PolicyPlus+

[erisiamk]

The PolicyPlus+ mod rebalances Social Policies and Ideologies to promote more diverse strategies, making some of the lesser used policy trees more viable in certain situations, and making the stronger policies less "fail-safe" choices.

Policy trees in general now follow a two-tier structure. The opener and immediately available policies generally helping to establish infrastructure in a specific area (Tradition provides defense for your small empire, Liberty provides utility units, Honor boosts production of military units and buildings, Piety provides bonuses towards founding a religion, etc) The later policies and finisher generally provide boosts to these specific areas (Tradition boosts the Capital in multiple ways, Liberty provides Production, Gold, Culture, and Happiness boosts per City, Honor provides deadly promotions for your army, Piety provides bonuses to established Religions)

This approach somewhat matches the Ideology structure adopted in Brave New World and gives players choice in specialization. For example, a Liberty player could either pursue the left side of the tree for rapid expansion, or the right tree for better infrastructure development. An Exploration player can either go down the left side of the tree for a stronger navy, or the right side for better coastal cities.

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Changes include...

Tradition:

Spoiler :

Opener: +3 Culture in the Capital. Border expansion rate increased.
Oligarchy: +50% Production when building Defense buildings. Cities with garrisons have +50% Ranged Combat Strength.
Aristocracy: +15% Production of Wonders. Military units gain strength near Capital (+20% in Capital, falls off by 2% per tile).
Legalism: +2 Production and +10% Production in Capital.
Monarchy: +1 Gold and -1 Unhappiness per 2 citizens in Capital.
Landed Elite: +2 Food and +10% Growth in Capital.
Finisher: +10% Growth in all cities and free Aqueduct in first four cities.

Liberty:

Spoiler :

Opener: +1 Culture in every city.
Collective Rule: Free Settler in Capital. +25% Production of Settlers in all cities.
Citizenship: Free Worker in Capital. +25% Worker tile improvement rate.
Meritocracy: +1 Happiness per City Connection. -10% Unhappiness from population in non-occupied cities.
Republic: +1 Gold and +1 Production in every city. -50% maintenance costs for Roads/Railways.
Representation: +1 Culture in every city. -33% Social Policy cost increase rate per city.
Finisher: +25% Great Person generation. Free Great Person in Capital.

Honor:

Spoiler :

Opener: Earn Culture from kills against all units. +25% Combat Strength vs Barbarians, notified on Barbarian Camp appearance.
Warrior Code: +15% Production of land military units. +50% Great General rate. Free Great General at Capital.
Military Caste: +1 Happiness and +2 Culture from city garrisons. Barracks, Armories, and Military Academies produced 50% faster.
Discipline: Units fight at full strength even when damaged. +15% Combat Strength for land units adjacent to other land units.
Spirit Of Conquest: Units gain +25% Combat Strength vs Cities and Fortified Units. Earn a large amount of Culture upon capturing a city.
Military Tradition: +50% unit XP gain. -33% unit upgrade cost.
Finisher: Earn Gold and Golden Age points from kills against all units.

Piety:

Spoiler :

Opener: Shrines and Temples are produced 100% faster and provide +1 Culture.
Prophecy: Free Great Prophet in Capital. Requires Theology.
Organized Religion: +1 Faith from Shrines and Temples. -25% Faith cost for units and buildings.
Mandate of Heaven: +8 Happiness from the Grand Temple.
Theocracy: +3 Gold from Holy Sites. +25% Gold from Temples.
Reformation: Add a Reformation belief to your Religion. Requires Printing Press.
Finisher: +3 Culture from Holy Sites and Faith Wonders. Religious units ignore rough terrain.

Patronage:

Spoiler :

Policies are unchanged apart from...
Merchant Confederacy: +3 Gold from land Trade Routes and +6 Gold from sea Trade Routes with City States. +100% Gold from Trade Missions.

Aesthetics:

Spoiler :

Opener: +25% Great Writer, Artist, and Musician rate.
Cultural Centers: Provides a free Culture building in every city.
Fine Arts: +2 Happiness from Writer's, Artist's, and Musician's Guilds. 50% of excess Happiness converted to Culture.
Cultural Exchange: +15% Tourism from Shared Religion, Open Borders, and Trade Routes.
Flourishing of the Arts: +33% Culture in cities with World Wonders. A Golden Age begins immediately.
Artistic Genius: Free Great Artist at Capital. +1 Culture from Great Works.
Finisher: Theming bonuses are doubled.

