How do you get ahead in tech on regent???

[Kizami]

How do you get ahead in tech on regent??? Its seems so hard. The a.i. is about 10 techs ahead of me...

[civman2000]

ouch...how many times have you played on regent and what is your strategy?

[Saint Marcus]

trade

I hardly ever research anything. I usually keep my tech on 10%, so I at least research some techs from time to time, and the rest of the money I use to buy techs from the AI.

[Nym]

Trading techs. Here is the key concept for me. With such a principe you can :

• get techs you do not have without losing time to research them,
• get a lot of money to support your own research.

For example I'm currently playing on a huge map with 16 civs. I'm clearly the tech leader. I'm spending 100% of my commerce incomes to research (and can so discover a new tech every 5-6 turns) and still earn about 250 to 500 gold each turn . And I'm about to complete the Theory of Evolution.

[Cookie Monster]

Trading is the way to go until maybe around the end of the middle ages. Eventually you should have all the libraries and universities in place to discover techs yourself every 8-12 turns. Whatever you do don't stop trading for techs whenever you get a chance.

[Herr David]

And if you get a research that the AIs don't have yet, don't be shy to trade it immediately. Odds are another AI will get it a few turns later and sell it to everyone. He'll earn the cash (and goodies) that you could have earnt!

[G.Tades]

Fire up standard continents, 5 billion normal climate, roaming barbs. Cntl-Shift-Q until you start on a river with grasslands-plains. Any civ will do but the Greeks and English, industrious and religious Egyptians are a gimme. Leave the tax slider alone and start researching The Wheel, before bee-lining for Literature and the GL.
Avoid the temptation of the early ''Don't restart eliminated players'' rush - it works like a charm on Regent, rewarding you with a conquered totally corrupted enemy capital and a pair of slaves in exchange of a trading partner, two core cities and 30 turns worth of exploring. Warrior x 3 - settler, warrior x 2, settler. At this point you should have about 4 to 5 cities closely built around your capital and a fairly good idea about your whereabouts and neighboors. Switch to a Temple - provided you have popped/traded for CB - and then begin pre-building the GL via the Pyramids. Assuming 1 luxury and a full garrison, a 12 shield 6-size city is a lock if you start around 1800-1700 BC. At roughly the same time or a bit later, start building the Collossus on a coastal town closest to your capital. At 8 shields a turn at size 6 you'll snag it unless a commercial civ has a capital by the sea and misses on the Pyramids - the AI guns for the GA triggering wonder. Continue expanding aggressively towards chokepoints, resources and other civs, in that order. In 1.21F the AI has been vastly improved in optimizing its core cities spacewise, so on Regent you'll easily outexpand it. Max out at 10-14 cities. Don't be afraid of overlapping, especially when hemming in a rival. Three settlers worth 90 shields close out a gap much faster and cheaper than two settlers and two temples worth 180. Build chariots over spearmen whenever practicable and train them on barbs. You'll get a vet equastrian army upgradable all the way to cavalry on the cheap while mapping out your continent first.
While the wonders are build, ponder geography; unless you've really lucked out on your capital, start building the FP on the most centrally located core city available, always taking in mind the direction of your future expansion. At less than the shields' cost of a Barracks-Library-Marketplace combo worth +3 gold for a single town, you'll gain +15% - 20% on empire production by the beginning of the Middle Ages, absolutely vital when you switch to Republic. Once you have discovered Literature, switch production in your capital and reserach MapMaking, Maths, Curency and Construction. Don't accept techs when trading unless the AI has one in your bee-line; gold only, even for a token price - you're not after money, just techs you'll get on the cheap and you want your rivals on max science. Roughly 6-8 turns before both your wonders are complete, normally around 500-300 BC, switch all available costal town to producing galleys. You'll need six of them to be on the safe on a standard map, ready to boldly cross the ocean to make contact with the other civs the turn the GL is complete - i'd poprush those galleys over anything else on regent, they are that important. Have them ready at the the tip of your continent likeliest to be closest to the other civs homeland according to the minimap on the turn the GL is complete. Do NOT lower your science rate - you're after a tech lead, right? Push ahead with all your fleet. On standard 70% land it's 3 turns on ocean-sea max before you hit land, so'll you make it easily. Sell the new found civs techs and maps for money, do NOT trade communications - or even maps, if there are less than 3 sea tiles separating the landmasses. All Ancient techs you've skipped are filled, research the Republic, stage a revolution, welcome to a budget deficit and the Middle Ages - you gain Polytheism about the same time you lose your whip.
Engineering - Invention (you'll gain Feudalism) - Printing Press (if you have gained Theology, if not leave it for after) - Chemistry. Build Marketplaces - Cathedrals in your core cities, Libraries - Barracks around the second tier, skip colloseums all together if you can gain/trade for a second luxury, rush buy granaries for your core and the occasional courthouse if you can afford it and aggresively pre-build fot the Holly Trinity of MA Wonders - Sistine, Leo, Smith's. You'll need a 15 turns jumpstart for the chappel - so start on that Palace while still in the Ancient era - 25 for the Workshop and Smith's had better be pre-build or you risk a Bach's rollover - it's doable, even if you have to build up a city pop with a work or two. Broker tech around freeely. Locate and milk the Player civ without mercy - you can't miss him, it's the guy with the non-overlapping 14 city monster core who can afford 47 g.p.t. for Chemistry Watch out for that bad boy and don't let him expand once the Industrial Era kicks in even at the risk of war, else he's in for the long run. The choises are yours for the taking. Build up and upgrade your military appropriately and make a kill - or two - in your continent, prefferably upgrading to knights after Leo for ''only'' 50 g. a chariot. You should target 20-25 cities, a good 2/3 of them 75% or more productive, easily achievable with a leader rushed Palace, and a minimum of 4 luxuries for the end of Middle Ages. Time your GA for the end of the era if possible - 4 turn techs on 30% research can net you an effortless 400 g.p.t surpluss, something you'd dearly miss if you were to build the Collossus as a Greek or Englishman Switch to demo preferably before your second conquest; 10+ city gains between governments prolongue anarchy to nearly unacceptable levels. Save Mettalurgy for last and build dirt cheap catapults by the dozens in preparation for your industrial wars. Prebuild factories with colloseums. Trade for that 5th luxury at whatever extortionist price and enjoy WLT_D and -10% corruption for the pre-hospital era. Hit the border 4 size, 6-silk jungle town while the AI is in anarchy for the moderate safety-first price of 2.768 gold. Conquer, rule, exploit, outlearn. Have fun; try Cleo and a HooverDam GA - if the rest of the industrial era tech tree plus 14000 gold in 20 turns won't snag you a tech lead, nothing will!

