: What is the use of trading technologies if you still have to research them?
1) research cost is halved
2) don't need prerequisites
3) the cost of research is increased less, which means that all advances for the rest of the game become cheaper.
The third benefit means that against intelligent opponents, you can't survive without trading techs for much of the game. This makes a capitalAI-like strategy theoretically unsound, since the other nations can trade among each other to catch up and keep research costs relatively low. In the end, a player who goes for overwheming tech leads against smart opponents will find himself with an empire that is too small, his scientific lead gone, and a research cost that is higher than those of other nations.
But of course against dumb AIs you can still destroy them all. And if you have the Temple of Zeus and/or Great Library you can try to conquer the world without falling too behind in tech.
Posted 25-Jun-08 13:15 by worlddomination