Legacy upgrades tier list

I share my thoughts on which Legacy upgrades I think you should prioritise.

Intro / TLDR

What the tiers mean:
A: Get this upgrade as soon as possible
B: Great upgrade, you should get this
C: Good upgrade, maybe get this
D: Ok upgrade
E: Bad upgrade, it helps but it's not worth it
F: Don't get this upgrade


Here's my thoughts on which upgrades you should get first and why.
I'm starting to feel confident about my ranking, but I might still come back later and update this guide if I change my mind on stuff.

Please, do discuss your thoughts in the comments, I'd love to read them.

Administrative Legacies

Efficient Infrastructure

Construction Cost: -2.5% / -5% / -7.5%
Construction Time: -5% / -10% / -15%

This is E tier. Get this upgrade if for some reason you want to mass build buildings.

This is really not useful at all, construction is already not worth it anyways. You usually have several years of waiting between wars, so whether your building is ready on september or on october doesn't matter. And say you want to buy a farm, it costs 135 gold. These upgrades lower its cost to 131/128/124. Each tier of this upgrade will save you about ~4 gold per building. If you're going to builds hundreds of buildings, then this will save you hundreds if not thousands of gold. But, no, you won't be building hundreds of buildings, unless it's the endgame and you're very very bored.

Efficient Taxation

Tax Efficiency: +1.8% / +3.6% / +5.8%
Increase Tax Efficiency Cost: -2.5% / -5% / -7.5%

This is C tier. Great bonus if you're playing Modern World or WW2, but if not, don't touch this.

This upgrade is either super useful or super useless, depending on the size of your country population. If you're playing Modern World or WW2, then your provinces likely have 150k+ population, making this upgrade very viable. On the other hand, if you're playing the 1440 scenario where your provinces usually have around 20k population with no tax efficiency, then this upgrade will give you almost nothing. So the tier of this upgrade really depends on your population size. I'd say it's B tier in Modern World, F tier in 1440, and somewhere in-between for the in-between scenarios.

To see why this upgrade can be good, let's better understand how good taxation is.
Here's the formula given for the income from taxation: 0.001+(min(Population,150000)÷27500)×TaxEfficiency%
First, notice that any population size over 150k is treated like a population of 150k.
Say all your provinces had the maximum 150k population. And say the typical tax efficiency in a province is somewhere around 10%. Then the income from taxation will be about 0.5464.
So if you have 20 provinces multiply that by 20 and you have an income of 10.928 gold.
Now if you get the upgrades, your tax efficiency in each province will become 0.6446 / 0.7428 / 0.8628, so with 20 provinces, you'll now generate 12.9 / 14.9 / 17.3 gold from taxes. Each upgrade gives a rough +2 gold per month! That's not bad for a 20 province country.

Unified Administration

Province Maintenance: -3% / -6% / -10%
Develop Infrastructure Cost: -2.5% / -5% / -7.5%
Maximum Level of the Supreme Court: - / +1 / +2
Maximum Infrastructure Level: +1 / +2 / +2

This is E tier. Maybe get this upgrade later on as a small extra income, or to improve the Nuclear Reactor.

The infrastructure stuff isn't useful. From my experience, getting infrastructure always hurts more than it helps. The bonuses are small, and the costs are high. On top of that, having better infrastructure actually hurts your gold income. It's true: invest in a bunch of infrastructure, and look at your gold income before and after. It will go down.
You don't need the extra levels for the Supreme Court, because you will obtain enough extra levels from other bonuses (i.e. technology). Corruption starts at 8% and decreases by 2% per level, so to reach 0% corruption, you only need to get the Supreme Court to level 4.
By the way, the game does not tell you this, but, the extra levels for the Supreme Court are also extra levels for the Nuclear Reactor! Upgrading the Nuclear Reactor lets you build nukes faster, which isn't very useful. It also helps with your gold income by a nice amount, but, it's also very very expensive, so it's not really worth it, unfortunately.
Province maintenance can be an okay source of income, from what I've seen. The benefits get better when you have lots of provinces, in which case you're already doing great. If you want to gain more gold in the late game, there are better legacy upgrades out there, so I'd recommend only getting this after you've got the other better upgrades.

Centralized Command

Manpower Recovery Speed: +2.5% / +5% / +7.5%
Maximum Manpower: +5000 / +10000 / +15000
Battle Width: +4 / +6 / +8

This is C tier. Try this upgrade early on if you're a weak country with few technologies.

