Least Used Civic

[Angst]

Why are so many killing Pacifism? I always run it, even when invading. Otherwise I wouldn't get a Great Person every 4 turns
And I normally can afford the extra maintienance and run Science at at least 60%

 

[MrFrodo]

Vassalage, Serfdom and Environmentalism are the three I considered.

Serfdom won....er lost...whatever.

If I'm spiritual I *might* use serfdom or vassalage for a short period. Vassalage is more likely, perhaps to enhance unit upgrades.

Environmentalism I only use very, very rarely if health is a huge issue after industrialization. I might actually use it less, but at least I consider it. Most games I play I don't even consider serfdom or vassalage. Wouldn't waste an anarchy on them for sure.

 

[sydhe]

I picked mercatilism, but I could just as easily say environmentalism. I don't think I've used Police State or Pacifism more than once, and I rarely use Serfdom. I often use Caste System in combination with Representation; otherwise I use Slavery.

 

[dragodon64]

Pacifisms my favorite religion civic if I'm playing a game with many (preferebly all) of the following: Pyramids/Representation, Philosophical leader, lots of food, industrious/ lots of wonders, Mercantilism, Statue of Liberty, Golden Age, Parthenon.

Ahh... just writing that felt like the culmination of all my civ-playing dreams...

 

[Kao'chai]

I don't use Nationalism much . Is it that useful?

 

[dragodon64]

Nope, unless you're being invaded and really need a military. You'll probably get more espionage and happiness with free speech and turning their sliders up.

 

[Antilogic]

Why are so many killing Pacifism? I always run it, even when invading. Otherwise I wouldn't get a Great Person every 4 turns
And I normally can afford the extra maintienance and run Science at at least 60%

The higher maintenance for a military is what turns me away from Pacifism. I like Nationalism for its lack of upkeep costs, but I don't use it as often as Bureaucracy and Free Speech. I also rarely use the Caste System and Theocracy, for some reason. I'm not quite sure why for Theocracy, because I'm typically a warmongering maniac.

 

[Kao'chai]

I use Pacifism all the time , especially during cultural victories . So that explains why maintenance are up .

 

[mentor]

What is your least used civic? For me, it's a tie between Environmentalism and Pacifism, but I vote Environmentalism, even though I myself am a kind of "Environmentalist".

I experiene exactly the same tie. Usually because of the race for the starship or desperate fight for survival late in the game. Of course, in BTS, Environmentalism might become an option with more late game variety..

 

[Jaybe]

but I have never used ANY of the following: Police State, Vassalage, Environmentalism, Theocracy.

Police State: If I'm in a war with heavy WW, I just make the adjustments to my culture spending. Why would I sacrifice the flexibility of gold-rushing and go through the anarchies (both to and out of police state)?

Vassalage: Actually, I remember using it once now. Back in my first few months of Civ4 I tried it. Much prefer Bureaucracy.

Environmentalism: Free Market or State Property instead.

Theocracy: Give me Org. Religion or Free Religion. I would not want to inhibit religion spread in my cities (unless there was a mechanic in play that made conflicting religions causing unhappiness).

EDIT: And Nationhood. Never used that either. Give me Bureaucracy or give me Free Speech.

 

[Swein Forkbeard]

The least used civic in each category is...

Government: Police State
Legal: Nationhood
Labor: Serfdom
Economy: Environmentalism
Religion: Pacifism

Some comments

Police State: I used to run this civic all the time, but now I almost never use it.
Nationhood: Why is everybody bashing this civic? I once used it to gain 22 Strength Infantry (I was being Kublai Khan, on Warlords), in exchange for 2 population, so that I could continue building infrastructure while still getting a fresh loads of troops. Then again... I myself only use it when I'm being an Aggressive leader and have a technology advantage (Ragnar, here we come!)
Serfdom: Good for recovering from a large-scale pillage of your lands, but if that happens, your pretty much losing anyway.
Environmentalism: The reason why people hate to those who ask, is that there is always a better civic to run. If you are pushing for Domination, State Property is a good bet (why is that civic getting bashed? I still use it until I can see that my economy is ready to live without it). If you're trying to launch a massive-scale corporation economy, Free Market will lower your costs. If nobody wants to sign Open Borders with you, Mercantilism can be okay (also if everybody is running Mercantilism and you're not dependent on foreign trade routes, or if a rival is dependent on trade routes with you and you can close them up without cancelling Open Borders). But Environmentalism INCREASES costs of those UNGODLY EXPENSIVE Corporations, and the Health and Happiness isn't worth it unless you need more Health and/or Happiness and you can't get any via other means. Did I mention that the Happiness is dependent on how many forest/jungles you have?
Pacifism: Strange that I don't run this civic, considering that I like Specialist Economies and tend to have only 1 unit guarding every city.

 

[MrCynical]

Serfdom is one of those civics that might look OK on paper, but the game never pans out in a way that makes it useful. At the point where it's available, my workers are onto pretty trivial stuff like roads in unimportant areas - there's nothing important left for them to do. All that's left after that is rails (and that doesn't take long) and repairs. Managing to clash with Slavery and Emancipation simply makes this civic a waste of space.

Enviromentalism does have its uses, and can actually play an important part in a corporation heavy strategy. The reason is simple - you can force the AIs into it permanently with the UN. If you've got AIs sitting in Stae Property (or flippling back to it every five turns), then you can't spam corporations to them. If there's enough of these, then forced enviromentalism can open enough new markets for your corporations to pay the extra costs and more. Plus the extra health is handy once the industrial buildings are around.

Nationalism is one I keep thinking is worth trying, but never get round to. Probably not a civic for long term use (compared to Free Speech), but worth it for some urgent military.

Police State is one I've only ever used once, when war weariness was crippling me.

 

[Angst]

The higher maintenance for a military is what turns me away from Pacifism. I like Nationalism for its lack of upkeep costs, but I don't use it as often as Bureaucracy and Free Speech. I also rarely use the Caste System and Theocracy, for some reason. I'm not quite sure why for Theocracy, because I'm typically a warmongering maniac.

You also mostly run CE, don't you? Pacifism's nice, especially when having a very large empire. It has No Maintienance and it really balances the extra Military maintienance out when you don't have Organized.

 

[Swein Forkbeard]

Here are the most used civics in each category.

Government: Universal Suffrage
Legal: Free Speech
Labor: Emancipation
Economy: Free Market
Religion: Organized Religion

 

[lutzj]

Environmentalism. The other choices have amazing bonuses, and health with a few smiles just doesn't cut it. Relatively expensive, too.

that's why nobody important uses it IRL