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Join Date 04/2006

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Best Tech Research Order?

I have been playing and "thought" I had a winning strategy but as I get in higher lvl difficulty settings I have discovered the Ai counters that. I used to get the translator first and then go for trade and work on influence and diplomacy and trade and then wheh I was absorbing the galaxy with Influence and talking races into insanely unfair tech trades I would used my massive income to build large ships and mow down any would be foes.

On the higher lvls the AI see's me as militarily weak so they attack me which totally screws up my game. I can see at even higher lvls that will cause me to lose as it did 1 game already. Whats the best order to research tech and whats the best way to prevent a military attack due to appearing weak in military in the early stages of the game?

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It is better to have no military at all, versus a small, weak military force.

I always go for the research centers first, then the research acadamies, then the Xeno Econ and Industry theories, then the Xeno Ethics so I can get the Neutrality Learning Centers.

Once the NLC's are in place the other researches go twice as fast.

It is usually quite a while before I am attacked. And I usually just pretty much ignore the aliens. If they come and ask for a trade I give it, unless it is money for nothing - well, protection is what they call it, or helping them police the galaxy lol.
By the time they do get around to attacking me, my infrastructure is pretty much in place and I have researched the weapons and defenses I need to counter what they have been building all along. One of them will declare war, I will look at their latest ships and fleets, go into the ship builder and design my ship. Then I buy two or three ships that can eat their fleets for breakfast and still have room for desert. Desert being, the advanced shock troops that I send in with the main ships.

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My problem is early in the game some race like the Yor will ask for a high lvl tech and like 2000 bc for nothing. I reject it and next turn they declare war on me.

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I don't tend to have a specific research order. In 1.0X i liked to research up to impulse drives quickly so that I could out colonize the AI. I'd sacrifice a colony module and stick 2 or 3 impulse engines on a colony ship that can take planets the AI would ordinarily get to first.

In 1.1 that gets too expensive, so I've been rethinking my strategy. I will usually go for research techs and economics early on, start getting a couple starbases, usually an econ and a military in my home sector. Depending on what race I am and what bonuses I might invest in some diplomacy to keep myself out of a war.

once I can research through the first 4 weapon techs in a handful of turns I'll do military techs and start producing ships. Along the way I interject whatever I feel is necessary to give me an edge. You usually have to research trade, unless someone will give it to you cheap. If you don't have an econ capital you're usually screwed at high AI levels.

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An easy fix.. Just get laser V, stick on on a tiny ship and pump them out of a few factorys it will cut into your income but you wont be getting mobbed by ravenous AI unless they have some massive tech edge and are using phasors while you use lasers... Really its pretty easy to scare the AI into thinking your a massive military monster the ship you make as your new "defender" doesnt need engines.. just firepower

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Well its hard to say a perfect build order due to nature of randomness (unless you play the same scenario LOL but anyways )

Don't be weak or be percieved as weak. You can't ignore your military. Strengthen your defenses. Focus-ing a bit less on your peaceful strat to beef up your defenses is a good thing.

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It depends a lot on the game parameters, especially galaxy size, difficulty, and if tech trading is enabled. If there are only a few planets you can grab, you may not need any engine techs for the colony rush (especially if your race has Ion Drive); if tech trading's off, diplomacy is relatively less important and military techs more important (because you can't just trade for these when you need them).

It's hard to tell the best order, but for the games I've played lately (small, 9 players, masochistic, tech trading off) I tend to go with Sensors and Impulse Drive first (one good anomaly and these pay for themselves), then techs like Xeno Engineering, Planetary Improvements, Xeno Research, Research Centers, Xeno Industrial Theory, and Xeno Economics. Also, I buy a Research Center and Colony ship the first round and pump my research slider to 100% (as long as you have one planet and are buying ships (or buildings), it pays to set your military (or social) slider to zero). Second round, I buy a factory.

As for what to do after those techs... well, it's going to vary from game to game.

As for not being perceived as militarily weak early in the game, one upgraded miilitary base covering your most vulnerable planets and a handful or two of 1-1 or 2-1 fighters early in the game make a cheap and effective deterrent. I *think* the index of military strength as computed by the AI includes starbase bonuses, so each 1-1 tiny hull that gets pumped up to 3-4 from a starbase is now a few times more intidating to the AI, and all that for a few constructors.

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Balance balance balance... hey did I mention you want to balance things?

Seriously there isn't a *magic bullet* here in terms of what you should research. The advice I generally give and follow myself is more of a *what does my empire need NOW?* approach. That is if I'm lacking in industry I research factories. Lacking research then I go for lab upgrades. Beyond the 1 laser and 1 defense tech just to have little 1/1 ships defending my colonies I don't worry about military until my economy is running.

Keep in mind that the AI is in the same tech boat as you. It's not going to be building mondo attack ships right from the start. So minimal defenses can keep you from being seen as *too weak to live*.

Money is everything in this game. If you have a stable economy you can go from zero military to fully mobilized fleets in a few short turns. Also this keeps you from having to worry about old out dated designs. I rarely if ever build offensive ships unless a war has been declared. Then I just crank out whatever my best weapons, defense, and engines allow me to. Sure I may lose one or two out lying colonies to the aggressive AI but for the most part I've been able to rebound quickly enough that it's no big deal.

Oddly enough my last few games have been won without ever firing a single shot which is why I've started to go up the diff levels. 0 ships destory, 0 ships lost, 0 soldiers lost and 80% - 90% of the galaxy mine through cultural takeover. And generally throughout this I've had the number 1 or 2 military.

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As has been mentioned, there is really no perfect order for tech research. IT is very dependant on what your starting situation looks like. There are a few things I tend to consider important though.

First, I tend to go after the government techs before the diplomacy techs. The govt tech will get you some diplomacy bonus, and the improvement to industry and economy is a good thing to have.

I tend to hold off on building any ships until I have impulse engines, and 2 levels of miniturization. If I intend to go on the attack early, this is a priority. Engines are hugely important. The sooner your attack force can arrive, the less your opponent may be built up. The AI does not handle being rushed very well. And if you can seize their home world, it will pretty much put them out of the game.

I do NOT get industry or econ techs too early since I like to be able to have a reasonable chance at buying a few factories early.

If I want to do tech trade, I will go after diplomacy and trade early. But if I am near another civ that I suspect may become hostile to me, I will go screaming down the invasion tech early, and get at least mass drivers. While its nice to capture worlds intact, I dont mind taking a hit on planet quality if it means fewer hostile neighbors early. If good worlds are going to be hard to come by, then its an even better idea to pursue invasion tech early.

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I do NOT get industry or econ techs too early since I like to be able to have a reasonable chance at buying a few factories early.

Industry has the unfortunate advantage of giving you some pretty important starbase upgrades as well as just factories.

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