Policy tips

[Ottoman player]

I'm looking for general strategies with the Civic tree. I'm an Emperor player at the moment. I get going for better governments, and a couple of the important policies*, but I often find myself lost at where to go next. Hopefully this isn't too vague, and I realize many tips may be victory condition dependent.

*conscription, the builder policies, colonization when I'm making early settlers, the trading policies.

 

[trojan13]

It is true that civis tech path is up to each civs or victory condition. However, there is a general path I'd take in most cases (all-rounded).

1) Political philosophy - for first government change.
2) Feudalism - Serfdom card is huge boost to improve claimed lands
3) Mercenary - cheap(50%) upgrade cost helps finishing early-mid conquests.
4) Exploration - Merchant republic, 2nd tier government which is very close to Mercenary
5) Nationalism/Mobilization - Corps/army helpful if you have rival to deal with.
6) Suffrage, totalitarianism or class struggle - for modern government

add) I usually ignore dead-end civics that doesn't help my vic condition. They contains few envoy as rewards so I finished them in 1 or 2 turn when I needed envoy to secure CS in mid-late game.
add2) culture game has bit different path in late game. I am not expert at it but humanism > natural history > cultural heritage > social media seems solid path.

 

[Onii-chan]

Adding to the above, the +100% science and gold from buildings cards are incredible as well (from The Enlightenment)

Also the +1 gold per envoy diplomatic card can give huge amounts of gpt at the time you unlock it

 

[joncnunn]

On the military policy side; start with the policy giving the bonus against Barbs (unless on a small island); switch to something else after barbs are no longer an issue (late ancient era or early classical)

 

[The SCHO Empire]

Some general advice:

Cards have different mechanisms for providing boosts, but all fundamentally help you obtain more of a particular yield. Organize your governments and civics around yield priorities. Timing is important with civics, and there are huge gains for micromanaging certain cards and matching effects with specific short or mid-term objectives. Make it a habit of hitting the "X" instead of "Choose Policies", and checking when your next civic will pop before changing your civics.

Always compare cards based on empire-wide impact at that moment. Often the +1 production per city card is better than +%production until cities start to grow. Amass gold and save cards that give purchasing/upgrade discounts for really short turnover between civics (1-3 turns)

You'll always need another builder. When using the +%production to builder card, try to keep most of your cities building builders. You can bank the production for when you need it. Or, when you get serfdom, you can pop out a 5 action builder from your cities the next turn.

 

[dturtle1]

In regards to +1 production per city and % based cards you will be surprised...You only need 4 Cogs per city for the Builder Card to overtake(or 3 with surplus amenities) the +1 production Card and of course the military cards are even better. The +1 production is still good but its value is more when you have a diverse group of things you are building rather pure efficiency. If you are building lots of buildings it makes sense to go the +1 production card, as their are no better alternatives. However if you are building builders you should consider switching to Ilkum, even your smallest cities will probably break at least even with Ilkum instead of the +1 production card. Agree with banking builder production as well and also to pre build builders with Ilkum and then switch in Serfdom to get the benefit of both cards.

@ OP

My First couple of games was with Rome and i feel ya about feeling lost. I was burning through the Civic tree so fast due to trying to REX that i kept on getting lost too . One thing is always prioritise the center of the Tree. Political Philosophy/Feudalism/Civil Service/Nationalism Etc. If you teching it to early that is cool, just pre-tech and then wait for the Inspiration. Hard tech troublesome Inspirations early. Like the Defensive Building one that is required for Fuedalism. If you don't already have the inspiration dont sit around waiting to get War Decced on, just hard tech it unlocking Civics that are much easier to get inspirations on etc. Same with Nationalism, If you are going to struggle to use Casus belli dont bother...beeline it and hard tech it early, same for the one that requires an Alliance. These Civics are too important to pussy foot around with Inspirations, not so much the Civic itself as for unlocking the next part of the tree.

Also be careful of the Bottlenecks. It is very easy to get caught putting off Civics, trying to get the Inspiration and been left holding the Bag...forced to Finish Hard teching the Civic because you simply have nothing left to research, wasting the Inspiration(and more importantly all that time when you could have it researched already . Bread and Games/Drama and Poetry is a good example, sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and hard tech it, allowing you to inspiration save other Civics. Another good idea is to Look for Civics that aren't usfeul to you in particular and bank them for easy Policy Changes. Some Policy Cards such as Surveying(20% off tile buys) can be maximised within a couple of turns. It is incredibly handy to have a quick 3-5 Turn Policy to use to quickly get in and then out again.


