Corruption

[Mr.Supermonkey]

I think corruption form being far away from a capital should go away with airports. I live in Washington State and I feel that our capital, if anything, is MORE corrupt than we are.

 

[Bamspeedy]

Corruption in the game is only there for game balancing purposes. Without corruption, conquest/domination just gets too dang easy, as for every single city you capture, you become that much more powerful to bulldoze over the remaining civs. Corruption adds to the challenge.

If airports eliminated corruption then the 'bulldozing' play style would just be slowed down until airports, and every player would be bee-lining straight for Flight.

Airports in effect, does help reduce corruption in the right circumstances. Corruption is reduced a little when the city is connected to the capital. If the city isn't already connected to the capital by some other way (by roads, or a harbor), then the city will be connected when the airport is built.

 

[Lt. 'Killer' M.]

well said, Bamspeedy!

 

[Zachriel]

Originally posted by Mr.Supermonkey
I think corruption form being far away from a capital should go away with airports. I live in Washington State and I feel that our capital, if anything, is MORE corrupt than we are.

Actually, corruption is seen from the point of view of the capital. In other words, how much can Washington DC squeeze from the rest of the country. It's not how much is wasted in DC, but how much is lost trying to collect it from you.

Throughout history, distance from the capital has been an important factor in political control. The northwestern states have actually toyed with the idea of secession, and the southern states actually did secede. Also, keep in mind that DC was specifically placed in the center of the new United States.

Finally, the distance from DC to Washington State is only about 12% of the arc of the earth. On a 100-tile Civ map, they are only 12 tiles apart. Generally, corruption is quite managable at that distance.

(By the way, you can mod it in the editor.)

 

[The Templar]

In a new mod I am working on, I'm thinking of adding a government like the Corporate Republic from CTP. It's pretty much the modern American system (since, say the Reagan Revolution)- democracy surplanted by monied interests, a moribund labor movement largely ignored, widescale use of contracting and temps, no concern for anything environmental, etc.

I bring this up because what lead me to the idea was corruption. This Corporate Republic gov. would have communal corruption like communism and be available with the advent of computers. The idea is that corruption is equally high everywhere due to vast communication networks. D.C. with its lobbyists is as corrupt as say, Houston with Enron. San Francisco is not under crippling corruption because regulators are not limited by distance, only the spinelessness of elected officials. One good thing under the corporate republic is that citizens cannot be drafted - it would be too unpopular and the citizenry is not particularly willing to depart the more lucrative private sector for "the good of the nation". Unfortunately, CR does not inspire industriousness or patriotism to the extent of democracy, so CR cities are not immune to propoganda, and with the weakened labor movement (capitalism before democracy!) workers just don't work as efficiently as in a democracy. My playtests of this government don't show it to be unbalancing (so far). But it does make corruption more realistic IMHO.

Here are the important stats (please comment):

<B>Corporate Republic</B>
Corruption: Communal
Worker Rate: Standard (2)
Draft Rate: 0 (draft not possible)
Standard Tile Bonus (like Dem and Rep)
Espionage Immunities: None
Spys and Diplomats: Standard

 

[Mr.Supermonkey]

Yes I know conquest would be too easy. The idea of airports was just a suggestion. I just don’t think corruption has anything to do with the distance from the capital at some point in time. Perhaps corruption should diminish over a length of time, but it seems silly for the distance from the capital to be such a huge factor. Not only that, but even with the airport idea, each city would need an airport. So building an airport in a city with a lot of corruption would be very time consuming. Zachriel, you have several good points, however during the time period examples you listed, I am fine with such corruption being a problem. It's in the Industrial/Modern stages I find it a problem. The point about the % of North America is interesting. Does corruption from being away from the capital decrease proportionally to the size of the map? If not, then that would be something I also disagree with. Also I think Washington can “squeeze” as much out of me as people in Maryland.