It has happened to all of us. We go full-speed to get a tech so we can sell it to all the AIs and get rich, only to find that some AI is also researching the same tech, gets it before us, and sells it to everyone. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to predict what technology the AI will research next?
Well, after reading this post, you can at least have an idea of the AI priorities.
The AI places a value on each technology it can research next. The values depend on the various things allowed by each technology, as well as on the turns needed by that AI civ to complete the research. Here are the values:
SS Component: 261/turns
Government: 259/turns
Conscription: 259/turns
Mobilization: 259/turns
Defender (no resource): 198
Attacker (no resource): 134
Defender (resource reqd): 70
Naval Transport: 34
Resource: 16
Double Worker Speed: 8
Allows Diplomats: 8
MPPs: 8
ROPs: 8
Alliances: 8
Embargoes: 8
Trade Over Ocean: 8
Wonder: 6
Attacker (resource reqd): 6
Irrigation: 4
No Disease: 4
Trade Over Sea: 4
Bridges: 2
Double Wealth: 2
Map Trades: 2
Communications Trade: 2
Small Wonder: 2
Specialist: 2
Unit (no A/D/NT): 2
Improvement: 2
Recycling: 1
Prec. Bombing: 1
Worker Job: 1
Empty Tech Cost: 256/turns
Optional: divide by 1.5
These values are cumulative. For example, Iron Working allows swordsmen and iron, so it has a value of 22 more than if it were just an empty tech. Furthermore, for the Romans who build Legionaries (attacker and defender), Iron Working is worth an additional 70 points!
When playing the game, you don’t know exactly the value of each technology because you don’t know how many turns it would take the AI to complete it. However, you can often estimate that number based on your own research.
By the way, I got these results by stripping all technologies from their benefits, adding them back one by one, and assuming that the next technology that the science advisor suggests is the same as what the AI would do in my situation.