early in the game, the slow tech rate makes sense, otherwise your troops would be outdated before they reach enemy territory
this can still happen with 1.17 since the Ai splits up the tech tree and exchanges.
Reduce your tech rate every turn to gain the max amount of money. Also, make sure that you research techs the others know - you`ll get them faster while you`ll never outrace the AI significantly to n expensive tech.
Try to buy tech cheaply.
Another nice method is clobbering your enemy badly (like take 3 cities in 3 turns), then move a huge stack of troops (early game: 2 defenders + 3 attackers) against a city. He`ll pay through his nose to get peace. now do NOT ask for cities, ask for gold and tech. Do not take gold instead of tech, take all tech you can and then as much gold as he`s willing to pay.
If you`re an ******* like me, repeat the process!
If you never get towns for peace, you can take more by force, this gives you more combats and more chances at extortion
With this method you`ll even get to build a few wonders because of all the leaders you`ll get.....
