There are a variety (10) of Social Policy trees and I think they offer an interesting way to shape your society. It seems like which one you choose can have some effects on how fast your civilization grows, etc. Which social policy trees do you tend to select first and why do you prefer them?
Well I will go liberty first. You really want those workers and that settler as fast as you can get them, well without sending your unhappiness out the roof. Before I finish liberty I will usually grab just the starter in tradition to give my capital more culture, which speeds up other policies. After Liberty ill go Commerce, Rationalism, then Aesthetics. I know Aesthetics seems weird, but once you finish them all out you get a mad bonus of 2x happiness from your resources, this will solve all happiness problems, and if you intend to go the military route you will need to contain unhappiness. Also once you complete the policy you will be able to buy Great Artists with religion points. Buy the Artists solely for starting Great Ages, and stack them up, I will buy like 3 of them if possible, then wait till my happiness kicks of a golden age, then bam add those Artist golden ages on top, and you will be in a golden age for 40+ turns where you can absolutely rake in money. If you can combine this with the wonders that extend your golden age, then you can have 60+ turns. If you are going for a culture win, maybe go for Exploration, as it will show hidden antiquity sites, where you can get some mad late game culture points.
Liberty is definitely the one that I choose first. It makes a big impact on how quickly you progress. After that commerce is a pretty important one too.
This is probably one of the more appealing things about the game, not that anything substantial comes out of it but at least it makes you think a little bit about things like this.
