Tradition is, in the same way as honor, currently pretty bad as a first choice, and even worse as a second one. Compared to Liberty, both policiy trees are severely underpowered and lacking.
Lets first look at what makes liberty so good:
0. Liberty is constructed around the idea of fast expansion and a big empire.
1. Well thought out short term/instant benefits: Free worker, free settler, golden age, free production, free great person.
Early on, this is a huge advantage. It allows for very fast expansion and production, and most of the time a wonder rush (golden Age into wonder is just as good as tradition, free engineer is basically a free Notre Dame or similar)
2. Good Long term scalability: Cheaper settlers, faster workers, %based production,%based happiness.
These scale very well with big empired and more cities, perfectly emphacizing what liberty is about.
3.Versatility: In terms of progression, liberty offers a lot of choice.
Need happiness? go meritocracy. Need gold/wonder rush? go representation. Settler first or worker first? Great Person? Take what u want/need/fits your style. Lots of choices and all are viable and allow for a different take on early game strategy.
My ideas for tradition evolve around the same premisse and focus on bringing it on par with the liberty branch:
0. Tradition is based around small empires, with few but potent cities.
1. Well thought out short term/instant benefits
2. Good Long term scalability
3. Versatility
Now ill explain why tradition sucks and how to improve it in my opinion: (policy names are subject to change, this is only to represent their position in the tree)
Opener: Culture and border growth, perfectly good as is
Finisher: One of the better things in the tree, but no comparison to a free GP.
CHANGE:+ 1Population,+2Food,+10% growth in your first 4 cities
REASON: More focus on a small empire, much better short term benefit with slightly worse long term scaling. A finisher needs to have a direct and noticable impact.
Aristocracy: good long term perspective, but no short term benefit at all.
CHANGE: +4 Food, +2 Population in the capital
REASON: This has to bring tradition on par with a free settler/worker in the first 20 turns, and i think it does. On top of that it is not at the end of the tree anymore. huge improvement.
Oligarchy: horrible, absolutely horrible. You cant use it to get a monument with anything but france, since you need to build it first anyway. On top of that you lose the benefit if u dont have the next tech but already have a monument. If you want to go full tradition, this is almost 100% of the time since u want the growth asap but cant get it. Essentially 3 Monuments in your next 3 cities, but you aint getting a settler anytime soon so it totally sucks!
CHANGE:+1Happiness for every 2 pop in your Capital, and +1happiness,+1culture for every 10 pop in a city
REASON: This is a rework of the happiness in tradition with both short term and long term effects, and basically a roadblock to eat up one policy so that you cant get all cumulative benefits at once very early.
Legalism: Also absolutely horrible. The Upkeep is barely noticable with few cities and on top of that u lose it when u go to war. Useless early since you have to protect your workers and scout the area, nearly no impact later. The higher city damage is ok but not really worth a whole policy.
CHANGE: Garnison no Upkeep,+3 city strength,+50%Ranged Combat with garison
REASON: Still not very good, but now its a choice for when you are rushed or pressured, not just a pretty much useless placeholder to get the full tree. Offers more versatility and short term benefit.
Monarchy: this is good but gets incorporated differently to allow for a stronger and more diverse tree.
CHANGE: +1Gold for every 2 pop in your capital, and your Puppets create 33% more Gold and 33% less unhappiness.
REASON: Nice short term and long term benefit while focusing more on the strenght of the tree: a small empire.
Landed Elite: The only descent short term benefit in the whole tree and its at the very end of it! Not bad but completly missplaced. Reworked.
CHANGE: Now gives+10% wonder production and +2Production in your first four 4 cities.
REASON: Bigger benefits allow for more a more potent empire with few cities.
With these changes the new tradition tree is a lot more focused and viable, while offering more choices.
TL;DR. New Tradition tree looks like this:
Finisher: +1Pop,+2Food,+10%Growth in your first 4 cities
Aristocracy: +4 Food, +2 Pop in the capital
Legalism: Garnison no Upkeep,+3 city strength,+50%Ranged Combat with garison
Oligarchy:+1Happiness for every 2 pop in your Capital, and +1happiness,+1culture for every 10 pop in a city
Monarchy: +1Gold for every 2 pop in your capital, and your Puppets create 33% more Gold and 33% less unhappiness.
Landed Elite: Now gives+10% wonder production and +2Production in your first 4 cities.