Commerce:

Spoiler :

Opener: +25% Gold in the Capital.
Mercenary Army: Can purchase Landsknechts. -20% unit purchasing costs.
Financial Scheduling: +1 Gold from Markets, Banks, and Stock Exchanges. -20% building and tile purchasing costs.
Wagon Trains: +3 Gold from all land Trade Routes. +25% Gold from City Connections.
Mercantilism: +2 Happiness from Luxury Resources. +1 Gold from Trading Posts and Plantations.
Smithian Economics: +2 Production from Customs Houses and +2 Gold from Manufactories. Free Great Merchant at Capital.
Finisher: +2 Gold from Specialists.

Exploration:

Spoiler :

Opener: +25% Production on Naval combat units.
Navigation School: +2 Movement for Great Admirals. +50% Great Admiral rate. Free Great Admiral appears.
Maritime Infrastructure: Harbors, Lighthouses and Seaports are produced 50% faster. +3 Production in all coastal cities.
Treasure Fleets: +6 Gold from all sea Trade Routes. Reveals Hidden Antiquity Sites.
Grand Armada: Naval combat units gain +25% Combat Strength vs other naval units, +1 Movement and +1 Sight.
Naval Tradition: +1 Happiness from Harbors, Lighthouses, and Seaports. +1 Gold from Fishing Boats.
Finisher: Embarkation with Defense and +2 embarked movement for all land military units.

Rationalism:.

Spoiler :

Opener: +25% Great Scientist rate.
Humanism: +1 Happiness from Libraries and Universities.
Knowledge Transfer: +50% Science from Research Agreements. Universities, Public Schools, and Research Labs are produced 50% faster.
Free Thought: +1 Science from Trading Posts and +17% Science from Universities.
Sovereignty: +1 Science for every 2 citizens in the Capital. Free Great Scientist at Capital.
Scientific Revolution: +10% Science when Happy. A Golden Age begins immediately.
Finisher: +2 Science from Specialists.

Ideologies:

Spoiler :

Freedom (Changed Tenets)

Creative Expression: +4 Culture and +4 Gold from the Writer's, Artist's, and Musician's Guilds.
Capitalism: +1 Happiness from Markets, Banks, and Stock Exchanges.
Economic Union: +3 Gold from land Trade Routes and +6 Gold from sea Trade Routes with other Freedom civilizations.
Their Finest Hour: +33% City Combat Strength. Fighter units receive Interception I and Dogfighting I promotions.
Urbanization: +10% Food from Hospitals and Medical Labs.
New Deal: Great Tile improvements have +4 of their major yields.

Order (Changed Tenets)

Skyscrapers: -30% building purchase cost.
Party Leadership: +1 Food, Production, Gold, Culture, Science in every city. -17% Social Policy cost increase rate per city.
Resettlement: Newly settled cities start with +3 Population. 3 free Settlers appear at the Capital.
Iron Curtain: Free Courthouse when annexing a city immediately on capture. +3/+6 Food/Production for internal land/sea trade routes respectively.

Autocracy (Changed Tenets)

Elite Forces: Ranged units receive +20% Combat Strength in foreign lands.
Mobilization: -30% unit purchase cost.

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As part of the Japan UA is now used in an Honor policy, Japan receive a new UA that decreases Policy costs by 10% and provides +1 Culture on Fishing Boats and +2 Culture on Atolls.

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As the Spirit of Conquest policy has been buffed, the Statue of Zeus now provides +4 Iron and +15% Production of land units in the city instead of its previous effects.

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All gameplay changes have been implemented as XML files, so if you don't like a particular policy tree, feel free to disable it or just remove the file without impacting the rest of the mod. Likewise, the mod should be perfectly compatible with any other mod that does not explicitly interact with the policy trees.

Many thanks to Machiavelli24, who provided help during design and inspired me to make this mod with his excellent Reform and Rule mod. While Machiavelli24's mod completely rehauls Policy trees and Ideologies from the ground up, my mod is a less radical alternative that mostly rebalances existing policies and themes.

