Rate the Social Policies Part III: Commerce/Exploration/Rationalism

Commerce (Medieval Era)

6 - Commerce Opener: Boosts Gold output in the Capital by 25%. Unlocks Big Ben.
5 - Wagon Trains (leads to Entrepreneurship): +2 Gold from all your Land Trade Routes.
7 - Trade Unions (leads to Mercentilism): Maintenance paid on Roads and Railroads reduced by 50%.
5 - Entrepreneurship (requires Wagon Trains, part leads to Protectionism): Great Merchants are earned 25% faster.
7 - Mercantilism (requires Trade Unions, part leads to Protectionism): Purchasing items in Cities requires 25% less Gold. +1 Science from every Mint, Market, Bank and Stock Exchange.
8 - Protectionism (requires Entrepreneurship and Mercantilism): +2 Happiness from every Luxury Resource.
7 - Commerce Finisher: Grants +1 Gold for every Trading Post and double Gold from Great Merchant trade missions. Can purchase Great Merchants with Faith from the Industrial era."

One of my least favorite trees.


Exploration (Medieval Era)

8 - Exploration Opener: +1 Movement for Naval units and +1 Sight for Naval Combat units. Unlocks the Louvre.
8 - Maritime Infrastructure (part leads to Merchant Navy): +3 Production in all coastal Cities.
6 - Naval Tradition (leads to Navigation School, part leads to Merchant Navy): +1 Happiness for each Harbor, Seaport, or Lighthouse.
6 - Navigation School (Requires Naval Tradition ): A Great Admiral appears. +2 Movement for all Great Admirals. Great Admirals are earned 25% faster.
5 - Merchant Navy (Requires Maritime Infrastructure and Naval Tradition): +1 Gold for each Harbor, Seaport or Lighthouse..
6 - Treasure Fleets (Requires Merchant Navy): +4 Gold from all your sea trade routes.
7 - Exploration Finisher: Allows you to see Hidden Antiquity Sites. Can purchase Great Admirals with Faith from the Industrial Era.

If I'm going for a culture victory, usually I just open it for the Louvre, then Maritime Infrastructure, and then direct my attention to getting the right tenets in place.


Rationalism

8 - Rationalism Opener: +10% Science while the empire is Happy. Unlocks building the Porcelain Tower.
8 - Secularism (leads to Sovereignty): +2 Science from every Specialist.
6 - Humanism (leads to Free Thought): Great Scientists are earned 25% faster.
8 - Free Thought (requires Humanism): +1 Science from every Trading Post and +17% Science from Universities.
6 - Sovereignty (requires Secularism, leads to Scientific Revolution): +1 Gold from Science buildings.
9 - Scientific Revolution (requires Sovereignty): Boosts Science gained from Research Agreements by 50%.
10 - Rationalism Finisher: Grants a free Technology. Allows the purchase of Great Scientists with Faith from the Industrial Era.

Big fan of Rationalism in general. When going Scientific, I like to combine the finisher plus Oxford to go from Radar to Satellites in one fell swoop.

Why do people keep saying the Land / Sea trade route policies don't work? In trade route details, it's clearly listed for me right now as +2 from social policies. The money also increased.

Commerce (Medieval Era)

6 - Commerce Opener: Boosts Gold output in the Capital by 25%. Unlocks Big Ben.
6 - Wagon Trains (leads to Entrepreneurship): +2 Gold from all your Land Trade Routes.
5 - Trade Unions (leads to Mercentilism): Maintenance paid on Roads and Railroads reduced by 50%.
8 - Entrepreneurship (requires Wagon Trains, part leads to Protectionism): Great Merchants are earned 25% faster.
9 - Mercantilism (requires Trade Unions, part leads to Protectionism): Purchasing items in Cities requires 25% less Gold. +1 Science from every Mint, Market, Bank and Stock Exchange.
9 - Protectionism (requires Entrepreneurship and Mercantilism): +2 Happiness from every Luxury Resource.
8 - Commerce Finisher: Grants +1 Gold for every Trading Post and double Gold from Great Merchant trade missions. Can purchase Great Merchants with Faith from the Industrial era."


Exploration (Medieval Era)

8 - Exploration Opener: +1 Movement for Naval units and +1 Sight for Naval Combat units. Unlocks the Louvre.
8 - Maritime Infrastructure (part leads to Merchant Navy): +3 Production in all coastal Cities.
6 - Naval Tradition (leads to Navigation School, part leads to Merchant Navy): +1 Happiness for each Harbor, Seaport, or Lighthouse.
5 - Navigation School (Requires Naval Tradition ): A Great Admiral appears. +2 Movement for all Great Admirals. Great Admirals are earned 25% faster.
3 - Merchant Navy (Requires Maritime Infrastructure and Naval Tradition): +1 Gold for each Harbor, Seaport or Lighthouse..
10 - Treasure Fleets (Requires Merchant Navy): +4 Gold from all your sea trade routes.
9 - Exploration Finisher: Allows you to see Hidden Antiquity Sites. Can purchase Great Admirals with Faith from the Industrial Era.


