Counter proposal: Swap some of the bonuses from the Militarism and Honor policies.
Problem:
Authority has a problem with incentivizing very aggressive play (tributing CS, capturing cities, killing units (once the barbarians are all cleaned up)). I'm not talking about "it wants you to build units so you can attack and defend with them", I mean it puts a LOT of power in actively killing civs (not just units). This dynamic just isn't appropriate for the Ancient era. The policy tree asks the player to commit to an economic engine fueled purely by combat, before they even know the layout of the terrain around them, and the opposing civs they'll need to conquer to do so. The number of games where authority is appropriate is disproportionately small compared to Tradition or Progress; as many have noted Progress is often a more successful combat tree simply because it gives you the flexibility to develop an economy before choosing to leverage your tech for war.
There are very few aspects of the Authority tree that let the player build up for the long-game. The garrison is one of the pieces. Removing it waters down the tree, and homogenizes it by putting its bonuses on buildings. +1
happiness and +2 
culture is already cost-effective relative to the monument when building early game units. Tying it to the barracks delays these yields, and eliminates rewards for the natural play where an escorted settler starts a city with the bonuses already rolling.
Militarism
Old: Each city with a garrison gives +1 happiness and +2 culture. -15% to Unit Maintenance, -50% to road maintenance.
New: Each city with a garrison gives +1 happiness and +2 culture. Free unit every 8 
pop.
Honor
Old: +10%
CS, free unit every 10 pop, -25% to 
war weariness.
New: +10% CS, -25% to Unit Maintenance, -50% to road maintenance, -25% to war weariness.
Rationale:
The garrison bonus is perfect for Authority. It lets the policy's key attribute, owning units, translate directly to a bonus in the city. No fuss about hoping to find barbarian camps, or a neighbor you can snipe, or building a certain structure. Authority should be about something different than Tradition and Progress. They have building production and tile improvements; Authority should have unit-based triggers.
Moving the free unit for a city forward a policy solves the issue of having too few units to trigger this bonus. It no longer scales, but works even better for forward settlements, giving you both an extra unit as well as increased border growth. At the same time, moving (and slightly strengthening) the maintenance reductions lines up better with when those costs are starting to compound, making it easier to feel the difference.
Spoiler Original proposal :
Problem:
Authority has a problem with incentivizing very aggressive play (tributing CS, capturing cities, killing units (once the barbarians are all cleaned up)). I'm not talking about "it wants you to build units so you can attack and defend with them", I mean it puts a LOT of power in actively killing civs (not just units). This dynamic just isn't appropriate for the Ancient era. The policy tree asks the player to commit to an economic engine fueled purely by combat, before they even know the layout of the terrain around them, and the opposing civs they'll need to conquer to do so. The number of games where authority is appropriate is disproportionately small compared to Tradition or Progress; as many have noted Progress is often a more successful combat tree simply because it gives you the flexibility to develop an economy before choosing to leverage your tech for war.
There are very few aspects of the Authority tree that let the player build up for the long-game. The garrison is one of the pieces. Removing it waters down the tree, and homogenizes it by putting its bonuses on buildings. +1
happiness and +2 culture is already cost-effective relative to the monument when building early game units. Tying it to the barracks delays these yields, and eliminates rewards for the natural play where an escorted settler starts a city with the bonuses already rolling.Militarism
Old: Each city with a garrison gives +1
happiness and +2 culture. New: Each city with a garrison gives +1
happiness and +2 culture. Free unit every 8 pop.Honor
Old: +10%
CS, pop war weariness.New: +10%
CS, -25% to Unit Maintenance, -50% to road maintenance, -25% to war weariness.Rationale:
The garrison bonus is perfect for Authority. It lets the policy's key attribute, owning units, translate directly to a bonus in the city. No fuss about hoping to find barbarian camps, or a neighbor you can snipe, or building a certain structure. Authority should be about something different than Tradition and Progress. They have building production and tile improvements; Authority should have unit-based triggers.
Moving the free unit for a city forward a policy solves the issue of having too few units to trigger this bonus. It no longer scales, but works even better for forward settlements, giving you both an extra unit as well as increased border growth. At the same time, moving (and slightly strengthening) the maintenance reductions lines up better with when those costs are starting to compound, making it easier to feel the difference.
Last edited:
