I wanna be a commie.

[Animal Mother]

Im a bit of a newb at this civ malarky (only played a few times).When i first bought it i thought what every other sane person thought: i wanna be a commie .(What do u mean im mad?).

Unfortunately the huge amount of corruption meant that i couldnt keep a decent research rate goin,noone was happy,i kept losin money and my mighty empire was brought to its knees in a matter of about 15 turns *sob*,my communist dreams were over.

So i had to sink real low,i had to use democracy instead

But my dreams of callin everyone comrade are not over i just need a few general tips at keepin a communist empire ,it is possible aint it? Do i have to use a huge army as military police ?
Do i have to stop reseachin and use my increadibly expensive spies to steal stuff? Please help me comrades!

 

[Bamspeedy]

Communism is only good if you have a very large, sprawling empire and/or the rest of the world is engulfed in wars. Many games I've played I lost 30-50% of my income/turn because I changed from Democracy to Communism. The one time I found it beneficial for me was in my last game. There were 4 civs on my continent, I had a huge army built up. Then I started knocking down each civ one by one, while I was under communism (no war weariness). Needless to say, in 30-40 turns I knocked out 4 civs (on a huge map), and so the entire continent (half the world) was mine. I then switched back to democracy and got back my 3-4 tech lead that I had lost under communism. I always keep 2 defenders in every city, so when you switch to communism, you already have some military police in every city.

Communism can probably out produce (shields) a democracy, but can never come anywheres close to commerce and research. Many people don't like the communism, because of all the corruption taken from your core cities that already are built up with solid infrastructure.

 

[chiefpaco]

Of the forms of government, I think communism is probably the least talked about around here & it could be that the fewest people are using it? I haven't seen a lot of people spew their communist strategy other than a massive conquest or for a brief time with a Religious civ. If anyone out there has a good communism strategy, please share.

I've yet to see a need to switch to it myself. My feeling is that you would probably end up with libraries, marketplaces, & courthouses in every city rather than banks & research labs in just your main ring. However, by the time Communism comes around, I already have an advanced core of cities & Communism just hurts it. It would take a while before rebuilding your empire, but after all that time, could it be stronger than your Monarchy or whatever govt would've been?

Perhaps what Communism needs is a preceding communal corruption model govt so that it would be set up better.

To answer your question, I think that one key to a successful Communism, like a Monarchy, is the military police. Using MP to keep your workers happy, you can use a 0% luxury rate & no entertainers with minimal happiness improvements. The gold you save on this, military upkeep & pop rushing hopefully can go to trading or science.

 

[Bamspeedy]

I've yet to see a need to switch to it myself. My feeling is that you would probably end up with libraries, marketplaces, & courthouses in every city rather than banks & research labs in just your main ring. However, by the time Communism comes around, I already have an advanced core of cities & Communism just hurts it. It would take a while before rebuilding your empire, but after all that time, could it be stronger than your Monarchy or whatever govt would've been?

To answer your question, I think that one key to a successful Communism, like a Monarchy, is the military police. Using MP to keep your workers happy, you can use a 0% luxury rate & no entertainers with minimal happiness improvements. The gold you save on this, military upkeep & pop rushing hopefully can go to trading or science.

Perhaps, communism would only work for people who never had any infrastructure in their 'core cities' to begin with. I don't understand where people think the military police are so great. If I'm making 3200+ gold under Democracy, and around 1400 under communism, which obviously is better? I can even increase luxury to 30% and still would have more money available for science than communism would. And I still would have money left over to hurry improvements in the corrupt cities (just wait one turn after starting construction and the price drops in half). You can even have your core cities producing units just for the sole purpose of disbanding them in the far cities to help hurry the improvements. Communism is better than a monarchy, though.

 

[Dutchman]

I think communism will work best if you only make a ring of core city's, maybe two ring's if you strategicly place your forbidden palace. So there won't be much corruption, but you won't have a lot of city's but if there all powerhousers it's still good. Then you can build up a massive army, and you can rush buid if you have a lot of millitary police and a few luxeries! And then you can go for a massive conquest victory. And I think the chinese would be the best for this strategy because there millitary and industrious!

 

[Shabbaman]

In Civ2 I preferred fascism over communism. In Civ3 I don't see any clear advantage over republic.

 

[Razorwing]

Originally posted by Shabbaman
In Civ2 I preferred fascism over communism. In Civ3 I don't see any clear advantage over republic.

