Game is broke until they give you the option to disable shared research

Trade techs with them, that's what they do among each other. Once you get the hang of it, it's almost too easy to be the first technological power (even without research bonuses).
The next version will offer an option to disable tech trading for everyone, by the way.

I have no problems staying ahead in techs at the highest difficulties. Please refrain from calling the game "broke" when it's your own lack of skill at fault.

I'm playing on bright, have not been involved in heavy tech trading and I am leaps and bounds ahead of AI. I think your lack of a good strategy is at fault here and not the game. Maybe tune down the difficulty a notch?

Ive been playing on tough (intelligent) in gigantic galaxies with 9 other races and have no problem at all being first in tech, by a long shot... Either your 'broke', or you should learn to play the game

well, it all depends, some games, the AI gets WAY ahead very quickly, almost unrealistically quickly and some games, they are so slow its boring.

The Game is fine. I always play in intelligent, and frankly trash the AI on technology, even if my military lacks a bit because of this. As said before, the game isn't broke, you just aren't good enough. Don't blame the game, the AI is meant to tech trade. It's programmed to not know the difference between the other AI and you. If you cant keep ahead, that's your fault for not having a good enough strategy. Don't spam the forum.

I never see that happening. Then again I put way more into research than I bet you are doing.

Just because you can't keep up, it doesn't make the game broken. The AI is playing by the exact same rules as you are.

speak to them, and check their resources. they could be trading money for tech. if they have squandered their money in trade for tech, then you know what's up. they will also flatline income wise. something to keep in mind is that the AI optimizes, and it DOESNT GET TIRED. it doesnt cut corners or forget things, so dont forget things either! you need to maximize your play ability each and every single turn. if something was unbought, or unproduced, that could have been, then you are already behind the AI.

Well, i don't think the game is broken, but i don't think the AI follow the same rules because when i first start 'Planetary Invasion takes like 20+ turns to research and the AI have it in less then 10 turns....so i think they have an accelerated research.

As the others have said, it is working as intended. The 1.1 patch will give you the option of turning tech trading off if you wish.

Tony

Jamie, the AI follows the exact same rules. Some AI have slight research bonuses (Altarians) but not many. Build research worlds, focus them on research, and set spending to at least 60%, and then become a tech whore. They fall so far behind that I've had space marines before they got planetary invasion.

Just an aside, but is it possible the same person is coming up with different names in order to post that the game is "broke" or something needs to be "fixed"? And by the way, didn't this post originate well AFTER it was announced that the requested feature was going to be in the next update that's in the works?

Yah, I love that 7 to 1 advantage.

(Edit: That was to the post two posts up.)

I can't believe people are using the phrase 'working as intended' in a non-humourous way. It should be limited to describing Blizzard doublethink.

I cant trade research, nearly everyone is at war with me, not sure why. I am evil though maybe that has something to do with it. If they arent at war they are weary, plus this are friendly with each other and probably coordinate their research to research different things then trade it.

Can I ask what you guys do when you have a class 4 or 5 planet, is that a good choice to build all research buildings?

tech seems like the easiest thing in the whole game to become the powerhouse of, if anything ide say it's too easy to get ahead in tech

Maybe the AI is optimizing its sliders better and that is why its getting planetary invasion in 10 turns? Unless you are playing the game at the extreme difficulty levels then the AI does not cheat. It's really the main "selling point" of Galactic Civilizations II. Y'know, the non-cheating excellent AI. Just because you are incapable of keeping up with it, it does not mean it is cheating.

Im kicking the AI's arses on (whats two difficulty settings above tough?) quite happily and im ready o put it up another notch. Once you know exaclty how everything works, its quite easy to make the best descisions 100% of the time.

Please guys, commenting on the posters skill or lack thereof isn't constructive in any way. I believe he has a point, altough he jumps to conclusions calling the game broke.

It has been my experience that in the early game the other civs have a tech edge aquired trough trading, this edge usually diminished later on depending on your playing style. But it is also in the beginning that it tech is very important (consider for instance speed upgrades).

I would like to see some real effort in fine tuning the tech trades, instead of the draconian binary solution. Surely it must be possible to tweak the rate at which tech is traded, add preliminaries before trading certain tech instead of everything indiscriminatly, etc.

To disable the tech trade, announced in 1.1, is a nice option to have, but at the core it doesn't solve this 'issue' for those (like me) who like trading.

Cheers!

I often have a similar problem. I play Humans and often find that the other races have more powerful economies and research than I do. I don't know why. I am normally forced to pick "Federalists" (economy bonus) as my political party so that I am not running out of cash.

Even if I "play turtle" and allocate most of my spending to research, the AI opponents always have better tech than me. I am playing on the "Normal" mode of difficulty. I often find that, particularly the Dregin, attack me with advanced ships and fleets... when I've been busting my guts to make my military technology ti-tech and am behind the Dregin.

What am I doing wrong? Here is how I lay out Earth (Class 10):
- Colony Capital x 1
- Basic Factory x 4
- Market x 1
- Farm x 1
- Entertainment x 1
- Farm x 1
- Research Lab x 1
- Starport x 1

Then for Mars (Class 3) I do the following:
- Initial Colony x 1
- Basic Factory x 1
- Entertainment x 1
- Starport x 1

I will then try to build up my economy by researching trade, improved industry & economy as well as better research labs. By time I make any sort of headway in these areas, the AI opponents have build fleets and are duking it out with each other. All I can do is sit there, hope no one attacks me and that when they finally DO attack me, I'll have enough decent military tech to start building ships to provide a defense.

Also, I find that cash is definitely not my friend. I never have more than 2000 BC in my treasury, and that's when I've got 5 trade routes (which no one is attacking). When this happens, I can only use the cash to buy maybe a constructor or a cheap heavy fighter. Meanwhile, the AI is zooming around the galaxy with scores and scores of fleets. Why is their economy so damn strong?

Help, advice, please.

I'm currently playing against 9 enemies, huge galaxy, intelligent, have 0% in research and am rated 3rd in technology. I have good diplomacy and a good economy so I don't even need to build labs. It's all factories, and economy for me this game. An all factory world that focuses on research can put out decent research numbers, and still have massive production. It gets me the weapon techs I need, and I can way outproduce anyone else in galaxy.

Maybe you should play at an easier level until you get the hang of it.

Sounds to me like you aren't colonizing any worlds or building any starbases. You need to expand quickly in the early game (the "land grab" phase) to claim valuable resources and to deny them to your enemies and rivals. You must also explore and colonize planets for the same reason. Turtling up on just two worlds is definitely not an option.

I agree, MoAus, maybe your not getting enough colonies. The colony rush is the most important part of the game. I wouldn't even bother with a planet like Mars till all the good planets have been colonized. Even then I doubt class 3 and 4 worlds are of any benefit early in the game. They start out costing a lot more than they'll produce for a long time, of course it is annoying to have a potential enemy colony in the same system. So if you do grab it, do it last as a convenience not as an economic benefit.

well, it all depends, some games, the AI gets WAY ahead very quickly, almost unrealistically quickly and some games, they are so slow its boring.

Thats true I was playing on Normal and the Iconians had Disruptors 3 (which they would not give to me) and the highest thing everyone else had was Phasors 4 (me with phasors 2)

Im pretty much at a loss too. I think I am playing fairly well with what I have, I colonize early and survive the cash burn of the early game. I have some good planets but I am way behind on tech, and the civs always start to declare war on me because Im weak. They have already invaded a couple of my planets and I havent even built a ship with weapons on it yet. Diplomacy tends to be negative