Yes, this type of thing is what I was alluding to qt the end of my 2nd paragraph. I was sort of thinking it over as I typed and that's where I sort of ended up.

Yes, this type of thing is what I was alluding to qt the end of my 2nd paragraph. I was sort of thinking it over as I typed and that's where I sort of ended up. You need some sort of coarse grained planning like that. Or I guess the technical term is hierarchical planning? Pick a win condition. Science. Ok, what are the subgoals you want for that? You want growth, first and foremost. And you want to get to plastic asap. How do you get growth? Improve food tiles tiles, research civil service and chemistry, spec into tradition, unlock more caravan. Which of those are more worthwhile? Chemistry kinda conflicts with getting to plastics faster, and so on. Sort of feels like some sort of SAT problem. Which isn't great news, I admit. I need to read more papers and maybe have a peek in my Russell & Norvig because now I can't stop thinking about this.