v2.1 - Ideology Review

Time to take a look at Ideologies (version 2.1). I am going to use a simple scale for the various ones.

S - Too good, its extremely strong.
A - Solid, I like where its at.
C - Has its moments, not the best one but its got a niche.
F - Underpowered, needs a tune up.
NA - I don't have enough experience with this to make an assessment.

General

• Too many ideologies rely on your citizens having specific traits, and those traits are both very random and often very rare. If this is going to remain as a mechanic, there should be a way to give citizens ideologies (maybe like divine empaths make it money or something with some kind of propaganda tech).
• A lot of ideologies give wonders, I should be able to highlight over the tech and see the wonder, else its difficult for new players to know how good something is.

Individualism

• Independence - A
• Self-Determinism - C
• Private Property Rights - A
• Self-Reliance - A
• Autonomy - C, the benefit is good but a bit late in the game for it.
• Privacy - F, very random and often at this point I have my approval fixed up already.
• Competitiveness - F, very late for this bonus, doesn't move the needle nearly as much as you might think.
• Self-Governess - C
• Sovereign Identity - NA, this ideology is horribly vague, needs to actually note the mechanics.

Totalitarianism

• Iron Fist - C, it has uses but doesn't provide a continuous OOMPH like a lot of other tiers do.
• Prestige - C
• Purges - NA
• Obedience - F, lowering expectations is generally worse than a straight approval bonus, and the rest is pretty random.
• Secret Police - NA
• Censorship - A
• Conscription - F, this late in the game, I can easily crank out 5 transports with minimal difficulty, its never worth a precious culture selection.
• Oppression - A
• Big Brother - NA

Egalitarianism

• Fairness - A/S, I think on some starts this is the strongest first pick ideology, 3 colony ships can lock up a huge amount of real estate early. that would be good enough, but then a permanent 10% approval is awesome.
• Representation/Tolerance - C, which one you want depends on your core world to colony ratio. Its a decent boost to influence.
• Inclusivity - C
• Universal Rights - C/F, depends on the amount of people, but since you tend to centralize one super influence planet you can bring all the people to this one planet for a big payout.
• Labor Rights - NA
• Empowerment - A
• Diversity - A
• Utopia - A, Dream of Utopia is very hard to research but if you can bag a "complete 1 research benefit" you are off to the races, and its very hard to stop you from taking over the entire sector.

Traditionalism

• Sacred History - C
• Social Ties - A, I think this one is bugged right now, but in theory if your a racial pure play this is a massive reduction in crime.
• Code of Law - A
• Family Values - C, growth is always good but it takes a while to really pay out versus other benefits that immediately start going.
• Cultural Pride - F, too random.
• Preferred Culture - C/F, if you really need approval this late than its got a use, but its a tough sell.
• Devotion - C, still very random but this deep in the tree you normally know if your going to have a good selection of these people and if you have a decent amount its a pretty solid bonus.
• Dogma - F, planet resistance seems worthless at the moment, not worth a culture point.
• Legacy - NA

Progressivism

• Eureka - S, I agree with some others that the stacking approval bonus is too good, its too easy to get a massive bonus here.
• Deep Investigation - C
• Innovation - A, the citizen bonus again is very random but the building is a per colony building that is quite a big boost to research.
• Early Adoption - C, more science is more science but this more like a 5% research boost as your not always going to pick breakthroughs.
• Breakthrough - A, again hyperion shrinker really solid wonder.
• Risk Taking - C, shark tank is a pretty solid wonder though a bit of an oddity in this research focused tree.
• Futurist - NA
• Quantum Leap - C, if I'm pushing the research tree I'm normally already got a lot of research brewing, so 1000 research while seemingly very impressive isn't always that big a deal.
• Singularity - NA

Pacifism

• Kindness - A
• Charity - A
• Peacekeeping - A
• Altruism - A, this might even be S on very large maps with a lot of civs, but don't have any experience with that.
• Empathy - F, very weird thematically as your not usually conquering a lot with this hyper diplomacy focus.
• Forgiveness - C, again weird them and the bonus is often situational.
• Serenity - A/S, the sheer power of this trait makes it good even when you don't have a lot of people with this trait. And if you do....wow!
• Peacefulness - NA
• Sanctuary - NA

Nihilism

• Detached - A
• Realism - S, honestly you can get a stupid amount of value from this over the long term, and its a weird tree for this to be in.
• Criminal Ties - F, the executive order is "ok", but it consumes your control for other things, and it doesn't happen enough to be worth it.
• Moral Relativism - SS, strongest single ideology in the game, stupidly OP.
• Exploitation - NA
• Flexibility - A
• Attrition - A
• Fatalism - C
• Terror Stars - NA

Collectivism

• Unification - C/A, it can be a nice bonus in the right circumstances, you put babylon on your homeworld and your off to the races. But for a first pick you don't always know if your homeworld is going to be the mainstay influence planet, so its more of a gamble on how good this will be.
• Shared Belief - F, .2 pop per housing district is peanuts, and the increased chance is still too random to commit to.
• Consensus - A, its got enough in here that its pretty good.
• Cooperation - NA
• Unified Coordination - A, could be considered the best military policy in the game.
• Mass Mobilization - NA
• Interdependency - NA
• Solidarity - NA
• Hive Mind - NA