Ugh. That's a lot of messing around. Basically split is there because Iron Working is there and that defines the difference between Ancient and Classical eras. I will give it a look but man that's going to be a big mess to sort through. As for Monarchy, that's not a medieval tech. Sure there were monarchs in the medieval era but there were kings in ancient and classical times too. Ex. King David, Valley of the Kings, etc.
I'm not suggesting monarchy be moved to medieval. I was suggesting to Classical BUT it's true that it goes back nearly to the beginning. Monarchy adds a lot of powerful benefits so I see why it's at the late end of Ancient but if we're trying to be accurate, it should really be at the beginning of Ancient since Kingship historically may have been one of the prerequisites of multi-city states. But perhaps there should be a difference between Kingship and Monarchy somehow.
Anyhow, the main point of the move is to shift the grid points for entry into the various eras so that it's a smoother transition. On this end, it's more about Medieval being corrected because again, there's nothing Classical about Vassalage or Smithing. You can make a point about the two kinds of Machinery, an even bigger point about the units that are opened up there being Medieval in power and rating rather than Classical.
Vassalage could go in either Classical or Medieval. Its also very close to the edge that it probbly could pass over to the other era. But Monarchy is way too early to be moved. Smithing could go either way. But Machinery was defiantly a Classical Era tech. Perhaps if we split it up into two techs. Such as "Ancient Machinery" and "Medieval Machinery". At the very least we should be splitting up the Windmills and Watermills into their own techs. Also why are Cogs at Machinery tech? Seems like they should be at some other tech. Maybe a new one.
I don't feel Vassalage is an 'either way' tech. Vassalage was taught in History class as a defining aspect of the Medieval Age. I'm looking at the units in that region too... Most of which being better suited to requiring Medieval Era entry first IMO.
Well like I said I would like to work on adding new techs to the Medieval Era. Like I said above perhaps some building and/or units can be moved into those new techs too. I also have the Rat Catching and Executions techs i want to add there.
So a mess is being made already... might as well shuffle it out while there's already some liquidity going on here, so that we don't regret it when we're done and the tree is 'baked in'.
Plague Medicine (NEW)
Req Tech: Guilds AND Theology AND Rat Catching
Location: X49 Y13
Units: Plague Doctor (NEW) or Move Doctor here along with the Doctor's Office
I'll have to check on the Doctor's current placement proximity and the tech it's already in. One may not need a new kind of doctor... the gradient is already pretty solid on those and paralleling the LE units with near perfection as per the design intent. AKA... there's no room for a new one. BUT a shift might work and I'll need to refer to my charts to see if it makes sense.
We could use another law tech in this era. Usury and Contracts didn't quite cut it.
Also... Torture... was a big thing in the middle ages. Not just execution. They spent a sick amount of R&D on figuring out how to make as much pain as possible during this time.
I wish there was a way to sort the TechInfos file by the x and y grid values. Man that file is a pain to search thru.
Are you using Notepad++? We could discuss a few tricks with that program that can achieve what you're trying to do. I also like to chart out things for a more visual reference.