The Tech Web is a new way of looking at Research within the game, but to get the most out of it, the Tech Web does require a little bit of advance planning, especially if you want to take advantage of building Wonders, or if you are aiming to get XP for a single Affinity quickly in order to achieve an Affinity Victory. It's also important to note that, even if you research a technology that allows you to build an Affinity Victory Wonder, it will not be available unless you have the appropriate amount of Affinity XP, which will require researching more technologies within the web.