Sorry for any delay i responding, but I'm fighting a dodgy internet connection and trying to make a valid response which isnt insulting.
Republic is touted by a lot of 'experienced' players as the only way to go. I say lazy because in a lot of cases its become a reflex style of play. We all do it, just get used to a specific pattern of research and building because we know the game instinctively. Thats bad, Civ is a, supposedly, random game and needs a flexible approach. Plus a lot of those players fail to explain why, mainly because they have been playing so long that Civ senility has crept in and they cant remember why, its almost a religion. Especially given the hostility that appears when another option is presented as possibly better.
I consider myself a pretty fair Monarch level player, I've had all the victories, bar Conquest, with a variety of Civs and I'm working on Conquest at the moment before heading up to Emperor. I play random games, even to the choice of Civ, given a fairish starting point I will go for it. This means adapting to the conditions presented. Under normal conditions I can outpace the AI at settlement and research in the early years. And REX is the key to the game, it means grabbing those resources and luxuries before the AI gets its grubby little hands on them. It generally means I can hit a Republic slingshot at 4-6 towns in play. These are small towns with only a few workers to hand. Barbarians are rife so I've got warriors and maybe archers out exploring and grabbing cash from the barbarian ATM points. Because of my tech research and trading it means that I've basically ripped off all the AIs I've met for all their techs and cash and they are mostly annoyed, or cautious if I've got enough troops. Its not all bad though, 4-6 tsmall towns will go through Anarchy quickly with little or no civil unrest.
Remember these forums are read by experienced and novice players alike so its worth pointing out reasons in full.
Republic provides roughly 1.5 times as much income as Monarchy, thats total income to the Civ as a whole. Maintenenance remains the same, but unit support shoots through the roof, hey disband some troops. The corruption figure goes up a huge amount as well, but thats a percentage so it will. Tech percentage remains the same but more commerce means more beakers per turn hence faster research. More than likely the towns dont have temples, or luxuries, hooked up so the entertainment slider needs to go up This might mean lowering the tech slider, with luck it still means an overall profit in terms of beakers per turn. It gets rid of the Depotism penalty so irrigated grassland provides more food and towns begin growing. All sounds ok so far.
BUT, its still early, there is a lot of unclaimed land and that means barbarians, who will pillage improvements, kill a garrison of one, destroy production and population and workers as well as trash that pot of money garnered from tech trading. I've seen 500gp reduced to 30 by a single barbarian horde. And barbarians are useful, a good source of income and a way of turning regular, or even conscript troops, into elites.
Unclaimed land means that I probably dont have resources covered, so no horsemen, if I've got the tech, and not enough roads for a reasonable mobile defense force. Lowering the garrisons means vulnerability to barbarians and AIs will always take advantage if they can. Disbanding warriors or archers means a loss in shields invested and my ability to gather income from barbarians as well as techs from goody huts. And I dont have the luxuries to lower the entertainment slider, plus as I'm focussing on growth no Temples to keep the populace happy.
If I do get into a war, which is likely at this stage of the game, WW and unit costs could kill my tech research completely, voiding the advantage of being able to drive loads of commerce into tech research. And techs are cheap, I can easily sell my 'must haves' to the AI for all the ones I need to hit Medieval.
On the other hand Monarchy, which is harder to get than Republic, for all its cost provides significant advantages at this stage of the game. Garrisons protect the town, and keep people happy, even with WW, which is lower in Monarchy anyway. Troop costs are lower, there is no need to hit the lux slider, at least until Emperor level and corruption isnt a huge issue at a low number of small towns. As I said war is likely, as Monarchy I can destroy my neighbours, taking their resources and luxuries without making the towns unhappy. On the bonus side they should be small so complete wipe out is possible before WW rears its head. I couldnt do that in Republic and still keep my tech research up.
Overall I'd prefer to take the Republic slingshot, ignore the option to revolt and head for Monarchy. Trading Code of Laws and Republic, possibly, will get me all the other Techs to hit Medieval. Warring my neighbours down to 1 town apiece gets me loads of land, resources and luxuries plus any techs they might have. With luck I can net most of the early Wonders out of it too. In some case I've ended up with SoZ, KT, Sun Tzu and Leos without having to contribute a single shield other than in terms of military hardware. As a bonus I'm normally fielding Cavalry, have a few armies in play and building Heroic Epic, Military Academy and the Pentagon. My workers and the stack of foreign ones I've gathered are busy cleaning up my huge empire so its a good time to sit down and go Republic. Depending on the Civ my first build in a captured town will be a Temple, or a Library, usually both. Anarchy might take me 6 turns, or one if I'm Religious, then its high speed for Fission and a Diplomatic Victory, possibly Domination or Cultural, I've only got as far as Spaceship once.
And the end of the day its down to playing style. I suspect giving the AI Republic, in trade, limits their ability to wage war and its too early for them to go to Communism or Fascism which they normally do. I see a lot of AI troops and workers disband, in one game France disbanded 8 workers over 2 turns, they were in Republic and had small scattered towns. By the time I've got the AI down to a few towns they are small and starving down, I thought they were pop rushing until I realised it was WW preventing them from working food tiles. They might have a good few in their garrison, but they are regular cheap troops because they have sold the barracks and cant produce anything else quickly enough. I have yet to be beaten to the ToE, and normally stay ahead of the AI for most of the game. I'm slowly improving my techniques and lowering my win time. The latest is around 1900 AD, my current best around 1760 AD, thats a standard map and unaccelerated production. Better micro mangement and an earlier shift to Republic might help lower it still. I'm still experimenting.
I hope that gives a balanced view of Monarchy vs Republic. I think Republic has its part to play, it depends on the Civ, the Maya would produce like crazy under Republic, and given a peaceful setting be hard to beat for growth and commerce.
Couldn't have done that in Republic!
