My economy is in some form of shape and it is just a matter of time for those cottages to mature into towns. Its time for me to (try to) catch up on a tech front. I am not really sure how far behind I am but I think that I am a fair way back. My first stop is Bronze Working followed by Iron Working (mainly to enlarge my defenses so no-one gets any idea) with Mathematics to follow. I reach out to my two good friends, Saladin and Lizzie and they prove themselves to be not such great friends - neither of them will give me Calendar. In fact, I don't get any free techs from them for the rest of the game (guess it is a limit of 1).
While I am teching and trying to get in a position to actually trade techs, I am spreading Judaism and Buddhism through all my cities. I still haven't completely ruled out siding with Hattie if Saladin turns out to be my Gen-Sec challanger. I am also working on my relationships with Mansa and Qin via resource trades. I also trade some of my resources for money (Copper to Saladin for Rocks and 6gpt). The hardest part of this phase of the game is to weather the very poor relationships that Lizzie has with almost everyone. Mansa and Qin ask me to stop trading with her and I have to (very softly) say NO.
With the discovery of Civil Service, I finally have a tech that I can trade. The only problem is that the only civ without it is JC ... oh great. He is willing to part with Literature (286 beakers) and 10 gold for Civil Service (1144 beakers) with the comment "Do you find this offer tempting?" Ohh, ahh, let me think ... NO.
In 1310AD, I build my first Wonder! I put the rocks that I traded to good use and built the Chicken Itza ... I mean the Chichen Itza. A wonder that gives me +25% defense in all cities - honestly, what is the point in that? If my city is at +75% defense then any army attacking will bring catapults. 7 catapults will reduce that 75% to 0% in 1 turn. If my city is at +100% defense then they will still bring catapults and it will still take 7 catapults 1 turn to reduce it to 0%. The net benefit is basically zero. So, you ask, if I think that this wonder is worthless, then why did I build it. Well, two reasons ... 1) because I could! and 2) if a Civ beats me to it, I have just converted hammers to gold and from there into beakers. What I need most is beakers.
In 1350AD, I discover Paper and make the following trades ...
Saladin: Literature, Drama, World Map, 270 Gold
Hattie: Currency, World Map, 190 Gold
JC: Compass, 20 Gold
Qin: Horseback Riding, 30 Gold
UN Tech Check - 8 down, 11 to go.
While most of the above techs aren't on the UN track, they do prove useful for happiness and my economy. The trades also remove worthless techs that the AIs like to offer (horseback riding). Actually, that isn't that worthless for me as it is one of the techs required for my Unique Unit (Conquistador - have you noticed that the icon for this unit is the same icon as the explorer?).
My next tech is Metal Casting and while I am building up a bank account for Machinery, I notice that my current location in the tech tree actually brings Liberalism and its free tech into play. Now, while Liberalism isn't on the UN tech track, it does have very good trade value. To that end, I swap techs from Machinery to Education which I complete researching with the help of a Great Scientist (I think this is my first out of my GPP Farm) in 1400.
This tech has lots of trade appeal ...
I put a few turns in to Liberalism and then trade Education away for ...
Qin: Machinery (had to give him 60 gold but this tech is on my UN track)
Liz: Feudalism, Theology, Construction and 20 Gold
Saladin: Music, Philosophy (a pre-requisite for Liberalism!) and World Map
UN Tech Check - 11 down, 8 to go.
Thus in 1460, I am first to Liberalism and select Printing Press for my free tech. I then set up the following trades ...
Liz: Printing Press for Engineering, Optics and 20 Gold
Hatty: Printing Press for Guilds, World Map and 540 Gold
Mansa: Liberalism for Banking, World Map and 120 Gold
Look at all the gold (really beakers) these guys are giving me ... UN Tech Check - 13 down, 6 to go.
I learn Astronomy in 1530 and trade it for ...
Saladin: Nationalism, 90 Gold
Lizzie: Economics and 30 Gold
Qin: 200 Gold
More Gold (Beakers!) but no UN Track techs - well, I cannot have everything. While I am building up a bank account (I need about 90 gold per turn to run at 100%) for Scientific Method, my next Great Person scientist rolls off the GP conveyor belt. Guess which tech he will lightbult? Yup, 1746 beakers to Scientific Method. I can crank back up to 100% science now and lightbult the rest of the beakers with the GP which I do.
This tech sets up the following trades:
Mansa: Constitution, World Map and 330 Gold
Saladin: Astronomy for Gunpowder, World Map and 40 Gold
UN Tech Check - 15 down, 4 to go.
I am really ripping up the UN Track techs! Unfortunately, while I am beelining along the bottom of the tech tree, some AIs are busy at the top. Their discover of Democracy and the use of Emancipation starts causing me happiness issues. This forces me to take a brief interlude while I research Democracy. However, once I get that tech, I can swap it with Mansa for Replaceable Parts, World Map and 10 Gold. I then again set my sights on Physics. One happy benefit of taking the Democracy side track was that it gave me time to generate another GP Scientist who would lightbulb ... wait for it ... Physics. I love this game. And this is one of the times that I really don't think that lightbulbing is a waste. Actually, in this game, the ability to lightbuld techs really helped. Anyway, the reason I don't think lightbulbing Physics is a waste is that the first to that tech gets a free GP Scientist. That means you get free beakers - I love this game.
The Great Scientist I get from the Physics tech will lightbulb Chemistry for me - what a waste of time - that tech is not on the UN Treck. Instead, I finally burn a GP Scientist building the acadamy in Madrid. More trades follow (Liz: Sci Method and Physics for Chemisty and Rifling) but I have to tech the normal way (ie no Liberalism, beaker boost from GPs or stuff like that) for the remaining 3 UN Techs (Electricity, Radio and finally, Mass Media in 1820).
While this slow teching is going on, I trade for military tech (steel, artillary, Divine Right, Military Tradition, Steam Power, Railroad and Assembly Line). With those techs in place, my army of resting workers who are on automate at this stage of the game go crazy building railroads all over the place. I drag some of them back to my control to railroad Cordoba - my city with the most hammers and the future location of the United Nations - I had to build it all the way as I couldn't afford to gold rush it - the happiness provided by Hereditary Rule was the only thing keeping my people in line. I also build some modern military to keep my power graph at least reasonable.