[NFP] Medieval Era Policy Elimination Thread

[Archon_Wing]

Aesthetics (10)- 9+1- Theater district adjacency isn't that good as it isn't that easy to get, but culture victory still needs advances in the civics tree and at the end of the day it's still the to go district for culture victories. Also with Entertainment Complex adjacency, it is somewhat more reliable.


Chivalry (21)
Civil Prestige (15)
Craftsmen (21)
Feudal Contract (18) 21-3 Because of the effectiveness of Professional Army, and the very silly scaling of unit costs, (Each era is basically 50% more expensive) hardbuilding units is a bad idea by this time. Chivalry can make sense since maybe you only recently got horses and want to prebuild horsemen into coursers or chariots into knights if you found iron.

But Swordsmen are too weak by this time, and you've had since turn 1 to prebuild melee line units. Same goes with archers. Why would you wait until now? You also don't know if you'll get niter so that melee units may hit a dead end.

That pretty much leaves memes like pikemen or Khevseurs or something silly like that. Impis+ Zeus are probably the only legit use of this card ever.

Also keep in mind every time you hardbuild a unit you use 20 resources when you can make it 10 with Retinues. With the exception of some UUs, black marketeer or a lot of strat resources/encampments, it's just too slow.

Gothic Architecture (20)
Medina Quarter (6)
Merchant Confederation (23)
Naval Infrastructure (23)
Professional Army (27)
Retainers (18)
Retinues (21)
Serfdom (30)
Trade Confederation (14)

 

[kaspergm]

Aesthetics (10)
Chivalry (21)
Civil Prestige (15)
Craftsmen (22) (21+1) - Staying on the theme of Industrial Zones, I love my production, and I love my great engineers to rush wonders, so I tend to build a lot of them - hence I also slot in this card fairly often. I'm not sure if I love the switch to a red card from a symmetry point of view, but technically it's a boost to this card as well.
Feudal Contract (18)
Gothic Architecture (20)
Medina Quarter (3) (6-3) - I have used this a few times to push for that extra district slot once I unlock Industrial Zone, but it's very rare. I think it's a good time for this to go.
Merchant Confederation (23)
Naval Infrastructure (23)
Professional Army (27)
Retainers (18)
Retinues (21)
Serfdom (30)
Trade Confederation (14)

 

[SemiLazyGamer]

Aesthetics (10)
Chivalry (21)
Civil Prestige (15)
Craftsmen (22)
Feudal Contract (18)
Gothic Architecture (20)
Medina Quarter (0) (3-3) I'm going to be the death kneel here. There's much better ways to get housing than this.
Merchant Confederation (23)
Naval Infrastructure (23)
Professional Army (27)
Retainers (18)
Retinues (21)
Serfdom (30)
Trade Confederation (15) (14+1) I'm actually going to help this one out. This is incredibly useful for international trade heavy Civs like the Netherlands, Mali, and eventually Portugal. 7 international Trade routes can match the science output of a no adjacency Campus with a University without any other modifiers.

 

[Noble Zarkon]

Aesthetics (10)
Chivalry (21)
Civil Prestige (15)
Craftsmen (23)
Feudal Contract (18)
Gothic Architecture (20)
Merchant Confederation (23)
Naval Infrastructure (23)
Professional Army (27)
Retainers (18)
Retinues (21)
Serfdom (30)
Trade Confederation (12)


Trade Confederation (12) (15-3) I agree this is incredibly useful for international trade heavy Civs like the Netherlands, Mali, and eventually Portugal but its poison for Civs like the Cree and meh for everyone else. Later in the game international trade routes are great but at this stage I prefer internal trade routes to get new cities going.

Now that Craftsmen (23+1=23) is a Military card it's easier to justify its early use when you only have 1 or 2 IZs.