If you have any feedback with regards to coding problems or balance issues, please let me know! Feel free to discuss them here, or any other fun moments you've had or cool strategies you've come up with for this mod. Personally I've been a big fan of the Persian Pirates, where you go Liberty-Honor-Exploration and roam the world, using a large navy to accrue Golden Age points for your fearsome army.

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CivFanatics Download Link

Steam Download Link

Language Compatibility: English only.

Requires Brave New World.

 

[rkade8583]

Holy crap! I love this!

 

[glider1]

Thanks for this, it will be really fun to try!

 

[erisiamk]

I've updated the OP to contain a full list of Policy changes. Have fun!

 

[Loucypher]

Is it just me, or does this mod disable the culture on fishing boats for Japan?

 

[TheologiaCrucis]

This is the best social policy rebalance mod that I've tried but it still doesn't have many votes on the Steam Workshop. Has anyone played this excellent mod? It's pretty new I think.

Moderator Action: Moved to the mod's own thread. I appreciate you really like it (as do I), but starting an additional thread can make for a split conversation about the mod - it needs to be in the mod's thread only.
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

 

[erisiamk]

Because Japan's Bushido effect is duplicated in the Honor tree, I changed Japan's UA to provide -20% Social Policy costs and +2 Production on Fishing Boats upon researching Industrialisation. However, I realize that such a shift in focus for the civ was unnecessary for the scope of the mod. If you want Japan to retain its old UA, simply delete the Japan+ file from the Mod folder on your computer.

Also, I've been working on a V2 that responds to some feedback I've received and tweaks some aspects of the mod I found to be unnecessary or imbalanced in retrospect. I intend to release this some time next week. Japan will have their Culture from Fishing Boats again in this new version, with a milder constant -10% Social Policy costs instead of the Bushido effect.

 

[erisiamk]

Version 2 of this mod has now been released! Thanks to everyone who has enjoyed the mod and provided useful feedback! There's been a few balance changes, and AI policy flavors and some policy-related Wonders have also been affected.

V2 Change-List:

Spoiler :

Honor: +2 Happiness and Culture from unit garrisons has been moved to the Barracks/Armory/Military Academy Production Policy, and the unit upgrade cost discount has been moved to the XP bonus policy instead of the flanking bonus. Spirit of Conquest has been buffed up to 25%, and the Statue of Zeus has been overhauled to compensate. The Statue of Zeus now provides +4 Iron and a free super-early Forge in the city, letting you get your Legions and Samurai despite an Iron-free start! Units also gain Golden Age points from kills upon completing the tree, as opposed to a single free Golden Age.

Piety: Adding a Reformation belief will now start a free Golden Age. Dependencies have changed.

Patronage: City State annexation removed and returned to Austria based on user feedback.

Aesthetics: Cultural Centers now provides a free Culture building in every city instead of providing a Production bonus to all those buildings. Dependencies have changed.

Commerce: Wagon Trains now provides +25% Gold from Caravansaries instead of the internal Trade Route bonus. Smithian Economics no longer increases Great Merchant spawn rate. Specialists also now provide +2 Gold from the finisher instead of +1. Big Ben now provides -20% Gold purchasing costs, stacking multiplicatively with the other Policy modifiers. Dependencies have changed.

Exploration: Hidden Antiquity Sites are now revealed at Trade Convoys (now renamed Treasure Fleets again). Naval Tradition now provides +1 Food from Fishing Boats instead of +1 Production. The finisher has also been changed to provide Embarkation with Defense and +2 embarked movement to land combat units. Dependencies have changed.

Rationalism: Sovereignty and the finisher have been somewhat swapped. Sovereignty now provides +1 Science for every 2 citizens in the Capital and a Great Scientist, while the finisher provides +2 Science from Specialists and no free tech.

Ideologies: Universal Healthcare has been reverted to normal. Renamed Public Works.

Freedom: Broadcasting Company removed; Creative Expression now provides +4 Culture and +4 Gold from the Writer's, Artist's, and Musician's Guilds. New Deal has been reverted to normal.

Order: Party Leadership now provides -17% increased Policy cost rate from cities as well as its other effects. This stacks with Representation to form a -50% total reduction. Resettlement now also provides 3 free Settlers at the Capital. Iron Curtain has been changed to provide +3/+6 Food/Production from land/sea internal trade routes respectively. This is effectively double the (poorly programmed and thus underwhelming) bonus in the base game, and reworded to provide clarity on the actual effect (providing an absolute bonus instead of a percentage bonus).

