Which tech should i go for first in ancient age?

[Veteranewbie]

Firstly ignore trade with A.I., I only refer to research myself.
Normally I will gain all these primary techs ASAP i.e. ceremonial burial, pottery, mansory, bronze & iron work, writing
But now what tech should i go for?
There are Literacy (Library for faster research), Code of Law (Courthouse for less corruption), Monarchy (to get rid of the tile penalty in despotism), Currency (marketplace, especially nice when i runs out of money thanks to my aggressive neighbour and my army) or Construction (growth for my cities)
In my last game, I was going for monarchy, but unfortunately after my revolution, i was behind in tech race since i was running low in revenue (i drag my sci research fund to 20%) and that my army is just 'average' compare to my neighbour. When everything goes real bad, it starts to improve when i have finally get currency. After my revenue go well again, I bring up my research funding again, and get literature, and build some library, which again let me to catch up with the tech race.
But I wanna know what is the strategy of some more experienced players, so can someone tell me, what is your preference?

 

[Hawkster]

Tough question - it depends on the game . If war is happening or likely to then I would personally go for Monarchy (republic I'll get in trade later) for the extra shield production for units - followed by currency for market places to improve hapiness.

If the game is peacfull then probably lit to build libraries for the culture / research boost (and maybe GL) followed by currency (markets) then monarchy.

Construction and republic are later techs for me.

 

[Darkness]

Originally posted by Hawkster
Tough question - it depends on the game .

Exactly.
This depends on so many factors in the game, like for example:
difficulty level, map settings, AI civs and their tech progress, long term goals...

IMHO this question can not be answered to give a general answer, only in single, specific circumstances...

 

[NiteCreature]

It does depend on the game, but i seem to usually go for the great library and philosophy

 

[mbrown]

I usually go for monarchy:
- AI seldom researches this, so you can normally trade for multiple techs
- production bonus is also a plus

 

[cmota]

I usually prefer Republic (always depends of what civ I get).
The most important tech to research in early ancient age is Pottery. Granary is necesity to produce more and more settlers...
I usually search for luxuries, so I can invest all my gold in research. The marketplace increase the effects of the lux in the pop.

 

[NobleLeader]

Monarchy.

Then Literature.
In general I don't have hurry to research Republic.

 

[DS_Legionary]

Currency, followed by Monarchy/Republic. Mostly because if you don't have marketplaces up first, you'll go into a deficit.

 

[bru]

Monarchy/Republic. I almost always go for Republic as soon as possible.

 

[Zoke0]

Monarchy/Republic is my choice. It depends which one I go for though upon the game. If I feel pressured to build the Hanging gardens, then I go for Monarchy and stick with it for a while, because I despise anarchy while, I'm building wonders. If I feel I'm far ahead of the Ai in techs then I go for Republic (play as an expansionist country), of course I stay Republic until Democracy when I get it. My ancient tech tree is very structured compared to my other tech trees, aside from the free techs from goody huts I aim for Bronze working then by that I can go for Map Making (remeber I play as expansionist) then aim for one of the govs. Also code of laws is required for Republic so, obviously when I go for republic courthouses are a result.

 

[Siegmund]

For my own purposes, I go for literature.

For purely practical reasons within the game, my experience is that currency is the easiest one to reach before the AI does and trade for the other ancient age techs.

 

[Omni Mage]

I go for literature first. After you build libraies you can research techs quicker. Then I usually go for curency, becuase libraies are a huge drain on your cash inflow.

 

[Bluemofia]

i always get literature first because of the great library. i let other people research the techs and thin i get it for free. i also just go straight to military tradition while everyone else is researching the other techs basically, for me once 2 civs have it

 

[ybbor]

depending on the map type map making is almost a necssity. as i like arpegios and contients, the ability to transport units across the ocean is invaluable, even on maps without tha much water harbors work great for connecting distant cities(/civs, if they ever build 'em) but as said depends on the situation

 

[Moonsinger]

None of the above! However, I usually do the 40 turns research on Polytheism because there is a good chance I can trade it to the AIs for big money. Polytheism is probably the only ancient tech that I actually research. As for the rest of them, I just wait for the AI to discover then buy it from them (then turn around and sell it to the rest of the world of course). Since whoever has a lot of money rule the world, I'm focusing on making a lot of money first.