 

[walkerjks]

Aesthetics (7) (10-3)
Chivalry (21)
Civil Prestige (15)
Craftsmen (23)
Feudal Contract (18)
Gothic Architecture (20)
Merchant Confederation (24) (23+1)
Naval Infrastructure (23)
Professional Army (27)
Retainers (18)
Retinues (21)
Serfdom (30)
Trade Confederation (12)

I do (mostly) peaceful cultural wins. That's pretty much it. And outside of the occasional civ that has a crazy theater square adjacency, I never play this card. I place theater squares wherever, typically with no adjacency bonus and therefore this card is useless. A couple civs are exceptions.

Merchant Confederation is a card I feel guilty about playing (really, more gold? Surely there is something better) but if if I've managed earlier stuff right with Diplomatic League getting me plenty of double envoys and I have the culture pump going so I will will get a ton of envoys soon through the civics tree, straight gold for envoys is a pretty good deal for my 1 trade route economy.

 

[MrRadar]

Aesthetics (7)
Chivalry (21)
Civil Prestige (12) (15-3)
Craftsmen (23)
Feudal Contract (18)
Gothic Architecture (20)
Merchant Confederation (24)
Naval Infrastructure (23)
Professional Army (28) (27+1)
Retainers (18)
Retinues (21)
Serfdom (30)
Trade Confederation (12)

Civil Prestige (12) (15-3) Another card providing negligible rewards in too few cities and with high opportunity cost that should be shown the door at this point.

Professional Army (28) (27+1) Great production and gold saver, helping to keep that military score high enough to deter the AI or to upgrade your army and go bonk some heads.

 

[Leucarum]

Aesthetics (8)
Chivalry (21)
Civil Prestige (12)
Craftsmen (23)
Feudal Contract (18)
Gothic Architecture (20)
Merchant Confederation (24)
Naval Infrastructure (23)
Professional Army (28)
Retainers (18)
Retinues (21)
Serfdom (30)
Trade Confederation (9)

Trade Confederation (12-3) is not a card I slot often even if I am trading internationally a lot... An alliance or two is much more impactful than this card. I'm gonna throw Aesthetics (7+1) a bone this once. Theater square adjacencies are a lot easier these days and a densely built civ can definitely get use from this.

 

[TCBB]

Aesthetics (5) (8-3)
Chivalry (21)
Civil Prestige (12)
Craftsmen (23)
Feudal Contract (18)
Gothic Architecture (20)
Merchant Confederation (24)
Naval Infrastructure (23)
Professional Army (28)
Retainers (18)
Retinues (21)
Serfdom (30)
Trade Confederation (10) (9+1)

Aesthetics (5) (8-3) In the later game maybe, once I’ve had time to set up my Entertainment Complexes and Water Parks. But I’ve never put it in earlier than, say, the Modern era.

Trade Confederation (10) (9+1) I’ll pop this an upvote. I use it fairly frequently whenever I’m playing as a trading Civ: eg. Mali, Phoenicia, England. I’ll usually be managing 10 trade routes by the Renaissance, so +10 science and +10 culture from one card is not that bad by this point.

 

[aieeegrunt]

Aesthetics (5)
Chivalry (21)
Civil Prestige (9) (12 - 3)
Craftsmen (24) (23 + 1)
Feudal Contract (18)
Gothic Architecture (20)
Merchant Confederation (24)
Naval Infrastructure (23)
Professional Army (28)
Retainers (18)
Retinues (21)
Serfdom (30)
Trade Confederation (10)

Craftsman gets an upvote because it boosts production AND it doesnt take up an economic slot. I find in my games that it is far far more likely that I have a red card slot with no clear need than an economic slot.

If you need to slot Civil Prestige you should have built the Audience Chamber or any number of other options for housing/amenities rather than a gold card slot

 

[Amrunril]

Aesthetics (5)
Chivalry (21)
Civil Prestige (9)
Craftsmen (24)
Feudal Contract (18)
Gothic Architecture (17)
Merchant Confederation (24)
Naval Infrastructure (23)
Professional Army (28)
Retainers (18)
Retinues (21)
Serfdom (30)
Trade Confederation (11)


Gothic Architecture (20-3=17) Wonder production is nice. But this is only a 15% modifier, when production cards for everything except wonders give at least double that. Maybe wonder production should be at a bit of a premium because of the race element of wonder production, but I don't think this big a premium is needed or justified. Fifteen percent will sway only the very closest of wonder races, and it's rarely possible to tell whether you're in such a close race.

