I have some suggestions in mind for changing up how certain technology is upgraded.

Through experience instead of gold and resources. Not all of them, but some other may be obvious.

Piracy, skirmish tactics, and shipwright management. These should be upgraded after having “experience” gained for these.

Plunders, skirmishes, and npc battles would contribute to piract technology. Realistically speaking, you wouldnt pay in gold and gold bars to make your crew more skilled in stealing. It comes with experience.

Skirmish tactics comes with more skirmishes won and lost, as well as cargo plunders. You learn how to skirmish ships after experience in the battlefield and not with money.

Shipwright management is based on how long youve built ships to sell. The more you build, the more you learn to be more efficient with your budget and building.

Political science. The more you do for citizens the more you learn how citizens react to what you spend. You become more affiliated with the population and this means more influence gained from gold drops in the future.

This is speculation and a train of thought.

Anyone have thoughts on the idea of experience based technology or this discussion?