This change even makes the tech and civic cost far less than the previous patch(aboout 10% percent in total),I strongly doubt if it is what FXS really want to.Actually ,it does shorten the winning progress which seems to be against other changes that make the game more "durable".
For example,the tech "electricity" cost 1250 science if you are in modern era(which is the same as the tech)in last patch,but we got 20% penalty for about 1500(1250*1.2) science if we research it earlier in that era.Now we got it with 1370 (1250*1.1)regardless of your current era. Also,previous era techs and civics do not have a discount now,this makes the decisions on which tech and civic should research first less intersting cause the cost does not depend on the era now.