I'd recommend taking a bit more time in a tech start and getting closer to 60k total tech. I stopped barely over 50k this set in primary because I had just one tech ally, and I think I converted too fast. In hindsight, I should have spent another 20 turns teching bus/res techs. If I had boosted my CS count a bit more at 4k acres, it might have worked out, but I only went to 240 CS before I started grabbing. I spent too much time with just 158% to 160% bus/res techs, I really wish I had gotten just a tad more tech at the start.

In express, you can wait until near the end of the 2nd day before playing any turns, and you can wait until mid to late day 3 before you're boosting your bpt at 4k acres. With the ability to wait until tech prices are very low, I'd say that stopping at 45k to 50k tech points in express might work, but in other servers where you can't wait such an extremely long time before playing, I would say that 55k to 60k is a better amount of tech to aim for. If you practice it, you could do a theo cash start that saves up to almost 360(360) and waits for tech prices to really drop far, and then goes CS heavy to limit its growth, could work out. The only way for a cash start casher or farm start farmer to work is to get lots of tech and go heavy on CS.