How does the AI out tech me all the time?

from GalCiv2 Forums
My settings small-med 9 intelligent AI's
Now we all start off with 1 star system (on a small) 1 lvl10planet + lvl 4planet.
I build a fleet and planet invasion and take over a neighbor or 2. I find out they have just as many or more ships, some that out tech me though, however with attacker initiative and straight attack ships (enough to outdo any defence maybe some starbases). After which i set only 2 planets to ship making, the rest research and money. and then set ALL, ALL my economy to research and reserch... i still do about 1/9 galaxy research when i should be doin at least 3/9 (considering i took 2 races) Not only that they all out tech me, (my tech being at 80 outta 100).

What do they do? pretty sure they dont trade weapons at least not with me. they cant spend their whole econ on reserach because they have large fleets too. All their planets upon takeover ALWAYS have the highest tech buildings which is absurd as those things are impossible build, advanced reserach costs 4000 bcs for upgrade? Especially when their planets all ahve stardocks and factories instead of research buildings... (they are not allied either)

How is the tech thing calculated? I usualy reserach my pre chosen weapon tech and engines to warp and ground troops soldering, then some social improvements.
4,303 views 5 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
They are trading technologies with each other. Fortunately, there should be an option in the 1.1 patch to turn off tech trading. Some people really like the feature, and others find it annoying or at worst game-breaking. You can trade techs yourself by clicking on the "speak to" button and then offering to trade techs, sell them, or buy them, etc.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
What HEEGZ said. The computers trade techs with each other. You can reverse this effect and stengthen yourself by trading for the tech first, and then selling it to everyone else.
Siege of Centauri
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
patch 1.1 preview says tech trading can be disabled.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Well for you rating of 80 out of 100 I got that last night when i was playing also. Then thing is the Rating is determined by quantity not quality. So if you specialize in High tech achievement while side stepping "unneeded" techs you will have a low tech rating...but you still might have the best technologies.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
First of all you probably aren't building enough research centers, teching up your research techs fast enough and not focusing single planets on pure research. And you probably aren't putting your research slider high enough. I run research slider 50%+ most of the entire game. Military around 4% to 5% unless I'm in a war (except in the very early game where I am colony racing). Society 40% to 46% or 33% when I'm really wanting to push ahead in the tech race. I always have a huge advantage over the AI in teching up right from the start. Your race choices at the beginning of the game are important also. I choose to make a custom race with +30% economy, +30+ military and +10% morale, and choosing to be industrialist with +20% social and +20% military. At +50% military this allows me to set low percentages to making ships and still have a nice speed of production. The +20% social also allows me to set the social setting lower so I can focus more of my total production to RESEARCH!! And the +30% to economy is very important, because money is the root of everything in the game.

Also getting out economic starbases as soon as you can near your research focused planets is very important, are you doing this? Most people just overlook economic starbases and that's why they fall behind. Also get those trade ships out there as quickly as you can also.

Also you are playing too many races on your map sizes. I've mentioned this before. Tiny is for 1-2 Ai players, Small is for 2-3 AI players, Medium is for 3-4 AI players, Large is for 4-6 AI players, Huge is for 6-7 AI players and Galactic is for 7-9 AI players.

And your star system setup should be "occassional planets", "abundant habitability", "common stars" and "scattered clusters". This makes for the best games for me.