Setting up a multi nation game?

[Jorgen_CAB (OP)]

I think I grasped most of what I need to set up a complex game with many nations or factions at earth but I have hit a strange snag.

I have one faction that is very small that is the peace keeping force of the Sol system. This faction is supported by all the other major factions and everyone share research with them but they don't share research with anyone. I have now started to by technology for the different factions and for some reason tech is leached between factions that don't have any such agreement. Can anyone tell me whats going on?

Some factions are allied or friendly while some are neutral with each other, there are also some trade agreements between most of the factions.

[sublight]

Technological osmosis. 'obsolete' technologies become common in consumer items and will incredibly find their way across boarders sooner than later.

Mechanically, whenever a technology is researched the technology typically two versions older in the tree is immediately given to all other factions that have a colony on the same world as any of your own.

In practice there are a few quirks. Notably,
1) Population appears not to ever be checked. Having geosurvey teams from different factions on the same asteroid is more than enough to trigger the shared habitation check.

2) It isn't necessarily to actually have the previous tech versions. Receiving an advanced technology from salvaging, espionage, etc will cause empires to share the earlier tech that they didn't have with their neighbors.

Edit: Wait... if they all share tech with a common side, won't that common side turn around to give any tech they gain to all the others? nevermind.

[Jorgen_CAB (OP)]

Ok, that seems reasonable. I does mess up the starting points that every faction gets though.

[Garfunkel]

Yeah, it's exactly as sublight explained. If you have a multiple-faction, conventional, Earth start, the tech race will remain exciting because the factions lower down the tech ladder can focus in one field and gain sufficient techs through this "leakage", whereas the technological leaders have to spread their efforts wide. It can be countered if couple of the hi-tech factions ally and share tech with each other, as they can then also focus their efforts.