Trade Confederation (10+1=11) I find international trade routes usually become more appealing than internal ones by the early midgame, so this is a decent boost in both science and culture for something I was probably doing anyway.

If I had a second upvote, I'd give it to Civil Prestige. It has most of the same advantages as Medina Quarter, which I upvoted previously, but it also gives amenities and can be applied in a more targeted manner, potentially boosting smaller cities where district slots are even more valuable.

 

[Mount Suribachi]

Aesthetics (5)
Chivalry (21)
Civil Prestige (6)
Craftsmen (24)
Feudal Contract (18)
Gothic Architecture (17)
Merchant Confederation (24)
Naval Infrastructure (23)
Professional Army (28)
Retainers (18)
Retinues (21)
Serfdom (31)
Trade Confederation (11)

Civil Prestige 6 (9-6): At this point in the game, depending on how you've played, you might have maybe two governors with 2 promotions? And maybe not even that. And amenities and housing are never really a problem for me till the late renaissance. I don't think I've ever used this card.

Serfdom 31 (30+1): Not voted for it yet. This card gets left in semi permanently once you get it. If I'm playing domination it gets left in permanently in, and I have a city with Liang that does nothing but churn out 6 charge builders to rebuild and develop my conquered cities.

 

[Drivingrevilo]

Aesthetics (5)
Chivalry (21)
Civil Prestige (6)
Craftsmen (24)
Feudal Contract (18)
Gothic Architecture (17)
Merchant Confederation (24)
Naval Infrastructure (23)
Professional Army (28)
Retainers (15) (18-3)
Retinues (21)
Serfdom (31)
Trade Confederation (12) (11+1)

Retainers (15) (18-3) A handful of amenities. It’s nothing special. You’ll only ever plug this in when you’ve got absolutely nothing else to do.

Trade Confederation (12) (11+1) I also use this quite often. It grants double-loaded value, on top of something you’ll be doing anyway: trade routes.

 

[DogeEnricoDandolo]

Aesthetics (5)
Chivalry (21)
Civil Prestige (6)
Craftsmen (24)
Feudal Contract (18)
Gothic Architecture (17)
Merchant Confederation (24)
Naval Infrastructure (24) I like naval plays a lot so I naturally love building my Harbors everywhere.
Professional Army (28)
Retainers (12) Unless I'm playing Scotland, 1 Amenity per city sounds kinda underwhelming.
Retinues (21)
Serfdom (31)
Trade Confederation (12)

 

[Josephias]

Aesthetics (5)
Chivalry (21)
Civil Prestige (6)
Craftsmen (24)
Feudal Contract (18)
Gothic Architecture (18)
Merchant Confederation (24)
Naval Infrastructure (24)
Professional Army (28)
Retainers (9)
Retinues (21)
Serfdom (31)
Trade Confederation (12)


Retainers (12-3=9): Limitanei can be a lifesaver in specific situations and was ranked quite low in the Ancient Era policies elimination. This card does not even reach that level.

Gothic Architecture (17+1=18): Maybe not the best of the bunch, but there will be time to vote these. Depending on how well you set up in previous eras, maybe by medieval era you can start thinking to get some interesting wonders. Even if the % is not the best you can get, as wonders are race, any turn you can shave may be worthy.

 

[hhhhhh]

Aesthetics (5)
Chivalry (21)
Civil Prestige (6)
Craftsmen (24)
Feudal Contract (15) (18-3) I'd rather build ancient units and then use Professional Army to upgrade.
Gothic Architecture (18)
Merchant Confederation (24)
Naval Infrastructure (24)
Professional Army (28)
Retainers (9)
Retinues (21)
Serfdom (31)
Trade Confederation (13) (12+1) It's not that bad. You don't use it when you only got 2-3 trade routes, but you can certainly use it when you got 10.

