But it is working as intended, because the techs now rely on the institutions inherently. If you removed that, you'd have the same situation where say tech 15 magically becomes much harder to obtain after printing press has spawned, when spawning and embracing that institution should logically make tech progression easier. The game is saying "This institution makes researching tech [X] and up easier". That is true whether you don't have it because it hasn't spawned, or don't have it because it hasn't spread to your area of the world yet.
Cool. Also seems like sort of a reasonable consequence of most sequences of events that end with Siberia as the trade capital of the world. Like, “What, all I did was turn half the planet into burning piles of skulls and you’re telling me technological progress is somehow gonna be slower?!”
The condition for level 1 centers of trade after 1630 has been in the game since patch 1.30. But you can still prevent global trade by just giving all centers of trade in the highest valued trade node to other countries while you maintain the highest trade power share in the node. You can for example give them to vassals and then use the subject interaction to get all their trade power.
