Monarchy for Culture win?

[Hertsh]

If going for a cultural win (with peaceful methods), is it worth having Monarchy and "skipping" Democracy? To me it feels as if the 50% bonus on gold and science is worth too much in the race (to keep up on tech and buy tanks and stuff when needed). What do you say?

BTW, how big is the palace culture bonus under Monarchy?

 

[Raw Power]

Monarchy pro:
More culture from Capital, especially if beefed with culture wonders and temple/cathedral
You can go to war whenever you want/need to do this without changing gov

Democracy pro:
You get more science and gold, and thus have a larger chance of getting the first research bonuses, staying up to date on military and maybe most important of all, your gold city will be much more effective, allowing you to rush buy temples/cathedrals and other stuff you need.


So overall both are viable options, but i do believe that if you can get the synergy then Monarchy allows for the fastest win, but Democracy will give the highest score.

 

[Ki Yote]

I prefer to use Democracy myself because you have to keep up with the other races in technology or you'll be run over by their armies when the infamous DoW comes. It really sucks when a catapult army comes and all you have a few archers and maybe a horseman to fend it off. I like to keep up in the tech race even when going for cultural wins.

One tip that I love to do when I culture flip a town immediately rush a temple and a lot the time any smaller towns around it will flip shortly after. The other day I had 3 towns flip by converting one with a humanitarian and rushing a temple. The other two both flipped within a turn of each other giving me 3 cities for the cost of 1 humanitarian and a few gold to rush a temple.

 

[vomitbrown]

I was faced with that same decision this morning while playing against the computer. The Greeks were rapidly progressing towards a technological victory and I was prospering towards a cultural victory under a monarchy. When it became apparent to me that the Greeks were going to beat me with a tech victory, I tried rapidly switching to technological research to nuke their capital and perhaps slow down their progress. The problem was that a the Aztecs and Chinese had Civs between the two of us, making it very hard for me to get to them. Thus, prohibiting me from even seeing Rome through the fog-of-war. I eventually conquered China and tried to build a temple and cathedral to try to give me a boost towards building the UN building. But it was just too little, too late: the Greeks colonized Alpha Centuri.
As romantic as winning civs into your empire without a single gunshot sounds, the slowness of cultural growth unaided by science or gold makes technological victory through democracy a more pragmatic route in a CivRev game. Looking back at the entire match, I should have advanced enough with under democratic rule and take care of the greeks before going for the UN Building.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

Does anyone have any info on exactly how Palace Culture works?

 

[Hertsh]

Does anyone have any info on exactly how Palace Culture works?

Yes, I can only echo this question. How much does the palacy culture increase with Monarchy?