If you're in a stable alliance, higher tech rates are the best way to grow. Get to 3.9k, 4.9k infra quickly, start getting lots of dough, collect, jump, collect, jump; then become a tech buyer -- upon reaching which stage you get the benefit of lower tech rate, and you start collecting some serious cash. I have no part of this, and I admit I'm a !@#$ player, but people much much better than me in most alliances recognised this.
Now there are other ways to play of course. Big nations can drop down to lower tiers and prolong their warchests, but using this strategy itself is admitting defeat. Wars at lower tier don't matter. Once your upper tier or mid-tier is gone, you have lost the war. Whatever damage is done to lower tiers is easily repaired. Fighting in pink senate with you and spatr and other guys were the best times of my life. I essentially had unlimited warchest because even if I didn't have any money whatsoever and had barely any infra, I could get aid any time I needed. Even wonders, which are the only time constrained components in cn, were funded while we were fighting. Fighting at lower tiers is just self gratification. It means nothing in the long run.
Good job fighting there. You are all great fighters, I recognise that. Much better than me for sure. I respect NG, even though I don't agree with their CB against our allies, FTW. It has cool rulers, and a cool history. It was our ally for years before we warred. But most of the fighting, done at our level, it doesn't amount to much. The game has already been won. This war was over before it began.