Originally posted by /u/TheFledglingPidgeon
I’m a bit confused, I’ve googled for advice on which policies to pick and I’ve found a lot of sources singing praises to Monarchy. But I get the impression that the leader bonuses are just… kind of negligible. Sure, Artisan helps a bit in the beginning, and it’s good for afk’ing with engineers, and scientist/philosopher are super helpful, but… the gold honestly seems more useful, and both of the other options at that cost seem better, especially in longer games. Eventually, the leader bonuses like Artisan just seem to be a minuscule fraction of the things they’re providing bonuses to.
Am I just misunderstanding something, or underestimating how monarchy works?
Antipatience
In the really long runs, the bottlenecks tend to be space production and trade bonus. One of the space materials is pretty expensive, so every little bit of crafting is really good. Sure it’s not a huge bonus, but by this point in the run the options are basically “2 free workshops (monarchy), or boosting resources that you always have capped (autocracy & republic)”
It can also lead to liberalism which gives another nice trade bonus.
A lesser known mechanic is that leader trait is boosted by burned paragon, so Monarchy can become a very strong chocie. (In my runs, the leader makes up like half of my crafting bonus)
None of the policies are bad, though, and a policy with no late game use could sometimes be a more effective option. It just comes down to which part of the run a specific player feels bottlenecked by. As someone who idles a lot, making every craft and trade a little bit better is more beneficial than capping resources faster (cause they’re gonna cap by the time I return anyway).