Is number of techs gained through invasion limited?

Nope, it's just random AFAIK.

I have seen the same thing. It's like the first few invasions get a tech every time, and then the next several don't get anything. If it were random, I wouldn't expect it to be so consistently stacked on the early end.

Maybe in the later invasions you're just running out of techs that you can get from that race. You can't steal anything if they have nothing to offer.

No, they certainly have something to offer. Refer to the OP.

In DL it does appear to be random. And you can get higher techs before
the supposedly necessary lower ones. You may bet industrial sector (or centers)
before factories or advanced factories.

Seems random to me. Must admit though I'm getting bit fed up of skipping a hole weapons branch to the end just because I got lucky when invading. It should be about time that Stardock implement that techs can not be stolen unless you have its prerequisite tech.

There's definitely some randomness to it, especially when you talk about WHICH tech gets stolen. But it seems like there's also other factors involved when determining WHETHER one gets stolen.

Anyway, if you manage to take a planet from a technologically superior race, I think you deserve the chance to steal their superior tech. I mean, if the U.S. got invaded by cavemen, they wouldn't have to learn how to build muskets from us before they learned how to build Thompson submachineguns. Just look at the Geico guy.

I feel that the only thing that ultimately matters is gameplay. There are ways to rationalise both sides, just because you have the knowledge of how to make something doesn't nessecarily mean you can. Skipping 80000 research points just because you capured 1 lousy planet is not good for the game.

Hi!

Signed.  

BR, Iztok

Hi!

And they'll proceed to build those Thompsons from stone and bone and horn.

BR, Iztok

Semi-random, is probably the correct term.

They seem more likely at the beginning of a war, and more likely the farther they are ahead of you in whatever branch.

The chance does seem to decrease as you conquer more planets. I think I've always gotten a tech on the 1st planet though.

I'm somewhat torn on the whole 'invade and steal doom ray when you've only researched lasers' thing...on the one hand it can totally change the outcome of a conflict, on the other hand you should be rewarded for being able to conquer a planet of a civ with a massive tech lead. Of course conquering an AI planet is generally pretty easy as they tend to defend poorly even on the higher levels.

Cheers

h

Hi!
To follow my previous post, I have another question regarding invasions.

I'm currently playing DA 1.58.78 patch (the latest before beta 1.6), suicidal medium game with fastest tech. I intended to use invasions to get tech, and designed my Torians this way. After invading exactly 21 planets I noticed something "scarry": the tech I've been getting has been only 1, 2 or 3 levels above of what I already had, despite Humans (my last target) had Anti-matter torpedos, and I had nothing in this branch. That's very different of what I've been gaining in previous games, where I "skiped" 10 or more levels of early techs. I even tried to reload game when invading the last non-defended planet (IIRC about 20 times) with no luck. What I've been gainig were strictly cheap non-military techs, with an exception of miniaturization lavel 3.

So here's my question for those of you that have the latest DA patch, or 1.6 beta:

What level of tech do you get when invading?

BR, Iztok

I'll look into it. To tell you the truth, I was really busy this weekend so I just played through a few 1.5x.whatever games, rather than trying to sink my teeth into the new stuff. I'll let you know what I find.

As far as techs gained through invasions previously, several things I noticed. If you know many many more techs than the AI, your chance of stealing seems to drop drastically. If you both have plenty of techs the other side doesn't know, or if the AI has a major tech advantage, then you seem to gain one almost every invasion. But usually the AI will end up with somewhere between 1-4 techs that are... unlikely for you to steal, but not impossible.

Another thing which IME really helps your odds with tech stealing is to take whichever world is set as the capital (the little crown symbol). I almost always under all circumstances get a tech when invading a capital. If I have transports set up around a few dozen worlds ready to invade, I will just "chase" the capital planet as it moves, so that I conquer a civs capital 20 times in a turn. This typically yields about 18+ techs, assuming the race I'm invading has that many that I don't already know.

I'll let you know my results from 1.6 testing.

I seem to observe that colonization techs aren't getting stolen. That includes Extreme Colonization. If anyone else has managed to do so in 1.58x, I stand corrected.

I've always felt that if you obtain a tech that's past where you've researched, you shouldn't be able to use it yet, but it should be easier to research the pre-req's. For example, you've researched Laser 5, and obtain phasor 3. You can't use phasor 3, but it should only take a fraction of the usual time to research phasor 1 and 2, since you have the technology of phasor 3 to help you along.

For me, it seemed like the first, oh, half-dozen conquests got techs, and generally the highest, most lucrative, available. It may be that you *only* get the higher ones for some reason. I went through, oh, ten successful conquered worlds with no tech gains, and still didn't receive Basic Radioactive Colonization (acquired the Advanced tech in one of the earliest battles.)

Looks like I stand corrected on the colonization techs. I just stole basic Radioactive Colonization last night.