New government system in civ6 sounds fantastic!

In Quill18's video today, he describes the new government system in civ6. First, I am super excited that governments are back. I really missed them from civ4 and was dissapointed in how static social policies were in civ5.

The way governments will work in civ6 sound great. Each government will have a unique bonus and also have a certain number of policy slots that the player can put policy cards in. Governments and policy cards are unlocked with culture from a new civics tree. Policy cards come in 3 types (military, economic and diplomatic). Governments will have a certain number of slots for each type, plus a wild card slot that will accept any type. Players can change governments or policy cards for free when they discover a new civic or spend gold during other turns.

Here are some examples (subject to change of course) that Quill18 gave that give us an idea of how governments will work:

Classical Republic
Bonus: more amenities and more great persons
Military slots: 0
Economic slots: 2
Diplomatic slots: 1
Wild Card slots: 1

Oligarchy
Bonus: higher city yields in city center and faster wonder production
Military slots: 1
Economic slots: 1
Diplomatic slots: 1
Wild Card slots:1

Autocracy
Bonus: stronger melee strength and faster combat experience
Military slots: 2
Economic slots: 1
Diplomatic slots: 0
Wild Card slots: ?

Having inherent bonuses for the governments is great but the different slots is genius. I think it will allow a lot of customization for the player. Not just the number of slots will give governments an additional flavor but the specific policies will allow the player to further customize their government. Players can have the same government but different cards and get different bonuses. I also like the wild card idea since it will also allow players to tweak the emphasis of their government. For example, the republic has no military slot but the player could use the wild card for military to still get a little military bonus or could use the wild card for a third economic card to really double down on the economic power of the government.

I don't suppose Quill18 listed what govt everyone starts in 4000 BC with?

It adds much needed stability to the otherwise gamey Civics system in Civ4
It adds a much needed flexibility to the funnel like mechanics of Civ5 SP trees.

If I understand correctly, Civic trees are researched like technologies, but with culture points, and includes Eureka moments of its own that helps certain Civic to be unlocked.

Cards are unlocked in a set order, and as you progress through the tree, governments are unlocked. Different governments have different slots.

One assumes the later governments will have more slots and ideological governments will come back somehow. I assume autocracy will still be paired with Freedom and Order as late game governments/ideologies.

joncnunn said:

I don't suppose Quill18 listed what govt everyone starts in 4000 BC with?

Click to expand...

I thought I heard despotism, with 2 slots. IIRC.

joncnunn said:

I don't suppose Quill18 listed what govt everyone starts in 4000 BC with?

Click to expand...

Chiefdom.
1 economic slot
1 diplomatic slot

If I recall correctly.

Eagle Pursuit said:

Chiefdom.
1 economic slot
1 diplomatic slot

If I recall correctly.

Click to expand...

I could be wrong but I thought it was 1 military slot and 1 economic slot.

Start with Chiefdom government which has (iirc) 1 diplomatic slot and 1 military slot.

Autocracy will come earlier, with Fascism in the late game up against Communism and Democracy.

SupremacyKing2 said:

I could be wrong but I thought it was 1 military slot and 1 economic slot.

Click to expand...

I could be wrong as well.

dexters said:

One assumes the later governments will have more slots and ideological governments will come back somehow. I assume autocracy will still be paired with Freedom and Order as late game governments/ideologies.

Click to expand...

It would be logical that later governments would have more slots to make them more powerful in the late game. We know that the players starts with chiefdom with 2 total slots and the first set of early governments (republic, oligarchy and autocracy) have 4 total slots. So it would definitely seem like governments get more slots. It is also interesting that Quill18 mentioned that one single civic unlocks all 3 early governments. So perhaps you get new governments in batches, 3 in the early game, another batch in the mid game and maybe a final batch in the late game.

here's someone's mockup I saw posted on /v/ - actual card effects totally made up of course.

I think it sounds really great. It's the most complex government system since SMAC/X, but at the same time is very elegant and straightforward.

Very flexible, and I hope moddable since it's a great basis for building all sorts of systems on in total conversion mods.

SupremacyKing2 said:

So perhaps you get new governments in batches, 3 in the early game, another batch in the mid game and maybe a final batch in the late game.

Click to expand...

Cool, missed that! What might they be, I wonder? Feudalism, monarchy, merchant republic are a few possibilities that spring to mind.

