Or rather, development trees would be a bit better in this ancient setting.
What annoyed me in empire was that technologies actually had to be researched in game. This time around I'm hoping we will see a more game-oriented solution. I think it would be more fun if you would for example just get 1 development point to spend in the development trees every 5 years or so.
So lets say there are 5 development trees: Production, Military, Organization, Philosophy and Trade. each of the trees need around 20 points to fully develop. If the game lasts from 250 BC to 0 you can get 50 points. So choosing which trees you are gonna fill out really matters since you can't build more universities and just research everything.
Some technologies could also require certain buildings to be build or certain regions to poses before you can spend your points in them. And for each of the playable factions the development trees should of course be adapted to fit them better.
This also opens the door for additional requirements for fulfilling an historical campaign. Like for Carthage spending a certain amount of points in the Trade development tree and for Greek cities to spend enough points in Philosophy.
What do you think? I think it will greatly enhance the re-playability, one time playing with an evil tyranny focusing on military development and expansion and the other time playing as a philosophically heavy confederacy of Greek cities or a Carthaginian senate, Focusing on mercantile expansion.