Rationalism

9 - Rationalism Opener: +10% Science while the empire is Happy. Unlocks building the Porcelain Tower.
9 - Secularism (leads to Sovereignty): +2 Science from every Specialist.
8 - Humanism (leads to Free Thought): Great Scientists are earned 25% faster.
9 - Free Thought (requires Humanism): +1 Science from every Trading Post and +17% Science from Universities.
6 - Sovereignty (requires Secularism, leads to Scientific Revolution): +1 Gold from Science buildings.
6 - Scientific Revolution (requires Sovereignty): Boosts Science gained from Research Agreements by 50%.
9 - Rationalism Finisher: Grants a free Technology. Allows the purchase of Great Scientists with Faith from the Industrial Era.

Commerce (Medieval Era)

4 - Commerce Opener: Boosts Gold output in the Capital by 25%. Unlocks Big Ben.
In some capital locations, this it good, but it is generally a small bonus.
1 - Wagon Trains (leads to Entrepreneurship): +2 Gold from all your Land Trade Routes.
Two gold from a trade route is a very small bonus, and I don't have that many land trade routes in most games. I mostly have internal and sea.
4- Trade Unions (leads to Mercantilism): Maintenance paid on Roads and Railroads reduced by 50%.
I generally don't build a lot of roads, but a 50% reduction is a significant amount.
3 - Entrepreneurship (requires Wagon Trains, part leads to Protectionism): Great Merchants are earned 25% faster.
This is only useful for Venice.
8 - Mercantilism (requires Trade Unions, part leads to Protectionism): Purchasing items in Cities requires 25% less Gold. +1 Science from every Mint, Market, Bank and Stock Exchange.
Generally if I choose to go into commerce, it is for this policy.
7 - Protectionism (requires Entrepreneurship and Mercantilism): +2 Happiness from every Luxury Resource.
This gives a lot of happiness, but I rarely get through the other policies to get to it.
6 - Commerce Finisher: Grants +1 Gold for every Trading Post and double Gold from Great Merchant trade missions. Can purchase Great Merchants with Faith from the Industrial era."
The extra gold from trading posts is sometimes very good, but I rarely use great merchants, although that could be nice for Venice.


Exploration (Medieval Era)

7 - Exploration Opener: +1 Movement for Naval units and +1 Sight for Naval Combat units. Unlocks the Louvre.
On some maps this is helpful, but I usually take it only for the Louvre.
8 - Maritime Infrastructure (part leads to Merchant Navy): +3 Production in all coastal Cities.
This is in my opinion the best policy in the tree. Production always helps.
6 - Naval Tradition (leads to Navigation School, part leads to Merchant Navy): +1 Happiness for each Harbor, Seaport, or Lighthouse.
Not as good as maritime infrastructure, but happiness never hurts.
4 - Navigation School (Requires Naval Tradition ): A Great Admiral appears. +2 Movement for all Great Admirals. Great Admirals are earned 25% faster.
Only good if you are going for naval domination, but it is very good if so.
1 - Merchant Navy (Requires Maritime Infrastructure and Naval Tradition): +1 Gold for each Harbor, Seaport or Lighthouse.
This policy only gives one gold from buildings that you can only have in coastal cities, and you might not even build all three in every one of your coastal cities.
3 - Treasure Fleets (Requires Merchant Navy): +4 Gold from all your sea trade routes.
An extra four gold is not that great, but at least it's better than merchant navy.
5 - Exploration Finisher: Allows you to see Hidden Antiquity Sites. Can purchase Great Admirals with Faith from the Industrial Era.
The antiquity sites aren't bad, but I never want to purchase a great admiral. It can also be hard to produce enough archaeologists for the policy to be worth it.


