The Ailing Civilization Strategy
It's a strategy devised to catch-up techwise, obtaining numerous techs in a short span of time through trading.
When I'm lagging behind in the tech race at, say, Emperor level or above, I look at the Power Chart and trace a feable civilization with high culture (which probably means it will be ahead of me by several techs). This has been a civ that has typically prioritised research in the earlier game rather than building military units and is currently being overun in an ongoing war by some powerful neighbouring civs.
Requirements for the ACS:
I. The ailing civ must be at war with TWO or MORE civilizations.
II. It must have FIVE or less cities left to be annihilated.
III. Your reputation must be flawless enabling you to trade techs for gpt.
