[Vote] (7-12) Change Connectivity of the Tradition Policy Tree

[hokath]

Current situation: Tradition is considered weaker than the other two starting trees. There has been considerable discussion on how to change it without upsetting balance. One important point for this proposal is that early Tradition cities are (very) weak, notably requiring gold investment the tree finds hard to provide.

Proposal: Bring Ceremony into the first row to give more options in pathing. Note also that the bottom row (Splendor and Majesty) can be unlocked one policy earlier as a result.
As a picture:

Spoiler :

As text: Ceremony has no prereq. Splendor requires Ceremony and Justice. Majesty requires Justice and Sovereignty.

If you've forgotten which policy is which:

Spoiler :

Justice	Cities with a garrison gain +25% Ranged Combat Strength. Royal Guardhouse built in Capital (1 Engineer Slot, +3 Defense, +50 Hit Points, +3 Production, +20% Military Supply from Population in the City). Cities gain +1 Production.	-
Sovereignty	Culture cost of acquiring new tiles reduced by 20% (exponentially) in all Cities. Court Chapel built in Capital (1 Artist Slot, 1 Great Work of Art slot, +3 Faith).	-
Ceremony	National Wonders with Building requirements gain +1 Happiness. +25% Production toward National Wonders with Building requirements. Court Astrologer built in Capital (1 Scientist Specialist, +3 Science) +1 Science from Councils, Lodges, and Herbalists in every City.	Justice, Sovereignty
Splendor	Expending a Great Person grants Culture, scaling with era. Palace Garden built in Capital (1 Writer Specialist, 1 Great Work of Writing slot, +5 Food, +25% GPP rate, -2 Unhappiness for Urbanization)	Ceremony
Majesty	Specialists in Capital consume half the normal amount of Food. State Treasury built in Capital (1 Merchant Specialist, +4 Gold, +2 Culture to Monuments, Gardens, and Baths.).	Ceremony

Points of interest:

• By merely changing the order of the policies, the power of the total tree into the mid and late game is unaffected.
• The change is nicely modular. If someone wants to propose e.g. changing the per-policy scalar to +food, it has minimal effect on this proposal.
• A "one-city" Tradition style can now get Majesty sooner: boosting growth, GPP speed (first engineer from Justice specialist), and getting the second culture specialist earlier.
• A "wide" Tradition style can now get Splendor sooner: boosting culture from monuments in secondary cities, and giving extra gold (building + specialist slot) to support investment.
• Choosing Ceremony first can get you a science boost to rival Progress opener, allowing you to compete with some early wonders that you otherwise wouldn't be able to reach in time.

Notes: Original idea by @Enginseer, but note I am not including any of his balance changes. As I mentioned, it's easy to propose additional changes on top of this one, so no need to cram them into one proposal. Indeed, more changes may be necessary to achieve the desired balance.

 

[Enginseer]

For reference

	Wide Tradition (Left)	Tall Tradition (Right)
Territorial Gains	Starting on Ceremony means I won't have access to Culture unless I take Sovereignty or Splendor which means my territory gains will be reliant on the settlers that I will train.	Starting on Sovereignty means my territory gains would come from working with my Artist early, in addition to having reduced the cultural cost of acquiring tiles.
Early Yield	Because I start on Ceremony, I gain +3 Science to Council, Lodge, and Herbalist. If I'm willing to swallow the early GPT, I'm able to get an early science lead.	Because I would start on Sovereignty, I gain +3 Faith in the Capital. I'm getting a headstart on my Pantheons and possibly in establishing a religion early.
What about Justice?	You would only start Justice to score an early Wonder. Same as current Justice.	You would only start Justice to score an early Wonder. Same as current Justice.
What effect about the sooner Policies will I get unlocked then?	Since you can unlock Splendor earlier, you're incentivized to build like a Wide Tradition and get those buildings earlier to spit out those yields.	Since you can unlock Majesty earlier, you unlock them at a time (usually) around when you can acquire a Library, Market, and Forge at that time. This gives you the ability to work specialists much earlier.

What if I go Top Tradition? (Ceremony, Sovereignty, and Justice), then you would unlock Splendor and Majesty like the current VP right now, although you would get access to Ceremony a lot earlier!

 

[Stalker0]

MAGI: @hokath I would update your proposal to note the basic text of each policy (not saying you need to copy it word for word, just provide the summary). It can be very hard for people to know exactly what changes are made just by the icons alone.

 

[ma_kuh]

It's maybe a silly thing, but what do you think about making the second tier icons on the third row, to give the feeling of a "tall" policy tree? Functionally no different, just makes it look like a ♜ tower.

 

[hokath]

I think it probably hurts visual clarity.
However it would look cool

 

[CppMaster]

Nah, it would look weird. Also, a tower reminds me more of piety with the bonus for castles.

 

[azum4roll]

MAGI: @hokath I would update your proposal to note the basic text of each policy (not saying you need to copy it word for word, just provide the summary). It can be very hard for people to know exactly what changes are made just by the icons alone.

Hope it doesn't make people believe those are the current policies though. The wiki is outdated.

 

[hokath]

God forbid the Tradition policies don't do what the tooltip says

 

[hokath]

I sponsor this.