Sounds interesting, but I wouldn't say fantastic. Changing cards/governments is performed either on the same turn with unlocking some of them or with gold. Gold, really? At least it's better than revolution, but still looks quite artificial to me.

EDIT: Removed the objection about some cards being junk after looking at them in the current state. It still doesn't have strategic choices inside, but at least they differ from game to game and there are more variants, like different military cards for different stages of war.

Seek said:

Start with Chiefdom government which has (iirc) 1 diplomatic slot and 1 military slot.

Autocracy will come earlier, with Fascism in the late game up against Communism and Democracy.

Click to expand...

Right , I thought I heard despotism

He said " you are a chieftain" then said "or chiefdom perhaps" ; I think the rank of chieftain is clear. But he may have been unclear what actual government was in place at the start of the game.

1 military 1 economic ; there's also a diplomacy category and a wildcard category (I don't believe either diplomacy or wildcard are open, he simply says its there)

I wonder if all governments will come in groups of 3. If you look at the first 3 that we know of (republic, oligarchy and autocracy), there seems be a definite attempt to give the player 3 different playing styles on a spectrum: pacifist, warmonger and a middle of the road one. Republic is the pacifist style, autocracy is the warmonger one and oligarchy is the middle of the road one, having an equal number of all slots.

SupremacyKing2 said:

I wonder if all governments will come in groups of 3. If you look at the first 3 that we know of (republic, oligarchy and autocracy), there seems be a definite attempt to give the player 3 different playing styles on a spectrum: pacifist, warmonger and a middle of the road one. Republic is the pacifist style, autocracy is the warmonger one and oligarchy is the middle of the road one, having an equal number of all slots.

Click to expand...

Oligrachy kidna came across as a Tall government.

TheMarshmallowBear said:

Oligrachy kidna came across as a Tall government.

Click to expand...

It does give you the bonus to your capital's yields which favors "tall". The wonder bonus is also good for players who are aiming to use wonder bonuses to offset their small empire. I could definitely see a player using oligarchy to mimic the "tradition" tree in civ5. But I imagine there are policy cards that favor "wide" so I think a player could also use oligarchy for a wide empire. The main reason why I said that oligarchy is a middle of the road government is because it has the same number of each type of slots so you get a little bit of everything instead of a clear focus on just one category like republic and autocracy do. Oligarchy also seems more flexible since you get the same number of military, econ and diplo slots with 1 wild card that can be anything. So depending on how you use the wild card, you can put a little emphasis on any category you want. It also seems designed for the player that does not want to commit 100% to pacifist or warmonger since it gives you a little bit of everything. That is another reason why I see it as a "middle of the road" government.

I like the idea of policy cards. It could have a great interaction with an hypothetical World Congress or could be used as a basis for a more complex diplomacy system.

I really like the idea of government slots and policy cards.

I think it's interesting how computer game abstractions seem to become more acceptable and engaging when they're presented as boardgame analogues.

AriochIV said:

I really like the idea of government slots and policy cards.

I think it's interesting how computer game abstractions seem to become more acceptable and engaging when they're presented as boardgame analogues.

Click to expand...

I think it's because people can relate to a board game abstraction to computer game abstractions.

This is fantastic. I too missed governments, but I like that they are preserving the customisable nature of policies.

Question: When you change government do you keep all the progress - ie reassign all your policy cards, or do you have to start customising from scratch?

So for example, if I have a card in the military slot for chiefdom and I change to classical republic, do I get to keep that card and pop it into, say, diplomacy, or do I have to start filling out from zero?

Sal said:

Question: When you change government do you keep all the progress - ie reassign all your policy cards, or do you have to start customising from scratch?

Click to expand...

We don't know yet.

So for example, if I have a card in the military slot for chiefdom and I change to classical republic, do I get to keep that card and pop it into, say, diplomacy, or do I have to start filling out from zero?[/QUOTE]

Cards can only fit into the same type slot (military card in military slot, econ in econ, diplo in diplo). The only exception is the wild card slot that can accept any type. So if you switch from chiefdom to republic, your military card will presumably go back into your pool since there is no military slot in republic for it but you could put in the wild card slot. You will not be able to put the military card in the econ or diplo slot since it is the wrong type.