Civ 4 Tech Tree

[Kodi]

http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/techtree/index2.php

Another one with the prerequisites mapped out.

[Ozymandous]

Sorry, I didn't mean "skip", I meant you could beeline to Gunpowder or such, bypassing other techs. You do only need 1 prerequisite though.

Hmm.. Not to doubt you but that still doesn't make any sense to me, that you'd only need one prereq, after all why even bother with the linkages if that was the case.

I'm probably wrong on this (I hope not because it greatly shorten's the discovery process, which is one of the most fun aspects, IMHO) but I'll wait till the game comes out to see, and hope it's modable if that is the case.

I find it hard to believe for example, that to discover railroads you need only steam powr -or- steel and not both, that makes zero logical sense when both should be be needed.

[Ozymandous]

http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/techtree/index2.php

Another one with the prerequisites mapped out.

Now are these the 'real' prerequisites, or the "I only have to choose one prereq" type tech tree? lol...

If all prereq's are required I wonder how much wailing and gnashing of teeth there will be from the younger, "I never played anything but civ3" crowd there will be?

[Jester]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't every civ game, civ 3 included, required you to learn all the prereqs to learn a technology?

I thought the whole idea of the civ 4 tree was to replace all the "and" symbols with "or" symbols in the prerequisites. That way, if you don't get horses (or whatever), you can just "go around" those techs, and get to more advanced military techs by another route.

-Jester

[Flint]

So im still a tiny bit confused about this. Are you guys saying that you only need 1 prerequisite for each tech or not? And if this is true then it looks like you can get to Fusion in 8 techs, but I am gonna guess that research costs are gonna make the beeline approach difficult if this is true. So what is the deal here?

[Sullla]

According to the Pre-Release Info (http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/info/#Techs) and what the devlopers have posted on the forums, a tech requires anything that appears in the top right corner as a prerequisite. If there are two techs there, they are both required. If there is more than one arrow pointing to a tech however, you only need to fulfill ONE of the arrows. That is, either one tech OR another tech is required if they are both arrowed.

Example: Pottery has The Wheel in the top-right corner of the picture. That means that The Wheel is a mandatory tech needed to research Pottery - no getting around that. However, Pottery has an arrow coming from both Fishing and Agriculture, so you need to research The Wheel and either Fishing OR Agriculture to get to Pottery. Confused yet?

Hopefully this will be easier to understand in practice.

[Sirian]

Example: Pottery has The Wheel in the top-right corner of the picture. That means that The Wheel is a mandatory tech needed to research Pottery - no getting around that. However, Pottery has an arrow coming from both Fishing and Agriculture, so you need to research The Wheel and either Fishing OR Agriculture to get to Pottery. Confused yet?

Hopefully this will be easier to understand in practice.

Aha! Much ado about nothing, then. 8)

- Sirian

[Jester]

I think this is the scheme, with examples from the tree. It is different from my previous conception because of the inclusion of some "hard" requirements that must be met, even if you have arrived at the tech from some other branch.

If there is only one white arrow leading to a tech, and no picture, then it has only one prerequisite. Mathematics needs writing, nothing more or less.

If there are multiple white arrows, and no picture, then you only need one prerequisite, not all of them. Monarchy needs priesthood or monotheism, but does not require not both.

If there is a white arrow and a picture, you need both as prerequisites. Compass needs sailing and Iron Working.

If there are multiple arrows and a picture, it is a little more complicated. You need the pictured tech, plus any of the white arrow techs, but not all of them. Code of laws requires writing for sure, and then one of either priesthood or currency.

Does this square with everyone's understanding?

Jester

[Sirian]

That sounds reasonable.

[Ozymandous]

I think this is the scheme, with examples from the tree. It is different from my previous conception because of the inclusion of some "hard" requirements that must be met, even if you have arrived at the tech from some other branch.

If there is only one white arrow leading to a tech, and no picture, then it has only one prerequisite. Mathematics needs writing, nothing more or less.

If there are multiple white arrows, and no picture, then you only need one prerequisite, not all of them. Monarchy needs priesthood or monotheism, but does not require not both.

If there is a white arrow and a picture, you need both as prerequisites. Compass needs sailing and Iron Working.

If there are multiple arrows and a picture, it is a little more complicated. You need the pictured tech, plus any of the white arrow techs, but not all of them. Code of laws requires writing for sure, and then one of either priesthood or currency.

Does this square with everyone's understanding?

Jester

Makes sense with what I've learend in the last few days yes.

Still seems to short circuit the tech tree a bit with making it easier and faster, but oh well, I guess the dev's figure people want to play with all the units more than work their way through the tree as a sign of accomplishment.

I'm just glad that at least one of the "link line" tech's are required as well. For a week or so I think most people assumed any "linked" tech's were entirely optional and the only required ones were the upper right icon types.