[vanilla] Social Policy: Rationalism (vanilla)

[insaneweasel]

insaneweasel submitted a new resource:

Social Policy: Rationalism - Social Policy: Rationalism

Rationalism
A closer look at the social policy branch​

Introduction

Rationalism, available in the renaissance era, is one of the most focused branches, being entirely devoted to science. Only policy in the branch does not directly increase the production of beakers. The branch is mutually exclusive with piety....

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[Atlas627]

You have the wrong pic for Sovereignty. Just sayin.

 

[Camikaze]

Fixed it. Thanks.

 

[Morningcalm]

More in-depth info about how this branch could be *used* or strategically maneuvered into for Domination victory might be nice. How should we target Rationalism? When? etc etc

 

[weregamer]

Hmm, I'm not really an expert on really filing out this branch - it just opens too late if you are building up your population to up your science output, and these days Piety is very important for Cultural strategies where you might have that many policies that late, so I rarely complete it.

That said, and from a Domination perspective, just the opener might help you get more from RAs if you are managing to keep friends until late in the game, and getting some science from all the TPs you will be spamming around your puppets might be useful.

Really where this branch might shine is if you find yourself in a game where you have stayed competitive on tech but are finding the prospect of an intercontinental invasion daunting for finishing your Domination win and you want to try for a Science win, or possibly you want to try to leapfrog the folks on that other continent in tech.

 

[The Pilgrim]

Rationalism is great when you have zillion of puppets, zillion of jungle tiles, Notre Dame and FoY inside your borders. Or some other weird circumstances when unhappiness isn't an issue.

The main reason for choosing Piety over Rationalism in domination games is happiness bonus provided by Organized Religion. Along with Meritocracy, and even right side of Honor if you generate tons of culture, it allows to easily overcome penalties for additional cities and keep the war machine rolling. While benefits from Rationalism are arguable.
Warmongering strategy cannot and should not be planned around RA's. There won't be many friendly RA partners. And that's just fine, since raw science will skyrocket the moment you start conquering, so they don't really needed to begin with.

It's definitely worthy, though, if you're aiming for late conquest and playing peacefully before that. Getting to Industrial by RA's and then timing Scientific Revolution and bulbing can provide an overwhelming military advantage.