Cheers,
George

[Allemand]

Or you could just play an expansionist civ. By the end of the first era, you'll be far ahead in tech.

[Nym]

Originally posted by Allemand
Or you could just play an expansionist civ. By the end of the first era, you'll be far ahead in tech.

If you are lucky enough not to start on an island or tiny continent

[MiloMilo]

If you're playing on 1.21f, turn down the AI tech trading values.

If you're playing on 1.17f, well, forget it. I've heard it's bad to the point of unplayability.

You're probably not playing on 1.16f. I still am however, and on regent I have just lately been able to command a tech lead. Whatever levels the trading is at now are good, and when I step up to 1.21 I want to set them the same.

I refuse to set either tax or science to 100% - a game that needs this is broken in my mind. I liked how in SMAC each shift away from 50% caused some inefficiency.

[Cookie Monster]

Originally posted by MiloMilo
I refuse to set either tax or science to 100% - a game that needs this is broken in my mind. I liked how in SMAC each shift away from 50% caused some inefficiency.

Good observation!

SMAC was and still is an awesome game, Firaxis at it's finest. Civ3 OTOH is something else. I've been preaching for a long time about having to set science to 100% = game is broken. Some people don't understand this. I've learned to just go with the flow but continue my silent protest at some of Civ3's disappointments.

[punkbass2000]

Science at 100%? Really? I typically set it to 0 or 10%.

[Herr David]

But the graphics in SMAC were ugly as hell. And the units looked retarded... not that I'm a graphics enthusiast, but the smooth looks of Civ3 make up for a few of its other shortcomings.
If only there was a way to breed Civ3 and SMAC... what a game that would become!

[Cookie Monster]

Originally posted by Herr David
If only there was a way to breed Civ3 and SMAC... what a game that would become!

Now that would be awesome!

