Freedom vs Rationalism (or both?)

[Artifex1]

Which do you think is best if you plan on conquering/domination and running puppets but only having 3 or 4 cities of your own (rest puppets)?

 

[Martin Alvito]

You can make a strong argument for some of both.

The AI will build and staff Libraries aggressively if you're always running a Happiness deficit. That makes running Rationalism, its first left side policy, and Freedom an attractive combination for the low price of just three policies. It's like running Meritocracy with huge fringe benefits.

 

[Druin]

I would almost always recommend the first point in freedom because it allows for so much happiness management with no wasted SP points. After that, the second point for half-food specs is really only useful once you get the second point in rationalism to make even bad specs (artists / engis) worth running.

There are also a great number of ways to use the 4th point in rationalism (2 free techs) to win the game / put yourself in a VERY strong position. For this reason, it can often be a good idea to skip freedom until that SP is acquired.

 

[Nunya]

In my last game I had 40 cities (I tried ICS) and Freedom and I went from 0 hapiness to 30 hapiness just by going through all the cities and asigning merchant specialist to the markets and banks.