Rationalism

8 - Rationalism Opener: +10% Science while the empire is Happy. Unlocks building the Porcelain Tower.
More science is great, although it isn't as great as it used to be.
9 - Secularism (leads to Sovereignty): +2 Science from every Specialist.
This gives a lot of extra science, especially if you use AWM specialists along with staffing universities.
6 - Humanism (leads to Free Thought): Great Scientists are earned 25% faster.
This is a pretty boring bonus, but it still helps.
7 - Free Thought (requires Humanism): +1 Science from every Trading Post and +17% Science from Universities.
If you have a lot of trading posts, such as when you are in jungle, this can be useful, but otherwise it is ok, but not great.
4 - Sovereignty (requires Secularism, leads to Scientific Revolution): +1 Gold from Science buildings.
This is the worst policy in the whole tree. It's a fairly insignificant bonus.
7 - Scientific Revolution (requires Sovereignty): Boosts Science gained from Research Agreements by 50%.
If you have a lot of research agreements, this is awesome.
6 - Rationalism Finisher: Grants a free Technology. Allows the purchase of Great Scientists with Faith from the Industrial Era.
A free tech is great, but not the best policy ever.

Sorry about the late tallying, I took an impromptu vacation which is why I've not been around much.

Firstly, my votes:

Commerce (Medieval Era)

7 - Commerce Opener: Big Ben is good and the capital has a lot of gold. Useful late on if you're not sure what to spend a policy on.
3 - Wagon Trains: It's nice except cargo ships are better than caravans in almost every way.
4 - Trade Unions: Yeah maintenance reductions can be huge in puppet empires, but most games you're better off playing tall and this amounts to pittance by then.
6 - Entrepreneurship: Great Merchants are underrated and it goes nicely with the finisher.
7 - Mercantilism: Everyone loves gold purchasing. Extra science is nice. Especially useful in domination victories since puppets all build the gold generating buildings.
7 - Protectionism: This is amongst the best policies for happiness until you get to ideologies
7 - Commerce Finisher: Try this in a giant puppet empire and marvel at the results. Trading posts can easily become the best improvement when combined with free thought for the extra science.


Exploration (Medieval Era)

3 - Exploration Opener: Meh, extra sight and movement is ok, it's not really up there with the rest of the openers. The Lourve is only really useful for culture games anyway.
6 - Maritime Infrastructure: A nice healthy boost to production in coastal cities.
7 - Naval Tradition: Effectively +3 happiness per coastal city. Great for happiness.
1 - Navigation School: Hooray, great admirals still can't keep up with your fleet. They also still suck. Easily the worst great person.
3 - Merchant Navy: Effectively +3 Gold per coastal city. I build on the coast a lot (so I can send +10 food cargo ships to my capital) and this policy isn't very useful, it's worth pennies by the time you earn it.
8 - Treasure Fleets: This is worth a lot of gold. If you're trading with other civs, it's a huge boost. Unfortunately you have to take fluff policies to reach it. Why couldn't they put this in commerce? It'd make the commerce tree a must-have.
1 - Exploration Finisher: Not even useful in cultural victories because the rest of the tree isn't really very cultural. Extra sites would be nice but it's really costly on policies and if you start early enough you should excavate all the artefacts you need.


Rationalism

10 - Rationalism Opener: 10% science boost is pretty big. Porcelain tower is nice. Never played a game where I haven't taken this policy, it's just that good.
10 - Secularism: Specialists are already great for their GP points, this just makes them even better. Another huge boost to science production.
9 - Humanism: Everyone loves great scientists. Earning them faster is a nice boost.
10 - Free Thought: Gives you an improvement which increases science. Turns jungle cities into science powerhouses. Since every city should have a university it amounts to a +17% boost to science.
5 - Sovereignty: Extra gold is nice but it really doesn't amount to too much and by this point it's pennies. Better than merchant navy because it's usually more than +3 per city and it's in every city.
7 - Scientific Revolution: Research agreements become more necessary at harder difficulties. At King and below they're usually prohibitively expensive for the AI given that you should be tech leader although with BNW the AI has more gold so they seem to be a bit better. Useless if you're a warmonger though.
10 - Rationalism Finisher: Free tech is awesome this can give you a huge advantage if you time it right. Great scientists are the best great people (alongside great engineers) so purchasing them is a must.

THE RESULTS

Votes so far: 30

5.81 - Commerce (Medieval Era)

6.00 - Commerce Opener: Boosts Gold output in the Capital by 25%. Unlocks Big Ben.
3.73 - Wagon Trains (leads to Entrepreneurship): +2 Gold from all your Land Trade Routes.
5.53 - Trade Unions (leads to Mercentilism): Maintenance paid on Roads and Railroads reduced by 50%.
3.63 - Entrepreneurship (requires Wagon Trains, part leads to Protectionism): Great Merchants are earned 25% faster.
7.5 - Mercantilism (requires Trade Unions, part leads to Protectionism): Purchasing items in Cities requires 25% less Gold. +1 Science from every Mint, Market, Bank and Stock Exchange.
8.00 - Protectionism (requires Entrepreneurship and Mercantilism): +2 Happiness from every Luxury Resource.
6.27 - Commerce Finisher: Grants +1 Gold for every Trading Post and double Gold from Great Merchant trade missions. Can purchase Great Merchants with Faith from the Industrial era."


