I apologize if I'm asking very old (and yet very new to me) questions but you were so helpful with my tech slump - in sort of a lateral way...
I played around with a specialist economy which seemed to work MUCH better for me than planning cottages (partly due to neighbors and terrain - I've backed down to warlord to tweak cottage relationships so that I can learn to use that better) and my tech was through the roof even late game. Which was nice.
But my question is - when do you trade? Specifically: part of the SE is to trade with others stuff on the track that you're not researching; and the track that you're researching is all about advancing efficient research, right (more enabled scientists, getting buildings that give +flask, etc)?
But... if your neighbor is, well, your really CLOSE neighbor - do you want to be giving them stuff that will put them on equal (or better) military footing? And by that I don't mean give them construction, I mean I don't know how far along they are on researching something that requires the tech I'm going to ytrade them and then really give them the leg up over me.
(sadly all distant civs were completely backward - though I did get a kick out of Toku demanding stuff from me with his axemen and no ocean-going skills when I was on musketmen/frigates and beyond). I found myself just saying "Screw it I'll interrupt my current research and do it myself".
I did, for a change, well on warfare (early, middle and late - you have no idea how well this worked out for me vs other times - it seems that 3 cities hemmed in isn't really a detriment!) partly due to my tech advantage. But I feel like maybe I could have advanced further if I wasn't so much of a chicken in trading. So is there a way to decide? I realize that every game is unique based on MANY factors so I'm not looking for an if X then Y, I'm just wondering if I'm being a chicken if I don't trade away, for instance, Chemistry when I've just started making/upgrading grenadiers but when that trade will advance me, though not immediately, to something better. To me it seems like if we each have part and trade it then we're going to hit the target at the same time - which could me trouble. If I clearly have the tech research speed going for me, should I even bother to trade?
On a sidenote - wth is with the AI thinking that my Chem + my 500 gold is worth their Monotheism and... no gold? I mean even in a straight trade no way but...
I played around with a specialist economy which seemed to work MUCH better for me than planning cottages (partly due to neighbors and terrain - I've backed down to warlord to tweak cottage relationships so that I can learn to use that better) and my tech was through the roof even late game. Which was nice.
But my question is - when do you trade? Specifically: part of the SE is to trade with others stuff on the track that you're not researching; and the track that you're researching is all about advancing efficient research, right (more enabled scientists, getting buildings that give +flask, etc)?
But... if your neighbor is, well, your really CLOSE neighbor - do you want to be giving them stuff that will put them on equal (or better) military footing? And by that I don't mean give them construction, I mean I don't know how far along they are on researching something that requires the tech I'm going to ytrade them and then really give them the leg up over me.
(sadly all distant civs were completely backward - though I did get a kick out of Toku demanding stuff from me with his axemen and no ocean-going skills when I was on musketmen/frigates and beyond). I found myself just saying "Screw it I'll interrupt my current research and do it myself".
I did, for a change, well on warfare (early, middle and late - you have no idea how well this worked out for me vs other times - it seems that 3 cities hemmed in isn't really a detriment!) partly due to my tech advantage. But I feel like maybe I could have advanced further if I wasn't so much of a chicken in trading. So is there a way to decide? I realize that every game is unique based on MANY factors so I'm not looking for an if X then Y, I'm just wondering if I'm being a chicken if I don't trade away, for instance, Chemistry when I've just started making/upgrading grenadiers but when that trade will advance me, though not immediately, to something better. To me it seems like if we each have part and trade it then we're going to hit the target at the same time - which could me trouble. If I clearly have the tech research speed going for me, should I even bother to trade?
On a sidenote - wth is with the AI thinking that my Chem + my 500 gold is worth their Monotheism and... no gold? I mean even in a straight trade no way but...
