"Respeccing" Social Policies- new Great Person?

[ProfessorPhobos]

The social policy trees are reminiscent of the talent system in World of Warcraft and many RPGs.

I think they're great, but I dislike how the changes are more or less irreversible. Some way of changing them, but at a cost, would be nice.

I was thinking, maybe they could add in a new great person- the "Great Politician." Represents influential domestic leaders like, say, Benjamin Disraeli.

You burn a Great Politician to respec your social policy trees. They could be manufactured based on certain benchmarks like Great Generals, and maybe their other use would be to add some minor permanent bonus to a city if you didn't want to use them up to change your society.

 

[Onionsoilder]

Hmm... I like this idea, but I think it needs a bit of work. I can be difficult to fill out the Autocracy or Order trees otherwise, since they come so late in the game, unless you specifically focus on culture. The only problem with allowing a respec is, what becomes of one-shot policy effects like Reformation, Religious Freedom, Scientific Revolution and Total War? Once these effects are triggered, you've already gained the entire benefit of that policy. There is also the balance issue of say, using Liberty to spam cities in the early game, then switching to something else when you're done REXing.

Maybe instead of using a new great person, you could 'abandon' a social policy to gain 50% of it's culture cost back. In addition, Great Artists could gain the ability to grant a free policy, in the same way Great Scientists can grant a free technology. This would make exploring the policy trees a bit easier while still forcing you to think about your decisions.