Tradition vs Liberty for Korea - like your insights

As we know, building NC and PT is important, even more so for Korea due to the RA-like tech boost. On lower levels, rushing GL is a must as the boost is essentially doubled. Now I feel that there are two approaches to doing this. One, the orthodox beeline for the Liberty aka free GS/GE, build HS then bulb Education and hardbuild/GE build. Another, the heretical open Tradition, take Aristocracy, then onto Liberty finisher, while tech wise, go Mathematics, build HG then onto Education whether by bulbing or hard research. I've had success using both thus I'd really think that going Tradition first for Korea isn't so bad after all. Compare using the table below:






Well, what do you guys think? Is the Tradition opener + Aristocracy more effective than full Liberty for Sejong?

Use both.

Are you talking about Deity, or a lower level? At Deity, even under the best conditions, HG is 50/50, and even if you get it, you are off the education tech path, and you may miss HS, and probably will miss PT. At levels lower than Deity, these three wonders can be built in almost every game, and its a great stategy. At Deity, don't count on being able to build any early wonders other than HS-PT-ND. GL and HG are 50/50 at best, oracle and stonehenge are less than that. Of course the # of AI opponents you have in your game factors into this. With 7+, your odds go down, if you play a small world, and you cut out an AI, your odds go up.

Also, even at deity, if you forget about HG, and follow the correct tech path, you shouldn't need to bulb education (just rush build NC and sign an early RA or 2), so get a second GE instead, and rush build PT and ND (which will allow you to sell two luxs).

I have yet to play Deity but I get the impression it's almost impossible to get GL/HG there, so ok let those two pass, don't bother with Mathematics, just beeline Education and build a library instead. I still get the tech boost in the meantime, would it be sensible (at Deity) to go Tradition first for the NC production bonus? TBH I think only Korea will have a shot at having this unusual SP opener due to the boost from the UA. I feel the Tradition finisher complements Korea's +2 beaker specialists very well and due to not having as many cities as the AI land grab is really important, but what do I really know?

Aristocracy is not that useful early on. You're only producing 5-6 hammers, so 15% of that doesn't even add up to one whole hammer. Specially if you have some resources you can work, head for Landed Elite instead. Working an extra tile can return more hammers over the build time of the GL than Aristocracy.

Calouste said:

Aristocracy is not that useful early on. You're only producing 5-6 hammers, so 15% of that doesn't even add up to one whole hammer. Specially if you have some resources you can work, head for Landed Elite instead. Working an extra tile can return more hammers over the build time of the GL than Aristocracy.

Click to expand...

Maybe but it's a bit of a waste to sacrifice Legalism aka possibly 4 free museums and 1 more SP to get the growth. A granary would probably be better.

prince_caspian said:

Maybe but it's a bit of a waste to sacrifice Legalism aka possibly 4 free museums and 1 more SP to get the growth. A granary would probably be better.

Click to expand...

The only scenario when you should delay Legalism for 4 museums is cultural victory. In this case you'll likely take both Tradition and Liberty anyway. Dilemma solved. In any other case there is no reason whatsoever to wait for museums. Even as Korea. You'll have enough more useful specialists slots to fill. The maximum is UB's of Egypt/Siam/Songhai. If in some strange circumstances I decide to go Tradition and can't use Legalism for UB's, I'd take free monuments and hard build the first worker instead of spending 310. Instant food bonus is too good.