Need a quick overview of Ideologies and their purpose

[ViterboKnight]

Still a bit confused with ideologies.
I mean, ok, I think it's clear to me how influence works for other civs, and how to choose the best ideology if I want to reduce unrest and pressure.

The point is: I was used to the old CIV5 policy trees (Autocracy, Freedom, Order), each of them has a particular utility (basically for domination, for culture and GP, for growth and large empires). So, there was a clear purpose for them, and each of them is clearly intended for one (or more) type of game, situation and goal.

Now, I can't find a common theme in the policies inside each ideology. They all seem to boost war, growth, culture, diplomacy, etc.

So, since the good old "NERD" and "GURU" times are gone and I don't have time (and brain!!) to learn ALL the existing policies by heart to be able to know which ideology is the best for each game, can someone briefly do a sort of "ideology" overview, to explain the main purpose of each of them, and when it's better to pick any of them?

 

[Rhaegar7]

Well, the simplest answer is that Autocracy is best for agressive civ, Freedom for cultural/diplo (with an accent on peaceful trading) and Order for wide-productive one. Autocracy has the best happiness bonuses, so dunno really.

I like all three and think they are very well done.

 

[Peng Qi]

Autocracy is for bullies, Freedom is for diplomats, and Order is for isolationists.

 

[Alziel]

Each Ideology has three end game tenets which will boost a particular victory type and the tenets leading up to those will tend to support particular styles of play over others.

Autocracy has a lot of tenets which boost warfare and happiness. The final three endgame tenets are geared towards:

• Domination
• Diplomacy
• Culture

However, even the Diplomacy and Culture tenets are poor unless you are at war or have a strong army (the Diplomatic tenets relies on you being able to bully City States for Influence and the Culture one relies on you and a number of allies all being at war with a common foe).

Autocracy should basically be chosen if you want to build a huge army at the end of the game and go on the offensive. It's a good ideology to choose if you want to fight your way back from being behind or of you want to escalate a military campaign. It is not such a good choice if you want a Science Victory (although you can still win a Science Victory with it of course - it will just be more difficult).

Freedom is a good ideology to choose if you have a high population, not too many cities and are using specialists. Peaceful players tend to choose this ideology. It helps to offset unhappiness from growth, allows you to grow faster and gives more benefits from great people and specialists. It also gives you some nice options for defending yourself if you are small and don't have a large military. A good choice for a small, peaceful empire that would like to turtle up and defend while building towards a peaceful victory.The endgame tenets help with:

• Science
• Diplomacy
• Culture

The science tenet will allow you to buy spaceship parts, the diplomacy one will let you gain influence with City States that you trade with and the Culture one allows your Broadcast Towers to transmit Tourism as well as Culture.

Although there is no endgame tenet for Domination, Freedom actually has two earlier tenets which will help you a little with your military. They are really designed to help bolster your military if you don't have a large force but they are flexible enough to allow you to go on the offensive quite effectively if you need to. So a Domination Victory with Freedom is easier to achieve than Science would be for Autocracy or Diplomacy would be for Order (although both of those ideologies are better for Domination overall). Choose Freedom if you have a small, tall empire with a lot of specialists and not much military.

Order is for the sprawling, wide empires. It also seems to be a popular choice with the AI. It has benefits which apply to numerous cities and which allow you to quickly settle and build up new cities later in the game. It also helps with boosting your military and your science. The endgame tenets will help with:

• Domination
• Science
• Culture

There are no direct boosts to influencing City States but there are a lot of tenets which will save you money when building up cities, so the money saved can be funneled into City States if you want to pursue a Diplomatic Victory. There are some good tenets for boosting happiness, science and productivity - all of which can suffer otherwise if you have a lot of cities. Some good military tenets as well. Choose Order if you have or want to have a large empire with a powerful military.

Hope this helps!

 

[ViterboKnight]

Thank you very much, Alziel!
That's exactly what I was looking for. A quick recap, main purpose, and a couple of hints!
I owe you a beer!


And, of course, thanks to the other posters too!!

 

[Alziel]

You're more than welcome - glad I could help!

Just be careful of Ideological pressure when selecting your Ideology. If another Civ has chosen a different Ideology, check their culture Influence level on you. If they are one or more levels of Influence above you, they will inflict Ideological pressure points on you - one for each level of difference.

Let's say you went Freedom and another Civ went Order. If that Civ has 'Familiar' Influence with you but you only have 'Exotic' Influence with them, they are one level of Influence higher than you and will inflict one Ideological pressure point on you. This will apply for every Civ. Worse still is if their Ideology has been voted as 'World Ideology' then their Ideology will inflict 2 pressure points extra on everybody regardless of Influence levels.

Each point of Influence pressure will cause you Unhappiness if you follow a different Ideology. Each point will amount to Unhappiness equal to either -1 per City or -1 per 10 points of Population. So the bigger you are the more Unhappiness you will get.

Don't neglect your Culture and Tourism if you want to go for a different Ideology from the other Civs!

On the plus side, if you are the first to an Ideology you get to pick two Tenets for free as a reward! If you are second to an Ideology you can pick one Tenet for free. If you are third or later to an Ideology you get no bonus Tenets at all.

Oh - and mine's a Fosters!

 

[joncnunn]

My own take:

Autocracy is for war monglers. (Not only direct domination victory, but use a war to increase tourism with civs on your side while relocating the great works built by your enemies to your own lands) In addition for Diplomatic victory it also has a direct bonus of getting city states into giving you free influence if you have a presence near them.

As to Order & Freedom:

If going Diplomatic, choose Freedom; the +6 free influence per turn for every city state you have a trade route is the best diplomatic bonus in the game.

Space race: I'd still choose Freedom (easier to find 2000 gold than GE, but it's not nearly as much of a runway as it was pre-patch)

Cultural: Order & Freedom are neck & neck.

 

[Peng Qi]

and the Culture one relies on you and a number of allies all being at war with a common foe).

You do not need to be allied, on good terms with, or even at peace with players to get the bonus. Just have to be at war with the same person. Theoretically if every player were at war with every other player you'd get the bonus with all of them.

 

[Matthew.]

Many of the old themes still exist:

Freedom has a lot of bonuses to support specialist play.

Order has a lot of bonuses to support many smaller cities.

Autocracy has a lot of bonuses for improving military.

 

[Arachnofiend]

Autocracy is fantastic if you're losing, war or no. I'd take the ideology JUST for Industrial Espionage if I'm way behind on tech.

 

[TheMarshmallowBear]

Ideological pressure is dependant on their influence over you via Tourism/Culture outputs.