Civ2 didn't have fascism
You probably mean Fundamentalism, which was grossly overpowered.

 

[Shabbaman]

Oops!

You're right. Even about the overpowered thing...

 

[Shabbaman]

Was it CivCTP2 then?

Hmmm. Brain foggy...must sleep...

 

[Animal Mother]

:jump:

Thanks for all these the replies (even the totally pointless ones )

It always seemed unfair that Communism was so hard to implement and democracy had sooooooo many advantages, i feel that its reason for its lack of sucess was probably being too nice
two things that have been suggested are =

take a leaf out of the moustachioed one's book and rule with iron fist, or just be ultra careful about keeping down corruption via city placement/clever build choices.



I will try out the suggestions here and paint the world red

Of course more suggestions are still needed Comrades!

 

[donsig]

We used communism in one of our succession games. We were the Germans and had secured our own continent. We then went to war with the Egyptians on the other continent. We found in that case that switching to communism allowed us to effectively prosecute that aggressive war without worrying about war-weariness. Of course we could not research much and had to make do with the techs we had. We had panzers by then.

Since then we have played other games as agressors while staying in republic. War-weariness is manageable and research is possible.

I'd say only use communism if you don't need new techs and are hard pressed for a large army (read: need lots of cannon fodder).

 

[Zoke0]

Ok, this isn't much help, but I want to say this. Now you know how Russia feels. They were a great super power for a while with Communism, but they had nothing to hold there econmy together. Frankly, I think Communism stinks in the game and more in real life. I think Sid was nice to Communism when he made the game. Communism doesn't even get tax money. There econmy is from trade and other outside investments and you can't always rely on other people to do things for you!! What kind of drugs were they on when they made Communism to replace Democracy!?

Sorry for insulting you, if I did, but my point must be made clear. Once again sorry. I had the same point of view when I first played the game, until I read about Communism in the Civlopedia.

 

[Animal Mother]

Dont worry i'm not a communist in real life (not yet! )so i'm not insulted.

My point is that i get fed up getting into the later eras and having no choice of government ,if you wanna do well you choose democracy.I realise communism was a big fat failure in real life to. Its just that when people (like me) get bored of being all democratic and want to be a proper dictator then communism is your only choice (apart from depotism ) so i just need a few tips from those people who use communism full time ,theres gotta be some more!

Come on comrades, its gotta be possible to be all full time commie!


( On the previous point i hope im not insulting any people,dont invade me

 

[brody]

I know I say this a lot, but use the editor... you could create a well-balanced government that's sort of a democracy/communism hybrid. Trade bonuses, no war weariness, but at the same time extra cost to maintain troops (2 per unit instead of one, to balance out the trade bonuses and no war weariness), maybe half the number of free troops per city, pop rushing, allow a couple MPs, etc.

No, I don't like that you have to use the editor to make the game more interesting, but it's there and gives you the power to make a lot of changes to the game.

To answer the original question, I think communism can work, but you really have to be a warmonger. I mean, if a turn goes by when you're not at war with somebody, you're doing it wrong! The biggest advantage of communism over democracy is no war weariness, so you need to make sure you take advantage of that aspect around the clock. Also, stagger your wars. This turn you're at war with the french, but at peace with the aztecs. Hit the french hard for a while, then offer peace in exchange for technology/cities/gold, but declare war against the aztecs now. This will help make up for the lack of research. You'll always be at war with somebody, and you'll still be doing well with technology.

Other than that, consider what the others have said. Make an empire that revolves mainly around 2 points, your palace and forbidden palace. This will greatly reduce corruption and allow for more productive cities. When you conquer your neighbors, take their cities if you need to, but remember that you'll be introducing extra corruption into your main cities...

One last thing: I have NOT done this myself. I have used communism during wars, but never for a significant part of the game. It seems to me that this could work, but I haven't actually done it yet, so let me know.

 

[chiefpaco]

Originally posted by brody


Other than that, consider what the others have said. Make an empire that revolves mainly around 2 points, your palace and forbidden palace. This will greatly reduce corruption and allow for more productive cities.

You're not the 1st person here who's mentioned this. Am I mistaken, cause I thought the corruption & waste factor in communism has little or nothing to do with your Palace & FP loaction? I thought it was just shared by all the cities rather equally. Looking at a recent game I was playing, I didn't see much of a difference from close cities in my empire to far ones.

