Stupid Question about Tradition?

I always build a monument in my capitol first. So when I take Tradition and get the free monuments in first four cities, is that a waste of time?

Should I not build a monument and just wait to get that?

It will give you a free Ampitheater. The policy is for a "free culture building." It used to be (I think) that you would not be able to get the building unless you had the tech, but I know that in G&K it will give you the next culture building.

If you are playing G&K, your capital will get a free amphitheater when you research Drama & Poetry and you will continue to pay maintenance on your monument.

In vanilla, IIRC your capital's monument just became maintenance free, which is not worth the expenditure of hammers to build the monument.

Zaimejs said:

I always build a monument in my capitol first. So when I take Tradition and get the free monuments in first four cities, is that a waste of time?

Should I not build a monument and just wait to get that?

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No point building the monument if your going to get Legalism before you have the tech to the next cultural building. This is in fact one of the reasons that many players prefer Tradition as a second tree after having first snagged the free Great Enginner (& extra Golden Age) from Liberty, particularly in vanilla.

Yeah in vanilla it was crap because because you'd get nothing.

In G & K i quite like the free amphitheater; it helps getting thru tradition quickly.

I wonder what happens if you already have amphitheater and monument when you choose the policy??

Capt Ajax said:

I wonder what happens if you already have amphitheater and monument when you choose the policy??

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Opera House for most civs, Wat for Siam.

And if you already have an opera house, you get a museum. Did this the other day in a wide game -- Legalism taken late resulted in a museum in my capital and opera houses in my next 3 cities.

Does this include captured cities. I rarely go past 3 cities, will the first city I capture count as my fourth or is it only for cities you found?

fatboris said:

Does this include captured cities. I rarely go past 3 cities, will the first city I capture count as my fourth or is it only for cities you found?

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For legalism, only the cities you settle count. For the aqueducts from the tradition finisher, all cities (including captured puppets) count.

joncnunn said:

No point building the monument if your going to get Legalism before you have the tech to the next cultural building. This is in fact one of the reasons that many players prefer Tradition as a second tree after having first snagged the free Great Enginner (& extra Golden Age) from Liberty, particularly in vanilla.

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That statement is a bit too general. You can very well take the policy even before you have the next tech. Two things happen: you open up the growth policy below plus the moment you get the next tech, pop, and Amphitheaters are in your cities (as an example).

So if you focus on tall & tradition (you want your growth sooner than later), it is very well worth taking it, especially since the other two 1st row policies are quite situational.

Zaimejs said:

I always build a monument in my capitol first. So when I take Tradition and get the free monuments in first four cities, is that a waste of time?

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Yes, it's a waste of time. If you're looking to do a Tradition opener, don't build any monuments in your first four cities since you'll be getting them very quickly anyway for free. You'll have those turns for another military unit. I always open with Tradition, since in my mind free monuments and free aqueducts beats whatever advantage Liberty or Honor provide. It allows me to build early shrines too.

In the situation where I end up getting a lot of culture before I can open Rationalism, and Tradition is already completed, I'll open Honor and work down the right-hand branch until Rationalism opens. I've found that a solid Tradition open then move into Rationalism is extremely effective, and by the time you get where you could make bigger culture buildings for free if you toyed it around, you are rich enough to just buy them anyway.