The worst technology?

[rfcfanatic]

Hi everyone,

What do you think what is the worst and the most useless technology?

In my opinion it's Scientific Method. Mostly it just obsoletes some really nice wonders like The Parthenon and Great Library and also the 10% bonus from monasteries. In contrary to its name, it actually causes a setback in scientific research.

The only good thing it does is that it reveals oil. Just reveals, nothing more. It cannot be used until Combustion. That's the reason (in addition to the research setback) I always go all the way down to Combustion in the tech tree until there aren't any other industrial techs available but Scientific Method.

 

[Gzz]

For me is mysticism : he doesen' t give me anything but Stonhenge

 

[traius]

I very frequently do that too (also I often have at least one of sankore, sistine and minaret, and my state religion is usually whatever the apostolic place is,so +2 hammers too), as my monestaries always have some kind of bonus (see above). The first time I played I rushed straight for physics (blimps) and found them quite useful (even 20% damage is huge for cracking the top defender(s) ), so maybe ishould try and switch things up.

edit: x-post

 

[RD-BH]

Future Tech 1000+ ...
... by that time
... WHO CARES!!!

 

[RD-BH]

On a more serious note:
... the techs I find worthless aren't due to their use but their placement
... Philosophy (just a beaker sink on way to Liberalism)
... Constitution (If I want Rep I go Mids, else I'm HR)
... Alphabet (I build Wealth not Research, I rarely need spies)

I would rarely need to research these,
... unless I needed what was beyond them.

Special case:
... Divine Right (useless AND in the middle of nowhere)
... ... Do I ever need this?

 

[rfcfanatic]

Special case:
... Divine Right (useless AND in the middle of nowhere)
... ... Do I ever need this?

DR could be useful if you were a religious expansionist and/or warmonger. 2 with The Spiral Minaret per state religion building could help out your economy.

 

[elmurcis]

DR could be useful if you were a religious expansionist and/or warmonger. 2 with The Spiral Minaret per state religion building could help out your economy.

Thats 2 gold/state religion building not commerce (even better, can turn tech slider higher )
But Versailles is bigger reason for me.. on that moment I most likely will have 40+ cities (Huge) and to cover all map for reduced maintence, F-Palace is not enough..

 

[RD-BH]

RE: Divine Right

Versailles ...
... waste of hammers
... better to take from AI

Spiral Minaret
... 6x/city (8x in Holy City) ...
... waste of hammers
... build Wealthgold; make 10 times that amount
... requires state religion (not always useful diplomatically)

Culture (from new Religion) ...
... waste of beakers (situational)
... better to head for Sushi, Eiffel, etc
... or even better, Liberalism/Caste/Artists

 

[Culture Bomb]

I've always thought it a bit odd that Scientific Method will probably reduce your research output rather than increase it - maybe it should increase the bonus from universities by 10% or something.

On the other hand, I almost always research it quickly because it leads to two of the best techs of the era - Physics and Biology.

Most useless:
Military Science - it's a dead end and the units it unlocks are not essential.

Stealth - if the game goes on that late it's because I'm going for a space victory and this does not help build the spaceship.

Divine Right - for the reasons already mentioned.

 

[CivNoobie]

along with SM...astronomy, all i see is....obsolete blah blah blah blah blah blah and advances to industrial age so all your beautiful renaissance architectures now look like prisons

 

[rfcfanatic]

along with SM...astronomy, all i see is....obsolete blah blah blah blah blah blah and advances to industrial age so all your beautiful renaissance architectures now look like prisons

Actually, Astronomy is still a Renaissance tech and does not advance to Industrial era

But I agree, Astronomy can be hurtful sometimes. Especially when you have a city with The Colossus wonder and most of your cities are coastal cities. But if you happen to be on a Terra, Continents, Islands or Earth map and have explored the seas with your caravels earlier, the commerce from New World trade routes enabled by Astronomy can compensate the loss caused by the obsoletion of The Colossus.

Unfortunately, trade routes with the AI are unreliable. They may stop trading with you, declare war on you or simply adopt Mercantilism - a civic which disables all foreign trade routes. I have played several Islands games (on Noble) where all the AI civs adopted Mercantilism as soon as they got Banking.

