too easy to keep up in tech. I play Demigod now a days, the key is curraghs.. warriors are too slow in reachin other civs.. and sometimes even if you get to reach out far... other civs settle in terrain you need to get through to meet other civs. and they will ask you to immidiately remove your troops.. which is a pain. usualy I like playing games where I start with plains or floodplains.. but grasslands are good.. they spit out settlers every 10 turns for me instead of 5 or 6 like plains do (with a forest near by) My strategy in the beginin of the game is gettin pottery and alphbet ASAP and use the luxury tax to keep citizens happy without usin police. first I build a curragh if i start with alphabet or a warrior if I dont have it... if you dont have either alphabet or pottery get pottery first.. build a warrior and start building a barrack or something to accumulate shields so when you get pottery you get your granary.. after build a settler and they will spit out one after another.. and build your armies and workers with other towns.

Seafering civs are useful to reach other continents early in the game.. but not always necesary, i tend to play with commercial, industrious and seafering. They key is to meet other civs before the other civs meet the other civs lol. and if you get lucky and travel to the next continent.. then you will never fall behind in tech..

 

[WackenOpenAir]

If you want that huge tech advantage, use an archipellago map with little land mass and have no seafaring opponents. Take controll of the seas asap, and you can get ages beyond them on ANY difficulty level, even Sid if it all turns out lucky (little or no contacts between them without astro).