[vanilla] Basic Guide to Social Policies (vanilla)

[MadDjinn]

MadDjinn submitted a new resource:

Basic Guide to Social Policies - Basic Guide to Social Policies

Basic Guide to Social Policies
and how they fit into various strategies

[img=600x431]http://www.civfanatics.com/gallery/files/1/9/6/9/9/7/social_policies.jpg[/img]​

Introduction

Social Policies are the flavour additive to your game. You can play the same map and same civ multiple times, but by taking different policies, and therefore actions, you can end up with a very different game each time.

Social...

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[vexing]

Image upload.

 

[JamesCivFan]

Nice article MadDjinn. I've seen the synergies video as well and that was a lot of helpful info even for an Immortal/Deity player like me. I want to ask though, if you had to pick the top 3 policy synergies for Deity, which ones would they be, for a peaceful victory, and which ones for a domination victory?

I'm asking, because on Deity, the game kinda "forces" you to start with liberty for example, --because it's simply the best early policy-- amongst other "forced" strategies.

 

[weregamer]

Heh, I skipped over this in my first few hours of reading the Academy because it sounded so basic, but this might have been the most thought-provoking article in the initial batch. It gave me several new ways to think about my approach to policies. In particular, I'd thought that the wisdom was in getting the "closer" bonuses before moving on from a policy but you have some good points about why that isn't all that great.

 

[HudsonTNG]

This is one of the best articles I've found in this forum so far! Great work!

 

[DaveMcW]

Conclusion
Every game is different and has a natural ebb and flow to it. Hopefully we’ve provided some basic knowledge of how the Social Policies work in Civ 5, to help you guide that flow in your game. Social Policies are the primary factor in games that can make or break how you choose to win.

It may not have been stated explicitly above, but it is worth saying at least once: The best use of the Social Policy branches tends to come from selecting a few different policies, rather than all policies within one branch. Even in a culture game, you should only select the policies that will benefit you now within a branch, and then go back and finish the branch when you run out of better policies.
The only policy tree that you should finish right away is Liberty
(most games) and Piety/Freedom (culture games).

A large number of strategies for maps, civilizations or victory conditions are tied to how, and when, you use the policy branches. Those articles are where you’ll find more advanced uses of Social Policies; some of which might conflict with the basic reasoning above, but that’s ok. There are so many potential ways to play Civ 5 that each and every policy will have a different utility depending on the game play style, map and situation.

Fixed that for you.

 

[limitedwhole]

I've taken a liking to the following policy path when playing George WAshington. It is a really great path when trying to build an empire on emperor huge maps and win by score.

1 Liberty
2 Collective Rule
3 Citizenship
4 Republic
5 Meritocracy
6 Representation
7 Patronage
8 Aestetics
9 Commerce
10 Trade Unions
11 Mercantalism
12 Rationalism
13 Freedom
14 Civil Society
15 Democracy
16 Secularism
17 Free Thought
18 Scientific Revolution (I usually get the A-Bomb with this)
I normally select happiness boosters for the few picks you get after this.

 

[darkInertia]

I've found your post here that gives the formula for policy cost. However, the actual values and calculated values do not match up 100%.

I tested on Emperor, Byzantium, Standard speed, Large map; no piety, no cristo, and no representation.

Calculated values (the x-axis is # of cities, the y is policy #):

p\c	1	2	3	4	5
1	25	25	25	25	25
2	30	35	35	35	35
3	60	65	65	70	75
4	105	115	120	130	140
5	170	185	200	215	230

Observed Values

	1	2	3	4	5
1	25	25	30	30	35
2	30	35	40	40	45
3	60	65	70	75	85
4	105	115	125	135	145
5	170	185	205	220	240

Does that listed formula need to be updated? I thought about adding 5*FLOOR((#cities-1)/2) to the base cost of 25.

I'm not sure if this increase is consistent across all settings, either.

 

[manu-fan]

Any chance you could update this for G&K?

It would make a great read.

Cheers.

 

[MadDjinn]

Any chance you could update this for G&K?

It would make a great read.

Cheers.

oh definitely. Many things need updating for G&K. Though, I'm thinking that we should leave most of these 'alone' and create new ones for G&K. It's a big shift from one to the other and some people are still playing vanilla (crazy as that sounds to me).

 

[Jimdigriz]

oh definitely. Many things need updating for G&K. Though, I'm thinking that we should leave most of these 'alone' and create new ones for G&K. It's a big shift from one to the other and some people are still playing vanilla (crazy as that sounds to me).

I think that sounds right to me.

Im sure Im not the only one who's loving Gods & Kings. Its so much better than vanilla Civ V. I never had the right 'civ addiction' with vanilla whereas with Gods & Kings, the addiction is most certainly back. I had my doubts a while ago but for me there is no doubt that Civ V with G&K is the best Civ game full stop and the only one Ill play!

 

[seshat]

Love it! thanx Maddjin. Video is also very good.

 

[Camikaze]

If you're playing Gods & Kings, it would probably be worth watching the following video in conjunction with this thread, until the article is updated:


Link to video.