5.20 - Exploration (Medieval Era)

5.97 - Exploration Opener: +1 Movement for Naval units and +1 Sight for Naval Combat units. Unlocks the Louvre.
6.60 - Maritime Infrastructure (part leads to Merchant Navy): +3 Production in all coastal Cities.
6.01 - Naval Tradition (leads to Navigation School, part leads to Merchant Navy): +1 Happiness for each Harbor, Seaport, or Lighthouse.
3.10 - Navigation School (Requires Naval Tradition ): A Great Admiral appears. +2 Movement for all Great Admirals. Great Admirals are earned 25% faster.
3.73 - Merchant Navy (Requires Maritime Infrastructure and Naval Tradition): +1 Gold for each Harbor, Seaport or Lighthouse..
6.33 - Treasure Fleets (Requires Merchant Navy): +4 Gold from all your sea trade routes.
4.63 - Exploration Finisher: Allows you to see Hidden Antiquity Sites. Can purchase Great Admirals with Faith from the Industrial Era.


7.28 - Rationalism

8.30 - Rationalism Opener: +10% Science while the empire is Happy. Unlocks building the Porcelain Tower.
8.43 - Secularism (leads to Sovereignty): +2 Science from every Specialist.
6.83 - Humanism (leads to Free Thought): Great Scientists are earned 25% faster.
7.83 - Free Thought (requires Humanism): +1 Science from every Trading Post and +17% Science from Universities.
4.77 - Sovereignty (requires Secularism, leads to Scientific Revolution): +1 Gold from Science buildings.
6.37 - Scientific Revolution (requires Sovereignty): Boosts Science gained from Research Agreements by 50%.
8.40 - Rationalism Finisher: Grants a free Technology. Allows the purchase of Great Scientists with Faith from the Industrial Era.

Commerce (Medieval Era)

7 - Commerce Opener: Boosts Gold output in the Capital by 25%. Unlocks Big Ben.
5 - Wagon Trains (leads to Entrepreneurship): +2 Gold from all your Land Trade Routes.
4 - Trade Unions (leads to Mercentilism): Maintenance paid on Roads and Railroads reduced by 50%.
6 - Entrepreneurship (requires Wagon Trains, part leads to Protectionism): Great Merchants are earned 25% faster.
8 - Mercantilism (requires Trade Unions, part leads to Protectionism): Purchasing items in Cities requires 25% less Gold. +1 Science from every Mint, Market, Bank and Stock Exchange.
10 - Protectionism (requires Entrepreneurship and Mercantilism): +2 Happiness from every Luxury Resource.
8 - Commerce Finisher: Grants +1 Gold for every Trading Post and double Gold from Great Merchant trade missions. Can purchase Great Merchants with Faith from the Industrial era."


Exploration (Medieval Era)

8 - Exploration Opener: +1 Movement for Naval units and +1 Sight for Naval Combat units. Unlocks the Louvre.
7 - Maritime Infrastructure (part leads to Merchant Navy): +3 Production in all coastal Cities.
6 - Naval Tradition (leads to Navigation School, part leads to Merchant Navy): +1 Happiness for each Harbor, Seaport, or Lighthouse.
6 - Navigation School (Requires Naval Tradition ): A Great Admiral appears. +2 Movement for all Great Admirals. Great Admirals are earned 25% faster.
3 - Merchant Navy (Requires Maritime Infrastructure and Naval Tradition): +1 Gold for each Harbor, Seaport or Lighthouse..
5 - Treasure Fleets (Requires Merchant Navy): +4 Gold from all your sea trade routes.
4 - Exploration Finisher: Allows you to see Hidden Antiquity Sites. Can purchase Great Admirals with Faith from the Industrial Era.


Rationalism

8 - Rationalism Opener: +10% Science while the empire is Happy. Unlocks building the Porcelain Tower.
7 - Secularism (leads to Sovereignty): +2 Science from every Specialist.
6 - Humanism (leads to Free Thought): Great Scientists are earned 25% faster.
10 - Free Thought (requires Humanism): +1 Science from every Trading Post and +17% Science from Universities.
4 - Sovereignty (requires Secularism, leads to Scientific Revolution): +1 Gold from Science buildings.
7 - Scientific Revolution (requires Sovereignty): Boosts Science gained from Research Agreements by 50%.
10 - Rationalism Finisher: Grants a free Technology. Allows the purchase of Great Scientists with Faith from the Industrial Era.