This upgrade gives a nice boost to your battle width.
Battle width is capped at 40, and the game gives enough bonuses over time to reach that cap without buying this upgrade at all. With that said, it would be very useful to gain extra battle width in the early game to perform better in battles. The strength of your army is the only thing that matters in this game, so do whatever you need to increase it.
The extra manpower recovery is useless. In war, either you win the battle and destroy most of the other army in the process, or you lose the battle and most of your army. Manpower recovery will not help you win the battle. If you lose the battle, the enemy will then take all your provinces, and manpower recovery might get your army back to its full size, but uhhh if you lost the first battle why would you win the 2nd battle?
Extra maximum manpower is useless, even if you're a small country. The war's outcome is almost always determined by the outcome of the 1st battle. If your manpower reaches zero, it's because you have to recover from a lost battle, in which case you already lost anyway!

Economic Legacies

Innovation Hubs

Research: +3% / +6% / +10%
Research per Month: +4 / +8 / +12

This is F tier. There's no reason to get this ever.

Yes, research is really useful. Having very fast research can give you access to stronger units and much more. But, there is a "maximum research" limit, limiting you in how fast you can research. Most of the time, you just have to conquer a few of your neighbors and then you quickly reach that limit because the AI really likes to build libraries. Reaching the research limit is really easy, what's difficult is increasing the limit. It can only be done by increasing the capital city's growth rate and by leveling up the capital city. Don't buy this upgrade, instead, just conquer a few libraries and raise your capital's growth rate. By the way, once you reach the maximum research, you should go in the budget tab and reduce the research spendings to gain a nice extra income.

Agricultural Revolution

Growth Rate: +3% / +6% / +10%
Increase Growth Rate Cost: -2.5% / -5% / -7.5%
Additional Buildings in Province: +1 / +2 / +3

This is D tier. Only get this when you're snowballing to further snowball.

Additional building slots don't matter ever, and increasing the growth rate manually is only useful for increasing the maximum research. So the only interesting thing this upgrade gives is extra growth rate.
Growth rate will make your population grow faster, and that might give more taxation income, but it's not worth it, your population will already increase over time anyway.
It will also make your manpower grow faster. At some point in the middle/late game you might have trouble recruiting more regiments because you lack manpower. Growth rate will help you with that. When manually improving manpower in a province, the extra manpower you get depends on the province's growth rate. An extra 10% growth rate really does have an impact. At that point in the game, you might also want to mass build farms and such, while waiting for your aggressive expansion to go down.
And also, growth rate affects the maximum economy in a province. Because investing in economy is the best way to increase your income, you may want to get this legacy upgrade so that you can get more economy and more income. Like, say you have a bunch of low growth provinces and you hit their maximum economy. So now you're forced to invest in the economy of the bigger provinces, which is more expensive and less profitable over time. After you buy this upgrade, now you can go back to investing in the small provinces again until you hit their max. You might never end up needing this, though.
I conclude that this upgrade has benefits in mostly niche cases.

Merchant Council

Income Production: +2% / +4% / +6%
Production Efficiency: +3% / +6% / +10%

This is B tier. The best economic upgrade. Get this once you're making good money with your resources.

It's just a money boost for your resources. It's a nice boost. The income varies a bit from one resource to another, so this is more worth it if you have more valuable resources. And just like most economic upgrades, this upgrade gets better the more provinces you have. Don't choose economic upgrades if you have more fingers in your hand than you have provinces. Also, the income you make from resources depends directly on the province's economy, so really, you should be investing in the province economy first and foremost.

Economic Boom

Maximum amount of Gold: +10% / +20% / +35%
Invest in Economy Cost: -2.5% / -5% / -7.5%
Advisor Cost: -10% / -20% / -30%

This is D tier. Consider getting this if you'll be spending a lot of gold on economy investments.

The bigger maximum amount of gold is probably the most useless buff in the game. The maximum amount of money you can have scales up as your country grows, so you always have enough for your needs.
The decrease in advisor cost doesn't matter. One advisor only costs around 30 gold, so you will save 3 / 6 / 9 gold per advisor. And you buy new advisors like once every 30 years...
The only bonus worth looking at here is the Invest in Economy Cost. Investing in economy is the best way to increase your income as far as I know. Say it costs you 20.0 gold to invest in a province's economy. Then, with this upgrade, it will instead cost you 19.5 / 19.0 / 18.5 gold. This looks small, but if you're investing 5 times in 50 provinces, then with the -7.5% reduction you would save 375+ gold. This bonus will allow you to get more investments done in less time, leading to faster economic growth. But, it's only worth it if you're going to invest a lot.

