Babylon: Tall or Wide?

[gclub3141]

Just wondering which styles people prefer for Babylon. I see pros and cons for both:

Tall: Tradition --> Aesthetics --> Rationalism --> Freedom. Starting Tradition gives you a GP generation boost, in addition to your 50% faster GS rate. I would imagine here that you'd go Tradition, then first few Policies in Aesthetics, into Rationalism and then Freedom for the ideology. However, I think that the bonus GP from Tradition might not scale as well into late game as the extra science from Progress.

Wide: Progress --> Piety --> Rationalism --> Order. I think this synergizes well with the second half of Babylon's UA - the 15% better buying power for buildings. Combine that with the +15% production for buildings in the Progress tree, and you have a fantastic infrastructure for generating science. Furthermore, you'll still have GS generation on scale with any other tradition Civ. Finally, on a map larger than Standard, the per-city bonuses from Progress give (in my opinion) higher rates of return than the strong capital bonuses of Tradition.

What do y'all think?

 

[jma22tb]

I tend to approach Babylon as Tradition exclusive because of the Great Scientist rate and Walls of Babylon. The most cities I'll directly control with them are 4, one for military industry on a coast, the others for culture guilds and GP buildings, until later on in the game, where the most I'd have are 6 in the late game.

For Diplomacy I would go Statecraft, Industry, and Freedom to follow up so that you can have the best international trade network possible and the capability to have towns and embassies all over the world.

For Conquest I would go Aesthetics, Imperialism, and Order so that you get great Tourism output that makes your ideology stronger in combination with the best navy and air force policies can provide. It's more of a late-game war advantage, but that's when it counts the most.

Alternatively you could go for Statecraft, Imperialism, and Autocracy if you want to mix conquest with diplomacy. That combination can give you the keys to the World Congress while dominating the skies and seas. Very interesting playstyle.

For Science, I'd go for Statecraft, Rationalism, and Freedom, using the World Congress to weaken warmongers and culture junkies through Global Peace Accords and World Science Initiative and Rationalism to demolish any chance people have of keeping up with you scientifically. Statecraft is much better than Aesthetics for scientific output as you gain more alliances.

For Culture, I'd do Aesthetics, Industry, and Order, focusing on having trade with every nation you can reach and leveraging deals so that rivals feel like declaring war on you is more hurtful than helpful. Use that massive economy to build a war machine and take whatever you need from a cultured opponent in the late-game.

As for Wide gameplay, I don't think Babylon has any synergy with that because of the Great People specific bonuses they have. I don't see why Babylon would want to pass up having Academies all over the place and bulbing their way through the late game, when other civs do Wide better, like Indonesia or Persia.

Hope that helps