The Proper Start

What? Are you saying that if an AI civ has a tech that I don't have, that after discovering the AI civ, that/those techs won't cost me as much? Or the tech I'm currently working on... What?

Edit: Ok I just started a new game on Immortal. I kept track of the tech chart and when I meet China, who must have 4 techs more than me, nothing changed in my tech tree.

2nd edit: I've noticed after discovering around 4 ai civs that there is a reduction by 1 on some of the techs.

 

Both. If the AI has the tech, the cost goes down.

It's not a huge benefit, but every little bit helps.

 

Interesting. I assume this works for the AI as well? If I have an isolated start and still end up being #1 in technology, when I do meet the other players, the cost of their technologies goes down?

 

The big tech tree doesn't show the discounted costs until after you've researched something. You need to look at the smaller drop-down list to see the discounts. This puzzled me for a while too.

I've seen the formula for the discount, but it never quite matches up what I see in the game. Does anyone know of a good description of how it works?