Yes, a garrison bonus doesn't make much sense for Authority. But for tradition is would have little effect as tradition players have few cities. In my opinion, it would fit best to Fealty, as that is the tree already focusing on city defense in wide play.I also think the garrison bonus makes little sense for Authority. Surely, defence is the last thing it needs for that tree. It would make more sense for anyone taking tradition to have bonuses for garrisoned troops in its cities.
In the pantheon thread, there was a discussion about culture and policies that has got me thinking:
If culture is so much more important than everything else that it's basically a no-brainer to focus on it in the early game, then that's an indicator of a more general balance problem. There should always be different options to choose from. So, instead of just talking about buffs to Authority as the weakest of the three trees, it would be better to also discuss nerfing Tradition/Progress. That being said, I completely agree that there are problems with Authority that should be addressed (it's too unreliable, it encourages gamey behavior), but without buffing it too much.The standard build order for a new city is Monument followed by Shrine. [...] [Nerfing the culture bonus of Ancestor Worship is] problematic, culture is king, especially in teh early game. Early culture is so valuable because early policies are very strong and formulative, and also because my production is so low. High science isn't that useful yet, because I have a dozen things I can't build due to production shortages. But culture tends to give me immediate bonuses with no work required, basically giving me "magic hammers" during that key early game. Giving that up is a MAJOR sacrifice.
That's correct of course. But the issue here is that currently, progress is not a peaceful wide tree, it's just a wide tree. When playing Authority, you need to be constantly at war. Progress, on the other hand, gives you passive bonuses all the time. Playing wide is the only requirement for Progress to work, other than that you can do whatever you want. And that's one of the reasons why Progress can be a comparable or even better choice than Authority for wide conquest play.Authority's identity is war, if its not warring....well then Progress is just superior....and frankly should be as the peaceful wide tree, its literally doing its job.
To sharpen the distinction between the two trees and the playstyles they should encourage, what about for example giving the happiness bonuses from Progress->Equality only if the player is not at war?