FYI: Legacy paths are optional!

I have played a bunch of games and was super focused on legacy paths and it did feel like I was railroaded.

Then in a few I just forgot about them and I realized how little impact it has on the games.

They’re guide posts with attribute point benefits which can be very helpful, but also aren’t game changers. You can perfectly win a game by having many powerful towns and cities.

In my first few games I was focused on settling distant lands with subpar towns just to get the treasure fleets. It was fine.

What’s been more successful for me recently is building up a an army and taking the top build up city for a bunch civs and going into the modern era, way more ahead.