First republic game advice

[anyoldguy]

I've been a lurker for quite awhile here on cfc and I only recently decided to get an account. After reading all the success stories about republic, I've decided to give it a go. If I understand correctly, when in republic, one should: garrison only border cities and/or strategically important cities (lightly garrison the rest, if even), road EVERY single workable tile, get other civs to DOW on you, keep wars short and effective, act according to the rules of war weariness (i,e not station troops in enemy territory), research horizontally, and reduce research occasionally to buy techs from the AIs. I will likely be playing this game on either monarch [or maybe even emperor!]

If I'm missing anything important, feel free to correct me. However, I know beforehand that I will NOT be micromanaging my cities.

TIA

 

[ChaosArbiter]

get other civs to DOW on you, keep wars short and effective, act according to the rules of war weariness (i,e not station troops in enemy territory)

AFAIK (Playing Regent, anyway), this is based more on your Luxury state and your effectiveness with the Luxury Slider. For example, I play Republic almost exclusively, yet the only times I regularly get the AI to DoW me instead of Declaring on them is if they have an MPP with someone I have an MPP with. Length of wartime is relatively variable, though if WW starts getting out of hand it's generally a good idea to stop before it starts hurting you (although I've pushed through wars with nearly all my cities on the verge of disorder in order to cripple/destroy a meaningful opponent). Finally, keeping wars short and effective is a general rule to go by for everyone, unless you're doing an AW game or something.

 

[anyoldguy]

Ah ok, thank you for clearing that up.

 

[Snarkhunter]

I've been a lurker for quite awhile here on cfc and I only recently decided to get an account. After reading all the success stories about republic, I've decided to give it a go. If I understand correctly, when in republic, one should: garrison only border cities and/or strategically important cities (lightly garrison the rest, if even), road EVERY single workable tile, get other civs to DOW on you, keep wars short and effective, act according to the rules of war weariness (i,e not station troops in enemy territory), research horizontally, and reduce research occasionally to buy techs from the AIs. I will likely be playing this game on either monarch [or maybe even emperor!]

If I'm missing anything important, feel free to correct me. However, I know beforehand that I will NOT be micromanaging my cities.

TIA

Actually, garrisoning only border cities is reasonably good advice for any gov, unless you just have to have MP's. Ditto with roading workED tiles, getting others to DOW you, researching horizontally, tech trading, etc. As for war-length, you should be able to manage 20 turns of active combat under republic, unless you have few luxes. Make sure you: 1) don't lose cities--nothing bumps up WW like losing a city; 2) don't lose units; 3) avoid unnecessarily leaving units on enemy territory; 4) zap enemy units on your territory ASAP--don't let them sit for a turn if at all possible. You can probably go longer than 20 turns of active combat with more care, but 20 should be doable at the least. "Inactive" wars can go hundreds of turns.

kk

 

[Spoonwood]

My advice: post a save.

 

[anyoldguy]

@Snarkhunter

But under republic don't you get war happiness from other civs DOW'ing you?

@Spoonwood

Will do

 

[undertoad]

One thing I've found in CivIII is that, given a large empire, switching to Republic is not the miraculous corruption-reducer it was in e.g. CivII - though of course the additional commerce is a big benefit. As a relatively inexperienced CivIII player, I've often looked disappointedly at how much I'm losing to corruption/waste, looked forward to switching to Republic, and then been disappointed again once I switch.

The reason is that Republic over Monarchy/Feudalism only affects city rank corruption (and that minimally - a 10% increase in the number of cities allowed before catastrophic rank corruption is applied).

Off-topic from your original question - but in case one reason for you going for Republic is to reduce corruption (or, especially, wasted shields, which aren't compensated for by increased commerce) - just a heads-up.

 

[PaperBeetle]

@Snarkhunter

But under republic don't you get war happiness from other civs DOW'ing you?

That is true under all governments. It is only war weariness which behaves differently in some govs.

 

[Northern Pike]

Just waiting for the civ you want to fight to declare war on you is far too slow, but there are a lot of advanced tricks you can play to get war happiness, mostly involving military alliances. The basic point is to combine an alliance with a peace agreement or peace renegotiation. Then when your alliance partners break the alliance, as the AI civs tend to do very quickly, by definition they'll declare war on you and you'll receive war happiness. Once you've mastered the technique, you can have several happiness-providing wars going with civs so far away from you that they can hardly bother you militarily. Then you can declare war on your target civ and fight that war ruthlessly, not worrying too much about war weariness because it's neutralized by all the happiness you're getting from phony wars.

 

[TxCraig]

The first thing I noticed on switching to republic was the crushing penalty for excess units. What I try to do is disband extra units (left over from barb patrol or Ancient Age wars) and try to grow my towns into cities as fast as possible.

The basic point is to combine an alliance with a peace agreement or peace renegotiation.

Is there a detailed explanation of this anywhere? I thought I saw one in the SGOTM14 Team Spooks thread, but I can't find it anymore. It sounded wonderfully fiendish.

 

[Northern Pike]

I don't know of any single post that lays it all out, unfortunately. I can't suggest anything better than what you were doing, learning from the more recent SGOTM threads. Team Klarius used many such tricks in SGOTM13.

 

[Theov]

My advice: post a save.

Best advice in 94% of the times.

 

[Theov]

One thing I've found in CivIII is that, given a large empire, switching to Republic is not the miraculous corruption-reducer it was in e.g. CivII - though of course the additional commerce is a big benefit. As a relatively inexperienced CivIII player, I've often looked disappointedly at how much I'm losing to corruption/waste, looked forward to switching to Republic, and then been disappointed again once I switch.

Build the Forbidden Palace, RR every tile and max it out. You will see that even a 3rd core of cities - with the Secret Police HQ in communism - will often not weigh up to the commerce bonus. Yes shieldwise. No moneywise.