Military Legacies

Veteran Generals

Generals Attack: +1 / +1 / +2
Generals Defense: - / +1 / +2
All characters' Life Expectancy: +3 years / +6 years / +10 years
Maximum Level of the Military Academy for Generals: +1 / +2 / +3

This is B tier. Very good option, get this a bit later on to gain a small edge in battles.

In this game, improving your army is your #1 priority. If you lose a battle, you will lose the war and your lands. This upgrade will give you a minor boost to your general's stats to make sure you win.
The increase in life expectancy doesn't do much at all.
The extra levels for the academy is super good, but it only matters later on when you have tons of money and you're snowballing. It gives essential army boosts that can make you win battles even while outnumbered.

Army Tradition

Units Defense: +1 / +2 / +4
Max Morale: +5% / +10% / +15%
Maximum Level of the Military Academy: +1 / +2 / +3

This is A tier. These bonuses will give you a big advantage in battles.

In the early game where you're at risk of being attacked by bigger powers, having extra defense and extra morale can make all the difference.
The best thing about this upgrade is the extra levels for the Military Academy. In case you didn't know, the Military Academy is overpowered. Each level up gives +1 attack and +1 defense to ALL YOUR UNITS, and increases your regiment size limit by 8. You buy the level ups as soon as possible, and then you build a bigger & stronger army, and then you can just invade all your neighbors and you'll always win because you have more stats and more regiments.

Military Dominance

Discipline: +5% / +10% / +15%
Units Attack: +1 / +3 / +5
Devastation: +10% / +15% / +25%

This is A tier. Get this as soon as possible.

Discipline increases your effectiveness in battles. You always want to get as much discipline as possible so that you win your battles. This stat is actually really really important I think.
And the extra unit attack, again, this makes you win battles and that's the only thing that matters in this game.
The devastation bonus isn't very useful, though. Damaging the enemy's provinces won't help you win the war. If you plan to annex or vassalize the enemy, you should try to avoid damaging what's about to become yours.

Siege Expertise

Regiments Limit: +10 / +20 / +40
Siege Effectiveness: +10% / +20% / +30%
Recruitment Time: -5% / -10% / -15%
Army Movement Speed: +5% / +10% / +20%

This is A tier. Click this upgrade to save literally thousands of gold on regiments.

At first I thought this upgrade was overpowered for allowing you to have 40 extra regiments... But then I realized that you are allowed to go over the regiment limit. The only thing the regiment limit does is make armies cost 3 times more when you're past the limit. So really, this boost to the regiment limit is just for saving some money. If you're recruiting a first line unit that costs 25 gold each, then with this upgrade you'll get to buy 10/20/40 regiments at 25 gold each instead of 75 gold each. If you do the math, this will save you 500/1000/2000 gold. THAT'S A LOT OF GOLD!
Faster recruitment won't help you at all. You have plenty of time to recruit armies while at peace.
Faster speed & siege could potentially help you conquer a large country faster, but it's not going to help you win the battles.

Diplomatic Legacies

Diplomatic Finesse

Improve Relations: +10% / +20% / +30%
Diplomacy Points: +15% / +35% / +50%
Loan Interest: -5% / -10% / -20%
Maximum number of Loans: +1 / +2 / +3
Maximum Level of Capital City: +1 / +2 / +3

This is C tier. Get this to boost your research speed once you have the money for it.

The buffs to Improve Relations and Diplomacy Points are worthless, what you already have is enough.
The loan bonuses are also very useless. Loans are very bad in this game. When you take loans to invest the money in your economy, the extra income does not make up for the extra money you have to give back for the loan. Try it, and you'll see. And if you think loans will save you in a losing war, no they won't. Just get a good army and then you won't lose.
The bonus here that I think is very useful is the capital city max level. Leveling up the capital city gives you more income directly and through reduced province maintenance cost, which in itself isn't that good. What's good though is the increased maximum research limit. In this game, increasing your research is really easy, but it quickly caps at a maximum. Increasing the maximum is the true way to research faster, and researching faster is important. The most important thing to research is new army units, for their improved stats. Then there's laws, buildings, and miscellaneous bonuses. Finally, there is the "advantages" system where you can spend advantage points on the bonus of your choice. You get advantage points by getting research done. These advantage points will give you essential bonuses.

