Is representation ever worth it?

[alpaca]

I find it interesting that people say France's UA is totally awesome but at the same time say that Representation is crap.

1 free culture per city isn't bad if you found a lot of cities. It counts towards border expansion, too. Obviously, if you plan to only have five cities, feel free to skip the whole Liberty tree because you won't need it.

 

[guspasho]

I find it interesting that people say France's UA is totally awesome but at the same time say that Representation is crap.

The same people?

 

[alpaca]

The same people?

I couldn't be bothered to stalk them to find out

Probably not.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Isn't getting the "2 free policy's" policy only really giving you one policy, since you spend a policy to acquire 2 "free" ones...?

Correct, but that extra policy essentially puts you one less level of aggregate accrued culture necessary to win. If you're actually bothering to go down that policy line, it's worth taking it :/.

 

[Nefelia]

For a large empire with few other sources of culture, it is more certainly worth it. If you are running a large empire, you are likely more worried about expanding your many cities' borders than you are about collecting a large amount of social policies.

 

[pi-r8]

I haven't done any math for it, but my hunch is that representation will only break even over the long term. The extra culture it gives you should be just enough to get one extra policy, which will make up for taking representation. The real bonus is that it expands city borders without you needing to build anything. So I think it's worth taking if you're going down the liberty line anyway, but not otherwise.

 

[H4run]

liberty is a megh.. they running out of idea when they put that thing. It can be great if the penalty for number of city and population being balance, like instead of suffering a macro happiness penalty why dont move it to economy penalty. Since it dont work that way, there are no need to expand so wide in oppening game, it will be like flies that running back to the spider home, creating your own doom.

I like tradition, 33 percent on city radius is a magnum, while u find yourself usualy defending your territory on AI first wave, this perk help u so much to survive.

 

[Anarchist]

Isn't getting the "2 free policy's" policy only really giving you one policy, since you spend a policy to acquire 2 "free" ones...?

'cept for when you go for Utopia, of course.

 

[Nunya]

Isn't getting the "2 free policy's" policy only really giving you one policy, since you spend a policy to acquire 2 "free" ones...?

Yes, this is true. However, it also fills up 3 policy slots for cultural victory.

 

[WeaselSlapper]

One of the problems with Liberty is that the Worker bonus rounds turns up instead of down. So in a normal timed game, roads STILL cost three turns to build with the policy.

This applies to building the worker, not the worker building the improvement. So this policy is basically a waste.

 

[Mustakrakish]

Isn't getting the "2 free policy's" policy only really giving you one policy, since you spend a policy to acquire 2 "free" ones...?

Jesus Christ! That's the smartest comment I read about that policy so far! Can't believe I never thought of that...

Yes, this is true. However, it also fills up 3 policy slots for cultural victory.

Oh right, that's true also...

 

[bryanw1995]

for a cultural victory it is great since you need 30 total sp's and that knocks out three of them at once. otherwise it's merely good.

 

[Jharii]

The biggest advantage to the +1 culture per city is that you don't have to build culture buildings for your borders to expand. Sure, it takes a longer time, but they're not necessary. This would seem to be an advantage if you wanted an abundance of cities that are more tightly packed together (planning for a radius of 2 instead of 3).

Also, waiting for that monument to build when it's a new city can be a pain if you are strapped on cash and need to get to that outlying resource to get the city rolling.

 

[Pantastic]

Culture doesn't just buy social policies, it also pops borders. IMO the main point of that policy is not trying to go deep down later trees for a cultural victory, it's there to let your cities expand without a trade post. I think that the whole tree is geared towards benefits in the early game, where you do some rapid early expansion and win (or put yourself into an unbeatable position for your win), not for setting up for a long game developing late-era techs.

 

[guspasho]

This applies to building the worker, not the worker building the improvement. So this policy is basically a waste.

Oh crap, I never realized that. Is that what Pyramids does too?

 

[tibbles]

oligarchy (+33% bonus in friendly lands) is also surprisingly powerful, since any tough war is going to be fought mostly in your own territory.

It's irritatingly powerful as it's currently bugged. In my games the AI's keep retaining their bonus even when fighting in my territory. I'm thinking it's cause it's in conquered territory so the game hasn't checked that those tiles are no longer their land. If not, it's a flat +33% military bonus for 1 policy. Not too shabby at all.

 

[QuixotesGhost]

Oh crap, I never realized that. Is that what Pyramids does too?

I know for a fact that pyramids reduce improvement build time. That's why I assumed the Liberty policy did the same thing.

 

[Gaizokubanou]

Isn't getting the "2 free policy's" policy only really giving you one policy, since you spend a policy to acquire 2 "free" ones...?

Yes, but it's still 2 free if you are actually going for cultural victory since for that you have to completely fill out a social policy tree.

 

[BarbarianArcher]

I know for a fact that pyramids reduce improvement build time. That's why I assumed the Liberty policy did the same thing.

No, the Liberty policy slows everything down by a turn. Pyramids does 2. Improvements will take 3 turns with both, and roads will take 2 (it rounds up).

 

[alpaca]

It's irritatingly powerful as it's currently bugged. In my games the AI's keep retaining their bonus even when fighting in my territory. I'm thinking it's cause it's in conquered territory so the game hasn't checked that those tiles are no longer their land. If not, it's a flat +33% military bonus for 1 policy. Not too shabby at all.

I saw this today in a city I founded myself. Maybe it just looks for player territory

As for the two free policies: It's even worse because the policy has a situational prerequisite (50% of excess happiness as culture). If you don't go for a culture victory it's really only useful if you have a lot of excess happiness anyways, otherwise it will just give you that for free. The golden age at least is always useful but normally I'm not willing to spend a policy on a six-turn golden age. There are SPs which are a lot more powerful than that.