Tech Lock-outs

[ZombieEinstein]

Reading the wiki, it sounds like it is possible to lock yourself out of certain techs - but there is little detail on this. I'm probably mid-way through a game, and don't have - and can't seem to get - any more New Worlds tech. I am playing as UNE, and basically only have Continental, Ocean, and Arctic. Nothing else.

Does the game just stop giving you settlement techs at some point, or am I just having rotten luck?

Also, maybe make it a little bit clearer on the wiki which techs can get locked out and by what events.

[Beliar]

Try recruting scientists with new worlds talent. I got all colonization that way. Still random pretty unfortunately.

[Saxon]

Yeah there comes a point where I can't believe it's just bad luck anymore. Even after I research pretty much everything else the colonization techs just stop appearing. There should be a warning "this is your thrid and last pick" or something along those lines if there is such a limit.

For some reason I've never had the tech for the final tier of robotic POP come up either.

[kbmodigity]

I have the same thing in my current multiplayer game. We are currently fighting the scourge so you know its later game but I still have yet to even see the option to learn sentinal point defense. I'm not holding my breath on getting it this game.

[happyscrub]

Save scum 1 month before a tech finishes and keep reloading till u get what u want. Sad but sometimes you have to do it. Good thing though, this game exits and reloads fast.

[ZombieEinstein]

I'm not one to savescum (though I disagree with the 'no achievements without Ironman' - but that is off-topic).

I'm not completely screwed. I got super lucky with my start, and ended up literally surrounded by Gaia worlds. I didn't even have to research any colonization tech for my first 5-6 colonies, but now that I'm later in the game, get mid-techs, I'm essentially stuck in my expansion. Not just borders, just filling out sectors mostly. I have three sectors, two with 5-8 colonies, one with literally 1 colony. The one bad sector has a ton of arid and desert worlds that I can't do anything with. There also really isn't a good way to remix them, without all the sectors becoming unsustainable.

I can probably get-by with just increasing fleet capacity and ship armarment until I can attack a couple smaller neighbors.

[Dray Prescot]

It is usually a good idea to take the New Worlds colony tech right away, otherwise you do not know when it will offered again. The same goes for the + 1 research choice tech, GRAB it when it first shows up, having extra research choices helps a lot. The longer you play the more higher techs there are for the program to choose between when offering you choices, which can make it hard to get some of the early low level choices if you pass them by.

[ZombieEinstein]

Yeah, have the extra tech choice. My reading from the wiki lead me to believe that that the weighting would help to favor any remaining 'lighter' techs - but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Perhaps a future update should add a 'probability of seeing again' on each card, with +/- % error, based on what techs you have left, number of colonies, population, what you're already researching, etc. Whatever formula Paradox is using to serve up techs must be able to work in reverse a little bit.

[Aedile]

Your scientist is important even if it doesn't seem so.

The right scientist generally gives you 1.25 chance to draw tech from same field
The wrong scientist gives you 1.25 chance to draw from their own field
This really, really helps.

You need to have species which can colonise those planets (60% hab I believe) , otherwise you won't get them.

For blockers you need colonized planet with such blockers.

[Mansen]

Originally posted by Jurjen:

Yeah there comes a point where I can't believe it's just bad luck anymore. Even after I research pretty much everything else the colonization techs just stop appearing. There should be a warning "this is your thrid and last pick" or something along those lines if there is such a limit.

For some reason I've never had the tech for the final tier of robotic POP come up either.

What you're describing with colonization tech simply doesn't happen. AI on the other hand has some VERY serious modifiers to appearing based on whether or not you actually have the two researcher traits required to make them remotely likely to appear (See the wiki)

[ZombieEinstein]

Yeah, I had no trouble getting colonization tech early-game - regardless of my scientist expertise. But it seemed as soon as I picked my third world (starting with Cont, Ocean, then Arctic), all colonization tech just 'disappeared'.

I just got lucky, and drew a scientist with a New Worlds expertise, and now they keep pulling rare colonization tech; Frontier Initiatives and Frontier Commissars so far, and I'm willing to bet that Frontier Traditions will show up next.

I am really starting to think the game purposefully tries to lock you out of colonizing more than half of available planet types.

[Elitewrecker PT]

Now, imagine you're a materialist empire that didn't start with wormhole tech trying to get psi jump drives, which first requires you to get psionics technology and since I'm materialist that's like super rare, and the only way to improve that is to keep a maniacal scientist in society research and pray to RNGesus. I thought down the line you could get the other drive techs if you wanted but apparently not, maybe as debris from enemies or something but nothing so far.

PS: I still haven't gotten it, all the society researches I get at this point are the repeatable ones.

[Avalanche]

Since i have my own custom edict to get free leaders, i just recruit and fire them until i get the ones i want.....i always go for the 10% research speed, spark of genuis i believe it is....a specific field 10% is not worth it in my book.

[ZombieEinstein]

Originally posted by Lithari:

Since i have my own custom edict to get free leaders, i just recruit and fire them until i get the ones i want.....i always go for the 10% research speed, spark of genuis i believe it is....a specific field 10% is not worth it in my book.

It is when you need a specific field to trigger certain technologies (from a practical standpoint).