Policy Openers at Prince

[knighterrant81]

I have recently been working on completing the achievement for winning as every Civ (Master of the Universe, I believe it is called), at Prince, standard map size, continents or pangaea (with a few archipelagos thrown in), and I've had some interesting situations regarding the opening policy decisions.

Usually, I pick up Honor first, then go Liberty. Honor helps with Barbs, and Liberty helps with building settlers, tile improvements, and workers at the time in the game you are most likely to build such things. From there, this opener allows a lot of flexibility: if an unruly neighbor needs a spanking, more work in Honor can help (and it gets you closer to Military Caste, which is a pretty nice Happiness and Culture boost). If things are going more peacefully, or you have an overly expansionist neighbor, picking up Collective Rule and Citizenship, and eventually Republic for the hammer boost is helpful. The Liberty capstone is perfectly timed to pick up wonders like the Oracle, the Hanging Gardens, or the Haiga Sophia.

Of course, if I'm going tall and only plan on having 3-5 cities the entire game, Liberty makes less sense. Tradition is a powerful tree, but the real power lies at the end of it - the capstone really pumps the population of your cities. The struggle I have is getting the most use out of legalism. If you start down tradition early, Legalism usually comes way too early unless you skip it - but then that delays the powerful lower tier. So usually it makes sense to open another tree quickly. Since the AI likes to pick on smaller, defensive Civs Honor is always helpful when going tall around lots of aggressive neighbors.

I had an interesting game as the Arabs. I was having a hard time because I was stuck alone on an island! Gasp! how will I ever snag ridiculous amounts of gold without suckers to swindle...er, Civs to trade with! I tried adjusting several things, but I found that doing Liberty and Tradition together worked really well. Oligarchy helps keep the barbs at bay when necessary, and Tradition starts powering up just when Liberty starts winding down. Republic and Aristocracy makes snagging wonders easier, and the faster tile improvements and settled cities really help set up a well timed Legalism acquisition.

The medieval policy trees (Piety and Patronage) seem to be more focused on an empire that already has the basics set up, so I tend to wait on these unless I'm really gunning for a cultural or diplomatic victory.

 

[headcase]

Yeah, I like to get Liberty and Free Settler first a lot of the time. But, if I see enough barbs early on, I focus on Honor instead. The balance is pretty good nowadays between all 3 of the starters.

 

[Pim]

Taking my first policy always makes me doubt but i've reached some conclusions for myself that maybe you can use, think of or comment on.

I like tradition. Opening with +3 culture and getting an early wonderbonus is awesome in my playing style. I normaly go GL -> whatever i find necessary -> NC as opener so it fits good with tradition. Being able to tech like mad also makes it possible to postphone taking the entire tree and starting on other tree's in further era's. I tried it but I dont like to take 2 out of 3 starting tree's.

Liberty used to be my favorite because of the free worker and settler. It saves a lot of production or cash. The other policies from liberty are from ok to good(depends on tactic). Nowadays i dont have a favorite tree because i tend to make my choice after a couple of turn scouting and knowing the area. I must admit that i tend to use the liberty tree less due to my tactic of going NC early. The free worker is nice, the free settler comes at a moment when it can be rushbuyed or just easy produced.

Honour. I tried it, liked it but dont use it much. It doesnt build the foundations under your empire or gives the opportunity to go heavy and early expanding. The bonus against barbs is nice but after less then a 100 turn doesnt contribute anymore. I use Honour when i want to go heavy warwongering or the civ, like germany, just askes for it.

I think picking up a first policy depends on civ and situation. And ofcourse someones playstyle.