A quick rundown of my situation.
Playing China on King/Standard/Communitas (tweaked). I went Tradition into Fealty, as Byz was just north of me. I let her enhance a religion, then eliminated her by taking the holy city and puppeting her two others. Took Dutch capital on my southwestern border, and is my vassal for protection from bordering Maya to south. I'm at turn 200 with a 6 tech lead, huge culture gap, and am snowballing pretty good. Aside from 1 remaining undiscovered civ, I'm in first by 500+ score with a commanding lead. I have 14 wonders (Pyramids, Pisa, Great Wall/Lighthouse, etc.) and victory is essentially in the bag.
Most people wouldn't even finish this game, but I have many options available and am curious to see what works best. I'd like other opinions on what my third policy should be for reference in future games at higher difficulties. I basically can't go wrong, but I want the most right...
Rationalism - The reason why this should probably be my choice is that it's the path of least resistance. I already have a substantial tech lead and could just sit back and cruise, but this is probably the most boring option. The decreased spy effectiveness will come in handy, and observatories would launch my science to the moon considering my abundance of mountains. The real treat though would be from "Enlightenment", as this specifically synergizes with China's WLTED. I didn't necessarily want to go for a SV, but am licking my chops at this.
Industry - This wouldn't really be an option if not for the fact that Byz picked God of Craftsmen. With my conquering of her lands plus the Dutch having a lapis start, I have a ton of quarries (a horsehocky load)! I'm also using ITR primarily because I'm leading in everything, so the 33% increase for ITR would be nice. I'm already doing great with gold and production so this is my last choice, but the quarries are really tempting (also doesn't really play into a specific VC).
Imperialism - This is where I'm really having a tough time choosing due to Imperialism and China working very well for obvious reasons. I didn't initially plan to expand the way I did, and should have probably went Progress. It's a dilemma now though because I already have 2 capitals (10 cities total), with the Mayan's being available at the snap of a finger. The 4 remaining civs across the ocean consist of Denmark, Russia, Assyria, and the mystery civ. This isn't an easy task, but could be done with my tech lead if I really focused on pumping out an advanced/superior military/navy. My Chu-ko-nu are also online and ready to wreak havoc if need be. None of the policies jump out, but I would still get great yields from things like "Exploitation" and the monopoly bonuses. It would leave the door open for further conquests down the road once things get contentious. Taking cities with China = WTLED and is good, but it also means the game drags on longer. Why would I war when I can sit back and cruise considering I'm essentially unassailable (so much fun...)?
I know Immortal+ players would push a domination victory in this example, but what is a realistic scenario for best VC here considering I'm just above average? My culture is insane, but I havn't been focusing tourism to other civs. I do have "Sacred Sites" and great tourism, but I just discovered the other civs and would have to focus cargo ships exclusively for the next 100+ turns. How quick could I realistically get a SV with just sitting back and going full blown science? I see some on here talk about wins in the 275 turn range, but even with my current powerhouse I can't see that happening unless I have a clean unimpeded sweep to domination. Interested to hear what anyone thinks.
Playing China on King/Standard/Communitas (tweaked). I went Tradition into Fealty, as Byz was just north of me. I let her enhance a religion, then eliminated her by taking the holy city and puppeting her two others. Took Dutch capital on my southwestern border, and is my vassal for protection from bordering Maya to south. I'm at turn 200 with a 6 tech lead, huge culture gap, and am snowballing pretty good. Aside from 1 remaining undiscovered civ, I'm in first by 500+ score with a commanding lead. I have 14 wonders (Pyramids, Pisa, Great Wall/Lighthouse, etc.) and victory is essentially in the bag.
Most people wouldn't even finish this game, but I have many options available and am curious to see what works best. I'd like other opinions on what my third policy should be for reference in future games at higher difficulties. I basically can't go wrong, but I want the most right...
Rationalism - The reason why this should probably be my choice is that it's the path of least resistance. I already have a substantial tech lead and could just sit back and cruise, but this is probably the most boring option. The decreased spy effectiveness will come in handy, and observatories would launch my science to the moon considering my abundance of mountains. The real treat though would be from "Enlightenment", as this specifically synergizes with China's WLTED. I didn't necessarily want to go for a SV, but am licking my chops at this.
Industry - This wouldn't really be an option if not for the fact that Byz picked God of Craftsmen. With my conquering of her lands plus the Dutch having a lapis start, I have a ton of quarries (a horsehocky load)! I'm also using ITR primarily because I'm leading in everything, so the 33% increase for ITR would be nice. I'm already doing great with gold and production so this is my last choice, but the quarries are really tempting (also doesn't really play into a specific VC).
Imperialism - This is where I'm really having a tough time choosing due to Imperialism and China working very well for obvious reasons. I didn't initially plan to expand the way I did, and should have probably went Progress. It's a dilemma now though because I already have 2 capitals (10 cities total), with the Mayan's being available at the snap of a finger. The 4 remaining civs across the ocean consist of Denmark, Russia, Assyria, and the mystery civ. This isn't an easy task, but could be done with my tech lead if I really focused on pumping out an advanced/superior military/navy. My Chu-ko-nu are also online and ready to wreak havoc if need be. None of the policies jump out, but I would still get great yields from things like "Exploitation" and the monopoly bonuses. It would leave the door open for further conquests down the road once things get contentious. Taking cities with China = WTLED and is good, but it also means the game drags on longer. Why would I war when I can sit back and cruise considering I'm essentially unassailable (so much fun...)?
I know Immortal+ players would push a domination victory in this example, but what is a realistic scenario for best VC here considering I'm just above average? My culture is insane, but I havn't been focusing tourism to other civs. I do have "Sacred Sites" and great tourism, but I just discovered the other civs and would have to focus cargo ships exclusively for the next 100+ turns. How quick could I realistically get a SV with just sitting back and going full blown science? I see some on here talk about wins in the 275 turn range, but even with my current powerhouse I can't see that happening unless I have a clean unimpeded sweep to domination. Interested to hear what anyone thinks.
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