What if the Library of Alexandria never burned?
The common route that is considered is the one where knowledge flourishes and things are automatically awesome.
However, in every game of Civilization that I’ve ever played, my research heavy civs tend be knowledge utopias right up until about it comes time to build railroads. Then I suddenly need to build a bunch of riflemen and artillery and go destroy whatever nearby medieval putzes are squatting on resources they have no conception of how to use.
Maybe this is just a lack of imagination on my part.
–Geoff