Are some laws better than others?

[Ita Bear]

Hello folks

I've played around with the game a fair bit now and I have noticed I often tend to go down a particular set of laws regardless of nation or character. Admittedly I'm not playing at a high level, but I can't help but feel some law pairings are rather unequal.

For instance, I nearly always take Slavery over freedom as the +5 orders are such a blessing early on. I find I can accrue science bonuses through characters and specialists, whereas orders are tricker to come by. Another almost-certainty is Epics over Exploration. Most of the action is on land so scouts moving on water isn't often a factor for me and bonus river movement is rather situational. I would rather take the boost to grow my cities to the next cultural level.

What are your thoughts on the laws in Old World?

Kind regards,
Ita Bear

 

[Raaf]

For some it may be intentionally.

Slavery for example was universal in ancient empires, so its dismissal should be a challenge in a historical game.

 

[PiR]

For me it's a bit different. It's the cost of the first few laws that I feel too high versus the immediate benefits. Sometimes the family opinions can be taken into consideration for choosing a law also, that makes things interesting. But it's not that often for me. Other than the ones you mentionned, do you feel you always take the same ones? Maybe you always play the same? Have you tried changing from peaceful to aggressive for example? With a different playstyle you will probably change laws. But maybe not just by changing nation or leader.

Bonus river movement can be very useful if you attack another nation and you will save making a road but if you don't have that use-case, you can still take it for buying tiles, in some cases it can allow to close a narrow passage and secure a region for you. Still a niche though.

Slavery for example was universal in ancient empires, so its dismissal should be a challenge in a historical game.

From what I read on twitter, slavery was meant to be useful early and less during the late-game, so that nations move on to something else ideally. Personnally I sometimes skip it because of the discontent.

 

[fjordan]

I do tend to take the same laws also, but like PiR said, it is playing style. For example, I usually switch from Slavery to Freedom later on to get less discontent and more science, which are also very important. I always take Exploration, accidental culture is nice but ongoing resource cost and being able to travel water are more important. It also gives better events I feel. Finally, I always pick Colonies for the abilty to buy tiles. I like to group my Hamlets for Theater bonuses so I prefer to buy the tiles, especially those mountain tiles to get stone.

As you see, I choose different laws for all your examples. They may be better balanced than you think .

 

[Ita Bear]

For me it's a bit different. It's the cost of the first few laws that I feel too high versus the immediate benefits. Sometimes the family opinions can be taken into consideration for choosing a law also, that makes things interesting. But it's not that often for me. Other than the ones you mentionned, do you feel you always take the same ones? Maybe you always play the same? Have you tried changing from peaceful to aggressive for example? With a different playstyle you will probably change laws. But maybe not just by changing nation or leader.

Bonus river movement can be very useful if you attack another nation and you will save making a road but if you don't have that use-case, you can still take it for buying tiles, in some cases it can allow to close a narrow passage and secure a region for you. Still a niche though.


From what I read on twitter, slavery was meant to be useful early and less during the late-game, so that nations move on to something else ideally. Personnally I sometimes skip it because of the discontent.

I do tend to play aggressively as I feel this is how the game is meant to be played. Beyond your initial three or four city sites, you need to fight tribes and other civilisations for other sites. That's one reason I find Epics much better over Exploration as it gives a steady stream of culture. The ability to buy tiles comes with Colonies, not Exploration. If it did come with Exploration, I might be more tempted to choose it.

@fjordan I've never really played a map where exploring the water was of great importance. Maybe we just play different map types. I also always choose Colonies as I rarely find myself hurting for food.

Kind regards,
Ita Bear

 

[PiR]

Oh. Sorry for the mistake.
Maybe if you try an OCC it might be different then?