[Kizami]

Hey is there any way you can get 2 seperate powers to stop fighting each other??? It's really hurting my tech accumaltion...

[Cookie Monster]

Originally posted by Kizami
Hey is there any way you can get 2 seperate powers to stop fighting each other??? It's really hurting my tech accumaltion...

Civ3, unlike the CTP series, does not give you the option to ask one power to stop it's war against another power.

[duxup]

I was recently having problems on the regent level myself. I just won my first game at regent. Here are my tips:

1. Go to war. In the past I was not a big fan of early wars, but I have learned they are necessary at the regent level. Kick some butt early, often, and thoroughly. When at war feel free to build more units than you can natrualy support, the computer will do it, and if you don't you might be in for a suprise when tiny country X has boat loads more units than you expected.

2. Always have a strong military in peactime. It is good to have at least as many units as you can have before they start costing you extra gold. The computer at regent level will attack when they sence your military is weak, no matter how big you are. This rule is especially true if your culture is high or you are at war with another nation.

3. Trade. Trade as much as possible. Trade = a better relationship with other civs. At regent the computer often will start by being annoied, trade is the best way to improve that relationship.

4. Trade for techs. The comptuer will trade for techs like crazy, and unless you are a huge nation, you will not be able to keep up on your own unless you trade for those techs.

[Cort Haus]

Originally posted by duxup
wars ... I have learned they are necessary at the regent level.

Wars are not usually required at Regent. I've won about four Regent games in a row without firing a shot. Aggressive war is only needed on Emp & Dei. Monarch can be won without conquest, though a defensive war may be required.

With a good land grab (including overseas colonies), strong military & decent culture, regent's a doddle - no war required. Generally, conquest makes all Civ games easy to win, and once that gets boring, it's more challenging IMO to seek alternative strats.

If an early rush takes over a rival - with a FP from a leader - it's basically game over.

[Nym]

Originally posted by Cort Haus
Wars are not usually required at Regent.

I agree. In my current game (Regent level), my first war happened in Industrial Age, due to MPP (Persia attacked France, with which I had MPP).

[MiloMilo]

Originally posted by punkbass2000
Science at 100%? Really? I typically set it to 0 or 10%.

You're missing the point man. You shouldn't have to set tech OR tax to 0% OR 100%. I tend to play as a builder, and I feel the game should reward the player for trying balance things - making some money, staying competitive w/ science, keeping people happy, etc.

I'm playing on Regent now, and am managing to stay from 1st to 3rd in tech, money, military power. Generally I have tax at 30-50% and science at 50-70%. My monarchy stays competitive (republic shmepublic, who needs representation?), but it irks me that I might be better off by abandoning this approach. There should be a penalty for dismissing moderation.

[MiloMilo]

Originally posted by Haupt. Dietrich
Civ3, unlike the CTP series, does not give you the option to ask one power to stop it's war against another power.

Ya, and this sux. I really love civ3, I think the new integrated trade and diplomacy make it amazing. But this is one of my very few big gripes. You could do this in SMAC; in RL we do this all the time. Maybe the warmongering civ could display what they want from the defensive in exchange for peace, and the player could have the option of paying some of the price for the other civ. Or something like that. It would be difficult to do really well, but I'd rather have a primitive option a la SMAC than no option at all.

[Ironwood]

Originally posted by MiloMilo


Ya, and this sux. I really love civ3, I think the new integrated trade and diplomacy make it amazing. But this is one of my very few big gripes. You could do this in SMAC; in RL we do this all the time. Maybe the warmongering civ could display what they want from the defensive in exchange for peace, and the player could have the option of paying some of the price for the other civ. Or something like that. It would be difficult to do really well, but I'd rather have a primitive option a la SMAC than no option at all.

The reason I support the lack of this feature in Civ3 is the lack of an answer to this challenge:

Name one, just ONE, incident in actualy history, where two powers ceased fighting for a period of time measurable in Civ3 turns due to the neutral intervention of a third power.

Note that it must actually be the CESSATION of fighting already begun, not simply the prevention of a potential war through third party intervention (like the almost peaceful coexistance of Russia and Austria-Hungary in the Balkans due to the moderating influence of Bismark's Germany).

[Cookie Monster]

June 11, 1967. The UN, a third party, brokered a cease fire and an end to the war between Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Syria.

[Nym]

Originally posted by Haupt. Dietrich
June 11, 1967. The UN, a third party, brokered a cease fire and an end to the war between Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Syria.

Here is an idea to improve the UN great wonder : be able to stop a conflict between civs.

[Cookie Monster]

Originally posted by Nym


Here is an idea to improve the UN great wonder : be able to stop a conflict between civs.

Agreed

The civ who builds the UN great wonder would obviously be the one who could initiate cease fires. Perhaps other civs could be allowed to vote for specific actions as well. Just a thought.

[Kizami]

That would be great Also it would be cool if when you voted for leader at the UN you could see the other leaders kind of like the planetary council in SMAC...

[Ethelred]

Originally posted by Ironwood
Name one, just ONE, incident in actualy history, where two powers ceased fighting for a period of time measurable in Civ3 turns due to the neutral intervention of a third power.

The war between Japan and Russia. Teddy Roosevelt got a Noble Prize for brokering the peace.

[hallumj]

I'm now playing my second game on regent, and my first on a huge pangaea map. In my first game, I got whacked hard by not being diplomatic enough after a good start, and the first and third civs whaled on little old me (#2), and I bailed on the game in the 1000's.

This current game has been very exciting, especially because of the bad field position I had to start the game. I started directly in the middle of the longest and widest part of the continent, with only about a 20x5 wide swath of grassland, with no rivers at all, except for a stretch on on the other side of a desert, about 25 squares to the SE. I'm surrounded by Jungle to the north and west, Desert from the SW and SE, and Mountains to the S. Up for a challenge, I've been playing out the game, despite picking a civ not suited for the task (Japs). I've been playing a builder game, and I've spent most of the game about 6-10 techs behind the AI players. Early on, I was able to make the connection to the river I mentioned earlier, and I've been playing catch up ever since. Despite the tech disad, I've been in 2nd or 3rd place for much of the game. Thanks to the cheapness of the religious imps, I've been able to amass a very large culture lead. I assimilated about a half dozen cities of the Roman Empire due to culture.

Recently, the Americans, number 1, and my MPP partners (kept away the Romans and the Chineese) flexed their muscles. They used the ROP to move their armies across the continent through my lands to the Iriquois, who are #2, but only technologically equal with me. They have the largest land mass, chock full of tundra and mountains. Feeling a need to enter a GA, I wait for the cavalry to start the war, and then I jumped in. Unfortunately, their infantry was only halfway across, and then the Iriquois got the English to jump in on their side (who are the neighbors of myself and the Americans). I pulled in the Russians (the neighbors of the English, and #5), and the world war was on. The Americans, the stupid gits, fled back home after the English started taking their cities. So it was me versus the Iriquois. I started a GA right away with the first attack of a samurai on a Mounted warrior, and I prosecuted the war as best I could, but I could only take one City (though it did have Gunpowder (which I have), and Incense). The war stalemated, and we stopped after about 8 turns. The war up north also stalemated, though I can't tell without some Intel. Soon after I treatied with the Iriquois, the Chinese, my neighbors to the east, and the French to the east of them declared on the side of the Iriquois, and they have started to work on the Iriquois from the east. The Iriquois are about as technologically advanced as I am. I'm about ready to dive in again, since I'm still theoretically at war with the English. I'm going to build hospitals, and then reprosecute the war. I have definite goals, and they only have one source of gunpowder right on the border that should be pretty easy to cut. Woo! War!

Sometimes the games where you come from behind to do well are the most fun!

[Nym]

Originally posted by hallumj
Sometimes the games where you come from behind to do well are the most fun!

Greater is the challenge !

[hallumj]

So, my War with Iriquois is over. I took a half dozen Iriquois cities, and now sit with two cities with ocean front property! The Romans to my west did me a big favor, and punched out the gunpowder to the west, leaving the Iriquois high and dry. They are still prosecuting the war, taking cities in the interior of the Iriquois lands. I'm taking the time to consolidate my holdings, and build Culture buildings in my new cities. I want to culturally assimilate the Roman Cities, as well as the other newly assimilated cities in the former Iriquois empire. I'm not sure how it will work, so any advice will be appreciated. Heck, I'm at home now, so here's my latest save file. Lets see if I can go this.