Kinda thought so. So to be clear, here's what I know. I have screenshots from every turn in my screenshots folder (some that didn't get posted probably), and I double checked.
On T59 I could see him complete Iron Working, and since then he's been saving gold on a variety of techs. I've seen him on Math, Aesthetics, and Alphabet. Could have sworn I saw Priesthood once too, but I don't see a screenshot of that. It's now T66, so he's seemingly saved gold for 6T (he hasn't played the current turn yet). The most plausible explanation is he's working on popping a scientist right now for an Academy, so he's saving gold because of that. This wouldn't necessarily shock me, and I did see his completion times change in a way that suggested he was getting > 1bpt a couple times, so this may very well be it. That's the innocent explanation. The only other explanation I can think of is he 1-turned Priesthood at some point because it was partially completed in the past, so 6T of saving is more like 5T.
If he's not doing that, then he's definitely messing with his tech display. For what it's worth, 1 turn of gold saving equates to like 10T of tech for me. I know his costs are likely a lot higher because he's got a few more cities, but I would expect 6T of saving gold to have netted him an absolute minimum of 120g, probably closer to 150g, and I'd think his gold loss at 100% tech can't be much higher than like -12gpt max, probably less. I'd just ask the lurkers to keep an eye on this if/when he reports, but I don't think it's quite yet worth confronting him because innocent explanations still remain.
On T59 I could see him complete Iron Working, and since then he's been saving gold on a variety of techs. I've seen him on Math, Aesthetics, and Alphabet. Could have sworn I saw Priesthood once too, but I don't see a screenshot of that. It's now T66, so he's seemingly saved gold for 6T (he hasn't played the current turn yet). The most plausible explanation is he's working on popping a scientist right now for an Academy, so he's saving gold because of that. This wouldn't necessarily shock me, and I did see his completion times change in a way that suggested he was getting > 1bpt a couple times, so this may very well be it. That's the innocent explanation. The only other explanation I can think of is he 1-turned Priesthood at some point because it was partially completed in the past, so 6T of saving is more like 5T.
If he's not doing that, then he's definitely messing with his tech display. For what it's worth, 1 turn of gold saving equates to like 10T of tech for me. I know his costs are likely a lot higher because he's got a few more cities, but I would expect 6T of saving gold to have netted him an absolute minimum of 120g, probably closer to 150g, and I'd think his gold loss at 100% tech can't be much higher than like -12gpt max, probably less. I'd just ask the lurkers to keep an eye on this if/when he reports, but I don't think it's quite yet worth confronting him because innocent explanations still remain.
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