Policy card rotation scheme for Civilization 6

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a short post on this (and actually sent it to the wrong SubReddit; my intent was to post to the one specific to Civ 6), my idea for a Policy card rotation system in the early game.

I suspect it’s all blatantly obvious to experienced players. I mean, I haven’t done any intensive or extensive analysis. But it might be useful to others who are new to Civ6.

Relative to my Reddit post, I’ve added a lot of information, including the card names, and splitting them up into the “red” and “yellow” rotations, and I've also added prerequisite information (and tier numbers) which is very much meant for my own reference.

The idea is that you "rotate" between these "core" cards, making use of them while they're active, e.g. to stockpile Builders for later use, or to mass-upgrade your units while it's cheap, or to do a few turns of "okay, men, we're gonna make Settlers now", cycling through the same perhaps 3 Economy cards and the same perhaps 4 Military cards, throughout most of the game, or at least into the mid game.

The Economic (“yellow”) rotation, 3 cards:

Ilkum: Cheaper Builders (+30% prod.)

req.: Craftsmanship (tier 2, cost 40 C)

..req.: Code of Laws (tier 1)

Obsolete with: Serfdom (from Feudalism, a Medieval Era Civic)

Colonization: Cheaper Settlers (+50% prod.)

req.: Early Empire (tier 3, 70 C)

..req.: Foreign Trade  (40 C)

....req.: Code of Laws (20 C, tier 1)

Obsolete with: Expropriation (from Scorched Earth, an Industrial Era civic)

Land Surveyors: Cheaper Hex purchases (-20% Gold cost).

req.: Early Empire (tier 3, 70 C)

..req.: Foreign Trade (40 C)

....req.: Code of Laws (20 C, tier 1)

Obsolete with: Expropriation (from Scorched Earth, an Industrial Era civic)

The Military (“red”) rotation, 4 cards (eventually):

Agoge: Cheaper Melee/Ranged/Spear units (+50% prod.)

req.: Craftsmanship (tier 2, 40 C)

..req.: Code of Laws (20 C)

Obsolete with: Feudal Contract (from Feudalism, a Medievel Era civic

Conscription: Cheaper unit Upkeep (-1 Gold per unit, minimum zero)

req.: State Workforce (tier 3, 70 Culture)

..req.: Craftsmanship (tier 2, cost 40 C)

....req.: Code of Laws (tier 1, 20 C)

Obsolete with: Levée en Masse (from Mobilization, a Modern Era civic)

Professional Army: Cheaper to upgrade units (costs 50% Gold)

req.: Mercenaries (tier 7, 290 C)

..req.: Feudalism (275 C, tier 6) and Military Training (120 C, tier 5)

....req.: Defensive Tactics (170 C), and Games and Recreation (110 C) and Military Tradition (50 C)

Obsolete with: Force Modernization (from Urbanization, an Industrial Era civic)

Retinues: Cheaper to upgrade units (costs 50% Strategic Resources)

req.: Mercenaries (costs 290 Culture, tier 7)

..req.: Feudalism (275 C, tier 6) and Military Training (120 C, tier 5)

....req.: Defensive Tactics (170 C), and Games and Recreation (110 C) and Military Tradition (50 C)

Obsolete with: Force Modernization (from Urbanization, an Industrial Era civic)

(I regard the Discipline card as being mandatory; even without a mod that buffs it, +5 vs Barbarians is hugely and generally useful, especially for Recon units. So I personally want it active 95% or preferably 100% of the time.)

None of the Cards go away, although all eventually get replaced with similar but better ones, as explained under Obsolete above.

Almost all of the information was gained from the Civilization Fandom Wiki, but the tier count was manually obtained from the in-game Civics tree.

Keep in mind, this is meant for the early game and into the mid game. I keep starting over, so I know little about the late mid game and as of yet nothing about the late game.