trade baits

[bkrice]

What techs do the AI value the most? Can someone list them or is there already one out? I'd like to know so I could research those and trade for the rest when feasable. Thanks

 

[Nick Carpathia]

It's not so much what they value the most, but what they value the least. Early game, the AI tends to self-research Alphabet or Iron working, and no one bothers with Aesthetics. The trick is that you research Aesthetics yourself, and trade it around to everyone else, picking up Alphabet and Iron working as well as lots of little things you may have skipped like Archery and Sailing. The trade off is that Aesthetics has only marginal utility unless you're interested in its wonders, though it does give you an edge on Literature and the Great Library and the various epics.

Other good trade bait are the techs along the Liberalism line, as the AI does not prioritise techs when the one-off bonus has been used up. In particular, Philosphy (great scientist bulb this, the AI does not prioritise it when the religion has been founded), Education (because its bloody beaker expensive) and Liberalism are great trade-bait once the Liberalism race has been won. Later in the game, Biology is of low priority for the AI, even though it's incredibly useful.

 

[lymond]

Also, note that you may need to put a turn or two into techs to facilitate trades. For instance, once you have Aesths, and AI might not trade it directly to you for Alpha until you put a few beakers into it. This is especially true if an AI has a monopoly on the tech. Tech trading becomes a bit easier with Currency as you can use gold to balance trades - either way. Also, don't be afraid to trade older techs straight-up for some gold.

 

[Sisiutil]

Some extremely good advice above. I usually find that the AI makes the following techs a low priority, meaning that they make very good trade bait:

• Iron Working - every now and then I research this before the AI (especially when playing as Rome) while they get to Alphabet before me--in which case you can use it to snag a few other early cheap techs.
• Aesthetics (as mentioned above); this is my tried-and-true ancient era catch-up tech.
• Metal Casting
• Compass - while I'm usually loathe to use a Great Scientist to lightbulb this, if I'm behind in techs it's extremely useful trade bait.
• Literature - because it's relatively cheap, I like hanging on to this one until I have Currency and build the Great Library, then sell it for whatever cash I can get.
• The Liberalism path techs: Philosophy, Paper, Education, and Liberalism itself. However, I never trade away a L-path tech until I have its successor--for example, I never trade Philosophy until I have Paper. I also sometimes hang on to Liberalism to deter the AI from going after Communism and the free Great Spy.
• Divine Right - this is a relatively useless dead-end tech that I rarely research on my own. However, the AI loves it; if you can acquire it from another civ cheaply, it's great for trading, even if it's just for a few hundred gold (which can do wonders for your diplomatic relations).
• Steel
• Scientific Method, Physics, Biology - sometimes the AI makes these a low priority, sometimes not. Often I make SM a low priority because I have the Great Library.
• Radio - however, this tech enables three attractive wonders, so you may not want to trade it right away.

In contrast, the following are techs I almost never research myself because the AI values them so highly and almost always beats me to them--which, conversely, means I can usually get them through trading, so why waste the beakers?

• Horseback Riding
• Alphabet (sometimes--if I have a gold/gem/silver mine or two in the capital's fat cross (nice start!) and if I'm surrounded by slow techers, I may try getting to it first)
• Mathematics
• Monarchy
• Calendar
• Construction
• Currency
• Drama
• Music - unless I'm pursuing a cultural victory, in which case I want to be first to this for the free Great Artist
• Theology
• Feudalism
• Divine Right
• Gunpowder
• Corporation - be warned, the AI likes to get to this one early but hates trading it away.
• Military Tradition
• Artillery

 

[lymond]

Yep, Metal Casting is a good call, Sis. It amazes me how late this tech goes sometimes and I often neglect it.

One note on Music though is that the oft used Aesth>Lit path puts one right in its sights, so it may be worth going for directly regardless. However, that may be dependent of the overall tech rate. Music has decent trade value for the human too - for techs and/or gold.

 

[Moroktonos]

Drama too is good trade bait if you're far behind. If you've got a monopoly on it, and most of the other civs have the important early economic techs CoL / Currency / Monarchy / Calendar etc, you can often trade drama for these if you put a few turns of research into each. Of course, most of the time you would do better to get the early economic techs first yourself (stingy, unfriendly, or slow-teching ais), but on a continent full of fast-teching religious brothers and sisters who are willing to trade them to you, Drama can be valuble. You can also use it to bulb Philo, which is also good trade bait.

 

[Nick Carpathia]

I find metal casting goes way too quickly. When it first appears post-pottery/bronzeworking, it takes way too long to research. I don't like self-researching it unless my economy is strong enough to bang it out in 3-4 turns. I prefer to prioritise economic techs like calendar, monarchy, currency and civil service in order to recover/expand from my REX. The forge is great, but it won't actually contribute to any early rushes, and the hammer pay-off takes far too long unless you're industrious.

And you're right about corporation, in my current game, my only two options are to get it from the current tech leader for steel, or get it from the poor AI who I'm stomping in exchange for vassalage. Unfortunately for them, they I don't want them as a vassal, I want them gone. Oh well, they have assembly line, I can always trade railroad + a lump of gold for that.

 

[goodolarchie]

Using the Oracle -> MC slingshot, you can build Colossus and still have plenty of time to use MC to pick up anything else that they're willing to dole out.

Sisiutils list looks accurate, it tends to vary per civ. Guys like shaka and Rag are military heads who don't seem to care much for religious techs and won't be much competition for liberalism, while Isa/Ghandi/Monty/Brennus/HC seem to try bee-lining religious techs so they can found/spread them. Some civs go for the econ/"first to discover" techs (JC/mansa come to mind). Knowing the general AI behavior and land can lend you a hand in guessing their intended techs/wonders.

 

[huerfanista]

The best techs to go for are highly level-dependent. If you play at deity, going for alphabet is useless for trade bait because all of the AIs will have it by the time you get there - that's why aesthetics and compass are the preferred routes that most deity players take. On the other hand, if you research aesthetics first on monarch and hope to trade it for alphabet, you'd better be prepared to wait a bit. Going for alpha first on monarch generally means that you'll be the first to get it, or at worst only 1 onther civ will have it (there are exceptions, obviously, depending on your early tech path). Heck, a lot of times the AIs won't even have writing yet. I'd never go aesth before alpha on monarch when not isolated, unless I'd spent a lot of time researching stuff like IW or monarchy first.

 

[vranasm]

Yep, Metal Casting is a good call, Sis. It amazes me how late this tech goes sometimes and I often neglect it.

One note on Music though is that the oft used Aesth>Lit path puts one right in its sights, so it may be worth going for directly regardless. However, that may be dependent of the overall tech rate. Music has decent trade value for the human too - for techs and/or gold.

Well it depends if I go for Oracle, AIs love to Oracle->MC