Do you Always take Rationalism?

[phillipwyllie]

Always, it's the policy opener I beeline after I complete Liberty.

 

[Beaver79]

Yes and you should finish it too. Being able to use faith to buy great scientists for the closer makes getting the whole thing worth it. I usually am able to buy 3-4. That helps with any victory condition.

 

[Walter R]

Yes. Always.

 

[DarthSheldonPhD]

Autocracy gives as much if not more Happiness than both of the others...
-5 (+1 if on a river) happiness per city with Freedom (and half unhappiness from specialists)
-8 (+1 if on a river & +1 if next to mountain) with Order
-9 (+3 if annexed) with Autocracy

And all of this is not including base happiness buildings....

I stand corrected: overlooked that militarism was 2 happy/XP building. Still, you have to agree that a higher percentage of your cities would make workshops/monuments/public schools than barracks/castles, but the point was total happiness available, and I stand corrected.

 

[Barghaest]

I stand corrected: overlooked that militarism was 2 happy/XP building. Still, you have to agree that a higher percentage of your cities would make workshops/monuments/public schools than barracks/castles, but the point was total happiness available, and I stand corrected.

I agree with you there, I tend to have workshops/monuments/schools in every city while I restrict barracks (after heroic epic - prior I'll build in all but sell unused when it's complete) to my top production cities (usually a third or less of my total city count); however, when I unlock that tenet, my economy is usually strong enough to treat barracks as merely another happiness building and put them in every city.

 

[Rombizio]

Yes. Always. And I always finish it to get the free tech. Science is the key to any other victory. Tech lead is critical.

 

[Ninakoru]

Rationalism was nerfed, but still you get more than 50% extra sience output plus other science-related bonuses with Rationalism alone. Science is a core resource, needed for every victory condition, and affect every aspect of the game. Now add up the huge boost: rationalism is the best option.

 

[Bagi]

I play on emperor/immortal and I usually just take the opener at most, secularism if going freedom. Sometimes ignore it altogether.

I'm not a fan of playing every single game the same way just for the sake of having a tech lead by industrial. I can deal being a few techs behind the top AI, if anything it often makes for more interesting games.

 

[Emperor Giulio]

I think rationalism is also well suited for conquerors that have a lot of puppets with trade posts. I forget which policy it is, but one of them gives you 1+ science for each TP.

 

[danieladler]

Rationalism can easily be skipped at Emperor level, and you still win science victory or any other victory. One of the two trade policy trees are often more attractive for me. But i am one of those who are stuck between "emperor is too easy" and "deity is just boring and corrupt".