I got a 780ad PA with Cathy using
Erkon's save. I followed
klarius' research path, inlcuding Drama, but built neither the Globe nor NE, because everyone was researching Monarchy and I wanted a pure gene pool. Probably could have skipped Drama. Made 4 GSes which I used for Academy, Education, PP, and SciMeth. Had no problem getting the HE built. I chopped only 1 forest in the FC on the grass river where I built the only cottage, so I have +5
and plenty of forest to build lumbermills.
The funny thing is, the faster you go, the more likely you are to have to slow down to build CoL or Philosophy.