What's so good about Democracy?

[Kudos]

I'm playing with fully updated conquests and I find that Democracy just isn't worth it. When I switch I find myself going back to Republic since I earn far more GPT and get faster production. Maybe Fascism or Communism would be better but they seem more obscure and risky to me then the the others. Otherwise I fail to see the benefit of Democracy over Republic.

[Tomoyo]

I don't see the benefit either.

[Bluemofia]

Faster workers, supposedly less corruption, immune to propaganda. That's the only bennifits. Republic's benifits are some free unit support, early on gov, less WW.

[vmxa]

Don't know as I never use it.

[Theoden]

For me it's about the same as republic, just a bit more peaceful in style. I always switch to republic ASAP, and I don't want to research two useless techs and go through 9 turns of anarchy just to switch to democracy.

[Landmonitor]

If you have market places and banks, Democracy works much better than republic, and if you have a long war, just ramp the luxury slider up to 3 or 4 (on monarch or emperor) and your people will be just fine. The only thing that really sucks is the lack of unit support, but if you have enough marketplaces and banks, (esp. with Adam Smith's) Democracy more than makes up for that with lower corruption.

[Tomoyo]

Marketplaces and banks work the same in Democracy and Republic. I don't know what you are talking about. If you have a long war in Republic the few notches on your luxury slider that you save makes up for any tiny decrease in corruption.

The worst thing about Democracy is that it comes way too late.

[Swiss Bezerker]

There is one thing u all are forgetting.In democracy u get extremly high production.Helps a ton, but with the big WW, its not worth it

[DBear]

I used to say Democracy wasn't worth it, but the succession game Whoknows02 showed me how powerful Democracy can be. I was even able to run a war while keeping lux to 20%, and getting 4-turn research in the modern age.

[Tomoyo]

Originally Posted by Swiss Bezerker

There is one thing u all are forgetting.In democracy u get extremly high production.Helps a ton, but with the big WW, its not worth it

What extremely high production?

[Scuffer]

The practical benefits are small - marginal reduction in corruption, faster workers (you should have loads anyway), propaganda immunity (hardly an issue). The problems are much bigger - two otherwise redundant techs to research, turns wasted anarchy, crippling WW unless you win fast - or go back into anarchy agian. Demo is too bigger risk unless the game is already in the bag.

[Aegis Shield]

In a multiplayer game with other human players, I could see the benefits of democracy. Approximately the same economical benefits(lower corruption almost as good as small unit support) but then you have the immunity to propaganda, and a slightly better chance of retaining cities that are under a flip risk. I'm pretty sure it is something like a 10% increase in keeping your cities over republic for one part of the calculations, but I'm not sure. I haven't looked at in a while.

But regardless, I'd say republic is always going to be better in any normal circumstance.

[Kudos]

I see. So what government do you guys use? I would guess it's mostly Republic? But Communism and Fascism certainly have their benefits (although I'm not all certain as to when they are most beneficial)? What about Monarchy, or *shiver* Feudalism?

[mastertyguy]

NEVER use communism. Let the AI use it. They are stupid. This is the best way to have them falling down the tech tree, and you gaining power.

[vmxa]

I had almost been talked into using communism, but it has one huge draw back. You have to pop rush. Also I do not have the luxury of a second switch as a non religious civ.

I can see no use for Fascism and I won't research it anyway.

[Dachs]

I never used Fascism and Communism that much, and try to stick to Republic for any wars in the modern and industrial ages. For middle ages I like feudalism because I like the large unit support for towns, and that's because I never build aqueducts.

[Mad2rix]

I rather stick with Monarchy, Republic, or Communism than just wasting 9 turns of Anarchy revolting to Democracy.

Come to think of it, I rarely use Republic only if I choose a peaceful path instead of being a warmongrol throughout the whole game.

[Turner]

I used Fascism once, and the faster workers weren't worth losing the commerce bonus (which commie doesn't have, either) and the rule about needing to have a majority of your citizens in the town to earn culture wasn't to pleasant for me either. It was interesting, but I didn't see the advantages of it.

[Uiler]

I remember in my first couple of Civ 3 games I was eagerly waiting for democracy because I thought it would lower the corruption. I never got any noticeable decrease! After that, I never went the democracy route again. One thing is war in Republic is much more manageable than in a democracy. For example in my last game I had one luxury. I got into a domino war with the rest of the world (they started it!) lost the other luxuries I got from the rest of the world and yet in Republic I could still maintain unrest for practically the rest of the game (the war started at the beginning of the Modern Age. I eventually won by Spaceship).

[Rambuchan]

In short: Demo is 90% useless if you're not a religious civ (it's too prone to falling into anarchy if you don't have enough luxuries to keep your moaning citizens happy).

HOWEVER! I find Democracy is HUGELY useful when playing with a religious civ and I'm falling behind in techs. Here are the immediate benefits I can think of and I pretty much always use them:

- Workers work faster: I will often switch to Dem. quickly just to get my railroad built across a vast continent much quicker. The more effecient democratic citizens are excellent at completing a railroad in record time. And railroads are the best defense you can have.

- The reduced corruption can vastly increase your research or treasury but you have to massage this with a) lots of commerce improvements (and science ones cos they help your treasury topo) and b) good micro-management to make sure you're using the high commerce tiles.

This means democ. is a great choice for a space race victory or generally racing ahead / catching up in techs.

- Like Republic and Monarchy, you don't have to axe your population to rush things.

- Don't be afraid of the war weariness. Starvation is a viable means of keeping people happy. Yup, they are not unhappy if they've starved to death. So get with the entertainers (rather than the slider initially) to keep 'em happy in the first place.

I found I was disenchanted with Democ. for a while until I learnt to really massage my economy and the importance of getting at least one of each kind of lux.

Also making sure that your wars are conducted by sneak-attack (you coax them into declaring war not vice versa) is essential with this type of govt.