If you have a poor palace/FP or no FP, you might do better with communism. The other key is building courthouses & police stations & you'll see the corruption & waste decrease. In a couple of tests I did in my game, building a courthouse helped a far-flung city size 22 with all terrain improvements flip its 60%-40% corruption-production ratio.

I think, rather than perfecting your empire under Communism, you have to think how you're going to win the game. The space race is a longshot. However, I think it would be just as easy to win Diplomatically or Culturally. Also, if you don't control enough territory already, it would be pretty much impossible to establish a Domination or Conquest victory in a Democracy or Republic.

Maybe, if at the start of a game, you planned on going communism & constructed your empire so, it might work better. Animal Mother, I agree with you communism is rarely the best choice. However, I wouldn't say Democracy is the only choice in the modern age. The other govts are good too.

I agree with Brody about the continuous war. Dragging other civs down the war way is a must for Communist civs.

 

[Shabbaman]

Originally posted by Zoke0
What kind of drugs were they on when they made Communism to replace Democracy!?

I'm sorry, but I doubt if you've got much historical or economical insight. Don't want to discuss it either.

I think that science/production is rather low compared to 'real' communism.
And about changing governments: I find it quite annoying. Compute how much money/shields you lose in the 8 turns of anarchy (which makes 16 when changing back to democracy...).

A lot.

 

[Ironikinit]

Communism is often something I'm forced into. That is, a war drags on too long under democracy and I see that I'm going to have problems, so I switch to communism. Once in a while I'll actually plan for it, but since I usually play religious civs I have the luxury of changing governments at will.

As others have posted, it's a war-time government. If you try using it while the world's at peace, you'll be left behind.

Some communism strategies:

Make use of the high draft rate, and use the conscripts as a home guard (freeing up your hopefully vet infantry) and to quell resistors. Who cares if you lose conscripts to cultural reversion, right? Also, the high police rate makes it easier to keep conquered cities in order.

Consider rush building temples or other small improvements such as barracks in newly conquered territory to knock down population (and hopefully reduce the chance of reversion). Drafting works as well, but only in cities over size 6.

It's nice if you can delay switching to communism until after you have a toe hold in enemy territory if you're fighting on another continent. You want a barracks and an airport in your new territory, and it's better to rush the airport, at least, with cash because it's so expensive. Using population to rush a big improvement will leave the locals angry for a long time, if you can even afford it.

Consider mobilizing for war. You'll be stuck building barracks, harbors, airports or units in your new conquests, but mobilization helps make up for the productivity hit in your core cities.

Remember that communism gains bonuses on espionage. Spies are of limited usefulness, but if you keep your eyes open, there are times when they can pull off a nice coup. Watch for cities with useful wonders or strategic placement that have been fought over so much that they have low population and weak infrastructure. Be ready to get troops in to defend it, too (a good use for paratroops in some cases, if you bother researching advanced flight).

If at all possible, don't go communist until AFTER you have all your key military techs, such as flight and motorized transport. Your research rate will take a big hit under communism.

Likewise, it's best to time your war and revolution so that it happens after you're fully industrialized in your core areas.

To the best of your ability, keep the whole world at war by signing alliances. You don't want somebody outstripping you on research because they are a democracy. Try to keep them war weary and thus in monarchy or communism.

 

[Animal Mother]

Thanks for all your tips , but im sure there are more ,
c'mon comrades! Dont let the cause (thread ) die!

Any tips are needed ,even the crap ones so clever types can rip them to pieces .


(I'm not gonna let this -my first ever topic- fade away gracefully, its gonna go kicking and screaming into the the other threads page )

 

[Ouchgeddon]

As the French on democracy I had tons of cash, but even then I had almost 50% corruption in some cities. Even after moving my palace to a central location my corruption was SCARY. Am I right to fear communism in such a case?

On the flip side, war weariness didn't seem to take effect during my various wars as German and Greek democracy, when I held an entire continent.

 

[chiefpaco]

Originally posted by chiefpaco


If you have a poor palace/FP or no FP, you might do better with communism. The other key is building courthouses & police stations & you'll see the corruption & waste decrease. In a couple of tests I did in my game, building a courthouse helped a far-flung city size 22 with all terrain improvements flip its 60%-40% corruption-production ratio.

Ok, I like quoting myself a little too much , but check out Bamspeedy's corruption calculation thread in the general discussions forum:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18500

Communism with a reasonably-sized empire with courthouses & police stations sounds pretty good. Building the courthouse & PS is ok too since you don't have to build Universities, Reserach Labs, Cathedrals, Colosseums...