O/T Few Builder related Notes...
Ilkum stacks with 15% Wonder card and the Pantheon with China. With both The Pantheon, Policy Card and The Pyramids China gets a Single Builder 5 turn Ancient/Classical Wonders..... Sooo Good. Build Builders with Ilkum and switch to the wonder to rush with the builders every turn. Of course you need Classical Republic or Oligarchy to make it work. (2 economic slots). You effectively get every Ancient/Classical Wonder for the price of a 30% off Builder (After Pyramids...You really want that lone one tile of Desert in your Capital as China )

As Monty dont be so quick to use your builders on Districts. Mainly in your core producing Cities. It could very well be a net-loss in regards to hammers. It is useful of course to use your core cities to build builders which then rush districts in your startup Cities but if you are just building builders to rush districts you are effectively increasing your builder cost for very little hammer gain...Do the Math

 

[The SCHO Empire]

In regards to +1 production per city and % based cards you will be surprised...You only need 4 Cogs per city for the Builder Card to overtake(or 3 with surplus amenities) the +1 production Card and of course the military cards are even better. The +1 production is still good but its value is more when you have a diverse group of things you are building rather pure efficiency. If you are building lots of buildings it makes sense to go the +1 production card, as their are no better alternatives. However if you are building builders you should consider switching to Ilkum, even your smallest cities will probably break at least even with Ilkum instead of the +1 production card. Agree with banking builder production as well and also to pre build builders with Ilkum and then switch in Serfdom to get the benefit of both cards.

This is a good point. Hence the need to always calculate the benefit empire-wide, and know your own play style.

If it's early and you've just thrown down a bunch of cities, you'll probably want the +1 production per city card (more global hammers than a stronger boost at the capital). But after a few turns of growth, as you point out, +% cards can give bigger boosts. 'The Best' civic cards are very contextual, and change turn-to-turn.

Interesting with the builder + wonder rushing, though. How many early turns does that take - enough to stunt military / settler expansion?

 

[teks]

+2 gold per trade route is incredibly strong. Double adjacency on commercial is as well if your going for the standard commercial district in all cities first. I like to use that money to buy production buildings. This instantly gives additional production, so, on top of getting a building I'm getting a production bonus on the following buildings in queue.

Before commercial is up, +1 production can't be beat. In peace it can be combined with the builder card. I pretty much use +1 production on top of whatever specific thing I'm building.

Don't underestimate some of the military cards in peace. +30℅ on building encampments and related buildings is great, because encampment buildings add production, housing and defense. +1 amenity for garrison is also not to be trifled with. Extra amenities give a bonus to growth and production.

The policy tree is pretty straight forward. It has some dead ends but it doesn't branch off like the tech tree does. Very straight forward. But it's important to get timing down. Switch civic research to something easy when you need to switch civics. Don't ever make builders without a builder civic up. Don't build walls without the defense policy. Never upgrade units without the upgrade civic (if it's available)

Some other timings...
Build up envoys with the +2 envoy point civic, then switch to the double envoys on first point, and quickly switch back by researching an old dead end civic.

Use the civic that gives half off spies. Get the spies up, send them out, gather sources, and switch to the double eureka civic when they are ready. Switch back when they are done.

 

[dturtle1]

Interesting with the builder + wonder rushing, though. How many early turns does that take - enough to stunt military / settler expansion?

A lot less than any other Civ apart from China ... Not much really you want Early Pyramids and good production starting spot. You will need 3 Builders total. 1st for Craftmanship Inspiration and 3 5 yield tiles. Second 2 to rush Pyramids. You dont have to go that quick as you need Political Philosophy to get the 2 Economic Cards anyway. Dont worry about Stonehenge. Rush Pyramids first then clean up with the rest of the Ancient /Classic Wonders. Petra is Classical Wonder so look for a close by SupaPetra City , Not Sure i how viable this would be on Deity but i only play on King/Emperor anyways. You dont necessarily need ALL the Wonders, Just if you are going to build Early wonders this is how you do it The key of course is translating Ilkum into Wonder Production

 

[Ottoman player]

Thanks for the replies so far .

