Is it wise to change governments during a golden age?

[bambam190]

the story,

Perisa, 310AD, Regent. playing contenents, Vanilla v1.29.

I just wiped out the Germans, the only other AI on my island, I have not met any other civs as of yet. During the war I discovered Republic (my prefered Gov) and Map Making. I didn't want to switch governments during the war to slow down my production of troops(I'm still in Despotism). During the war I hit my GA right as I finished wiping out the Germans. My island is only about 1/2 inhabited I am currently pumping out settlers, workers and Galleys to full it and meet the neighbors.

My question is; is it worth it to switch Governments now to get the extra commerece and lose the depo cost. Or ride out my GA and then switch?

 

[vmxa]

If you are building structure, probably wait, if you are making settler/workers, then you won't lose that much. The length of anarchy could grow as you add towns, so you may want to not found them prior to the switch.

 

[D0NIMATRIX]

I would switch to republic, that way the immediate gold-losses of despotism are nullified, and then the flow of cash is pretty regular afterwords.

 

[Klegg]

I'm not sure exactly how much a Golden Age increases production, but switching from Despotism to Republic is a HUGE switch right there. I'd switch right away

 

[Pyrrhos]

I wouldn't switch (unless Religious), but that's me. Persia would take, what, six turns or so of anarchy with no production. From your description, you are a few turns into your GA which would in effect mean that you'd only have some ten turns GA as a republic. My gut feeling is that you'd lose out switching.

You could make a save and play from there twice, the first time using despo all the way thru the GA & then switch & save after the switch was complete, the secod time switch immediately and compare at the same date the first game switch was completed, then you'd see which was the best way. If you do, please tell!

 

[Desertsnow]

If I'm playing a Religious civ I'll revolt during a golden age, considering that two turns of lost production will be mitigated by having most of the GA under a government other than Despotism. It's a sort of gambit, really, but doing this if not Religious is too risky, I think, in the great majority of cases. It also depends on the size of your empire. If you already have lots of cities already, with many worked tiles but also a lot of corruption in your frontierlands, it would probably be more productive. If you want to experiment with it, then go ahead. Also, this is better earlier in the GA, probably within the first half of it even if Religious, and certainly within the first two or three at most with Persia and that it will depend much on luck, specifically a short revolution dictated by the RNG.

In short, feel free to experiment, but it's probably unwisely risky for this game.

 

[Son_Of_Dido]

Unless you are
A) religious, and
B) getting out of despotism
I would advise against it.

 

[Desertsnow]

Like I said, if you're not Religious it's too risky.

 

[Abegweit]

What is the cost vs the benefit?

A GA gives you one additional shield on each tile that is already producing one and one additional commerce on each tile that is already producing one.

This means that if most of the tiles worked are only producing one shield and one commerce (or at least three before the despo penalty; rare I know), then you are pretty much getting full benefit from the GA already so switching costs a lot. In contrast, if you have a lot of mined river grass then your GA is being wasted as all the additional output is lost to the despo penalty. In the latter case, switch sooner rather than later.

But this is uncommon and, in general production is worth much more than commerce at this stage of the game. The additional shields given by the GA should not be thrown away on a badly-timed switch.

Edit: In general, it is not desirable to build settlers and workers during a GA. A GA boosts shields and commerce but not food. Because of this, taking away citizens gives up part of the benefit of the GA. There is plenty of time to fill in the island once the GA is finished.

 

[bambam190]

Edit: In general, it is not desirable to build settlers and workers during a GA. A GA boosts shields and commerce but not food. Because of this, taking away citizens gives up part of the benefit of the GA. There is plenty of time to fill in the island once the GA is finished.

Good point, I didn't think of it that way, unfortunatly my GA always seems to come during the expansion phase...its a catch 22.

 

[Theov]

Hey! I got the same situation.
I play with the Hitties, just finished the Light House and got into a GA.
But 2 turns later I discovered the Republic.
.
I'm going to play the situation twice and let you know.
I'll first play the GA out under Depo and than switch to Repo.
Then I re-load the game and make the switch to Repo in my GA.
.
EDIT:
I have a ton of workers - I'm not builing any anymore - and pretty much all terrain is settled by either me or my homeboys the Chinese.
I'm builing up a load of swordsmen (the chinese lack iron...) and I'm planning a short heavy war to kick the Chinese to where they belong.
.
How many turns does a GA last?
What's the exact effect?

 

[Snarkhunter]

How many turns does a GA last?
What's the exact effect?

20 turns, definite. IIRC, it boosts shield production by 25%, but memory's hazy & I don't recall if it also boosts commerce. . . .

kk

 

[Abegweit]

@theov and Snarkhunter

If you want to know what a GA does, read my post just up this thread.

And yes, 20 turns is right.

 

[Theov]

@theov and Snarkhunter

If you want to know what a GA does, read my post just up this thread.

I did.
But some squares were producing 1 commerce or shield, and some were producing 2. So I have to test it anyway.

 

[MAS]

IIRC, it boosts shield production by 25%, but memory's hazy & I don't recall if it also boosts commerce. . . .

kk

You are not recalling correctly, sorry. I adds +1 shield to any tile that produces at least 1 shield already, and it adds +1 commerce to any tile that produces at least 1 commerce already.

 

[Theov]

You are not recalling correctly, sorry. I adds +1 shield to any tile that produces at least 1 shield already, and it adds +1 commerce to any tile that produces at least 1 commerce already.

... except for tiles that already produce 2 shields or 2 commerce when in despotism. (correct if I'm wrong but this is what I'm understanding)
.
That's pretty much the issue here and from there it's grabbing a calculator.

 

[Abegweit]

Despo penalty applies to everything. Yes.

 

[PaperBeetle]

Or to put it another way, the despotic penalty is applied after bonuses from things like the GA and the Colossus. But what if one modded up a government that had both the despotic penalty and the republican commerce bonus?

 

[Desertsnow]

Oligarchy!

 

[D0NIMATRIX]

I think that the despo penalty would overrule the republic bonus in that case.