With 6 turns to go on Writing, what is the thinking regarding what we should research next? It seems very unlikely we can win the race to Philosophy.
I think the most helpful thing we can do is to move toward a government. They are both a long way away, but the sooner we start, the sooner we can get out of despotism and make everything much better.
If anyone agrees with that, then we need to decide which government will we be playing in. I think Republic may still be better than Monarchy even in multiplayer civ, even though it is not as clear as it is in single player. Therefore, I would research Philosophy next anyway. We probably won't get there first, but if the Knights decided to get greedy and try to fit in CoL first, then we can punish them appropriately. If we are not first, then we are still one step closer to Republic.