14 DAY TRIAL // One of the elements of Brave New World that’s significantly expanded is ideology, a new tree linked to social policies that allows players to have even closer control over the way their civilizations evolved during the late phase of the game.
After playing around with trade and seeing the impact that the new culture system has on Civilization V, I was eager to see whether ideologies also changed the way I approach the turn-based strategy title.
It takes time to open the new options up and after selecting Order when first asked, I actually forgot about my ideological choice, which is hidden in a new section of the user interface, and I continued to upgrade the Science social policy.
I then kind of fell in love with it and the ways it allows me to either boost my civilization’s strong points or actively work to limit my weaknesses.
With names like Five Year Plan and Worker’s Academies, it’s pretty clear that Order options are linked to socialism and communism as seen in the real world.
Firaxis presents an image of the ideology that has no downsides, which I find questionable from a historical point of view but necessary when it comes to gameplay.
In many ways, the ideological system is an improvement over the religion introduced in Gods & Kings and can make the final two eras of the game more exciting than all the previous ones combined.
I will play through Brave New World at least two times aiming to explore Freedom and Autocracy and see how they influence my long-term strategy.
Order is a good fit for a culture-based victory, the one that I am aiming for as Brazil, because it boosts the happiness of my citizens and allows me to generate even more Great Persons in order to awe other factions.