Technology Upgrades

[Sonny]

Doesn't it depend on what level you are playing??

I did have one time when England's support for CSA dropped to zero and in the same turn they received 80 (of something) from Great Britain.

Maybe England and Great Britain are two different countries??[8|]

[Maurym]

I like the idea of limits on both tech point gains \ tech buildings allowed...however, I would like to see that as an option that I would be able to adjust when setting up a game.

[Gil R.]

For this upcoming patch we've reduced the amount of research one can get from Europe in a single turn (by half, I believe). However, I don't like the idea of capping the number of tech buildings, since that takes away from the player a potential strategy -- but more importantly, their cost makes it too expensive to build all that many of them, so this doesn't strike me as a major problem.

It is possible that in the Southern Steel scenario, in which the Union has more money and resources than it knows what to do with, the Union might go crazy building research institutions, but the Union also has to build/purchase units, ships, expensive guns, etc. etc., so I'm not going to worry about this until I see evidence it is happening. (Also, this is why we have "Mansions" in the game and also limit the number of buildings each city can get -- to hold back economic development somewhat. Even at the richest settings possible, the Union cannot build infinite buildings, so it can't build dozens of research-related buildings.)

[christof139]

I know someone asked this before but I can't find the post; what are the benefits of taking the Smokeless Powder uprade??

And you can get peeved if you want ot, but the US militay DID NOT use large amounts of smokeless powder even in WWII, although the Japanese did. However, 'smokeless powder' is a misnomer because all powder when ignited gives off fumes, smoke, to varying degrees of intensity.

So, I have not any idea what advantage 'Smokeless Powder' gives, and haven't found its description yet in the manual etc., but I may be missing where this is at anyway.

Something like 'Improved Gunpowder' is accurate for the ACW, and I think tis is what the 'Smokeless Powder' upgrade actually is.

Not anyone has invented 'Smokeless Ceegars' (Cigars) yet either, and that is what I am polluting the air with now. You can tell I once worked in the Enviro. field. Hmmmm?? [8|][:)]

Have a good day wherever you are at if you can, we dodged the major part of that nasty ice and snow storm here, so Spring might be just around the corner. [:)] Hmmm, largest recorde snowfall in detroit was I believe on April 8th or so in 1963. Maybe someone will invent 'Snowless Snow' or 'Iceless Ice' or something like that. A Virtual Winter maybe, in a data packet. Beats me. [&:]

Chris

[Drex]

Probably has to do with visibility. You get all those guns going and a lot of smoke is produced. this is shown in the detailed battles.

[Gil R.]

Yes, it helps with visibility, so that your troops can fire more effectively. And you're right, the manual fails to state this -- thanks for pointing it out.

Smokeless powder, like balloons, etc. etc., is one of the technologies that did indeed exist during the Civil War but was not widely used, and therefore is put in the game because it could have been more widely used.

[christof139]

Yes, it helps with visibility, so that your troops can fire more effectively. And you're right, the manual fails to state this -- thanks for pointing it out.

Smokeless powder, like balloons, etc. etc., is one of the technologies that did indeed exist during the Civil War but was not widely used, and therefore is put in the game because it could have been more widely used.

Thanx you two for explaining it. I can imagine that ACW Era 'Smokeless powder' was actually quite smokey, as the WWII stuff the Japanese used was still visible to the naked eye, but not as much as the powder we used. It worked to some advantage for the Japanese, but the smoke from their 'Smokeless Powder' was still visible.

Chris