jordissim, I'm so sorry I wasted your precious time. I see you spent what, a whole 15 minutes looking through "every single thread"? Give me a break, the archives go back to 2000! And by the way, my day is none of your concern. I myself sacrificed some of my time, took a lot longer than 15 minutes actually, to type out this post and try out this forum's wonderful search engine:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/search.php
This thread
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=402655&highlight=tech might interest you, as well as maybe this one
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=351819&highlight=tech
As you can see even from these two threads, one of which is only loosely about research but nonetheless a good and edifying read, most people will go for the wheel as the main military technology in the early and mid-game, while the main maritime tech is navigation, all that you need to get your caravans, or your chariots to the best cities, and the research path to it gives you the option to build Copernicus observatory, one of the most important wonders in the game.
Speaking of caravans, trade is one of the most important technologies in the game. It should be researched when you have feasible routes available, or if you have to boost a city's wonder production (let's say you're building the already mentioned observatory in your best trade city, which has little production). Religion is also a must if you want growth and should be timed with the government switch to republic/democracy.
Railroad is unanimously declared a crucial tech for builders and a lot of people beeline straight to it. It allows you to grow your cities, increases your trade and makes your logistics all that much easier. With a proper railroad network you can defend against armor with just a few cannons or even some ancient catapults. Coastal cities are a problem if the enemy is stronger and has battleships though. That's when you'll usually
really need conscription.
If you're looking for efficiency in research, look at your empire's geography and define your long term strategy. For the space race you should focus on trade and research early on. If you have a lot of clear coastline that can grow large 20+ cities with little production shields you obviously need to focus on economic development and growth to be efficient. That means: currency, writing, trade, banking, university, the republic, religion, railroad, not necessarily in that order. For an early conquest shields are the priority, so you'll want the wheel and mapmaking, and maybe mathematics and navigation. You pick up everything else on your way, and just milk everybody for cash...
Now, I've spent more than half an hour just typing this post and finding and looking through those two threads, yet I don't consider my time wasted. Why? Because I intended to help. Not just you, but anybody else who might read this thread. The funniest thing is that many people here have done just that in the past, and by refusing to take your time and read what they had to say, you are essentially wasting their time and effort. It's really quite ironic.
