Archived from groups: alt.games.civ3 (
More info?)
On 22 Jul 2004 12:21:30 GMT, Don Quixote
<donquixote235@hotmail.[takethispartout].com> wrote:
>Jeffery S. Jones <jeffsj@execpc.com> wrote in
>news
g9vf01jh2car9taijiampl87gig7drfqj@4ax.com:
>
>> Literacy is a rather critical early optional tech. Unless you don't
>> want science nor the option for the Great Library, it is hard to skip.
>>
>> To a large degree, the better question is which optional techs do
>> you skip?
>>
>> Pretty much, that is all the military stuff. If not at war, you
>> don't need military use only techs. Everything else is useful.
>>
>> Now, maybe you're asking which optional techs do you skip until the
>> next era?
>
>There are actually a few non-military optional techs that I choose to
>forego (at least until I trade for them, or I don't have anything else
>to research), including Music Theory and Artistic Expression. Also if
>I'm going for warlike I tend to skip Republic/Democracy, and if I'm
>going for peaceful I tend to skip Fascism/Monarchy/Communism.
>
>And if I skip Democracy, there's a whole cluster of techs surrounding
>Democracy that I have absolutely no desire to get, such as Printing
>Press.
>
>The main thrust of my question was, what are your favorite optional
>techs, that you ALWAYS go for?
Whichever governments I don't need, I don't go for -- but I always
make a fast path for either Republic or Monarchy, because Despotism is
worthless.
Literacy I mentioned, and I feel that unless you don't need science
or culture, it is not only one to get, it is one to get before going
up high on the tree. If Scientific, absolutely it is one of the best
for making culture and science.
Everything else is conditional. OK, except Sanitation -- having it
lets me outproduce the AI cities which lack it. It is one that not
only will I get, I may get it immediately after Steam Power (going up
the Medicine tree) in order to maximize my productivity on the rush to
the industrial age wonders.
Nationalism is a prettty important tech to be rated as optional.
Only if you are assured of peace is it worth skipping, though I will
trade for it. Only problem is, most AI think it is very valuable and
thus charge too much, so I usually must research it.
Music Theory and Free Artistry offer Wonders as rewards. So does
Navigation, though it also offers a fast track to ocean crossing -- if
I need ocean trade or travel, it becomes a priority, but getting
Magellan's first can pay off nicely. The other two depend on whether
the wonder is worth having, however, if nothing else, they give me
"placeholder" wonders to build in the capital before switching to
something else, and are good trade items too.
Military Tradition is a key military option. If I am at war, I need
it. Cavalry rock. You can beat up anything in that time frame, prior
to Rifleman, if you have enough Cavalry.
If I'm at peace, I need Democracy. It beats Republic in peacetime
science and production. It also gives me a good trading tech; the AI
often doesn't get Printing Press or Democracy (or Free Artistry), and
researching tech to trade is always worthwhile.
When I know the AI will beat me to the tech I most want, the next
best thing is researching something else to trade for it. I get a
better deal from my science investment than trying to go it alone,
researching things that the AI is getting cheaper (and is willing to
trade away later of course).
--
*-__Jeffery Jones__________| *Starfire* |____________________-*
** Muskego WI Access Channel 14/25 <http://www.execpc.com/~jeffsj/mach7/>
*Starfire Design Studio* <http://www.starfiredesign.com/>
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