Piety's greatest bonus is the gold from trade routes, which may have trouble competing with Tradition's
gains in the later phases of the game.
Its also odd that it is limited to land trade routes, since an Empire focusing on trade routes would typically settle on the coasts.
All three trees have
bonuses, but Piety is likely outclassed by Liberty if the player is acquiring luxury resources properly.
Its also odd that Piety's
bonus seems more geared towards a wide empire while Liberty's is more of a trade bonus.
The
on Holy Sites seems nice, but it requires using faith to spam them, without a discount from Mandate of Heaven if I remember correctly, and the old
and
bonuses were probably more useful, at least in the short term.
It just feels like I'd always be better off going Tradition for a tall empire or Liberty for a wide, expanding one, with Piety getting small amounts of
and
with a minor advantage to playing the Missionary game without much reward.
Mostly, I feel like Piety does not reward spreading religion adequately, so its faith becomes a clunky way of getting extra Great People often.
The Founder belief bonuses it spreading religion is based on also tend to fall off.
I'm interested in the new approach to Piety you mentioned.
As a side note, I like the changes to the Commerce tree generally.
from Custom Houses will make them easier to work.
Is the Commerce finisher affected by gamespeed? If so, what does it do at Marathon speed?