I am currently working on a similar rework for the honor tree.
Lets first look at what makes liberty so good:
0. Liberty is constructed around the idea of fast expansion and a big empire.
1. Well thought out short term/instant benefits: Free worker, free settler, golden age, free production, free great person.
Early on, this is a huge advantage. It allows for very fast expansion and production, and most of the time a wonder rush (golden Age into wonder is just as good as tradition, free engineer is basically a free Notre Dame or similar)
2. Good Long term scalability: Cheaper settlers, faster workers, %based production,%based happiness.
These scale very well with big empired and more cities, perfectly emphacizing what liberty is about.
3.Versatility: In terms of progression, liberty offers a lot of choice.
Need happiness? go meritocracy. Need gold/wonder rush? go representation. Settler first or worker first? Great Person? Take what u want/need/fits your style. Lots of choices and all are viable and allow for a different take on early game strategy.
My ideas for tradition evolve around the same premisse and focus on bringing it on par with the liberty branch:
0. Tradition is based around small empires, with few but potent cities.
1. Well thought out short term/instant benefits
2. Good Long term scalability
3. Versatility
Now ill explain why tradition sucks and how to improve it in my opinion: (policy names are subject to change, this is only to represent their position in the tree)
Opener: Culture and border growth, perfectly good as is
Finisher: One of the better things in the tree, but no comparison to a free GP.
CHANGE:+ 1Population,+2Food,+10% growth in your first 4 cities
REASON: More focus on a small empire, much better short term benefit with slightly worse long term scaling. A finisher needs to have a direct and noticable impact.
Aristocracy: good long term perspective, but no short term benefit at all.
CHANGE: +4 Food, +2 Population in the capital
REASON: This has to bring tradition on par with a free settler/worker in the first 20 turns, and i think it does. On top of that it is not at the end of the tree anymore. huge improvement.
Oligarchy: horrible, absolutely horrible. You cant use it to get a monument with anything but france, since you need to build it first anyway. On top of that you lose the benefit if u dont have the next tech but already have a monument. If you want to go full tradition, this is almost 100% of the time since u want the growth asap but cant get it. Essentially 3 Monuments in your next 3 cities, but you aint getting a settler anytime soon so it totally sucks!
CHANGE:+1Happiness for every 2 pop in your Capital, and +1happiness,+1culture for every 10 pop in a city
REASON: This is a rework of the happiness in tradition with both short term and long term effects, and basically a roadblock to eat up one policy so that you cant get all cumulative benefits at once very early.
Legalism: Also absolutely horrible. The Upkeep is barely noticable with few cities and on top of that u lose it when u go to war. Useless early since you have to protect your workers and scout the area, nearly no impact later. The higher city damage is ok but not really worth a whole policy.
CHANGE: Garnison no Upkeep,+3 city strength,+50%Ranged Combat with garison
REASON: Still not very good, but now its a choice for when you are rushed or pressured, not just a pretty much useless placeholder to get the full tree. Offers more versatility and short term benefit.
Monarchy: this is good but gets incorporated differently to allow for a stronger and more diverse tree.
CHANGE: +1Gold for every 2 pop in your capital, and your Puppets create 33% more Gold and 33% less unhappiness.
REASON: Nice short term and long term benefit while focusing more on the strenght of the tree: a small empire.
Landed Elite: The only descent short term benefit in the whole tree and its at the very end of it! Not bad but completly missplaced. Reworked.
CHANGE: Now gives+10% wonder production and +2Production in your first four 4 cities.
REASON: Bigger benefits allow for more a more potent empire with few cities.
With these changes the new tradition tree is a lot more focused and viable, while offering more choices.
TL;DR. New Tradition tree looks like this:
Finisher: +1Pop,+2Food,+10%Growth in your first 4 cities
Aristocracy: +4 Food, +2 Pop in the capital
Legalism: Garnison no Upkeep,+3 city strength,+50%Ranged Combat with garison
Oligarchy:+1Happiness for every 2 pop in your Capital, and +1happiness,+1culture for every 10 pop in a city
Monarchy: +1Gold for every 2 pop in your capital, and your Puppets create 33% more Gold and 33% less unhappiness.
Landed Elite: Now gives+10% wonder production and +2Production in your first 4 cities.
I am currently working on a similar rework for the honor tree.