Techs and Civics

My strategy is to concentrate on researching only tech and civics that have been boosted. If there is no way to research an already boosted one, I systematically only research them until 50%, waiting for the boost later on.

What do others think of this strategy. Good or bad?

 

Generally wise, especially in the early game. You should only hard build a tech / civic if there's a good game reason why you need it right now and the penalty for delaying until you get the boost exceeds the wasted science/culture.

 

I pretty much do the same, again with the exception that there may be a good reason to "hard build" the tech. For example, an otherwise good Religious start, but no natural wonder around to boost Astrology. Another example, no stone around to build quarry to boost Masonry.

 

reasonable if you don't need a particular tech/civic as fast as possible

 

I have never 'hard built' any research. Considering I am consistently ahead or neck and neck with the other civs in research, I wonder if the AI ever does so? I never thought about it before but I have to assume based on track record (up to King level anyway) that the AI never hard builds any tech or civics.

 

Maybe I stand alone, but I do the exact opposite. I tech what I need. If I get the boost while I'm teching it, great. If I already have the boost before I start teching it, even better. I don't even go out of my way to get the boosts; I just let them come naturally.

 

I think this was the developers original idea: by playing the game a certain way, you'll get certain boosts, which will make some paths easier. So, build a city on the coast, build some boats, suddenly you're well down the "sea" path of the tech tree.

 

Urekas are 40% in R&F unless golden, does that affect your style?
After a zillion games you start subconciously working your strategy around eurekas.
I still feel beelining certain things is a higher priority than the eureka

 

I think this is especially true in the early game where you have a specific strat you need to get progressing and you either have the ability to get the eureka or you don't. As you get into mid and late game you have more time to get the eureka's in advance, and possibly more options on how badly you need a specific tech immediately versus waiting for the eureka.

 

Interesting. It already made me ask the question myself: 'Does it make much difference if you pursue a certain path through the trees?'

If the presumption is correct then one might think that pursuing boosts, rather than the tech tree itself, would be of the most value. But I am not sure of this either: as Shaglio said even not pursuing boosts doesn't seem to make much difference. That's exactly what I did in the 3 games I played (so, btw, please be aware my experience with the game is very, very superficial and because of that, please don't let my conclusions weigh too much). But would that really have been the purpose of the developers?

Can you give me one example of this? In which way is it possible to calculate the penalty compared to the wasted science/culture? Are you talking of concrete figures or is it based on a feeling gained by game experience?

 

Mostly I was thinking about your subjective cost of the delay, as opposed to being able to objectively calculate it in advance. So for example, I'm ready to upgrade to Knights, but I don't have the eureka. I can hard research it in 3 turns, or wait the 6 turns it'll take me to finish Feudalism for the eureka. How much can I do with those Knights with an extra 3 turns?

 

I am wanting to get to Feudalism and get Pyramids at roughly the same time. This will allow me to halve the amount of builders I use. I could stall at games and recreation until I got construction but the loss of earlier double builders will far outweigh the loss of half that culture, especially if my current plans take me nowhere near construction.

 

When playing on normal game speed, it is usually difficult to delay research long enough to get all the boosts since research is so fast.
When playing on marathon or with even higher research costs (e.g. x10), it feels much more natural to get a heureka from time to time and do maybe 90% of them. (With heurekas, x10 is more like x6, a slower marathon.)

 

Most of the time I try to research only boosted techs and civics.

I've made a thread some time ago of how eurekas have started to feel a bit lame to me, they make the game feel repetitive at times. I'd like a more flexible system, not the same patterns in every game.

If I'm going for science or culture victory, then at some point I start caring less for boosts in that tree as my progress through it feels nicely fast anyway.

 

Eurekas are nice and I get them when I can, but it’s often more important to beeline some techs or civics for a particular strategy. The other thing that influences my decision is how much science or culture I’m generating. If I’m pumping out lots of science or culture and it’s only a few turns to hard research something that I need now I wont pursue the eureka.

Eurekas are nice if they save you 10 turns, but not so much if they only save you a couple of turns.

 

I wonder if some of the Eurekas need a bit of a tweak. Some are too easy. eg should you get a boost for building one quarry, or should you have to build two?

I’m also not a huge fan of kill x with x. It mostly ends up being a pain. So many times I have just bought one knight and made him run around on tundra looking for barbarian to kill. Immersive it is not. I prefer if those eurekas were just have x number of y units.

 

I will often try to get the eurekas and inspirations if it was going to be something I needed/wanted to do anyway. Sometimes if I need a envoy for a cs I might go out of my way to do what they are requesting. I find that I often go to partially do a tech or civic knowing full well I will be doing whatever it takes for the eureka/inspiration but then forget to switch off it when I have done 60%.

 

I find that I only really TRY for the eurekas if I've made the appropriate dedication for the current age... Can't remember the name, but it's much more useful than the one that gives you Great Prophet points in the Rennaissance age...

That said, I try to always keep an eye on City State quests...so if they converge, giddyap.

 

Yeah, those are pretty bad. The Square Rigging one is the worst, imo, kill a unit with a musket. I do want that boost since I like to build frigates with the OP +100% card, the earlier the better. But it's such a chore when you have to go hunting for that kill.

 

Eurekas were not created in replayability in mind, rather to attract players for 1 or 2 games. And once you start playing just to get them, you simply exploit the foreknowledge of the system.

Imho eurekas are a very nice idea, but so badly implemented, that it produces opposite results than intended and actually hurts the game.

That is why I created Real Eurekas, to counter that effect. First there are hundreds of new boosts, second they are randomized, so you can’t go the same path every time, and third, if you want, you can hide them until you get close by, so you can’t plan how to get something in e.g. 500 years in the future, because it’s plain stupid.