Re: Balancing Very Early Research and Site Searching
If you have a pressing research need then by all means go after it full-tilt, but otherwise get out site searching ASAP.
Gem income becomes immediately useful even if you can't spend it because it stockpiles, whereas if you aren't casting your new spells they might as well not have them (your fireballs don't get better just because you researched them 10 turns ago versus last turn.) So, as with most things, it's pretty situational, but in general you want to front-load gems and have the research "catch up" once your mages are done wandering around instead of the other way around.
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