Afforess
The White Wizard
The civics in AND (especially the government ones) have had a lot of complaints, especially due to the unhappiness. Bugged by the complaints, and annoyed at the imbalance in the civics, I decided to rethink them with an eye towards 2 key factors, Simplicity, and Cause and Effect.
First off, Simplicity: Don't add modifiers to civics that don't have anything to do with civics. How does being a despotic warlord vs a monarch affect how experienced your new troops are? It doesn't. So why do the civics? That kind of modifier belongs in the Military civic category, it's there for a reason!
Second, Cause and Effect. Historically, why have nations become more democratic? It's not because rulers have become less powerhungry, that's for sure. It's because democracies are cheaper and more effective to run than a fascist dictatorships. You can run despotism over smaller countries, but it wouldn't work on the scale of a country like the US. It's just too big. It'd fracture for sure. Plus, the expense of making sure over 300 million people did as you said, and not vice-versa would raise the tax rate to 100%. Democracies, and more open governments formed because the old ones got too expensive, too repressive, or too large. It's a simplistic model that doesn't factor in all cases, and there are exceptions (soviet union, I'm looking at you), but it's a fairly good correlation.
So, without further ado, here are the new government civics:
Chiefdom:
Despotism:
Monarchy:
Republic:
Democracy:
Federal:
Fascist:
Hopefully, you noticed a general pattern. The early civics give tons of anger, but exempt the capital, so as not to screw your starting city over. You will have to enforce your will with military force. Later civics don't give you happiness with your military, but don't cause unhappiness immediately. Instead, the democratic civics will punish you for high tax rates. Fortunately, they also come with nice maintenance reductions, which should give you some lee-way.
As for the divisions amongst the civics, Chiefdom, Despotism, and Monarchies are fairly well defined, I'll assume you can tell the difference in ideology. As for a Republic, I see it as a "limited Democracy". Some citizens are allowed to vote, and some people are elected, but it's not a "tyranny of the majority", like a Democracy is. Not all laws are changeable. There is a set constitution that enforces certain laws.
Democracy is a Representative Democracy. Everyone can vote. Anyone can hold political office. As a result, laws can change with the public's whims, for good or ill.
Federal is a loosely organized government running a series of Democracies. (E.g European Union). The federal government has only limited control over the smaller democracies inside of it. This form of government is the weakest, and makes the people the happiest. Conversely, it's weakness causes less production.
Fascist is a "Popular Dictatorship". They often form because people (mistakenly) think it's better than the current system. (See Hitler's Rise to Power). Therefore, the people are happy, since they instated the dictator, and the dictator is "of" the people.
I plan on doing a similar shakedown on all other civics, but I wanted to get a general reaction first. If you think this idea is terrible, please let me know, so I can quit now. I need your feedback.
First off, Simplicity: Don't add modifiers to civics that don't have anything to do with civics. How does being a despotic warlord vs a monarch affect how experienced your new troops are? It doesn't. So why do the civics? That kind of modifier belongs in the Military civic category, it's there for a reason!
Second, Cause and Effect. Historically, why have nations become more democratic? It's not because rulers have become less powerhungry, that's for sure. It's because democracies are cheaper and more effective to run than a fascist dictatorships. You can run despotism over smaller countries, but it wouldn't work on the scale of a country like the US. It's just too big. It'd fracture for sure. Plus, the expense of making sure over 300 million people did as you said, and not vice-versa would raise the tax rate to 100%. Democracies, and more open governments formed because the old ones got too expensive, too repressive, or too large. It's a simplistic model that doesn't factor in all cases, and there are exceptions (soviet union, I'm looking at you), but it's a fairly good correlation.
So, without further ado, here are the new government civics:
Chiefdom:
- 50% Distance Maintenance
- 50% Number of City Maintenance
- 50% Oversea City Maintenance
- +4 Anger in all Cities
- No Anger in the Capital City
- +1 Happy per military unit
Despotism:
- 30% Distance Maintenance
- 30% Number of City Maintenance
- 30% Oversea City Maintenance
- +3 Anger in all Cities
- No Anger in the Capital City
- +1 Happy per military unit
- 50% Faster construction of Barracks, Garrison
- +30% Military Production
Monarchy:
- Unlimited Nobles
- 15% Distance Maintenance
- 15% Number of City Maintenance
- 15% Oversea City Maintenance
- +1 Anger in all Cities
- No Anger in the Capital City
Republic:
- +25% Culture in Capital City
- +50% War Weariness
- +1 Anger per 20% Tax Rate
Democracy:
- -10% Distance Maintenance
- -10% Number of City Maintenance
- +75% War Weariness
- +1 Anger per 15% Tax Rate
- +2 Happy in All Cities
- +1 Anger per Military Unit
- -5% Production
Federal:
- -25% Distance Maintenance
- -25% Number of City Maintenance
- +100% War Weariness
- +1 Anger per 10% Tax Rate
- -15% Production
- +3 Happy in All Cities
- +1 Anger per Military Unit
Fascist:
- +25% Oversea City Maintenance
- No War Weariness
- +1 Happiness in All Cities
- +15% Production
- -15% Commerce
- -50% Culture
- +25% Military Unit Production
- -25% City Growth Rate
- +1 Espionage Per Specialist
Hopefully, you noticed a general pattern. The early civics give tons of anger, but exempt the capital, so as not to screw your starting city over. You will have to enforce your will with military force. Later civics don't give you happiness with your military, but don't cause unhappiness immediately. Instead, the democratic civics will punish you for high tax rates. Fortunately, they also come with nice maintenance reductions, which should give you some lee-way.
As for the divisions amongst the civics, Chiefdom, Despotism, and Monarchies are fairly well defined, I'll assume you can tell the difference in ideology. As for a Republic, I see it as a "limited Democracy". Some citizens are allowed to vote, and some people are elected, but it's not a "tyranny of the majority", like a Democracy is. Not all laws are changeable. There is a set constitution that enforces certain laws.
Democracy is a Representative Democracy. Everyone can vote. Anyone can hold political office. As a result, laws can change with the public's whims, for good or ill.
Federal is a loosely organized government running a series of Democracies. (E.g European Union). The federal government has only limited control over the smaller democracies inside of it. This form of government is the weakest, and makes the people the happiest. Conversely, it's weakness causes less production.
Fascist is a "Popular Dictatorship". They often form because people (mistakenly) think it's better than the current system. (See Hitler's Rise to Power). Therefore, the people are happy, since they instated the dictator, and the dictator is "of" the people.
I plan on doing a similar shakedown on all other civics, but I wanted to get a general reaction first. If you think this idea is terrible, please let me know, so I can quit now. I need your feedback.
I will never use a civic that enables that. 
. It is a very powerful civic, name notwithstanding.
. If AI decide to go into MAD civic, it would announce to the world that it's ready to go nuke-crazy 
