Your primary reasearch

I am playing a game as persians now. I traded masonary once I was sure I had met all the civs on my continent. I got lots of techs which I traded also and made some more $$. Getting a tech that is in demand and trading it well will do much more than depending on a wonder that you might not build first.
 
Originally posted by bobgote
Iron Working. Then to literature. Then to Monarchy. Then to construction. (I have to have pottery to start with, or early trade)

My strategy is similar to this. I usually play on Regent level, and my initial tech path is as follows:

1. Bronze Working
2. Ceremonial Burial
3-6. Alphabet, Writing, Literature
7-8. Pottery, Map Making
9-12. Warrior Code, Mysticism, Polytheism, Monarchy
13-16. Masonry, Mathematics, Currency, Construction
17-19. Code of Laws, Philosophy, Republic
20-21. The Wheel, Horseback Riding

I don't agree on the uselessness of the Great Library. It allows me to pursue the technological "road not taken" while my neighbors fill in the tech gaps for me. Note that I place a very low priority on The Wheel and Horseback Riding, but I very seldom actually research them. If I don't get them through the Great Library, I can often trade for them.

Even if I don't get the GL, I find that going for Literature early is worth the effort. I usually play scientific civilizations (Babylonians, Germans, or Greeks), and getting those cheap libraries early in the game gives a boost to both science and culture.

The key to research success, I've found, is to research what your neighbors aren't researching. The AI usually makes a beeline for Mysticism and then switches over to the Mathematics/Currency/Construction path. So while I'm going for Monarchy, I often find I'm the only one with Polytheism, which I can trade for all manner of goodies. It's even better in the industrial age -- the AI values Medicine and Sanitation highly, but they will almost always go for Steam Power and Industrialization first. So I get Medicine and make a huge profit selling it to everyone.
 
very good point, Jimcat, learning what your neighbors is researching is very important, and you shouldn't bother researching it too. Yet, there isn't really anyway to tell what they are researching except from experience. The general gist is to research across a catagory instead of researching everything, as you have indicated that you do. In the case of the library; I don't use it, but I research to education as quickly as possible just to knock it out, I think there are more important early wonders to build, mainly those that don't expire. Yet, it is always nice to have.
 
If you are scientific and/or religious, go for
1. Writing: you'll need contact with other civs
2. Literature: libraries will help research faster and boost culture.
3. Iron Working: secure iron
 
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