You can actually play the game more than one way?  Bullshit.  War is it.  The only choice is how you conduct war.  Random techs is a cheap way to create replayability.  I have a hard time believing that these random techs actually create replayability.  Really?  you've already said you find them to be pretty meaningless.  Random techs only work if all the nations are pretty much the same and generic.  Which to me is awful.  Who I am and who my nation is should be decided before turn 1.  Otherwise that means all the nations are the same, and we play based on complete random factors.  To me that is very boring. Resources can be gathered, they are rarely a factor.  I have never played a game I could not get a resource of iron or crystal in. 

I prefer this to random techs, though random master armorsmithing tech is nice, its not the only one I have seen.

I have seen a random tech to ->Construct/Train<- Semi heroes, that in said description should level like regular heroes, but without magic choices, now that is one of the randoms techs i WILL miss ... Although if that is the style of the game it doesnt matter much, as long as they keep it to the random stuff in the details, and meaby one random tech per tech tree/play style, so you arent nerfed because the random tech u got was for magicians and ure all about beating stuffs wiith clubs.

But thats all speculating, I know that after I played MoO2 I started playing a race with a "Random Tech Tree", just so I wouldn't abuse  the best comboes, etc. so I would be surprised and have to figure out a way to work with what I have.

That said, I hope there will be an option to turn off random techs.

Sincerely
~ Kongdej

Your not the only one who is like this. I perfer a game to challange me and part of that is not knowing what it will throw at you. Games that provide everything for you with no surprises are just boring. Now saying that I do agree that each race has their own flavor tech as well as some random tech.

The unknowns should be your opponents and the world at large, not whether you lucked out on which traits you get to select, or what techs you get to choose from.

A random tome that unlocks some rare tech is fine, but just doing it randomly in the background isn't the same thing.  You have to find said tome first, or perhaps negotiate with another kingdom/empire for access to their research.

Again, excessive reliance on random-ness is just lazy game design.  The game should be able to provide plenty of challenge in other ways.  And as quests, combat tactics, empire tech trees and such get fleshed out in the coming months, more challenges to overcome will emerge.

If Elemental wasn't a 4x game, then I would not have as big of an issue with excessive randomness, but where it is, and where quite a few elements are spelled out specifically (tech X requires y number of turns to complete, this militia will take x number of turns to build, you may move only x number of squares, you earn x number of gildar every turn), the rest of the game really should have that same 'chess-like' structure to it. 

Combat is by definition random.  Goody huts, champion placement, and map layout again are by definition random. Starting locations are random.  Those items should be enough to ensure that every game will be different, if the underlying design is strong enough.

But in order to provide a fair and balanced experience, especially in online multiplayer play, tech advancement and character advancement needs to be balanced.  Otherwise, players will be cheated out of victories by a few die rolls, and no one should want that.

Agree 100% Random technologies arn't giving you anything, they are taking things away, Randomly.

We already have random technology through quest rewards, this is a fair system that works well, expands lore and is fun. We earn the bonus of unlocking new technology. Having some technologies just appear at start of game is silly and unnecessary. Random technologies right from the start make no sense and add little to the game that wasn't already there and better implemented. Just give us more fun and rewarding quests!

Personally assigning me certain techs right off the start and denying me others, with no rythme or reason is like slapping me on the face at the start of the game. It's like saying 1/8 tiles I just cant walk on or some games my team just cant use shields. WHY? I'm sorry but this game your team of "master smiths" cannot understand the concept of sharp swords, even when late game every other team is stabbing you with them, Have Fun.

 You might make it so some factions do not recieve certain rewards (Wraiths getting master plate. Troggs super wands) but that should be easily done.

Also being able to trade unique techs you unlock would be an awesome political tool.

I agree with the above : I'd like more choice for unit design from turn 1, no randomness in the tech tree, more consistant champion upgrades so that common does not equal horribly weak, and more items whose benefits would depend on the wielder's stats..

Recently i have been thinking more and more about a new approach to techs. 

My ideas is this: what if we make a cost of given technology not fixed at the beginning. Let's presume that 1st tech ever discovered cost 100 research points (rp), then the second 150 rp, the third 200 rp and so on. Cost of technology would vary depending on how many techs i already discovered. Thus, if discovered 9 tech in magic, the 10th would cost as much rp as the very first tech in civs. 

I want to address a problem that right now there is no point in specialization, since if i have choice between 10 basic civ techs or 1 late advanced magic tech i go for 10 techs b/c benefit is waaay bigger. 

In my solution, choices matter - do you want to specialize or not? Since you can never change your specialization and research basic techs in other branches fast the choice would matter. It is not very realistic, you could say, that simple techs should be developed fast, but on the other hand if my kingdom is well advanced in magic, i should research faster too on this field.  

As far as ascending armor types

Leather

early leather/animal hides -> available from the beginning of the game

Hardened Leather-> early game

Studded leather-> a few techs later

Specialty Hide Leather -> Troll Leather/Dragon Leather/ Skath Leather, w/e ... available MidGame + or so

Chain

early Chain-> early game

heavy Chain -> mid game

reinforced Chain -> mid game ++

Masterwork Chain -> Late game

Plate

basic/heavy plate -> mid game

reinforced plate -> late game

refolded/Masterwork Plate -> late game ++

I think my first modding project is going to be to add some Patchwork armor as a starting armor option.  That will give early units some basic defense and make them less of "glass cannons".  I'll have to see how much I can do without having to change the Core xml files.  Just adding Patchwork armor may not be enough.  Existing armor type may need re-balancing as well to make it work.

I think part of the goal was to make tactical combat fairly quick.  I have played 4X games where I avoided tactical combat in late game because it was too long and boring.  So I do appreciate the effort to keep tactical combat quick.  But I do think there is some truth to the notion here that tactical combat is a little too quick and for the wrong reason.

Brad/Kael, I understand the reasons for keeping modding more or less closed in terms of gauging balance and stability.  But consider that modders can do a lot to help with balance and game enhancement issues. 

I have also come to the conclusion that Fireball is TOO powerful against trained units.  Far too many of my city attacks are too easy because my sovereign or one of my champions can cast a first-turn Fireball and take out all or nearly all of the defending trained units.

I'd like more buildings like schools that increase the stats of troops. Makes sense that as you build up a magical civilization your citzens become more healthy.

Also the big problem with fireball is that Int, the spell resistance stat, only resists single target curses. Hopefully some system of Spell Mass Curse/Dmg resistance is implemented.

Just my 2 cents in this:

I don't think that random techs are the way to go either. I don't particularly like them especially stuff like 3rd book of the Magi because I tend to choose elements for my sovereign based on the final spells I want to be able to cast. Since you need 3rd book of the Magi to even cast them, it is really disappointing playing when you know you're not going to be even able to cast the spells you wanted your Sov to cast.

I think having a diverse tech tree and prompting the player to make different choices based on events in the world-- generated at world creation or randomly occurring events throughout the game would make things much better-- but that is only after the factions are nice and differentiated.

Off topic note, has there been any mention on when the next build might make it our way, or is that something that is far in the future for a Beta 3 at this point? (feel free to PM an answer since it is off topic)

yes, but there are much better ways to implement randomness than giving every player 2-3 of like 10 random techs the first turn of the game. If you have a Sov that specializes in fire magic and bowmen are you going to play a game where on the first turn it tells you that you wont get book of fire or master bows?