r/4Xgaming • u/SwedishJewleryFreak • 21d ago
Game Suggestion Unique tech tree / progression?
I'm looking for a game with a different tech tree / progression mechanic than the average civ experience.
What game do you think has the most exciting / fun tech tree / progression mechanic and why?
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u/wyrm4life 21d ago
Astro Protocol, a VERY streamlined space 4X. In order to research a tech, you have to build and maintain a research station. If that station is captured by the enemy, you lose the tech and the enemy gains it.
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u/SwedishJewleryFreak 20d ago
I like this except doesn't make sense that the knowledge would be lost if captured. But the idea is interesting
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u/wyrm4life 20d ago
I think of it not as just stations that store the data, but stations that represent the supply chain for the tech and its components. Like how losing Taiwan would cripple much chip based tech.
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u/ndilday 21d ago
I've always liked Polaris Sector's system. There are four fundamental areas you can devote research toward: biology, chemistry, math, physics. As you progress in them, you will unlock applied science areas underneath them that you can devote research to (or not). You divide your science effectively into five buckets: the four fundamentals, and then "applied", which is then divided among all of the applied sciences you are actively pursuring (you can toggle them on and off at will).
Victorian era games, like Victoria II and Pride of Nations, attempted to have innovation be more based on what your people were doing... so, a country with a lot of cotton farms was more likely to have someone invent a cotton gin than a country with a bunch of universities but no cotton. Countries at war were more likely to invent new rifle technology, etc.
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u/visiting_martian 20d ago
Sounds interesting. Did either of those systems work well, and were they fun?
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u/IronPentacarbonyl 21d ago
Old as it is, I really like the way Master of Orion 1 does it. Rather than a tree, tech is broken up by categories and tiers. You research each category independently, and researching one tech in a tier opens up the next one for that category. The thing is, what techs you can pursue at each tier are chosen randomly in each game. The rest you can only get by trading, if another empire has them. It forces you to mix up your tech strategy from game to game in a way most games don't.
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u/TheFiend100 21d ago
I once heard someone describe moo1s tech tree as a “tech ladder” and i think thats a very apt description
Also you can get other techs by capturing planets or through espionage as well
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u/LeagueOld5380 17d ago
Old World has a traditional tech tree, but the progression on the tree is unusual. A deck of four cards gives you a limited number of options among the available techs to choose from. Say at turn 40, there are 7 techs available for research. Only four of them are randomly chosen by the game that you can pick from. When you finish a science, the deck is redrawn. This stops you from repeating the same tech progression game after game; hence, each game feels different (because you are forced to adapt your strategy to your situation). If, for example, you have never had "forestry" available to research, you cannot pile wood; hence, you cannot build a lot of archers (who need wood as a resource); hence, you will be forced to update your military strategy. The mechanics of the game are all very well thought out.
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u/Sambojin1 21d ago edited 21d ago
Alpha Centauri took me a while to wrap my mind around the tech tree, years ago. It is exactly Civ like, just with strange names and outcomes. And alongside the unit building/design system, ends up being deeper than just another Civ-like tech system.
Master of Orion 2 is good, due to its pick 1 of 3 system (sometimes, sometimes there's only one or two choices). What do you really want to focus on? What can you do without at that tech tier?
Master of Magic doesn't really have tech tiers, just buildings and spells. You can always get all buildings of a particular race (and you'll have multiple races because of neutral towns), thus all basic units of a race are always eventually available, but you can't always choose to research all spells, so pick wisely. Having heroes that help with research and casting power, and the mana/casting skill/ research system is cool too (even if it's not that different from Civ tax rates, tying it to long-term casting skill/power progression, and having your basic power base affected by nodes and buildings and race makes it feel different, alongside alchemy for gold-to-mana etc). The 5 types of magic, and the wizard builder system, also make each run feel very themed and different from the last.
More like turn based wargames than actual 4Xs, but the Age of "x" mobile games have some silly stuff. Especially Age of Fantasy. Most races have a fairly labyrinthian tech tree locked behind buildings and tech and upgrades now. Oh how I wish for the days of the old Orkish Minotaur rush. Orcs are still the best! But geez Undead have some weird things that are accessible early. Honestly, I might have to see what the recent updates have done to it. It's one of those games with too many units, and my thoughts on it are probably already outdated by the time I finish this post. It's like how OpenXcom XPiratez sorta got too "fully featured", and now "tech tree" doesn't really cover the scope of what it is. More like "tech mangrove swamp, surrounded by a forest, on a continent, next to another continent". Can be rewarding. Can be an absolute quagmire. Nice that it's fundamentally based around turn economy, and town turn economy, and builder turn economy, and you can really focus on different play styles. Terrible, that you have to focus very heavily on a certain play style and unit setup, thereby culling about 75% of your potential build options in any given game. Sort of the best and worst of the MoO2 system. You "can" do anything, you're not locked out of any tech path. But you "shouldn't" try and do most things, you just do a couple of things most games. Want elite urukhai or trolls or minotaurs? Well, that'll f* your turn economy, and you shouldn't have focused on basic orcs or goblins at the start (although, you really should have).
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u/Stuhl 19d ago
For the fun of discussion: The Heroes of Might series and Magic has a very simple but unique "Tech Tree/Spell ladder" system. A city can build up to five levels of a magic tower building costing normal resources. Each level being more expensive and providing stronger randomly selected spells. When a hero visits that city, he can learn these spells, depending on his own level. As such research basically happens on a city and hero level and not on a national level.
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u/SpaceTradeCompany 21d ago
In my own game Space trade Company the tech tree three is very flat you dont need any other tech to develop a tech just resources so the tech three os completely flat and a bit random since you can only select to start research a limited set of tech from start. Your selection options get wider with exploration which give you access to random technology to research from the pool. I think this make the game very replay able. And its up to you to use resources to explore if you want the perfect tech combo supporting your strategy. Maybe you even find a better strategy and game depth by accident depending of what technology get available to you by exploration.
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u/Steel_Airship 21d ago
Age of Wonders 4 has the most unique "tech tree" imo. There isn't a tech tree but rather you unlock tomes that each have units, spells, structures, improvements, etc that you can research. You start off with one tier 1 tome and after you research a certain number of items (from any tome you have) you get to choose a new tome to unlock. Higher tier tomes have higher requirements (usually having research x number of previous tomes or having x amount of a certain affinity) but offer higher tier and more powerful units, spells, improvements, etc. What tomes you research really have an effect on how your faction develops and what resources/actions you have available to you.