Have fun!

 

[TheGrumpyBuddha]

Did you change the ideology tourism modifier for same-ideology? I thought like-ideologies got a +34% bonus, and different ideologies got a -34% penalty -- if that's the case, I only saw the latter last time I played.

 

[TheGrumpyBuddha]

What are the changes in V3?

 

[TheologiaCrucis]

Indeed, can you give a rundown of the v.3 changes? I still use this mod (Commerce is way OP btw)

 

[nimling]

I like this mod.
Will play with it some more before looking at which trees are OP/underpowered.
Nice to play a game where Rationalism is not an automatic pick.

 

[Munqaxus]

I like that you rebalanced the Policy trees so that it's no so lopsided!

However I would make 1 suggestion. I would suggest separating "Prophecy" in the "Piety" social policy by itself, so it's not required to progress down the Piety tree. Otherwise you cannot use Piety as a starting Policy. You're forced to go to another social policy until you discovery Theology, so you can continue progressing down the tree. If you separated "Prophecy" so that it is on it's own separate branch of the Piety tree, you can use Piety as an opening policy (You just have to make sure and work your way to Theology to complete Piety which isn't bad).

 

[erisiamk]

Version 4 has been released! I'm so glad that people are still enjoying this mod, and in the wake of Beyond Earth, I've decided to implement some balance updates as players start to trickle back to Civ5. To those curious, v3 was simply a tweak to the AI flavors; about a week after the v2 release, I noticed that the AI liked to pick Exploration on maps without any water, and would ALWAYS pick Rationalism, even Atilla the Hun. By the looks of it, my solution worked and the whole thing went unnoticed...

V4 Change List:

Spoiler :

General: Trade Route policies have been nerfed from +4/+8 land/sea route Gold to +3/+6 respectively.

Tradition: Oligrachy now provides +50% Production towards Defense buildings instead of free garrisoned units and the free Archer. It seemed derpy to get an Archer if you picked Tradition in an Advanced Start game... The finisher growth bonus has also been nerfed slightly from 15% to 10%.

Liberty: The +1 Culture from Republic and +1 Production from Representation have been swapped around to make the policies more logically consistent.

Honor: Statue of Zeus now provides +15% Land unit Production instead of a free Forge. So you can stack it WITH a Forge and wreak ultimate mayhem!

Piety: Prophecy is no longer required to proceed through the rest of the tree. This gives players more options in what to do with their Piety game. The Golden Age from Reformation has also been removed, seems unnecessary and odd in retrospect.

Aesthetics: The Cultural Centers policy was found to be providing +2 Culture per Great Work building instead of +1, due to a bug related to the buildings being gifted to the city on the same turn. This has resulted in the bonus being removed from the policy.

Commerce: Smithian Economics nerfed to provide only +2 Production to Customs Houses and only +2 Gold to Manufactories, alongside the Merchant. Still good enough to encourage some planting, but not as much overkill.

Exploration: Naval Tradition now provides +1 Gold from Fishing Boats instead of +1 Food. Giving island cities something other than endless Food to work would be nice, but the Production from v1 was a bit out there (Fish being more useful in manufacturing than mines?!)

Civilopedia: Civilopedia entries will now have the correct headings corresponding to the new Policy names. Apologies for not fixing this earlier!

Please continue to enjoy this mod as much as I have!

 

[stormtrooper412]

from the looks of it, it would seem that Liberty is quite OP now

edit: in fact the Liberty/ Aesthetics combo seems a fair bit OP

 

[erisiamk]

V4.2: The Cultural Centers policy was found to be providing +2 Culture per Great Work building instead of +1, due to a bug related to the buildings being gifted to the city on the same turn. This has resulted in the bonus being removed from the policy.

 

[tmxk2012917]

the direct download link just provides V4.1. could you please provide the direct download link with V4.2?

 

[erisiamk]

the direct download link just provides V4.1. could you please provide the direct download link with V4.2?

The link should be updated now with the newest version.

 

[tmxk2012917]

The link should be updated now with the newest version.

thanks

 

[onmy6]

Have been trying this out of the last few days, great, breathes new life into the old policy tree thanks love it