I had already unlocked Malevolence and Fear. At the point I am in the game, the 2nd tier costs 35 and the 3rd tier costs 50. I had 32 malevolent points. A random event occurred and I selected the Malevolent option for +20 points. Then when I went to Ideology, I selected Intimidation. It was unlocked but did not deduct the 50 points. I was then able to unlock Coercion as well for which it did deduct 41 points since the cost went up from unlocking Intimidation. At this point I was allowed to leave the screen.

Ticket ID #NEI-169-18330