Civ4: A painfully mediocre game.

[poocolator]

Tech research in general has always bugged me in strategy games... isn't there any way to implement tech 'leakage' or knowledge sharing across borders? I'm sure that the Ottoman Empire (or whatever) didn't have to re-invent the steam engine from scratch just to build a railroad across the country. It makes more sense to be reticent with technologies in the modern world, but not so much in earlier ages, methinks. The earlier back you go the easier it should be for techs to slip from your greasy fingers.

 

[JrK]

The Alphabet.

 

[someone else]

Techs costs less with time and the more civs have them.

 

[AzraelCC]

I think that the lessening of research costs as more civilizations discover a technology works to an extent, but there could be more ways to "spread" technologies without resorting to tech theft after conquering a city. After all, the lack of this option was a conscious choice to lessen the advantage of playing purely in a military fashion. Perhaps civilizations next to you with techs you haven't discovered will lessen the costs of the said technologies even more.

The AI is quite good in beyond the sword; in fact, it could be too good. The whole diplomatic modifiers which should prevent civs from just declaring war gets thrown out the window when somebody gets the apostolic palace and uses it to declare war on heathens--usually you.

 

[Panthera]

There's a difference between ideas and technology. Ideas spread easily. Technology takes money.

 

[someone else]

Tech spreading is simulated through city trade routes(abstraction, Civ 4 has lots of it). I suppose it can be directly implemented:

Trade with civ that has unresearched tech gives more beakers. Maybe you get an earlier turn research completed.

 

[poocolator]

There's a difference between ideas and technology. Ideas spread easily. Technology takes money.

Well said. Now how does this reflect in CIV 4 or any other like startegy game?

Tech spreading is simulated through city trade routes(abstraction, Civ 4 has lots of it). I suppose it can be directly implemented:

Trade with civ that has unresearched tech gives more beakers. Maybe you get an earlier turn research completed.

They could have done something where neighboring (or relatively close) friendly states complete a portion of the research for you once they complete it themselves, so that when you start researching that particular tech, you do so at 25% (or something thereabout) completion. CIV 4 has an awesome modding capability, so I don't doubt that it's been done or could easily be implemented by experienced modders.

The trade routes idea is awesome and realistic IMO, and connecting roads would really help to bolster exchange of ideas/tech.

 

[NOVD]

I would have liked to see bonuses for particular religions. I understand that it was a deliberate decision not to include those. Giving Christianity a "-5% for science/+5% production" is probably a bad idea. Still, it would have been more fun. And I guess maybe part of my issue with Civ IV is that it's historically based. There are a lot of potentially fun mechanics, like modular units or religion bonuses, that make sense in a nonhistorical 4X but don't work so well in an historically based one.

I have fonder memories of Civ II than I have of Civ IV. But Civ IV is probably the best Civ. Civ III was not much of a step forward for the series, and it may have even been a step back. Civ IV changed up the formula, and I thought most of the changes were nice.

 

[poocolator]

Yeah it would have been cool to have been able to develop your new religion from scratch, once you researched a religion-spawning tech. You get to write a little description, set some perks, and choose the religion symbol/colour or one of your own designed before-hand. They could have done this with corporations, too; actually I had expected them to have when I bought the expansion, and was somewhat disappointed to see that we can only choose from corporations with "Sid" in the title relating in one way or another to Sid "DOUCHEBAG" Meier, or whatever his name is.