A clearout: The statement about getting Construction 3 turns ealier was an imaginary example, to underline the importance of early effective teching. Since it didn't work as intended, I'll have to argue my cause in a more direct way, dissecting arguments one by one.
Well i go for it, becuase it has techs on it's route that are very important, and provide links to other vital techs like gunpowder for muskets
Agree, Education is nice and leads to Gunpowder. So does Guilds. furthermore, Edu is crucial for the Unis in any case. Philo is okay for pacifism (if you arent going to war, that is).
( i know people think they are rubbish, but it's nice to have a 9 strength unit, particulary when you have no horses and your emeny mostly has Longbowman which have no particulary counter except with brute force)
I frankly quite like 'em. That said:
1) We are Japan. We have a melee unit that is better than a musketman against longbows after one promotion.
2) We have horses, as well as iron.
3) Our enemy has mostly archers and axes, some time yet.
i normally then get Astromery as the free tech, which A) requires a large amount of beakers (and therefore save numerous turns)
Again, a long-term benefit, sure, Astronomy takes long to tech by yourself, and it is funny to grab by Lib.
B) Is a tech i don't particulary like researching due to the long time it takes and the quite smallish bonus it gives straight off
Then why hurry it with Lib?
C) Because you go deep into the Tech tree you can trade a tech they will get soon for many other small but vital techs that you haven't researched due to your aim of reaching liberalism
True. But we plan to kill off atleast one neighboor. That means fewer trades. Furthermore, the WFYABTA counts solid numbers of tech traded. That means it is better to buy relatively expansive techs than many small (unless ofc you want to clean off the AI when they hit WFYABTA). Furthermore, you don't want to trade prereqs to Lib before having Lib, and you don't want to trade a prereq to gunpowder to your neighboor. And you don't want to trade prereqs to Optics/Astro to neighboors or overseas neighboors when there are yet unexplored continents and you havent circumnavigated.
Right but the settled GS in this case would have gained us little extra momentum.
What is "little" here? The ability to run solid science with low slider due to the war?
The three turns would have made a passable difference at best and as time continues it is less and less noticeable.
They were an imaginary example, and no, they would be less and less
obviously noticable. Having Spains cities 3 turns earlier would just be huger lategame, with matured cottages and better infrastructure, more tradepartners, etc.
You argue that its better to get early momentum etc but then sentances later you state that bulbing is not desirable which is a prime example of using the GS to gain earlier momentum.
True. Because I don't judge a tech like Philosophy to have significance in times of war. Correct me if I am wrong.
I dont understand your point, why would you only bulb techs if you werent keeping tech pace?
To maintain techparity due to trades.
you bulb techs for a variety of reasons, for trade certainly but to unlock things quicker and crucially you can be unlocking tech whilst researching effectivly.
Agree. But Philo is not crucial in this case. My experience is that you can buy it off an AI in good time to grab Lib if that's what you want, since they usually go for it rather than Edu.
Liberalism is important because of the free tech, its gives you one but stops an AI getting one at the same time.
I have not argued against grabbing Liberalism. I have argued against building a strategy upon wanting to get it, since it is not crucial in itself. We don't have to beeline that much to get it, especially not if we have a high techrate and lots of (Spanish) land and gems.
Indeed aiming for liberalism whilst attempting to defend your homeland is a stupid idea but we're not in that situation and so liberalism is a very important/nice tech to have.
No it isn't. Not urgent. We want techs to get this war over with. Engineering, per example. Perhaps Guilds.
Then we can think of getting Lib.
The only tech we'd be avoiding if bulbing liberalism would be machinery but we're not going to be needing that for awhile anyway.
Machinery is crucial in many aspects:
1) Unlocks Crossbows, a huge military assett,
2) Unlocks Optics, needed to find new AIs and
to grab Astronomy from Liberalism, as you suggested.
3) Unlocks Engineering, used for Pikemen, a solid military assett, as well as Trebs, the city-breaking siege unit.
It's like arguing would you want 1 million this year or 2 million the year after.
Except that I have the opinion that the interest from this 1 million would be larger than the gain of "waiting" a year. In this though case, 1 million on a year (100%), which is highly unreal IRL. I do think we can make more of it in this game of civ though.
Personally i'd go for the latter as it gives us more concrete benefit than getting to construction slightly faster. I havent checked the numbers but i believe after only two turnchats the acadamy in arkadia is netting us nearly if not more as many beakers as it would have done settled in Arete.
Nah. Not more concrete. To use your own math: The academy has not yet paid off. That's enough proof for me. Had the war against Spain been earlier, the solid
(independant of slider), would matter even more.
will very rarely accumulate to 3 raw 
@ lower cost), which is available to even Spain (Spearman).
) or Caesar (an annoying IND leader, IIRC). Plus, this looks like a map that would benefit from Optics sooner rather than later, which is an argument atleast for Machinery.
I seem to remember from recent games that archers (city garrison I) are usually the prime defender, even with spearmen present. 
