Mercantilism

[Harvin87]

Hello! again folks

I have a question... when can mercantilism become useful? ... I mean... whats the best doctrine... Free Market? ... should I wait until I can research Economics? .. thanks for the advice.

 

[mentat_emre]

if i remember right, mercantilisim gives +1 free speacialist, if you use Representation with it you will have an advantage. State property is the best economic civics so far, if you don't mind the coorporations, especially when you have a big empire, which owns two or more continents

 

[TheMeInTeam]

An extra trade route can usually compensate the distance maintenance cost that SP takes away. Truthfully, there are only 2 times where SP can be better than FM:

1. Lots of intercontinental holdings
2. You want to work a lot of workshops/watermills

Of course corporations can be really strong.

Merc feels like an odd card in this line. One might consider it if all the AIs are in it and there's no access to later civics. As mentioned, it's also good with rep, especially in large empires (you essentially get research just for having each city). TBH, I don't use it a whole lot, because I'm usually trading for that tech line and am very, very close to economics.

 

[civver_764]

What about Environmentalism? Is there ever a reason to use that?

 

[ParadigmShifter]

I've been forced into enviromentalism from the UN and been pleasantly surprised by the results since they buffed it in BtS. You get more commerce from windmills, and forest preserves now as well as the big health boost.

Mercantilism is good if you have a really big empire and/or no-one will trade with you anyway

 

[1889]

I love corporations so spend lots of time in Free Markets. When you are able to keep trade routes open for a long time and upgrade them with the harbors and customs house they get incredibly valuable. But the AIs always ruins my fun by switching to mercantilism when it first becomes available so I often follow suit for a short time. I think the extra specialist is pretty poor compensation but if foreign trade is unavailable it’s better than nothing.

Environmentalism is sure an unusual one. I had to go and look it up just now:

+25% corporation upkeep
+6 health in all cities
+2 gold from windmill and forest preserve
+2 health from public transport

If you're really pushing industrial development by way of coal plants and don't have access to health resources then I guess it could be worth it, but I would take it as a red flag that the game is not going as I had hoped. Could be a fun one to force on the AI though.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Don't forget that windmills are already buffed by electricity so an extra 2 commerce makes them something like 5 or 6 commerce (maybe that was with financial Darius though).

 

[aday]

It's worth noting that you can still have foreign trade routes with your vassals under Mercantilism. In a domination game, this makes it a very useful civic.

Mercantilism:
Synergy with Representation and (to a much lesser extent) Pacifism and Caste System
Great when you have vassals, especially ones that still have large and/or intercontinental cities
Better than Free Market if few rivals will open borders

Free Market:
Best choice if your diplomacy situation is favorable
Synergy with corporations

State Property:
Unbeatable if you have huge colonial maintenance
Very helpful for a late-game hammer economy (with no corporations, of course)

Environmentalism:
Useful if you have crippling health issues
Doesn't totally suck if everyone is forced into it

 

[Iranon]

Mercantilism will rarely give you a faster absolute tech rate than Free Market with Open Borders across the board. It can, however, be your best bet to get a tech lead over your competitors... especially on high levels where any 'gift' from you goes through some positively disgusting multipliers.
If you have vassals on other landmasses, there is almost no downside to it.

*

Environmentalism is nice for small empires: Distance Maintenance is going to be less significant, we might lack resources to make corporations worth the investment and we might not have sufficient health resources for our liking.
Also, if we have a well-developed National Park city we're going to boost a good percentage of our tiles (Environmental windmills are a contender for the best improvement in the game as well).

 

[Meepers]

Personally I like Mercantilism for the free specialist.. add Statue of Liberty to the mix and you have +2 free Specialists per city... Combine that with Sistine Chapel wonder and that's netting you a nice additional chunk of culture per city also.

 

[Dragonxander PR]

I never go for Mercantilism, since I really love having tons of lucrative trade routes, cheap corps & because I always play to trade with anybody. Even so, the free specialist per city seems ok, especially if needing GPs other than Prophets (i.e. the Engineer, to which you're usually limited to 1 per city, WITH forge).

 

[Ghpstage]

I think of Mercantilisim as the poor mans State Property, it gets stronger as you get bigger.
I find it can be a tremendous boost to warmongering as it helps cover increasing expenses, provide a quick culture pop or give a hammer or two to captured cities while you couldn't trade with them anyway, besides as you get bigger, they get smaller so trading gets weaker anyway! .
As has been mentioned you can still trade with vassals, again favouring warmongering. It also works very well in isolation where the free specialist generates more than 1 extra trade route

 

[Zeiter]

I've had some success with mercantilism where I have a large land-based empire with few coastal cities and/or no intercontinental cities. My cities can't get the trade route bonuses from harbors, customs houses, or overseas cities, so the extra trade route is going to be one of those piddly 1 commerce ones. Might as well run mercantilism.

Merc also synergizes well with the philosophical trait.

Merc can also be useful not for how much it does for you, but for how much it harms your opponents. If you go to the demographics screen and see a very big negative number in the imports/exports row, that means no matter how much commerce you might lose from the merc switch, your opponents will collectively lose that much more.

 

[DrewTate]

Don't forget that windmills are already buffed by electricity so an extra 2 commerce makes them something like 5 or 6 commerce (maybe that was with financial Darius though).

Come on you Reds! LFC for life

 

[ParadigmShifter]

??? Maybe Liverpool need to windmill over Anfield since they are running deficit research right now? And don't mention building a jail to Gerrard

 

[shulec]

I believe Mercantilism would be much more valuable earlier in the game, for example if were tied with Currency. Generally, I get Economics shortly after Banking. This is due to my pursuit of liberalism. If you get banking earlier in the game, you get a bigger advantage from the free specialist. The later you get in the game, the less benefit you get from one specialist.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

Basic Rules:

State Property...
Good for undeveloped cities (few buildings)
Good when you don't have corporations of your own
Good for production, especially without access to the Food/Production corporations


Free Market...
Good with Large, Developed cities and Many trade partners, Especially if they have more cities than you...
Good with lots of coastal cities [harbors=trade route bonus]
also good if you have a multi continental empire with only a few cities on the 'non main' continents [gives you domestic intercontinental trade routes... which are nice, because they get used multiple times]
You need corporations to get the full benefit of it


Mercantilism...
Good with small Developed cities and Representation (Angkor Wat+Sistine Chapel also make it better)
Bad if your trade partners have many cities more than you do.. particularly if they are on other continents and you are not
Need corporations to get the best benefit


Environmentalism
Good if you are unhealthy, because your cities are large and you are focusing them on production.

 

[ChiefTonfa]

i agree merc would be cooler if it came earlier. economics is shortly after it and its better for your econmy. the only time i ever use merc is if im going for the culture. then id rather have the extra artists for my 3 main cities. otherwise ecomnoics and SP simply get you more money and research.

 

[Ricci]

i agree merc would be cooler if it came earlier. economics is shortly after it and its better for your econmy. the only time i ever use merc is if im going for the culture. then id rather have the extra artists for my 3 main cities. otherwise ecomnoics and SP simply get you more money and research.

Haven't you been reading the many very good posts above?The goodness of mercantilism or free market... completely situational, both in country and strategy.

 

[DigitalBoy]

If mercantilism came too early, it'd probably unbalance the early game. I think the fact that it comes fairly well into the medieval era is pretty deliberate, since the free specialist will be comparatively less significant by then. I wouldn't mind seeing it moved a little earlier in the tree, like maybe to Guilds, but Guilds already has lots of things it adds while Banking wouldn't add very much by itself if you moved mercantilism away from it. I think it's fine where it is.