an idea to reduce turtling

[Dragar]

Surely this would favour the strong early game nations even more?

To be honest I'm not really aware of much turtling in this game. Winners almost always have powerful starts and expand aggresively

[Illuminated One]

Well, I like the idea of not having the mages do the research.
I like the idea of giving the map more points of strategic interest for the late game, too, but those will be around early on also and just another bonus for the bless rushers.
How about giving each nation a shapechanging unrecruitable researcher instead of the starting scout. Different shapes produce different research but need different upkeep?