Civics Options

[ArbitraryGuy]

Barry Caudill: There are no set governments anymore. In Civilization 4, you can choose from various civics and combine them to make the type of government you want. For example, you may have a Theocratic Police State that also has Universal Suffrage or you may have a Pacifist Slave State with Hereditary Rule. The Civics are divided into five major areas - Government, Legal, Labor, Economy, and Religion - and each of those has 5 possible choices depending on what you have researched. In addition, AI leaders will have certain favorite Civics and they may ask you to either switch to theirs or stop using the one that offends them.

http://pc.ign.com/articles/614/614551p2.html

Civics Options: Government, Legal, Labor, Economy, and Religion

Looks pretty cool. No more set governments, instead they are very customizable. Neat. Moddability and social engineering/civics may be the only reasons I buy the game (I don't like how the rest is turning out).

 

[Aks K]

Yes, it sounds like smac all over. This was one thing that really worked well in smac. I suppose that the Civics Options are unlucked by techs, but wouldent it be interesting if your Civics Options also where linked to your actions. ie. it would be impossible to have Free Market with too low procentage of marketplaces and banks. Or Environment choise if you had a low literacy rating.

Maybe there would be bonuses for realising your civics choise. ie. more than 90% of your cities has marketplaces and banks (you are not able to construct stock exchanges yet), this would for example double the positíve bonus (and maybe also the negative "bonus") for the Free Market civics choise.

Some govenments might force some of your civics choises. It is hard to see Free Market under Communism.

This could put new dimentions into the game. Anyway ... this was just unto of my head.

Aks K

 

[Louis XXIV]

Your point about communism is exactly the point. Communism doesn't just exist as a government. Its an authoritarian, oligarchial, command-based socialist government. You can't have free market and communism because they are mutually exclusive (probably opposites) and would probably be on the same choice group.

 

[OzzyKP]

Some govenments might force some of your civics choises. It is hard to see Free Market under Communism. Aks K

There aren't governments anymore. Just the civics choices.

 

[Aks K]

Just realised that there will be no governments in cIV, so Free Market and Communism wont be an option.

Aks K

 

[antonio]

Maybe they should combine civics options with goverments but not sure how to do it.I'll give it some thought.

 

[Aks K]

Maybe they should combine civics options with goverments but not sure how to do it.I'll give it some thought.

I will answer with this quote:

IGNPC: How do governments work this time around?
Barry Caudill: There are no set governments anymore. In Civilization 4, you can choose from various civics and combine them to make the type of government you want. For example, you may have a Theocratic Police State that also has Universal Suffrage or you may have a Pacifist Slave State with Hereditary Rule. The Civics are divided into five major areas - Government, Legal, Labor, Economy, and Religion - and each of those has 5 possible choices depending on what you have researched. In addition, AI leaders will have certain favorite Civics and they may ask you to either switch to theirs or stop using the one that offends them.

As I read it: a combination of 5 civic choises makes your government.

Aks K

 

[GoodGame]

So one of the civics is 'Government' Probably more like 'political theory'.

Then,
You'll probably be able to engineer multiple form of 'Communism',

as Hegemony (politobureau) politics, Socialist Economy, Totalitarian law, Co-operative labor (no independent free market for jobs), and (officially) Aesthiest religion.

A dictatorial communism might replace Hegemony for Dictatorial, but have Tolerance as the official religion (allowing catholics, etc..).

 

[troytheface]

damn, i am confused about this...what was wrong with a simple gov. choice? that was a good idea in civ 3- simple and easy to understand- what i am reading is confusing-no gov? no traits? instead u just make choices as u go along about certain things...?...i hope it is not as complicated as it seems. They should have cribbed more from Call to Power rather than Smac. How
ever i do applaud the return of Spies.
Stealth units are a nice touch to add to this game- missed them

 

[PriestOfDiscord]

SMAC had the best government system of any game ever. I couldn't be happier about their decision to use social engineering.

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

Communism isn't a POLITICAL philosophy, it is more of an ECONOMIC theory. This is the one problem that the purists have had with communism in past iterations of the game. With civics, OTOH, it will probably be possible to create a nation which resembles what we have come to see as 'Communist' (i.e. an Authoritarian Police State, with a Centrally Planned Economy and No State Religion) or a nation with what people HOPED 'communism' would be (i.e. a Libertarian Socialist Democracy, with a Centrally Planned Economy and No State Religion). All in all, this is a situation which makes me VERY HAPPY indeed (though I will probably wait until I know what effect all of the civics options HAVE!)

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

 

[Aks K]

SMAC had the best government system of any game ever. I couldn't be happier about their decision to use social engineering.

Couldn't agree more!

Aks K

 

[GoodGame]

Like or not Communism doesn't just mean the economics of communing, thanks to the dictatorial politicians of the past, who married "little c" communism to an expansive, hegmonious, police state.

Communism isn't a POLITICAL philosophy, it is more of an ECONOMIC theory. This is the one problem that the purists have had with communism in past iterations of the game. With civics, OTOH, it will probably be possible to create a nation which resembles what we have come to see as 'Communist' (i.e. an Authoritarian Police State, with a Centrally Planned Economy and No State Religion) or a nation with what people HOPED 'communism' would be (i.e. a Libertarian Socialist Democracy, with a Centrally Planned Economy and No State Religion). All in all, this is a situation which makes me VERY HAPPY indeed (though I will probably wait until I know what effect all of the civics options HAVE!)

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

 

[Rhymes]

This is about the only aspect of civ4 of which I'm happy about!

 

[Commissar_Yari]

what we have come to see as 'Communist' (i.e. an Authoritarian Police State, with a Centrally Planned Economy and No State Religion) or a nation with what people HOPED 'communism' would be (i.e. a Libertarian Socialist Democracy, with a Centrally Planned Economy and No State Religion).

Neither of which are communist systems, rather the former is a fascist system and the latter is a socialist system.

 

[NHJ BV]

Or Marxist, which is a purely social theory/system.

 

[Justy]

I really like this change. No more switching governments for inane reasons with very little fallout. Now I wonder what effects tinkering with your "government" will have in-game? I would like to see your civics choices having an impact on your diplomatic relations.

 

[Commissar_Yari]

Justy, in SMAC (Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, sequel to the Civilization series) the social engineering choices (civics options) you make do affect your diplomacy positively or negatively depending on who you're talking to.

There are also big consequences depending on which social engineering (civic) options you have, and what combinations you make. A democratic government with a planned economy and an ideal to maximise wealth will have much different results than a fundamentalist government with a green economy and ideals of power, or a police state with a free market economy and scientific values.

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

Heck, from what I understand, it will even effect you internally-so to speak. Each Leader AI apparently has 'preferred civics' settings, even the leader of your own nation, and so your choices in relation to these preferences will effect how your OWN leader feels. Of course, I admit I could have read this wrong, and will be perfectly happy if it simply effects your relations with other nations!!

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

 

[Commissar_Yari]

Well, it effects how much money you make, how fast you can research new techs, how quickly work gets done, and much more.

In Civ 4 the system is much more expansive so it will have even further reaching results than in SMAC.