I've been wondering about Freedom's balance lately. Namely, in two points: tier 2 tenets and lack of science-related benefits until tier 3.
The only tier 2 tenet from Freedom that has been powerful at this level is Arsenal of Democracy, all the others have been underwhelming, even when running a domestic strategy that would seem tailored for them. That has been especially glaring when comparing with tier 2 tenets from Order and Autocracy, who received some rework in this tier in the past.
- New Deal: requires 4 landmarks/GPTI per city to equal Party Leadership in yields, which wasn't reasonable even with Austria (counting Capital) and is conditional relative to the other. I've thought of using this one, but the expected gains didn't justify picking it. That Knowledge through Devotion provides 8 yields on these tiles and can be reached many eras earlier makes New Deal even harder to appreciate. It doesn't help that, in the lategame, you are prone to bulb your great people due to how little turns a GPTI has available to benefit you.
- Capitalism and Civil Society received nerfs to roughly halve their benefits, but they now feel incomplete. Civil Society actually feels weaker than Rationalism's Empiricism, which provides spy protection and the tree's scaler. Capitalism is about 2
per city, which would be ok in Order or Autocracy, but happiness is rarely an issue for Tall empires at this point, the ones most likely to choose Freedom. It also has an overlap in function with Universal Suffrage. I often think that these two tenets could be merged for the specialist theme, leaving the other open for a science tenet.
- Universal Suffrage: like with Capitalism, happiness isn't much of an issue for tall empires, and the golden age duration hasn't proved to be relevant at his point due to how powerful great artists are once you have enough theming bonuses from building Broadcast Towers and Museums. I've tried this one in my last photojournal, and think now that it was a mistake; golden ages from great artists simply last enough at this point to cover the endgame without it, and tall empires are likely to have the themes and artists for it. I think this tenet needs a rework to address something a Tall empire needs more.
- Their Finest Hour: this one is fine in my opinion, it does help protecting your cities and bringing a sense of security against a potential invasion. People have noticed, however, that the change from Crime to Distress was an indirect nerf to this tenet, so it's worth looking at it.
About science, I often end writing in my photojournal notes that this ideology lacks science-related benefits, despite being meant to support a SV. For the most part, science is restricted to the tier 3 Space Procurements, with at best Universal Healthcare providing Hospitals to convert food into science. It is way behind Order, with Great Leap Forward, Academy of Sciences and Worker's Faculties. I expect this much difference between Order and Autocracy, as the latter doesn't try to support a SV, but not between Order and Freedom. It's my thought that this lack of science tenets before tier 3 also weakens the other victories, due to how important it is to reach Telecommunications to unlock them under your terms.
Has anyone else had the same experience with Freedom?