 

[greenOak]

Aesthetics (5)
Chivalry (21)
Civil Prestige (6)
Craftsmen (21) (24-3)
Feudal Contract (18)
Gothic Architecture (18)
Merchant Confederation (24)
Naval Infrastructure (24)
Professional Army (28)
Retainers (10) (9+1)
Retinues (21)
Serfdom (31)
Trade Confederation (12)

Retainers (+1) - I'm a big fan of this card. I'm always hurting for amenities and being able to get an amenity for the cost of 40 hammers (sell your iron and build a warrior) is a pretty sweet deal - not to mention you'll have spare units hanging around your empire in every game. It is for sure a more efficient way of generating amenities than entertainment complexes. Luxuries are the cheapest way to generate amenities in the game but you can only get so many amenities from them.

Craftsmen (-3) - I'll preface this by saying I think industrial zones are the most overrated district in the game. I usually only build them in science and domination games, and even in those games I usually only build a few. They often come online much later in the game as well. This card typically will usually give me around 10 extra production per turn which isn't bad, but isn't particularly exciting either.

 

[canadamufc]

Aesthetics (2) (5-3) Theater Squares are the hardest districts to get adjacency value out of, so this card is probably the worst out of the double adjacency districts policies. If you need to waste a specialty district (EC or Water Park) slot that could be used for many other districts, then I'm afraid that is too situational. If I can get +3 or +4 theater squares consistently, then yes this is a good card, but it's very difficult to do such a thing.
Chivalry (21)
Civil Prestige (6)
Craftsmen (21)
Feudal Contract (18)
Gothic Architecture (18)
Merchant Confederation (25) (24+1) I mean, it may not be better than other policies, but the thing that makes this awesome is the fact that it's a diplo card, the most useless one. When you unlock this, many of the Diplo cards prior to this aren't the best or aren't sustainable for the whole game. This card easily fills the gap netting you lots of extra gold. Especially when you are getting your core districts up, sometimes you might not have enough slots for Commercial Hubs or Harbours. This card can easily boost your economy with a reliable source of gold (as in it getting value every game you put it in).
Naval Infrastructure (24)
Professional Army (28)
Retainers (10)
Retinues (21)
Serfdom (31)
Trade Confederation (12)

 

[Luxerne]

Aesthetics (eliminated) (2-3) - TS adjacency is very low until later in the game, when you really get your entertainment districts and water parks set up, but by that point the bonuses you'd get from this card are irrelevant, since you'll have more than enough great works and other sources of culture.
Chivalry (21)
Civil Prestige (6)
Craftsmen (21)
Feudal Contract (18)
Gothic Architecture (18)
Merchant Confederation (26) (25+1) - This card is something I begin to slot in early on and basically keep on through the rest of the game. It's consistently been a useful card in my games.
Naval Infrastructure (24)
Professional Army (28)
Retainers (10)
Retinues (21)
Serfdom (31)
Trade Confederation (12)

 

[Archon_Wing]

Chivalry (21)
Civil Prestige (3) 6-3 Can't believe this terrible meme is still here. 3 promotions on a governor really limits how many cities this policy can affect, and until late game is probably only 2-3 cities. Just pick up Republican Legacy instead. This game is so stingy with housing.
Craftsmen (21)
Feudal Contract (18)
Gothic Architecture (18)
Merchant Confederation (26)
Naval Infrastructure (24)
Professional Army (28)
Retainers (11) 10+1 It's a easy thing to take advantage of and there aren't many good options when not at war anyways for red slots.
Retinues (21)
Serfdom (31)
Trade Confederation (12)

 

[Equilin]

Chivalry (21)
Civil Prestige (3)
Craftsmen (21)
Feudal Contract (18)
Gothic Architecture (19) (18+1) a bit off-path, but otherwise come at a time where you may have a couple of wonders going (Kilwa, Potala, Forbidden City, etc.)
Merchant Confederation (26)
Naval Infrastructure (24)
Professional Army (28)
Retainers (11)
Retinues (21)
Serfdom (31)
Trade Confederation (9) (12-3) Too little and too late imo.