Strongest Social Policies (Top 10)

[DarkSchneider]

After playing the game for a bit, what do you think are the strongest social policies?

Here is the Social Policy list, I've ommitted all of the policies that I think couldn't possibly be the best, because they are either weak or eclipsed by other policies:

Tradition
Aristocracy +33% Production for Wonders
Oligarchy +33% combat strength in empire's borders
Monarchy -50% Gold cost for land

Liberty
Liberty +50% Settler training speed
Representation +1 Culture in all cities
Meritocracy +1 Happiness per city connected to the Capital

Honor
Discipline +15% combat bonus when another military unit is in an adjacent title
Military Tradition Gain double EXP from combat
Military Caste Each city with a garrison reduces Unhappiness by 1
Professional Army -50% Gold needed for upgrading units

Commerce
Trade Unions -20% maintenance for roads and railroads
Mercantilism -25% Gold cost for City items
Protectionism +1 for every Luxury

Piety
Mandate of Heaven 50% excess Happiness added to spendable Culture
Theocracy -20% Unhappiness in un-occupied cities
Reformation Free 6-turn Golden Age
Free Religion 2 Free Policies

Patronage
Patronage -25% City-State influence degradation speed
Philanthropy +25% more influence from City-State gifts
Aesthetics +20 non-degrading influence with all City-States
Scholasticism +33% Science bonus from allied City-States
Cultural Diplomacy +100% more resources and +50% more Happiness from City-States
Educated Elite Allied City-States will gift Great People

Rationalism
Secularism +2 Science from every Specialist
Free Thought +2 Science from each Trading Post
Soveereignty +15% Science when the empire is Happy
Scientific Revolution 2 Free Technologies

Freedom
Freedom -50% Happiness from Specialists
Constitution +100% Culture in cities with a Wonder
Civil Society -50% Food cost for Specialists
Free Speech -25% Cost of Policies
Democracy +50% rate of Great People born

Autocracy
Autocracy -33% Unit Gold maintenance
Populism +25% combat bonus for damaged Units
Militarism -33% Unit Gold cost
Police State -50% Unhappiness in Occupied Cities
Total War +33% combat bonus for 20 turns

Order
Order +20% building Production
Socialism Order -10% Building Gold maintenance cost
Planned Economy -50% Unhappiness from cities
Communism +5 Production per city

My top 10 having played so far would be:
1) Free Religion 2 Free Policies
2) Communism +5 Production per city
3) Theocracy -20% Unhappiness in un-occupied cities
4) Planned Economy -50% Unhappiness from cities
5) Police State -50% Unhappiness in Occupied Cities
6) Order +20% building Production
7) Free Thought +2 Science from each Trading Post
8) Meritocracy +1 Happiness per city connected to the Capital
9) Socialism Order -10% Building Gold maintenance cost
10) Scientific Revolution 2 Free Technologies

Which basically follows my attempts to build a large, productive empire, which seems much more difficult to do in this version of Civ than it did in the past. The global happiness, rather than city by city happiness plays a large part in this. Amazingly, two free social policies seems significantly stronger than two free technologies.

So I have 4 Order, 2 Piety, 2 Rationalism, 1 Liberty and 1 Autocracy policies in the top 10.

 

[WTBCzero]

I think we should bear in mind that it's not just how good a policy is on paper, but when in the game they arrive. A early game policy may seem weak on paper but if it gives you a boast in the critical early game it is far better than a really good policy that arrives when the game has often been decided.

For example, I would select the Piety tree over Rationalism purely because it comes at the critical early game stages. Rationalism's policies are much better but come too late.

 

[Jaaboo]

Monarchy + America is awesome for cheap land.

