ClavisRa
Chieftain
When the tech tree was unveiled, one of my very first observations was, "oh, they are encouraging people to beeline strategic advanced techs at the cost of slowing other more efficient, early development". This is great game design, giving players lots of flexibility to craft a strategy, especially since advancing eras causes significant cost increases. So you can pursue wildly different strategies with multiple beeline options, or holding back to develop cheaply, but with basic tech.
This does pose a balance challenge, of course, but it seems to be a surmountable one. PvP games are going to be very, very interesting.
This does pose a balance challenge, of course, but it seems to be a surmountable one. PvP games are going to be very, very interesting.