Of course I had the Pentagon, with barracks, Vassalage, and Theocracy.
Actually one of my Noble games I had fallen behind techwise (because of wars) to the Indians. When I invaded them, I was typically using Cavalry and Riflemen, against his infantry. But because of the huge amount of upgrades I could give my guys, everyone had +25% against gunpowder and varying levels of +Strength, Armor (he did have the odd tank) and so forth. Despite being technologically inferior by a small bit, I was still able to do very well because of the effective experience my troops all had. It was very satisfying.