But unlike SM, Astronomy enables a science building - Observatory.

 

[TheWilltoAct]

Versailles ...
... waste of hammers
... better to take from AI
6x/city (8x in Holy City) ...
... waste of hammers
... build Wealthgold; make 10 times that amount
Culture from Religion ...
... waste of beakers
... better to head for Sushi, Eiffel, etc
... or even better, Liberalism/Caste/Artists

That is a very ugly way to format a list, but I still read through it.

One thing you seem to be missing is the get-out-of-jail argument we usually see on these forums: "it's situational" or "depends on the map". Considering what to build in a void outside of some game context is rarely fruitful.

The Spiral Minaret is a strong wonder in my book, granted the benefit requires a large investment in temples (typically) but there are worse buildings and I usually need the anyway. Building wealth can be done at any time and doesn't compete with building the Minaret.

 

[rfcfanatic]

Thats 2 gold/state religion building not commerce (even better, can turn tech slider higher )

Sorry, I messed up gold and commerce icons. I guess it's due to fact, that I'm still learning about the differences between the ways how gold and commerce end up in treasury or research

 

[Ataxerxes]

The later the technology the more useless. I'd probably vote for Divine Right myself as the earliest tech I don't need. Robotics is pretty useless. I've never had a game where Mech Infantry was a real need (Modern Armor and Aircraft earlier). I don't care for Laser either.

 

[lymond]

Pretty much any dead end tech.

And calling Alpha useless is beyond silly

 

[Rusty Edge]

Hi everyone,

What do you think what is the worst and the most useless technology?

In my opinion it's Scientific Method. Mostly it just obsoletes some really nice wonders like The Parthenon and Great Library and also the 10% bonus from monasteries. In contrary to its name, it actually causes a setback in scientific research.

The only good thing it does is that it reveals oil. Just reveals, nothing more. It cannot be used until Combustion. That's the reason (in addition to the research setback) I always go all the way down to Combustion in the tech tree until there aren't any other industrial techs available but Scientific Method.

DR could be useful if you were a religious expansionist and/or warmonger. 2 with The Spiral Minaret per state religion building could help out your economy.

Actually, Astronomy is still a Renaissance tech and does not advance to Industrial era

But I agree, Astronomy can be hurtful sometimes. Especially when you have a city with The Colossus wonder and most of your cities are coastal cities. But if you happen to be on a Terra, Continents, Islands or Earth map and have explored the seas with your caravels earlier, the commerce from New World trade routes enabled by Astronomy can compensate the loss caused by the obsoletion of The Colossus.

Unfortunately, trade routes with the AI are unreliable. They may stop trading with you, declare war on you or simply adopt Mercantilism - a civic which disables all foreign trade routes. I have played several Islands games (on Noble) where all the AI civs adopted Mercantilism as soon as they got Banking.

But unlike SM, Astronomy enables a science building - Observatory.

Agreed. Agreed. Agreed.

 

[jarhead_leif]

,.tho they're so called worst technologies.,
,they still have their uses,.

 

[RD-BH]

Pretty much any dead end tech.

And calling Alpha useless is beyond silly

I disagree
... especially as I specifically referenced location in tech tree,
... and not general uselessness.
... All techs have uses.

I've had many games I do not need to put beakers into Alphabet.

I'm not building research, (I build Wealth when not bldg/unit)
... so I don't need Alphabet for that.

I'm not building spies, (I prefer passive espionage)
... so I don't need Alphabet for that.

I do use tech trading,
... but the AI will gladly trade with you when they have it,
... and they will gladly trade it to you.
... Making Currency, Metal Working, Literature, etc better tech paths.

Therefore:
... not useful to research.

 

[lymond]

... not useful to research.

I'm pretty sure this is not about "what not to research" but general uselessness. Yeah, Alpha is rarely something I tech myself, but I sure as heck want it asap. Tech trading is a major part of the game. And don't forget bribes and sending the AIs into all out war.

Currency IMO is the most important tech in the game. I highly value it. The sooner I get Alpha the sooner I get Currency. There are many times I build research on top of building wealth.

Yep, Alpha is good stuff.

And why do spies have nothing to do with passive espionage. Do you not use spy siege?

 

[Manco Capac]

Fascism is somewhat of a useless tech.