 

[delra]

You forgot bonuses for opening the chain itself - which often are quite good on their own. Still:

1. Aristocracy +33% Production for Wonders # Must-have for everyone who doesn't want to read "Sistine Chapel has been built in a far-away land". My first pick every game - and there's a food bonus on the way to it.
2. Philanthropy +25% more influence from City-State gifts # Allows to control more of them at once gathering huge benefits in culture, food and military units. I pick it every game my 2nd move after Aristocracy.
3. Free Thought +2 Science from each Trading Post # Majority of my people work trade post tiles. This skyrockets my science. After I'm done with Patronage I'm headed right for this one.
4. Scholasticism +33% Science bonus from allied City-States # A huge boost as soon as you get enough allies. I always get down Patronage tree for this.
5. Soveereignty +15% Science when the empire is Happy # Stunningly good.
6. Free Speech -25% Cost of Policies # Hard to imagine anyone who doesn't want this.
7. Free Religion 2 Free Policies # Extremely strong - and many will argue with me here - but I prefer Rationalism over Piety.
8. Military Tradition Gain double EXP from combat # Had this along Bushido and Samurai bonus to great general birth rate. Amazing.
9. Professional Army -50% Gold needed for upgrading units # A huge save of money for a large conqueror.
10. Protectionism +1 for every Luxury # Can sell them and get rich.

In general I go for Aristocracy right away because Wonders is one thing I hate being late with, then open Patronage down to Scholasticism allowing me to gain more benefit from my city state allies mid-game. After that I save everything I earn from then on until I can get some real shopping in Rationalism and Freedom in the Renaissance. Sometimes I only open Commerce for money boost in capital if it's my main $$$ city (gold, whales and trade posts everywhere else) but if it's not, I don't hesitate to wait for later with spending my policies. On Pangeas I open Honor after Aristocracy to boost my treasury by hunting barbarians. Then after I've got all I wanted I just finish stronger of the trees I've opened.

 

[Newti]

1. Patronage -25% City-State influence degradation speed = Pure gold. I chose this first in pretty much all my games regardless of strategy since gold and CSs are what make the game.
Obviously followed up by
2. Philanthropy +25% more influence from City-State gifts which also equals pure gold.

I never played with the rationalism tree, so I am not sure how poweful these are.

 

[strollen]

I'd say my favorite early pick is the Republic on the liberty +1 hammer per city. A hammer is roughly equal to 5 gold. For example a 100 hammer wall is 500 gold. So that is 5 gold per city per turn and meritocracy is +1 happiness per connected cities is a very good throughout the game.

 

[DarkSchneider]

I'd say my favorite early pick is the Republic on the liberty +1 hammer per city. A hammer is roughly equal to 5 gold. For example a 100 hammer wall is 500 gold. So that is 5 gold per city per turn and meritocracy is +1 happiness per connected cities is a very good throughout the game.

You do realize that the Order tree has a +5 production per city, and Commerce has +3 per coastal city, right?

 

[DarkSchneider]

I tried using Egypt and Aristocracy my first Prince game and even with both bonuses and Marble I didn't find building wonders to be super easy. On the higher difficulty levels I thought that going the wonder route would be too stressful, since the AI is easily out-teching you.

 

[QuixotesGhost]

You do realize that the Order tree has a +5 production per city, and Commerce has +3 per coastal city, right?

You do realize that Commerce doesn't unlock until the Medieval era, right? And the comparison to Order is well ... silly, for the same reasons.

I think representation is a strong pick. Hammers are rare in this game and as any student of civ knows - hammers early are worth more than hammers late.

 

[strollen]

You do realize that the Order tree has a +5 production per city, and Commerce has +3 per coastal city, right?

Yes of course, but they don't unlock until much latter. Frankly the game is over by the time you get to communism. The early pick you had in your top 10 was meritocracy. I agree it is nice especially when you start creating puppet states, so that each puppet state only creates one happiness (not the normal two) once you connect to your empire.

However, lets compare; say you have 5 cities with meritocracy early in the game that is +4 happiness a nice bonus especially early. However, with those 5 cities mean +5 hammers a Colosseum takes 120 hammers. Thus in 24 turns you produce a "free" Colosseum, the next 24 turns you can produce a free Market to pay the cost of the Colosseum. So within 50 turns Republic does pays for itself compared to meritocracy.
Now compare it to Socialism. I guess a typical city might have 30 or 40 worth of maintenance costs so you save 3 or 4 gold per city. Nice but little old representation 1 hammer gets multiply by 50% for the factory and 50% for railroads. So now would you rather have two extra hammers or 3 or 4 or gold?

I think one of really nice things about Civ V is social policy they are good in now obvious ways. In order to get Republic you have to chose a pretty bad policy (new cities start with 1/2 the food for a second city).

 

[CornPlanter]

I doubt +1 culture per city belongs here. But then again I've played only French and Aztecs so far, both have means to get some extra culture.

