Angels' "Datalinks"

Earwicker · June 8, 2001, 10:07

In previous games as the Angels I have led in tech so was not able to witness/ verify their faction ability to "hack" techs known to 3 others. However, in my current game I have seen in it action and noticed some curious quirks to it.

When finally I got some probes off my tiny island and around the globe to infiltrate other factions, there were many techs I was behind in, and several I'd chosen not to pursue. Notably Social Psych and SotHB. I suspected there'd be three others who had it (confirmed by infiltration) so I did not pursue that branch (going instead for crawlers and lifting of restrictions).

With the third infiltration, I expected to see the techs flowing in like waters. No such luck. No Social Psych, no SotHB, no nothing. Big bummer.

A few turns later, as I was resigning myself to having to steal all those techs, they started arriving in the mail. Adv Mil Alg, Adv Sub Theory, Optical Computers, Superconductor, Fusion Power (I did say I was behind in tech). But still no Soc Psy or SotHB.

So my question has to do with the techs granted by the Angels' hacking. No low-level techs? Only techs for which the prerequisites are known? Any experiences which might help shed some light on the subject?

cbn · June 8, 2001, 10:35

I thought I saw a thread that indicated that you only get techs as they are "discovered " by the third faction. This would mean that any tech that "everyone else" has would never flow to you through this method and you have the odd situation of collecting a whole bunch of advanced techs but being forced to research or steal any that the other factions already have. This is third-hand information but it would be consistent with your experience as you have described it.

Earwicker · June 8, 2001, 12:49

Good point. That certainly would suggest an explanation for what I saw. One more reason to probe early and often . . .

Paul · June 8, 2001, 13:44

Like cbn said, you only get the tech the moment a faction discovers it. So if the others already have the tech you won't get it. This works the same way with the Planetary Datalinks and it also worked that way with the Great Library in Civ2.

big_canuk · June 9, 2001, 19:33

Does anyone know for sure if infiltration via the EG counts the same as infiltration via a probe action? I suspect so, but am also in the situation of never having been behind in tech, with the EG, and either the angels or the PD. Thus, I have never recieved a "free" tech.

Ned · June 9, 2001, 22:12

I think it does count.

With the Angels, I deliberately try to underinvest in labs and instead focus on infrastructure. You stay just behind in tech, but that is tolerable.

Ned

Flo · June 10, 2001, 17:18

Big_C, 100% so.

Earwicker · June 11, 2001, 16:51

Quote:

Originally posted by Ned
I think it does count.

With the Angels, I deliberately try to underinvest in labs and instead focus on infrastructure. You stay just behind in tech, but that is tolerable.

Ned

I am currently doing so (same game, just no SMAX this weekend) but it always makes me uncomfortable when techs like Air Power and MMI are in the running . . .

The upside of that is that I'm making pile of income, both from my own energy output and from probe teams picking the pockets of my enemies.

Ned · June 11, 2001, 17:33

Eawicker, To best use the Datalinks or Rose's abilities, you have to be slightly behind in tech. The only problem is if one if the other factions breaks into a comfortable lead. They then are in a position to grab all the SP's, which is undesirable.

If the one in the lead is you pact mate, they will most probably constantly give you technology, but not technology necessary to build an SP. But this is no real problem if you are only a short distance behind. All you have to do is conduct a short sprint - let's say 100% Labs, to catch up.

If the faction in the lead is an enemy, just steal the technology. Rose is great at probes.

It gets really dicey, however if the faction in the lead is a treaty partner and you don't want to piss them off by stealing technology from them. Here you could try stealing the technology and framing an enemy. It is risky. But to reduce the risk, increase your probe rating. Be sure you are in Fundy and are not in Knowledge.