Tribute System

Loot: +10% / +20% / +30%
Income from Vassals: +5% / +10% / +15%
General Cost: -5% / -15% / -25%

This is F tier. There is no reason to get this ever.

Loot is never worth it. You won't even notice that you gained loot, and you don't want to depend on loot as a source of income, it's just not enough.
Income from vassals is negligible too. In this game, vassalizing is mostly a bad idea. (Unless you enabled "call vassals to war"!) Vassalizing a country costs you aggressive expansion anyway, so you might as well annex them and get full control over the provinces. The extra income from vassals isn't nothing, especially if you have large vassals. But, if gold is what you want, don't vassalize, just annex stuff and you'll make way more gold that way.
General cost, yep, little to no effect. You'll recruit a general once every 40 years, it'll cost you 30 gold, yeah, decreasing the cost to 23 isn't worth it.

Alliance Expertise

Maximum Number of Alliances: - / - / +1
Maximum Advisor Skill Level: +1 / +1 / +2
Advisor Pool: +1 / +1 / +2

This is E tier. Choosing this upgrade is usually a gamble with limited benefits.

The extra alliance is not as good as you think it is. Having an alliance is essential in the early game, to defend yourself from attackers. But as the game progresses, you become stronger to the point where you can attack and defend on your own. By the time you have enough legacy points to get the extra alliance, you won't need an extra alliance.
The extra advisor skill level can be good. If you have an advisor that gives +1 unit attack, then you can level it up further to get more and more unit attack. There are a few advisor bonuses that are good to level up, but they don't always show up, and it costs gold for each level up.
The bigger advisor pool helps a bit with this but otherwise it doesn't do much.

Crisis Resolution

Manpower recovery from a disbanded Army: +25% / +50% / +75%
Aggressive Expansion: -5% / -10% / -15%
Diseases Death Rate: -10% / -20% / -30%

This is C tier. Consider getting this once you're ready to expand faster.

The manpower recovery from a disbanded army is a joke, why would you disband your army? In this game, you need to have the strongest army possible at all times.
Deaths from disease make little to no impact on anything. It might reduce your population a bit which in turn might reduce the taxation income a little bit, but it's barely noticeable.
The aggression expansion is the thing we care about here. Note that this doesn't help you reduce aggro faster, what it does is it makes you gain less aggro when performing certain actions. So with this, you will be able to take more provinces without reaching the 100 aggro limit. Before trying it, I thought it wasn't worth it, but now I see that yes it is worth it. You will notice the impact, because being able to gain more provinces out of peace deals means you'll have more population and more economy and more income, which in turn will help you grow faster and improve your army and so on. This is a good upgrade for snowballing in the mid game and even in the late game.

[Sammer]

Thanks for the comment, glad you enjoyed

I haven't played this game since the last balance update, so I really can't say anything. You might be completely right. But from the games I've played, I never run out of manpower. You don't lose much manpower when you win a battle (and you always win every battle!)

[чупикабра]

I meant centralized command :P

[чупикабра]

Also, keep in mind that it takes ~450 gold to unlock one full legacy. You'll have to spend almost 900 on building amphitheaters to open them every 10 years, but that only matters for your first legacy.

Knowing this, you can calculate how profitable it is to unlock certain legacies. For example, to pay off a legacy that reduces the cost of advisors, you need to play for about 300-400 years. But reducing the cost of investment in the economy will pay off after 175 investments.

I can argue with your assessment of Efficient Infrastructure and Siege Expertise. In particular, siege expertise. 15,000 recruits is an INCREDIBLY LARGE AMOUNT. If you invested the money that was spent on the unlocking of this legacy in the development of the provincial manpower, you would get somewhere between 500 and 1500. This is a B-tier, no doubt about it.

Anyway, great guide! I would say the best one!

[Epicil]

This is amazing!!!

[Sammer]

Very interesting info, thank you! I looked into it, and here's what I found. The maximum level of the Nuclear Reactor is always the same as the max level of the Supreme Court. Whenever you take a bonus that increases the Supreme Court's max level, the Nuclear Reactor's max level increases too. That is actually good to know and makes Unified Administration just a bit more useful. Thanks again!

[Pan_Boberek097]

Unified Administration increases max level of Nuclear Reactor by 2

[RRR ANKOU]

Thanks a lot !!!

[DranduleT]

Whoa dude.... I wonder how much time you got to write this , probably pretty much. Anyways, you did pretty good with all those detailed texts.

[Łukasz Jakowski Games]

Nice guide!