[.92][Suggestion][Gameplay] Remove tech trading or provide an option to remove it

Yes I think the way Civ5 is going to do it is much better then either favouring the AI or the human in whole tech trades.  Frogboy, what do you think of the above post?

Best regards,
Steven. 

op has a point.  Good idea with the research treaties as well, instead of trading techs trade research points.  The only difference in oppinion I have is that the research treaty "income" (probably measured in research points) is that it shuold be tied to the lowest research producing empire, not the other way round.  Better yet, use the perception system that is already in place in deiplomacy to work out the value of "research points" traded to each party.  That way, the system rewards the diplomacy teams by giving them more RP from research treaties, just like they get more from other trades.

In Civ 4 I loved the option to remove tech trading as it always seemed the computer always went ahead of me in tech because it would trade with others AI and leaving me nothing to trade for.

In a later patch they added an even better option, "No technology Brokering". This option restricted trading only the technologies you researched yourself (same for the AI), instead of being able to trade for a technology and then use that newly traded tech to gain other ones from different civilizations. After they added that I usually played with that option checked and "No tech trading" unchecked.

I strongly agree with an option for removing tech trading...  this is very important for many games and equally important for Elemental: WOM.

The big issue with tech trading is always the AI, if all of the AI's start trading tech between themselves then the player doesn't have a chance. I say make it an option, so players can decide from themselves once the game is released.

need to keep it in some form that's fair and balanced stardocks AI doesn't cheat unless you want it to.

Actually techtrading in Elemetal is a bit strange, because of the fact, that techs themselves do not have fixed prices, but depend on your progress within one tech tree. Therefore you cannot give a value to a given tech researchpoint wise. As a result the AI should value techs according to their benefits (e.g.,  the civ IV AI did dynamically calculate a value for each tech). This weighting should then be used not only for techtrading but also for research. (And it also should weight the value that a given technology will offer to you). 

As a result - is implemented correctly - the AI should value your technologies (and the technologies of the other AIs) quite low and its own technologies rather high (remember it researches the preferred technologies itself) tehrefore technologiy trade will happen rather seldom.

Furthermore the current prices of technology are somewhat inflated. In 3C' you can simply buy a technology from the AIs for the gildar produced by your caravans in one turn.

I will further assume, that we will see - or rather not see because they are hidden from view - some "shoppinglists" and "for-sale-lists"  for the AI, where all proposeas you make, that do not fit to one of the lists are either dramatically increased in cost, or will simply be refused.

Well a 'technology' itself is what? A few instruction scrolls and some relevent materials? Maybe some specialists on loan? Here's a few solutions-

1/ Have them as a physical unit like a caravan that has to move from the tech-holders' city to your Capital. This could leave them open to attack by neutrals and any enemies. If it befalls an 'accident' you/they get a large diplomatic penalty (or maybe they/you ask for their money back!).

2/ Have the trade not by a physical unit but abstractly- the more complex the tech the more turns it takes to reach you/worked out by your scholars. Also add a money cost like spells in Age of Wonders 2- the more advanced the tech the more expensive. Makes sense really as explaining better farming techniques would be somewhat easier than explaining the ballistics of War Machines to people who have been out in the wild for a century.

3/ Remove it completely. I don't like tech trading very much but sometimes after clearing out a dangerous dungeon you do want to treat yourself.

Usually in Civ games, they tend to make the computer cheat a little in this respect to reduce the amount of cheese/abuse since the "real" value of a tech is much more than it's cost in research points.

For instance say you are thinking of going at war with someone but he has a tech advantage in warfare, or you don't have certain key techs to go at war, then those techs are very valuable, and techs that will improve your ability to research are quite a bit less valuable. For an AI it's difficult to give values to these things. I don't program AI's but I'd think it be really difficult to program an AI that values the proper techs at the proper time and doesn't end up trading away it's advantage for things it doesn't really need.

So usually I think they just end up making the computer very reluctant to trade techs unless they are dealing with a direct ally, or "cheat". I still like having the option, but obviously something they will want to monitor closely so it doesn't artificially inflate difficulty or leave avenues for cheese.

Perhaps a Disable Knowledge Brokering option could work as well here as it does for GalCiv2.

For a long time, I disabled tech trading in GC2 because I have an irrational conviction that the AIs form a trading cartel that excludes the human player. When you disable just the brokering, it leaves you able to do some trading but seems reduce or eliminate the problem of AI 'insider trading.'

Edit for non-GC2 folks: The Brokering Option was added long after 1.0 and disabling it meant that you could only sell or give away what you'd learned for yourself, not stuff you'd gotten from an AI through trade (or espionage?).

Give three options: no tech trading, no tech brokering, and full tech trading. No tech brokering is an excellent middle ground for balancing technology trade (and making it worthwhile).