Taking two policy trees from the same era

[Laz0r]

It's very potent on huge maps if one plays a wide game. If you get beliefs with yield on conversion, borobudur, orders, holy land, hero worship, etc. you can really get your culture investment's worth out of it quite easily

 

[pineappledan]

Byzantium is also the only civ that can stack faith cost reductions, so while the fealty opener makes faith purchases 33% cheaper for most civs, it makes things 42% cheaper for Byzantium.

 

[dostillevi]

I love the feedback on this thread. Lots of neat insights.

 

[corps_of_discovery]

I've found taking same-era policies can be useful in certain niche civ-specific situations. FYI, I play on emperor, so these strategies may not generalize to the highest difficulty levels.

Progress > Tradition > Rationalism > Order works well for The Maya - Progress to get Kuna built ASAP, Tradition because you can only build Kuna on jungle/forest, which incentivizes not expanding too far beyond your starting area.

Authority > 2/2/2 split on Medieval policies > Industry > Order works well with 3/4 UC China. The combined UB/UU/UA incentivize a mix of Fealty (for expansion, quick castles & happiness), Statecraft (to maximize yields from the Xiafan Guanjun) and Artistry to increase GP generation all all cities (synergy with Examination Hall)

Tradition > Statecraft > Artistry > Autocracy is a fun mix that I've tried for both Austria and Morocco