Is the tech tree too slow in this game?

[Gregoshi]

Early on the techs are fine but the later ones feel so exponentially longer when the pace of the game by that point means you can chronically keep conquering.

I'm thinking that if the later techs have too short of a research time, it will only accelerate your advantage over the AI clans and make the end game less of a challenge.

[Populus Romanus]

I voted "just right", but I believe that the campaign should be lengthened by a few years, maybe half a dozen, in order to make the game enjoyable. I converted to Christianity, and now I have found that waiting for Kyushu to lose its religious volatility has left me with a paltry ten years to conquer Kyoto and half Japan. I haven't reached realm divide yet either, which will only slow down my conquests. A longer campaign will curry to people such as myself's playstyle more.

[JeromeBaker]

I for one like it the way it is. When I start my campaigns I decide what I want to focus my techs on, like millitary(spear, sword,bow,navy), economy(farming & town growth), agents, and what mixture is most important for me to win. I dont think you should be able to complete everything by the end of the game or come close to it, becuase it takes away the strategy of which techs I want to research early on. Specializing my clan based on how I want to proceed is one of the most enjoyable parts of the game. In fact I think they should make the techs harder to research early on but make the techs just a little more powerful for early research to make strategy more important. This way how you choose to specialize your clan is more important and also helps increase the immersion into the game since your clan becomes more individualistic based on how you lead it.

My favorite mix early on tech wise is increasing the strength of my spear units (I dont really use calvary a lot and like to have maxed out spears to stop opposing calvary) and agents so I can use them to destabalize my neighbors and hopefully get thier settlements to rebel so I can swoop in and take them without having to officially go to war with anyone. It is not hard to completley destory someones economy by using Ninjas effectively and then cleaning up the aftermath once they start going broke. I also am a big fan of targeted assasination to destabalize armies on the move.

For those out there that want to have more researched techs before they beat the game need to be more focused in what they research early on in the tech tree. If they were going to make a change, maybe it wouldnt be too bad to allow you to allocate part of your taxable income to quicker research (like in Civilizaiton), but this would need to have a substantial penalty to town happiness, growth, and overall income to not throw things too far out of balance and make it easier to win.

[edyzmedieval]

There's an extra level of decision making concerning arts: you can speed up research considerably if you are willing to spend generals' skill points on the right "peaceful" skills, instead of concentrating on turning them into uber-killing machines. You don't have to do this for every general, but it's worth remembering that a small think tank of generals with the appropriate skills can pay off in research terms. Sometimes this can be better than buffing up a general's skills: after all, research benefits apply to everything across your domain, while a general's bonuses only apply where he is standing.

While I do very much appreciate the idea of not having every technology researched, there's a couple of bits which I dislike that in my opinion should have been placed further up the tech tree in order to accurately represent the status of Japanese warfare in the 16th century. I'm talking here about gunpowder weapons and their availability as locally produced units rather than having Imported Matchlock Ashigaru. Because of how the tech tree is placed the lack of gunpowder weapons later on in the game means that you still fight with bows and ashigaru when it should be cavalry, katana and especially matchlocks.

ps: I rather like the tone of civilized debate round here! :)

I'm thinking that if the later techs have too short of a research time, it will only accelerate your advantage over the AI clans and make the end game less of a challenge.

Because by then your own technology is sped up, especially if you keep building temples. I find it just right, except for the beginning when it is very slow to advance.

[maestro]

I thiknk the research rate is fine - maybe a little slow - but the campaign is too short :)

[seireikhaan]

I thiknk the research rate is fine - maybe a little slow - but the campaign is too short :)

Agreed. I just wish the campaign was another 25 or so turns. I like to turtle, and it doesn't feel very possible on longer campaigns, especially given the potential length of sieges. But the tech tree works beautifully, in my opinion. I'd say it actually is more well done than Civ V's is. Not quite as well as Civ IV, but still very good.

[Liberator]

Another thing that seems weird is that I have yet to come up against an opposing force after I had achieved the Bushido art that gave me flaming arrows where they didn't have them also. In other words it seems like the minute I get flaming arrows, everybody else appears to have them too. I makes me think that at the point that I achieve some of the techs, they are also given to the A.I.

I think it is the same as in Empire; the more often a tech has been researched, the easier becomes research of the tech for the factions who don't had it until then. This is part of the game mechanics, and makes some intuitive sense to me.
Furthermore, I guess the AI mainly focuses on bushido arts, as I assume their economy is subsidized heavily based on my knowledge of other total war games... so some basic research on chi arts is enough for them. In my recent campaign, the bushido arts listed at the same stage of development could be researched a lot quicker as the chi arts later on, as the bushido arts were already research by some AI factions...

My opinion on research: It could be quicker, but the real problem I see is that you can no longer build academies as in Empire; now schools, libaries and acadamies are fixed on the map ... If these buildings could be build everywhere like recruitment buildings, I could have speeded up my research a lot once I had more than 10 provinces...

[Ed TW]

Yup, The most I've ever completed is about half of the tree. Way too slow, and I've played about 10 full campaigns so far.