Social policies (Civ5)

Social policies are a new concept in Civilization V, representing the non-scientific or religious advancements of your society. They act as a system of gameplay bonuses, activated little by little as your empire develops its . Some of these bonuses are empire-wide (meaning they act on all cities and empire components at the same time), while others are related to particular buildings, tile improvements, units, or even Great People.
All policies are organized into trees, and each tree has to be unlocked before the specific policies in it can be adopted. The policies within each tree are further organized into branches, requiring that lower-level policies be adopted before higher-level ones become available. Unlocking a policy tree also activates a special bonus, as does adopting all five policies in it. Additionally, each policy tree unlocks an honorific title for the leader.
For more information on the exact process of adopting policies and different strategies concerning social policies, see this article.
With the addition of the Gods & Kings expansion, the new Religion system also plays a part in social politics. The Piety tree has been redesigned to benefit Religion as well as , and as a reward for completing many branches, the player can spend to purchase certain Great People starting in the Industrial Era. Also, once the Industrial Era comes around, a player's choice of social policies can now drastically impact their standings with other civilizations. Civilizations that choose the same Industrial Era policy track (Order, Autocracy, or Freedom) will become friendlier, while civilizations with different policy tracks will become more hostile.
In the Brave New World expansion, the social policies have been updated, with the inclusion of the Aesthetics and Exploration policy trees. Also, Piety can now be adopted right from the Ancient Era while the next trees all unlock an era earlier, giving the player a wider choice for development in the early game. No policy trees are mutually exclusive anymore, and the Anarchy concept has been reserved for when you switch Ideologies. Order, Autocracy, and Freedom are no longer policy trees, but can instead be adopted as Ideologies once you build three Factories or reach the Modern Era. Even more than in Gods & Kings, a player's choice of Ideology can drastically impact his or her standings with another civilization. Finally, note that some World Wonders are now linked to social policy trees (for example, the Pyramids are linked to the Liberty tree) - they can be built only if the relevant tree has been unlocked and you have discovered the requisite technology.
== Cost ==
The cost of each new policy is calculated in a number of steps. It is proportional to
baseCost=(3\times numPoliciesBought)^{2.01}+25GlobalDefines.xml
where numPoliciesBought does not count free social policies nor free tenets.CvPolicyClasses.cpp – CvPlayerPolicies::GetNextPolicyCost() This baseCost is further modified based on the number of cities the civilization has:
additionalCost=baseCost\times increasePerCity\times(numCities-1)\times(100\%-perCityDiscount)
where the increasePerCity varies from 10% to 5%, decreasing as map size increases past Standard,CIV5Worlds.xml perCityDiscount is a 33% discount for civilizations which have adopted ,CIV5Policies.xml and numCities is the number of cities in the civilization (excluding puppet cities and cities being razed).CvPlayer.cpp – CvPlayer::GetMaxEffectiveCities() This additionalCost is added to the baseCost, and the result is multiplied by the civilization's policy cost multiplier and multipliers for game speed and difficulty level, then rounded down to the nearest 5 .
== Tradition ==
The Tradition tree is available right from the Ancient Era. Choosing this policy first will give you the title "Lord" for male leaders and "Lady" for female leaders.
== Liberty ==
The Liberty tree is available right from the Ancient Era. Choosing this policy first will give you the title "Consul". Note that in the expansions, the order of Republic and Collective Rule was switched, although their bonuses remain the same.
== Honor ==
The Honor tree is available right from the Ancient Era. Choosing this policy first will give you the title "The Great".
== Piety ==
The Piety tree becomes available during the Classical Era. It cannot be active at the same time as Rationalism in vanilla Civilization V and Gods & Kings. In Brave New World it is available right from the Ancient Era. Choosing this policy first will give you the title "The Pious".
== Patronage ==
The Patronage tree becomes available during the Medieval Era (Classical Era in Brave New World). Choosing this policy first will give you the title "The Enlightened".
== Commerce ==
The Commerce tree becomes available during the Medieval Era. Choosing this policy first will give you the title "Doge".
== Rationalism ==
The Rationalism tree becomes available during the Renaissance Era. It cannot be active at the same time as Piety in vanilla Civilization V and Gods & Kings. Choosing this policy first will give you the title "The Wise".
== Vanilla and Gods & Kings only ==
=== Freedom ===
The Freedom tree becomes available during the Renaissance Era (Industrial Era in Gods & Kings). It cannot be active at the same time as Autocracy or Order.
=== Autocracy ===
The Autocracy tree becomes available during the Industrial Era. It cannot be active at the same time as Order or Freedom.
=== Order ===
The Order tree becomes available during the Industrial Era. It cannot be active at the same time as Autocracy or Freedom.
== Brave New World only ==
=== Aesthetics ===
The Aesthetics tree becomes available during the Classical Era. Choosing this policy first will give you the title "Master" for male leaders and "Mistress" for female leaders.
=== Exploration ===
The Exploration tree becomes available during the Medieval Era. Choosing this policy first will give you the title "Captain".
== Related achievements ==
== References ==
ru:Общественные институты (Civ5)
Category:Game concepts (Civ5)
 
Category:Governments