How often do you switch governments? (non-religious)

[Aggie]

It's a pain to switch governments as a non religious civ, because you lose 5 or more turns. These can be very crucial in wartime and during the industrial and modern age. That's why I try to switch once or twice at the most. From despot to republic, maybe to democracy after that (or communism if war is the preferred road). What's your opinion?

 

[Scyphax]

I go:

Despotism -> Monarchy-> Republic-> Democracy or
Despotism -> Monarchy-> Democracy or
Despotism -> Republic -> Democracy

with no additional changes

I change as soon as I can unless I am in the middle of a golden age or I am at war or about to go to war and I am in Monarchy

I never had much problem with Democracy and War

 

[Knowze Gungk]

I swing from Despot to Republican to Democrat.

I never even bother to research Monarchy. So my answer is Twice.

 

[steviejay]

I go Despotism -> Monarchy

I like a large army so having no support is crippling. I thought about Communism but by the time I get it I'm usually in some war with someone and can't afford to loose x amount of turns worth of production.

 

[Globetrotter]

Despotism -> Monarchy
Sometimes i go Democracy afterwards, depending on the situation in the world, and on which type of victory i'm after

 

[Zingo]

Usually Despotism -> Monarchy -> Democracy
or Despotism -> Monarchy if it's many wars.

 

[jorge_roberto]

Despotism-> Republic -> Democracy.

I change to Republic when I have some marketplaces and (at least) two luxury resources.

Then change to Democracy in a peace time to boost my economy.

 

[Charis]

My old answer: twice Despotism -> Monarchy -> Democracy

New new short answer: once Despotism -> Republic.

I almost never used Republic, and now love it. Income at 20% lux is nearly equal to what it would be with Monarchy and it's MP, when both are first obtained, and later on, I really have little to no problem going warmongering and staying in Republic. Late in the game Republic at 40% tax is still more income than Monarchy, and when peace comes my income skyrockets.

My long answer though.... it depends.

In some games, mostly deity, where I beeline Monarchy to have a chance to sell Polytheism (often neglected by AI), I still do two swaps. With a non-religious civ I'll almost never change three times, unless war weariness is overwhelming and I drop back to Monarchy.

In some games I can see that I'm going to need all the productivity out of my workers that I possibly can (maybe large jungles, or few workers and no native coal), which might push me toward making the jump to democracy. (The change in income between republic and democracy is negligible compared to the anarchy pain for a non-relig civ)

Charis

 

[cromagnon]

Despotism -> Republic -> Democracy

I almost never change out of Demo, unless WW is truly unbearable. I must say, in my current game, I led a war vs the Americans as a Democracy from 0 BC to 1800 or so, until my government was overthrown. The odd thing is that people were generally happy, and no city was in disorder. After 6 turn of Anarchy, I switched to (you guessed it) Democracy and quickly made peace, as I had just accomlished my objectives.

In other words, I had better have a damn good reason to switch out of Democracy once I'm there.

 

[Moonsinger]

Depend on the type of civ, the level of difficulty, and the map type. I usually will do one of the following:

Despotism -> Monarchy -> Democracy
Despotism -> Republic -> Democracy
Despotism -> Democracy

• For a scientific civ at Empire level or below, I usually do Despotism -> Republic -> Democracy
• For any non-religious civ at the Deity level, I usually do Despotism -> Democracy

 

[Aggie]

Originally posted by Charis
In some games I can see that I'm going to need all the productivity out of my workers that I possibly can (maybe large jungles, or few workers and no native coal), which might push me toward making the jump to democracy. (The change in income between republic and democracy is negligible compared to the anarchy pain for a non-relig civ)

Charis

So industrious civs may be better of to stay in republic, given the speed of the workers?

 

[Globetrotter]

Originally posted by Aggie
So industrious civs may be better of to stay in republic, given the speed of the workers?

I noticed that in my current game:
I usually go for Monarchy, but i am trying Republic for the first time , and i really can see the difference. My income is boosted!
I just went to war, so i'll see the effect of WW
And yes, the speed of the workers is great in Industrious. Helps a lot

 

[Bismarck]

I rarely play religious civs (I have a serious Industrial habit which I'm trying to break), so I typically switch only once in the game, from Despotism to Republic.

No democracy for me -- I prefer to be able to warmonger on a minute's notice

 

[Hellfire]

A lot of people say they can't wage war in democracy, but I just don't get it. Maybe I'm not playing Deity enough.

I go from Despot to Republic to Democracy without wavering. Under democracy my workers blow through improvements, my production is the best, and the commerce bonus far outweighs the support I get from communism or monarchy.

I also fight quick all out engagements that win lots of territory and then sue for peace, even on huge maps. I've only once ever fallen into anarchy and that's only because I didn't secure a lot of luxury resources (I'd have to research but I think the fall to anarchy is accelerated by WW and keeping people happy keeps WW down a lot).

Anyway back to topic, I can do everything I need on Democracy, so there's no point in going in any other direction. I will sometimes hold off going to a republic because I can keep production higher and people happier when I'm trying to build a number of ancient wonders. Despotism allows me to keep citizens content with my troops so those people don't drop out as entertainers and lose a few shields on production.

 

[Moonsinger]

Originally posted by Hellfire
A lot of people say they can't wage war in democracy, but I just don't get it. Maybe I'm not playing Deity enough.

I am not one of those people.

Anyway back to topic, I can do everything I need on Democracy, so there's no point in going in any other direction.

I concur! Even at the Deity level, Democracy will work better than any other form of government in time of war. Since the tech advance a lot faster at the deity level, I'm usually able to jump from Despotism directly to Democracy. Once my civ is in Democracy, I would never switch to anything else.

 

[kb2tvl]

There is a difference between monarch play and diety play. On monarch, I have chance to get the GL and If I do get the GL... I will take the first govt given to me.

Desp -> monarch -> demo untill I collaps it.
Desp -> rep.

On diety level, the issue of getting the GL is non existant so I choose which I wish to pursue so I pursue republic. The republic and demo seem to perform similar under war times but you need luxuaries one notch higher on demo if your fighting as a demo.

Also, if you have to research your own tech, 5 turns of no tech can be one complete tech for a non religious....

 

[MTheil3508]

Religious civ: Despotism-->Monarchy-->Republic-->Democracy

Non-religious civ: Despotism --> Democracy

 

[Mazarin]

in abbout 90% of my games I switch once: from Despotism to Republic...sometimes I switch to democracy later, but only if I really need the faster workers, the reduced corruption is not worth the anarchy

 

[Goldenflame]

I usually stay in despotism untill the middle ages, because of the rush of Ancient wonders. From there i usually go republic then quickly democracy.

 

[hbdragon88]

Despotism --> Republic (or Monarchy) --> Democracy

That's it. I stay in Democracy for the rest of the game. I won't change governments in democracy because I'm careful in waging war: no other enemies, not too many units loss, low WW.