Techtree, unending logarithmic branches

This would be somewhat interesting...let's say if you were to finish a few trees a new algorithmic branch would open up... Like life sciences,  efficiency studies, where you'd need a few levels into then study the Scientific Victory path, however you could continue studying these indefinantly...or at least for a few hundred in game years , before you were instantly given the scientific victory.

I also enjoy turning off all different victory types minus domination....it's very satisfactory for me to condemn my opponents into class 4 or below planets, then finish my research on all of the available tech then finally come for them with fleets so vast they'd have no chance...

Another idea would be to allow a certain level of study to enable other Civilization/Race/Species only/alignment etc. type techs.

So you spend a few centuries studying and eventually your archeologists/spies/trading vessels discover the other races/species/civilization techs...meanwhile you're building a Galactic Wonder to surpass all wonders...own x amount of the galaxy able to build y type Wonders...own all but a tiny fraction of the territory incorporating other species into your civilization you're  able to build the most amazing wonder available. Aloowing a different type of domination a Galactic Wonder victory requiring you to obtain the knowledge of the other racial/species/civilizations tech...(This would allow alliances to build this wonder together) to have a long duration goal.

I would personally like the idea of algorithmicly generated techs after the whole tree has been researched. For example, instead of the laser tech tree from ending at the doom ray, or whatever it was called, you could keep researching it to get doom ray II, III, IV, and so on to infinity, or maybe just a bonus to all ships using beam weapons? It might also be interesting if the benefit and cost of each new iteration increased exponentially, rather than linearly (the cost would go up faster than the benefit), so you could see something like this:

Doom Ray - damage 50, 50 points to research

Doom Ray 2 - D 74, 109 RP

Doom Ray 3 - D 113, 280 RP

Doom Ray 4 - D 182, 863 RP 

and so on, all generated on the fly, and for every meaningful line, such as factories, research labs, logistics, and so on, so by the end of the game, you can get crazy powerful planets/ships. 

By the way, if anyone wants try play with different numbers, I tossed together a python script in 5 minutes to do that. http://pastebin.com/UfTAnyVR (requires python 2.7.X)

Maybe it is just me, but I like the model Civ V has on this...3 of the 4 victory options basically start hitting at once...around the time the tech leader is starting the space race (ie technology/science victory), the culture leader is about to dominate everyone else and the commerce leader is about to win the UN elections (ie diplomatic victory)...in short, by the time you are cleaning up the tech tree, you HAVE to finish the game and win or someone else will, even if they aren't even close to you in technology...

It could be interesting to have a bunch of simple +% techs at the end of the tech tree to keep research relevant, but it could turn research into the 'one stat to rule them all.' High research would let you power through the tech tree faster, and then you'd just keep researching higher techs, becoming more and more powerful, and no one else could ever catch up.

One idea would be for the research victory techs, at least the last few, that take forever to research, give massive civ bonuses, with the tech victory one giving the hugest of all, so that researching them even with tech victory off is a worthwhile choice. I mean, you supposedly transcend the universe, that should be worth a huge bonus. Maybe researching it will lock out anyone else from researching it, so even in a game without research victory on, a race can make a comeback by getting research victory first and getting some huge bonuses.

This, a million times this. Seemed odd that with tech victory off, you would transcend mortality, and then.... nothing. 

You also transcend the idea of 'winning'

The point is that with tech victory off, the techs are still available to research. So in a tech-vic-off game, you research a tech that causes your race to transcend mortality, etc, but you still get nothing.

TBH I'm not a fan of tech victory as a "you research this thing and you win" result. It's so anticlimactic. It also tends to mean the ends of other areas of the tech tree aren't that valuable, simply because why are you researching another +2 to your guns if you could be researching "you win" at the same time?

Maybe if the tech victory flat out required mastery of every tech in the game, and then some other huge tech, and then a huge building project I'd be more keen on it, but having no tech victory and an endless tech tree is more appealing to me.

Endless space has an interesting system...there are 4 branches to the tech tree, and for each branch you complete (technically you just research the top tech), the tech victory technology becomes much cheaper....still the game balance forces you to invest at least somewhat in all the branches, it works in encouraging you to research virtually all the technologies...

It does, but the tech victory in Endless Space is sadly pointless. You can get the Wonder victory by going to the last tech in one tree (one you'd go fairly deep into anyway) and then building 5 buildings. It's so much easier than the tech victory that the only reason to do the tech victory is to show off.

I think an endless research tree leads to an more and more inbalanced games. Weak fractions would have no or a less chance to use tactics and catch up the research. (bad english sorry)

But if there is increment, making each "endless" step more time consuming, more expensive, and less effective? Consider it something similar to historical penalty from Hearts of Iron series, only slightly different. In layman's terms, to study first "endless" stage of certain research, you would use same amount of resources you used to research all previous stages, but improvement will be only at 50% of efficiency from most weakest one. Sort of a old saying about mountain of labour giving birth to a mouse.

As for "Catching up", I think endless research aimed for single player, when gamer simply wants to have fun and develop best science in universe. In this case - see zero problems. In Multiplayer it could be turned off, or there could be "all tech available to all" option.

I have allways favoured games where the tech-tree is vast...

A concept I encountered recently was that to get to "the next tech" or "a new study area" one had to do research in 2 or more other fields of study to unlock it.

E.g. to get better, more efficient beam weapons one would need to research  "materials" + "energy" + "beamweapons" to get to the next level of "laser"

(maybe not the best excample - but I hope you get the idea)

imo just researching laser Mk 1 => then laser Mk 2 aso is kind of ..

How about once completed, the branch will be available again but more potent. Like 10% or so. And suggest it as a setup option. (I am putting this as galaxy setup or I AI when I wake up tomorrow .

DARCA

If there are multiple tech routes and requirements, how easy will it be to tell one branch from another?

DARCA

@ Selucudia  "Maybe it is just me, but I like the model Civ V has on this...3 of the 4 victory options basically start hitting at once...around the time the tech leader is starting the space race (ie technology/science victory), the culture leader is about to dominate everyone else and the commerce leader is about to win the UN elections (ie diplomatic victory)...in short, by the time you are cleaning up the tech tree, you HAVE to finish the game and win or someone else will, even if they aren't even close to you in technology..."

Yes, i like this as well.  It adds flavor, and sometimes a crisis.  OMG, the Egyptians are about to get a tech victory.  I've been working on an economic victory.  How close are they?  Am I about to be forced to walk like an Egyptian?  Its a great late game device. 

I'm also not terribly fond of transcendence victories, except in SMAC.

Tech, culture, king of the hill and diplomacy point victories are boring as sin, and I always play with them off. The only victories I even consider are the alliance and military victories, as they are by far much harder to do and more rewarding.

OT; I'd like a diminishing returns infinite tech at the end of each tech tree that provides a passive, empire-wide bonus to its relevant field(s). i.e "Godlike weapons 1" costs 10000, improves weapons by 20%, "Godlike weapons 2" costs 20000 and gives 10% etc... A 75% drop-off in efficiency per-tech would be adequate to ensure that the leading race never gained an insurmountable advantage over the others, but still profited by pursuing it. 

I play with the same victory conditions. that means were both cool.

that's a great idea for infinite tech research. I have heard talk of efficiency but I haven't heard a dev say anything about it, or i could have missed it.