On Turn 19 Sejong reached a total of 37 of the 35 Culture need to purchase the first Social Policy. Seoul has a population of 2 and is producing +3 Culture per turn thanks to the Monument.
How quickly can Korea get 50 more culture and purchase the second Policy? Since Korea is already generating +3 Culture per turn and has a leftover balance of 2, the next Policy would be on Turn 35 (16 turns). Depending on Korea's first Policy choice, they may be able to reach 50 Culture sooner, so here's a look at the three options.
Tradition
Immediately, this seems best because it adds +3 Culture in the Capital bringing the total up to +6 Culture per turn. At that rate the next policy would be on Turn 27 (8 turns). It also opens up Legalism (Free Culture Building in first 4 Cities) and Aristocracy (+15 Production when building Wonders). Both of those would aid in the race to construct future Culture buildings.
Liberty
While it provides +1 Culture from every city, Korea would need 3 cities built before it would surpass Tradition in Culture generation. Liberty is tempting because following this line will net a free Worker (Citizenship) as well as a free Settler (Collective Rule), but if our goal is to get to the next policy as fast as possible, Tradition is the better choice so far.
Honor
This option would be an interesting situational choice. Each barbarian unit killed will provide Culture, with as many as +8 per kill. If Korea could kill several barbarian warrior units in the next 7 turns, then Honor would be reach the next policy before Tradition does on Turn 27. If there was a barbarian unit within city range and one within range of my exploring warrior, then Sejong might actual consider this because the future Military Caste policy in this track provides +2 Culture per city with a garrisoned unit, which would be very useful for a Culture victory. Seems risky given the goal.
Being risk averse, Sejong decides to go with the Tradition which will yield the next Social Policy on Turn 27.
Now that the decision is made, and the next Policy is coming in 8 turns or less (lucky ruin), what could Seoul be doing to help continue building Culture?
At only 2 Population, Seoul needs to decide if it is going to focus on city growth or empire expansion. Currently, a Worker is set to build in 12 turns while the city Population will grow in 4 turns. Neither of those events will generate more Culture. The only choice that may yield more Culture would be the construction of a Settler which will add Culture to the empire when founded. Selecting to build a Settler would result in 23 turns of 0 Population growth, so for now Sejong is going to stick with the Worker because the stagnation will not help towards our upcoming goals.
A case could also be made for building a Scout to search for more Ruins, but there is no guarantee any will be found and even less of a chance it will contain a Culture bonus. With the Warrior still out exploring it doesn't seem worth the risk, despite the fact it would generate income from discoveries.
At the end of Turn 19, the first Policy is Tradition and thanks to the Monument, Korea is now generating +6 Culture per turn. A Worker is due up in 12 turns, the Population in Seoul is 2 and will grow in 4 turns. A Warrior is out exploring, leaving the city undefended. The second Social Policy is due to hit on Turn 27. Time to start hitting Next Turn buttons.
Turn 23, Seoul grows to 3 Population. There is a barbarian 4 tiles away from the city. A barbarian encampment is 4 tiles away from the Warrior. Seoul's next citizen is in 24 turns and the Worker will be complete in 8 turns.
Turn 27, the second Social Policy becomes available as Korea accrues 50 Culture thanks to the Monument and Tradition. If Korea was being money conscious, they might have waited to build the Monument since they could get it for free with Legalism in the Tradition track. By building it first instead, they reached the first Social Policy quickly and now have the second Policy.
The goal thus far has been to achieve the initial Social Policies as quickly as possible. Thus far, the Monument to Tradition combo seems to be the best starting move.
In the future, I will use the baseline of 2 Policies in 27 turns as the time to beat when looking for specialized Leaders capable of outperforming this combo.
If I were instead thinking of a mid-to-long term goal such as a Cultural Victory, it would be worth investigating if a different strategy might yield more policies faster than starting with the Monument to Tradition combo.
In future installments Korea will be making the second Policy decision and looking for the fastest track to the third Policy. That may prove more challenging considering the potential unknowns. Still makes me wonder how much better Napoleon will be at this.
Until next time,
TheHiredGun
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Note: The above example is based off a Normal Difficulty Game at Epic Speed in the God's and Kings expansion on a Large Map. Even though the examples use Epic Speed build times, the logic should still apply at other speeds. For more context, see the previous article: The Fastest Route to the First Social Policy
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