Communism

[starlifter]

<br />posted September 17, 2001 04:25 AM <br />....my damm government always collapses. communism is a much easier government to run in my opinion for the newer players...<br /> <hr></blockquote>

Communism is indeed much easier to run! And a democracy cannot be forced in every situation... in fact, a civ must be carefully planned to run a big wartime deomcracy. But once it is up and running, it will bury Communism (and also Fundy!).

BTW, there are some huge disadvantages to Communism:

1. Cities & units can be bribed<br />2. No WLTP instant growth<br />3. Small amount of trade<br />4. Communism can't fully control huge cities at 0% Luxuries<br />5. Freight bonuses are much smaller

 

[duke o' york]

Starlifter claimed that Communism suffers from the drawback that "Cities & units can be bribed", by way of making the point that in Democracy this cannot happen. It does, of course, although it shouldn't in theory - the AI cheats and knocks all the theory in the rules into a cocked hat. No government system can fully legislate against the AI cheating.

 

[starlifter]

Yes, to be clear for anyone who does not know... in a Democracy, the AI can cause an instant & free "bribe" of a human's lone unit by any of it's land combat units, no matter what the form of human gov't. This is a pseudo-random event, and costs the AI nothing. The best defense is to "stack" a caravan or spy or 2nd unit of some kind on the unit you want to protect. This only applies to land units, and the odds seem to increase if you have a lone unit in a highly defended place.

BTW, the AI diplomats/spies seem to work according to the normal rules. And no unit can bribe/subvert your cities in a Democracy. But the AI will definately bribe your non-Democratic cities with dips/spies at the higher difficulty levels!

 

[floppa21]

This has been really helpful, thanks to all who posted. I still haven't tried it out yet, I'm finishing up a game right now though, but it is Dem and going well, I see no reason to switch. I'm thinkin about going a different route from the beginning of next game. Or, at least once Communism is available. <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

 

[starlifter]

<br />...<br />but it is Dem and going well, I see no reason to switch.<br />...<br /> <hr></blockquote>

If your democracy is going well, only the most bizarre of circumstances would cause you to benefit from a switch.

For those who are newer to Democracy, or considering trying it: Probably the biggest mistake I've seen most people make is switching to Democracy before they're ready... distribute the military units, adjust production, get your Marketplaces & temples built (or have the gold in the bank to do it right after switching), & make sure key happiness wonders like Michelangelos's Chapel and JS Bach are built, etc. Remember, it is wasteful to switch to Democracy, yet not begin torrid growth. Even a switch from republic should signal your larger cities to max out. If one does not begin to grow right away, you'll likely run a shield and possible a food deficit, and even a gold deficit (when compared to the same sized mid-game Fundamentalist empire).

 

[The Splang]

I've played this game for a while and can go demo at any time, I just don't want to, I like the millitary strategy part of the game. Fundy is UNBEFREAKINEIVABLY easy, flood with crappy units until all troops are dead, repeat...

Commy is for those who dont want 75% of there turn to be clicking "build temple/Rush build temple", and also dont want 40%+ Luxuries, and dont want a "easy win" like, "ok, the full spaceships been launched, now lets check on my enemy... MY GOD, they've built a *Gasp* Phalanx, I need to pepper them with nukes"

I have always loved the-"Ok, ive got 15 muskets, 10 dragoons, and 5 cannons. Im gona try to manuver past his main defense to get into the center of his territory and take out his capital, but I still need a good forword defense to be safe." part of the game...

 

[floppa21]

Well, looks like I am doing the Commie switch tonight. My Dem is going good, but those French swine to the south keep wandering up and they even stole some tech the bastards. I become Comrade Alexander the Great tonight, and I buy French cities with my spies if all goes according to plan. <img src="graemlins/goodwork.gif" border="0" alt="[Good Job]" />

 

[floppa21]

Alright so I did the switch. My expectations were muh too high. In Communism, even with taxes set at 80%, I was losing money. <sigh> So I pumped out some spies and switched back to Democracy the very next turn(SOL)... With my Democracy, I could turn a profit each and every turn with taxes at 30%... I guess I just need more trade routes to offset the costs? Ugh, I'll have to try this again... What should I do differently?

 

[starlifter]

posted September 19, 2001 10:40 AM <br /> Alright so I did the switch. My expectations were muh too high. In Communism, even with taxes set at 80%, I was losing money. So I pumped out some spies and switched back to Democracy the very next turn(SOL)... With my Democracy, I could turn a profit each and every turn with taxes at 30%... I guess I just need more trade routes to offset the costs? Ugh, I'll have to try this again... What should I do differently? <hr></blockquote>

If you cannot prosecute a war under Democracy for whatever reason, an easy crutch is Fundamentalism. <br />More trade routes will help, but you should remember that in a Democracy (and Republic) you get the extra trade arrow. If you have Superhighways, that gives you a 3rd arrow on most squares, when other governments only give you 1 arrow. That is a HUGE economic reason for staying in Democracy, and an even BIGGER reason for keeping those freight deliveries going no matter what.

For me, the top priority in a late game, all out war is Freight. I often deliver it to the very civs I am conquering. Nothing stops my freight production and delivery. And if you keep freight going at all times, you will have a good transportation network and guess what... military units can tag along and do some fighting for you!

Freight kills partisans. It is one of the most deadly units to eliminate partisans... if you use the freight right. Since my frieght is swarming, even in enemy territory, it becomes a key player in preventing partisans when I take cities. In effect, one frieght can "kill" (prevent) one partisan! And then it can move to the next city and "kill" another. Sometimes, one freight can "kill" 10 or 15 partisans in one turn, LOL!

And when it is done "killing", it dumps into a city and gets me 500 to 3,000 gold and science. A pretty fearsome weapon <img src="smile.gif" border="0"> .

 

[floppa21]

Proper preparation is key to switching governments, I htink maybe I switched too late for Commie to be useful. The extra trade arrow loss was very noticeable. Hmm... I guess I just stick to my tried and true Democracy. IF I needed to go to war and I did not have Fundy, Commie would work well, but I couldn't afford Commie for more than 4 or 5 turns with the loss of cashflow... Maybe I have too many improvements at that point, I don't know...
Does Fundy lose the extra trade arrow per square also? I am guessing it does but it's not noticeable with the income gained there... ? :crazyeyes

 

[Ethics]

I've become so dependant on the $$$ from democracy and the republic I can't play anything else. My first goal in any game seems to be to get Republic as quick as I can then go for industrialization and railroad and democracy. Then again, I only play two civilizations Roman and English. Roman I tend to be aggressive, and for all the unhappy faces I get fighting under a republic govt, I can make up for it with the revenue and the womans suffrage wonder.

With England I tend to rely completely on the natural ocean barrier and money for anyone who would come to take me over. With the right wonders, London can produce 800lightbulbs a turn, which helps me keep up with the nations expanding on the mainland. Infrastructure is key to playing democracy in my opinion.

Of course, Im still experimenting with my playstyle on Civ2 considering I found my cd last month and actually got it to work. Most of my playing has always been on Civ1 SNES.

 

[floppa21]

They have Civ1 for the SNES? Wow, I had no idea. ...