One thing I normally do, even if not playing a culture game or religious game, is to dip into Mysticism generally right after I get Political Philosophy to get Great Scientist Points. Is that worth a card spot usually, or are you using wildcard slots for something else?

Enjoying the conversation on Wonders, I haven't really been trying for a wonder spam game yet but then again I haven't played China yet either. Forbidden City and Petra (if geography applies) are the only wonders I really prioritize, or Terracotta army if I know I'm going for domination, and sometimes Hanging Gardens if I'm isolated with a high production city and can just do it easily.

Random question, do you ever end up spending money for the ability to change policy cards? I never end up doing that. Sometimes I'll work on a past civic that I can pick up in few turns when I really need to switch things up.

 

[trojan13]

One thing I normally do, even if not playing a culture game or religious game, is to dip into Mysticism generally right after I get Political Philosophy to get Great Scientist Points. Is that worth a card spot usually, or are you using wildcard slots for something else?

It is really up to starting. If Hypatia - +1 science to library and one free library is on the list, it really worth to invest. Generally, it's more about your starting and surroundings, if you need early war then +1 production from urban plan and +% production military policy combo is great, etc.

 

[Gtdead]

I generally do Political Philosophy (government)->Feudalism(serfdom/farms)->Exploration(government, getting mercenaries on the way)->civil service (meritocracy)->enlightenment (rationalism)->nationalism (corps)->natural history or urbanization, depending on whether I need amenities or housing more.

From there on, I rush fascism and finish my dom victory.

I may do detours to grab civics that award envoys.

 

[TheGreatSleepyOne]

In domination games, I have two general policy paths.
1) The Economic Timing Push. Focus your civ on science, gold, and culture. Techwise, you get the wheel to build heavy chariots then beeline to stirrups. Civic-wise, get military tradition and state workforce to quickly produce a maintenance-free army of heavy chariots. Then, beeline for Mercenaries and upgrade your heavy chariots to knights for half price, then get Exploration and purchase and army of new units at a discount or build infrastructure. Afterwards, get Rationalism for +100% from gold buildings and Nationalism for forming Corps. Buy new units to feed to your experienced ones. Rinse and repeat at mobilization.

2)The Faith Timing Push. Focus on faith production, gold, and culture. This timing push works best with musket men and Calvary but can work for Samurai and Berserkers as well. Civic wise, you beeline for Reformed Church so you can produce an army out of thin air with faith. Research wise, you just need markets/harbors and the tech for whatever unit you plan on spamming with faith. After the first push, rush nationalism for corps, then mobilization for armies. Faith purchase to feed recruits to experienced troops.

 

[Sun Tzu Wu]

I tend to like the Faith Timing Rush as the TheGreatSleepyOne described above as his #2 unit rushing strategy. His #1 unit rushing strategy is sound as well and has no dependency on Faith.

The Conscription civic should be used as soon as it is available or you have significant numbers of units with 1 gpt or greater maintenance. Heavy Chariots are obviously optimal until conscription is available. With conscription, one can afford large numbers of Archers; with their range 2, they can be optimal, though hills, forests and jungle can block them; they are still good on these terrains adjacent to the enemy, since they attack without taking damage in your part of each turn plus when the enemy counterattacks they are on defensive terrain which helps mitigate their lower melee strength.

 

[Soffacet]

I usually go straight to Early Empire and then Political Philosophy. Greece can rush Mysticism instead if it wants to since they can put Revelation in their wildcard slot. Urban Planning and Colonization are good early cards.

Grabbing Mysticism afterwards is good for an early envoy if nothing else. A lot of people seem to underestimate the impact of policies that give free envoys. If the +1 Library Great Scientist is up for grabs, the +2 GSP wildcard is good.

After that there are tons of goodies that you want, but I would go to Civil Service first, because Meritocracy will help you get them all. Meritocracy is probably the best card in the game, I never take it out once I unlock it.

Standard ecoboom priorities are Merchant Republic, Rationalism, Craftsmen, Feudalism, Neighborhoods, Tier 3 Governments, Zoos, etc.