Monarchy or Republic?

What's your opinion I always go ASAP for Republic and from there to Democracy. Why should I choose to go for Monarchy first and then Democracy?

Your opinion please.
thnx in advance

Basically it all depends upon circumstances.
If you are waging war against one or two civs that share your continent then it is best to stay in Monarchy until you are done with them. It is generally wise to reduce your army to a more managable size before making the switch or else you might have serious happiness trouble too. Remember that triremes and caravels also count as military units for unhappiness while galleons are non-combat and you can get away with them.
On the higher levels then you should time your switch to ensure that you are not plunged straight into disorder, your government fails and you waste several turns in anarchy. The two religious wonders: Mike's Chapel and Bach's Cathedral are the most popular ways to get around this.
Personally, I prefer Republic for the trade boost but your settlers will work better (cost less) in Monarchy so bear this in mind when timing the change. Overall, Republic is better for a more settled empire, but Monarchy is better for one at war or where you are still founding loads of new cities or still have units in the field exploring new territory. Don't make the switch and get it wrong or it will cost you severely! Only do it when you are sure that things will go smoothly.

Monarchy is useful early in the game. If you want to be republic and then switch to democracy it can be useful to use monarchy prior to republic and then make another switch to democracy. That's the way I usually play. I form Monarchy in 2000BC or so and then Republic in 1AD and democratic in 500-1000AD (deity level). Meanwhile I expand, especially while in monarchy, and I also go for the happiness wonders.

If you have a small empire then monarchy isn't necessary so you can go directly to republic.

I have never switched to another government type than republic from monarchy. If I want to go for early conquest, then I stay in Monarchy or even despotism throughout the game.

I just love Monarchy for waging early wars. And when I´m finished with them, I can most often switch to Democracy directly so there is no real need for Republic.
But in the last GOTM for example, an earlier switch to Republic might have been worthwile, but I´m not sure how it would have affected my global conquest.
I´m still not fully converted to a Republic/Democracy only player, I find Monarchy and Communism very useful in certain circumstances.
It really depends.

Most will go for Monarchy first becuase it's easy to get to early (and get out of despotism ASAP) and because it won't penalize the player for having up to 3 units or having those units outside of their cities. The support for a settler is also (I believe) a single food only.

This allows a player to fight early wars without happiness issues and, for me, settling all over the place without the settlers becoming a huge drain on my production.

The switch from Monarchy to Republic (or straight to Democracy for some) is always a touchy issue. Two things that work against you in Republic is happiness and production. As duke mentioned, ships that are normally used for transport soley (trireme, caravel) will cause some unhappiness or restrict their supporting cities from sending any additional units anywhere - not to mention any groud unit outside of its city. Those units will now always require shield support as well, and if your city is producing 4 shields with two phalanx and a trieme to support, all of a sudden it is a mere 1 shield.

Of course, the benefits are wonderful in a Republic/Democracy so it's worth switching. Celebrating your cities so they grow, excellent trade dollars and much speedier research make these governments worth every effort.

Pretty much all depends on the level you play and the situation of the world at the time. If in a war, I'll sometimes stay in Monarchy for a while longer than usual. If on Deity, the same can hold true as I feel the need to get Mike's Chapel and another happiness wonder (at least) before the new government pays off.

Only a few examples of the myriad that could happen. It is really a pure judgement call that you'll feel more comfortable about as you play more and more.

Most of the games I don't feel that my empire is ready for republic when I get it. When I switch early , citizens aren't happy and production goes down too much, as Kev mentioned. When I feel it's ready for a tradegov, I usually have develloped democracy and move straight into it. Monarchy though is a must...Monarchy is a better form of Despotism, and Communism is a better form of Monarchy, roughly. The corruption isn't as bad in Monarchy as in Despotism, which is the best reason to not skip Monarchy.

Democracy and Republic are very hard to deal with when warring. Because of troop unhappiness.

Unless you have the luxery of having Shakespear Theatre... In which you can pass all your units to this city, have them "Supported by this city" then you can send those boats off without unhappiness.

There are a variety of "it depends" but generally you'll have a hard time with an early Republic on emperor and deity.Its just not nearly as feasible logistically speaking so there is no decision.

I personally don't like to switch until I have Mich's and/or can celebrate to size 8 immediately.This means I want a market and at least 2 trade routes per city.Maybe temples(usually just build JSB before temples)

Another consideration I make is the food situation.Republic settlers require 2 food each.Can I handle this?..I may need to build some cities and/or re-support some settlers first.

I always go Despotism, Monarchy, Republic, Democracy. Mayhem is right on the warring with Rep or Dem, BUT... With United Nations and a little planning, it is nothing to worry about. There are some threads that talk about the Power Democracy. Search and read those for great info.

Smash has it right. Going to Republic or Democracy too early causes serious happiness problems and stiffles growth. when each unit requires a shield for support and settlers eat two food, it is much more difficult to found new cites and grow them. In order to be effective in Democracy, a city has to have at least 6-8+ citizens.

At the diety level, its much more efficient to stay in Monarchy until you have Mike's, and, possible J.S. Bach, and a marketplace in each city to maxamize the effect of luxuries in a Democracy. I rarely use Republic, because by the time I want to switch govs, I usually have Democracy.



:tank:

The main reason I like to switch to republic early is the poor science you get in monarchy. If I want to fight a war I can always switch back. Usually I wait until I research fundamentalism before I go to war though.

Smash, how do you manage to research anything if you stay in monarchy for a long time? Do you celebrate or do you build many caravans for the trade bonuses or how do you do it? Can you tell me in which years you make the government switches? I posted my dates in the last post. It could be interesting to compare.

The dates would be good. I saw a list somewhere ages ago... Something like every 3 turns?

I notice that ANYTIME the AI throws it's government, it switches the very next turn (just another AI cheat I suppose?)

I'm not 100% sure, but I think the AI switch government the same turn. First they announce the overthrow, then it's your turn. If you have an embassy, you can see that they've allready switched to the new government. When you end your turn, you get a message that the AI has switched to the new government. Which probably means they never experience a full turn anarchy(?).

Originally posted by floppa21
The dates would be good. I saw a list somewhere ages ago... Something like every 3 turns?

Click to expand...

You can switch to another government without any turns of anarchy every four turns. A list of the dates can be found at:
http://apolyton.net/forums/Forum3/HTML/001359.html?date=17:27

(please excuse me for providing the Poly address... while I'm sure there must be a list printed here, I know Apolyon a tad better since I'm still relatively new here)

Here's a CFC link.

Originally posted by Duke of Marlbrough
Here's a CFC link.

Click to expand...

Thanks... I was just trying to be helpful... no offense intended

None taken. You are helping people out. I'm just helping them learn where stuff may be on CFC.

Originally posted by Ming
Thanks... I was just trying to be helpful... no offense intended

Click to expand...

Don't sweat it, some of us regularly post links to Apolyton, and have yet to get lynched.

Originally posted by Sodak
Don't sweat it, some of us regularly post links to Apolyton, and have yet to get lynched.

Click to expand...

That's good to know

But an off topic question... since I know somebody is paying attention to here today...

On this site, do you guys have the download that allows you to play Civ II MP without the disk in the drive. My disc drive is starting to act up, and I don't want it to get in the way of me playing Civ II Any help would be appreciated.

That would be in our downloads section, under Utilities.

Here.

Yes, we have no problem with links to Poly. But I always encourage people to see what CFC has. TF has put a lot of information on the main site.