Strategy for getting as many Social Policies as possible?

[Zeuseatstacos]

I have been playing Vox Populi for a couple years on and off. However, I only recently started browsing this forum. I always do team multiplayer games with my friends, so some things function slightly differently or in a weird way. For our next game, I want to get as many social policies as possible. I'm not (necessarily) going for a culture victory. It's going to be a huge fractal map if that makes a difference. I have two questions:

1) Which civ/science/policies combo gives me the most policies? I really enjoyed playing as Arabia and triggering historic events constantly, especially using To the Glory of God to buy GP. But is there a more efficient strat for what I'm trying to do?

2) Is there any strategy for getting ideologies ASAP? (i.e., before the atomic era through getting enough policies)

 

[Stalker0]

A few quick ones:

1) Playing Tall (5-6 cities on standard) with Tradition/Artistry is going to be your fastest trek for policies. For a huge map, not sure how many cities is considered "Tall".

2) Religion wise, creativity for more culture. Mosques are also good to ramp up your culture.

3) You'll want to push the north side of the tech tree to get your amphitheaters and writer's guilds. That will be a big shot in the arm culture wise. Then temples + grand temple for more culture. The south side has baths, which are always good, but just immensely good with Tradition (which important note, make sure to settle your cities on rivers....baths are too important if your goal is pure culture).

4) WC wise, there is a project that grants +33% more culture and a possible free policy. Also the one that gives +33% artist, writer, musician will speed you along even quicker.

5) Focus on befriending/allying culture CS. They give a lot of culture starting in medieval.

 

[Drakle]

Poland, with beliefs and policies that favour cultural generation would do the trick. I haven't played them with VP yet, but at my usual pace, their free social policies would have finished my third policy tree by late Renaissance/Early Industrial.

You would also want Artistry. The Secret Archeological sites often have great works of writing dug up, which you can burn for lots of culture. I used a few of these to get three ideological tenats in as many turns (2 archeologists, as well as a wonder that gives a free social policy). You would want a bunch of great writer works banked for maximum impact. I personally never use the culture bomb from great writers until late game, when I have a bunch of their great works.

Wonders that give free social policies/cultural boosts/Free any or cultural Great People would be must haves.

So Tradition - Artistry - Probably Rationalism since Tall and GP focused, and some need to a Wonder race - Freedom Poland.

 

[Legen]

Brazil, Poland and Polynesia are among the best policy earners, and they don't take long to get a lead on everyone else.

Pantheon-wise, Goddess of Festivals is a solid source of culture, but hard to found with.

Policy-wise, Tradition -> Artistry -> Industry -> Freedom is the path that most generates culture.

Pay attention to wonders that grant a theming slot, a free golden age, or an instant free culture/policy (Oracle, Ideology wonders).

When founding a religion, consider the Apostolic Tradition founder belief, as the injection of culture upon spreading your religion is quite big at Classical/Medieval. Brazil favors Theocratic Rule instead due to its WLTKD being upgraded to Carnival, which grants +25% culture and is triggered by golden ages, meaning higher uptime.

 

[SuperNoobCamper]

In my experience playing mostly on Emperor and Immortal getting an ideology in the industrial era is the rule unless i play poland, here is what i usually do if i want to min/max my policies.

1. Play Poland, the social policies you get through it's UA, solidarity are worth much more than they look as they don't affect the cost of policies meaning you are not only getting just one every other era but also the policies you acquire through culture are cheaper.
2. The key wonders I usually pursue are Terracotta army *it generates so much culture in the early game that it's worth a policy or two in my experience but starts to fall off in renaissance, tiles improvement speed is okayish*, Sistine Chapel and Eiffel tower are the major culture multipliers you always want to get.
3. Policies: Tradition and artistry are the obvious choices but i usually find myself doing so much better overall with Progress & fealty; the ability to purchase writers for culture bombs or artists for perma GA in the late game is invaluable.
4. Theming bonuses: a little bit of micromanagement is needed but the bonuses are nice.
5. Buildings: the earlier you build the Grand Temple, the better ... unlike guilds you are not restricted by specialist slots, happiness or food consumption.
   1. the earlier you build the Grand Temple, the better ... unlike guilds you are not restricted by specialist slots, happiness or food consumption.
   2. Baths: While settling on a river is not always feasible and watermills are more expensive and come later than wells, Baths are worth the hassle if you can get them.
   3. Guilds : Honestly i hate guilds so much, they come at a time when i'm usually production starved or in the middle of a war *medieval and renaissance era are usually bloody in my games*, working them is another issue but it's usually the right thing to do to at least build them in the capital and a copy of one guild in each city.
   4. Gardens, Amphitheaters, Opera houses look good on paper but they are not really necessary to build right when you unlock them, they start to shine in the midgame to late game.
6. Religion

• Pantheons: God of open sky is extremely good both for founding and getting good yields in the early game, if you have enough pastures or even just flat land with a good source of faith like a civ trait or tobacco monopoly i go for it, God of Festivals is great in the early game for culture but i really never managed to found with it.
  
• Founder: Way of the Pilgrim > Apostolic Tradition; while the food from Apostolic tradition is impactful in the early game and it generates yields for spreading to City states and owned cities, it does not really compete with Way of the Pilgrim in terms of culture generation .... Way of the pilgrim culture yields scale with the number of followers of other religions in the target city, spreading to another holy city yields so much culture and the best thing about it is your missionaries don't usually convert a lot of citizens meaning you can repeat the process for a whole lot of culture .... works best with Borobudur and Veneration follower belief.
• Followers: Mosques are amazing if you can get Golden ages very often or enter a perma GA, Churches and Creativity are not as good IMO.
• Enhancer: Just get Symbolism, so good no matter what you are trying to do.
• Reformation: I never managed to get a clear answer for the best one tbh but i either go with TGOG or Defender of the faith.