Best ideology for war mongering?

I'm starting a domination only game with a dozen civs. I want an ideology that counters the massive happiness hit I will take by capturing enemy cities. What is the best path to take?

They're all fine for that. Freedom's foregin legion, plus its +20% production bonus, comes together nicely.

And while Autocracy is no longer just for warmongers...well, it's still pretty rootin'-toon' good for them!

Probably Order, simply for the happiness per monument.
Also a tenant has the ability to have a free courthouse upon capture.

Autocracy is better though for pure conquering with all the boosts to military units, but you won't get as much happiness as Order I think.

Well, Autocracy has Police State, which gives every courthouse +3 happiness and halves the build time (which isn't that much anymore anyway). That's just nice little tier-2 tenet.

Autocracy gets the most happiness for annexed cities (12)
6 is max freedom
9 is max order

Don't forget Order gets the ability to build the Kremlin that gives +50% production for armor units, you would think Autocracy would be the hands down favorite but both order and freedom get a lot of military bonuses, at least more then I would have thought.

You can't beat the -33% gold costs for buying units. If you plan ahead and combine it with mercantilism from commerce and big ben, you can buy an entire army in a few turns.

Also, on Immortal+, tier1 tenet -> spies steal technologies twice as fast is too good to be true. I don't know how the game calculates it but it often went from 40 turns left to a minor 15 turns. Plant every spy in different cities of a runaway and you get a new tech every 5-10 turns.

Sure, it's easier to win a war as a tech leader but in BNW, each city you conquer has this stupid science penalty. Your science per turn might be the best in the game but, ohhhh sorry, your techs cost twice as much now for no reason ...

Overall, I'd say Order gives the most happiness though.

Autocracy for pure warmongering. Cheap courthouses & extra happiness on them is great. It also has policies that make your army cheaper, stronger & faster (lightning warfare, faster moving GGs).

Order is better for expansion & occasional wars. Freedom is generally better for jumping in other people's war. And Autocracy is for Total War.

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