Anyhow, in the early game it's not that much because you don't have so many cities. In the late game it's not that much compared to some other cultural civics. Maybe, maybe you go for cultural victory, haven't tried it yet.

 

[pi-r8]

"1) Free Religion 2 Free Policies"
This sounds nice on paper, but in practice it's quite useless unless you're going for a cultural victory. The problem is that, first the thing itself costs as a policy, so the net profit is only 1 free policy. And, in order to get it, you first have to take "mandate of heaven- half of happiness added to culture" which is extremely weak. So all it really does is give you mandate of heaven for free.

 

[CornPlanter]

"mandate of heaven- half of happiness added to culture" which is extremely weak.

By the way, is it exactly what is says on the tin? I.e. your happiness is cut in half? Or is it just amount of extra culture is equal to 1/2 happiness?
It would be weak either way. Just asking out of curiosity.

 

[efendi]

"mandate of heaven- half of happiness added to culture" which is extremely weak.

By the way, is it exactly what is says on the tin? I.e. your happiness is cut in half? Or is it just amount of extra culture is equal to 1/2 happiness?
It would be weak either way. Just asking out of curiosity.

If you have lets say 4 happy faces you will get +2 culture and still the 4 happy faces
So it is a bonus.

 

[fermionorama]

"1) Free Religion 2 Free Policies"
This sounds nice on paper, but in practice it's quite useless unless you're going for a cultural victory. The problem is that, first the thing itself costs as a policy, so the net profit is only 1 free policy. And, in order to get it, you first have to take "mandate of heaven- half of happiness added to culture" which is extremely weak. So all it really does is give you mandate of heaven for free.

Those 'free policy' benefits from other policies/wonders/etc are better than they appear at first glance, since they don't count towards the normal policy cost progression.

In my most recent game (not culture focused, relatively big empire for the map size), the most recent 2 policies that I bought cost far more than all the previous policies together. 1 'free policy' effectively means that the last policy you take, (unless you are loosing cities) will be by far the most expensive policy you ever get.

 

[pi-r8]

Those 'free policy' benefits from other policies/wonders/etc are better than they appear at first glance, since they don't count towards the normal policy cost progression.

In my most recent game (not culture focused, relatively big empire for the map size), the most recent 2 policies that I bought cost far more than all the previous policies together. 1 'free policy' effectively means that the last policy you take, (unless you are loosing cities) will be by far the most expensive policy you ever get.

true. i guess there is some long term benefit to it. I still think i'ts weak, though.

 

[jbos]

true. i guess there is some long term benefit to it. I still think i'ts weak, though.

If you've unlocked Free Religion, it's a total no-brainer to take it. It's basically a 2 for 1 deal on policies. You get this policy, the one you would have taken instead, AND another. All for the price of a single policy.

For culture victory or if I already had 2 of the prerequisite techs, I would tech to it asap. Otherwise, it's just a question if how valuable the other policies are. The problem is the tree itself is fairly weak except for culture victories.

 

[bhavv]

Mandate of heaven is a very strong way to get extra culture if going for a culture win.

Free religion still gives you 'Two free policies' that do not add to your policy cost increase. If you think that neither of those are worth it, then you really dont understand the mechanics of trying to gain a culture win in Civ V.

The best way to use Reformation and Free Religion is after you have built the Cristo Redentor. You should also save as many other policies as you can until then to get the additional 33% discount.

Even with the acoustics slingshot to take free speech with as my 4th policy choice, Oracle plus Sydney Opera House, and prioritizing culture buildings in all of my cities, I only managed to get 4 full policy trees by 1950 AD, with only one policy in my 5th tree (tradition + aristocracy).

You NEED every bit of culture you can possibly get, and you need to save policies until after the Sydney opera house is built. Mandate of Heaven is crucial as well as pumping up happiness along with it to boost culture gain, as is free religion.

 

[nodule]

The key thing with free religion is that while you only net one policy, you fill up three policy spaces. It's huge for culture victory. (And obviously should be taken last, to speed up the most expensive policies and save the most time.)

 

[sylvanllewelyn]

Monarchy + America is awesome for cheap land.

US of A + monarchy WHAT?!

Anyhow buying land is not something you do very often because hapiness is your constraint.