@atarihuana:
id say best techs are improved factories / advanced art cuz every nation can make use of them, no matter what…
There is a difference between a tech which a country can use and a tech which is useful to a country. Also, even a tech which is useful for every country may not be as objectively good as a tech which is game breakingly powerful for two or three countries.
There is also the question of ease of use, IE how long does it take before you can use the tech, and how early must you receive the tech to make it useful at all. Also, some techs give you immediate short term gains that are good for rushing, whereas others will help you in the long game.
Improved Factories is one of the best techs in the game, but only if you get it 1st turn. After that, it rapidly diminishes to good, then useful, then why bother?
Assuming you get it 1st turn for 2 Researchers:
Britain: Gamebreaking. They can simply dump 1 or 2 Factories in the Middle East/Africa/Australia and start pumping out units like mad.
Germany: Gamebreaking. Able to build up to 2 Factories near the front lines or simply take the Karelian/Caucasian ones, Russians are going to get their asses kicked.
Russia: Useful. If Karelia isn’t captured first turn, it probably never will. Doubtful you will actually get this tech though.
America: Useful. Being able to build 4 units out of Alaska, or 3 units out of Hawaii, could be quite useful. To say nothing of grabbing other islands in the pacific, or even getting a base down in Algeria or Norway.
Japan: Gamebreaking. Who needs transports, you might as well send them all off to kill Canada or something.
Italy: Useful. Plonking down 8 Infantry a turn. Which is pretty damn useful if Germany is off blitzing Russia with their whole army.
Advanced Artillery on the other hand, is one of the weaker techs in the game. Its not that its bad, it just doesn’t do enough. It means that a 10 IPC group of 2 Infantry and 1 Artillery have 6 Attack instead of 5. Unless you are someone like Russia, who has absolutely huge amounts of Infantry, and doesn’t have to move them much, the number of times this will actually be useful is minimal. Compare it to Jet Fighters, which gives a 10 IPC Fighter 4 Attack instead of 3. The difference is that most countries have more Fighters than Artillery, and that giving a 33% firepower boost to one of the most flexible units in the game is better than a 20% firepower boost to a couple of slow moving cannon fodder.