civics you dont use

[gdgrimm]

I'm confused as to why so many do not use merchantilism. I use it as soon as I get it to get the free specialists. And every time I've ever switched to free market, my gold goes down and techs take longer. What am I doing wrong, because I think merchantilism is the best?

It all depends on how many trade partners you have, how good they are, and if your empire is setup to maximize the benefit of specialists.

Sometimes Mercantilism will be better, sometimes Free Market will be better.