Need some pointers on waging war as a democracy.

[neoruski]

I need som tips for waging war as a democracy. I am playing against 8 civs on deity level. I am in the modern age, have at least 1 of every resource, I have 10 ICBMs. When I declare war all my cities go into civil disorder. No I dont declare war by nuking. Is it possible to declare war without civil disorder and stay a democracy?

 

[Czarrillo]

You need Universal Suffrage, although it sounds like you didn't get it. The only thing I can suggest is having your opponent declare war on you instead. Do this by repeatively trying to plant a spy, or get them furious by demanding a city, then tell them to leave your territory if they're in it.

 

[RX2000]

Moonsinger's article has some helpful tips, and she (he?) has wrote it with Deity level in mind. Check it out here:

http://www.civfanatics.com/civ3acad_demo_war.shtml

 

[slothman]

I never directly declare war. I always MPP with someone and they declare for me. Of course I do have suffrage.

 

[kb2tvl]

I would not war in demo unless you have a rediciously large/fast army and have almost all the luxaries and have US. You can do a defensive operation in demo though.

 

[hbdragon88]

Build police stations and all happiness improvements, such as libraries, temples, cathedrals. Set the governor to manage moods. If the people overthrow your democracy, then there's some serious unhappiness.

 

[CelticCommander]

Getting caught planting spies really worked well for me in my last game. Americans hastily declared war and were not prepared for my retaliation. I am only on regent level however.

 

[Zachriel]

Originally posted by neoruski
I need som tips for waging war as a democracy. I am playing against 8 civs on deity level. I am in the modern age, have at least 1 of every resource, I have 10 ICBMs. When I declare war all my cities go into civil disorder. No I dont declare war by nuking. Is it possible to declare war without civil disorder and stay a democracy?

You shouldn't normally go into civil disorder. If there is residual war weariness from your previous excessive warmongering, then of course, the people are going to be unhappy about another war so soon. You need to adjust your civilian workforce after declaring war. Be sure to allocate enough Entertainers. Or just use the City Governor.

 

[anarres]

Originally posted by hbdragon88
Build police stations and all happiness improvements, such as libraries, temples, cathedrals. Set the governor to manage moods. If the people overthrow your democracy, then there's some serious unhappiness.

IMO, it's a bad idea to automate anything, ever. This includes militarty units, workers and cities (governors).

The only exception I can think of is in the modern age, when the world is subdued and you are ticking out the turns for a Diplo, Spaceship or Cultural win.

Edit: I should point out that checking your cities at the end of each turn is the obvious way to avoid rioting.

Maybe I am too much of a control freak, but I just don't trust the governors, they are not so bright (just look at how the AI manages it's cities)...

 

[Zachriel]

Originally posted by anarres
IMO, it's a bad idea to automate anything, ever. This includes militarty units, workers and cities (governors). . . .

Overuse of the Governor, especially in the early game, can put a player at a severe disadvantage. Of course, micromanagement of every city every turn in later ages may make the game unplayable (and very tedius) for many of us. A compromise would be to carefully monitor your towns in the early game, but switch to limited use of Governors as the game progresses. This advice applies to Workers, too.

. . . I just don't trust the governors, they are not so bright (just look at how the AI manages it's cities)...

Good point! Of course, real-life Governors may not always make the best decisions either. Delegating authority is a natural aspect of Civilization as economies and nations become more complex.

 

[Zachriel]

By the way, Anarres is right that effective micromanagement will result in the best possible use of resources. However, if you can't micromanage effectively, then Governors are certainly better than disorder.

 

[anarres]

Yes. It is indeed all a balancing act.

Taking too long per turn can induce intense boredom, and taking too short a time can lead to errors.

You just need to find what is good for you. Automation is also exponentially worse the earlier in the game you do it, as early choices cascade down throughout the years.

But as Zach says, not using either automation or micromanagement is the worst of all worlds

 

[pterrok]

When you are at war as a Democracy or Republic, EVERY turn before you end the turn, press F11 and look at the first line about your Popularity. Keep it over 60%! If you are low, go back and raise your Happiness slider 10% and see what it did to this number.

As the war drags on you'll notice that all of a sudden you'll drop 20% or so from the turn before for no apparent reason--i.e you didn't lose any cities or a lot of units or any luxuries that turn, etc.--it's just that you're getting war-weary. Eventually you won't be able to pull out of it and you'll go into anarchy.

One of these days I'll see if there's a threshold below which you go into ararchy; I have seen my popularity come back at 52% when I forgot to check it and I stayed in Democracy--that 60% is just what I feel comfortable with as a thumbnail guide.

When you are spending 50% on Happiness it may be time to get a Peace Treaty 'cause anarchy is near!

Remember, if you have a religious civ that will come right back out of anarchy, you can KEEP the war going to force the other guys into anarchy so they can't build new units!

 

[DaveMcW]

I make sure the governor is managing moods in all cities when I fight in Democracy. Even one disorder is enough to cancel any benefit from micromanaging them.

Then I check the F1 screen every turn and boost luxuries if there are too many entertainers.

 

[Charis]

It's commonly assumed that democracy won't work for wars, especially long wars. It's just not true that it won't work.

kb2tvl's comments bear this view, and he has one excellent point. Having all eight luxuries and many marketplaces is probably the best thing you can do. Trade for them if needed (obviously) Suffrage is nice, but not required. Police statsions help. The last thing I want to do however is a defensive war in democracy.

The key, frankly, is in not losing many units, and not having your cities attacked. If you let the AI come to you and attack your cities your weariness will skyrocket. ONE way to do well is to have a massive force and just roll over your foe(s). But I use two other tactics to have an extreme warmonger game and stay in democracy.
- First, I take it to their territory and use combined arms, including strong defenders and heavy bombardment to cut losses, and fast units to actually attack the cities. Their retreat ability, and ability to raze a city then step back and get defended helps alot.
- Oscillating war. Your war weariness levels are calculated on a per-civ basis, then added up. If you switch between opponents, hitting hard, taking concessions, and move on to another foe, serious war weariness seldomly settles in.
- Your income (if you have 8 lux) will quite likely be stronger in democracy at 40% lux rate, than in monarchy at 0%. When it gets to 50% it starts to even out or turn slightly to favoring Monarchy. If I'm going to stop soon, I use several entertainers where needed and keep in Democracy.
- In a recent deity game where I did choose an attack style with combined arms, had 8 lux and all happiness buildings, I entered democracy and proceeding to conquest, wiping out 4-5 civs, but oscillating. It wasn't until the very last foe, the world superpower, where my losses were high enough that democracy was about to fail. I switched to... Republic!! That let me go from 50(almost 60%) lux and an untenable deficit to 40% lux slider, where I stayed the rest of the game.

If your style is to conquer by throwing heavy numbers of units at foes and take a fair amount of losses along the way, democracy won't work for extended periods. Then again, you'll probably be fine switching to Monarchy and might finish the game early than a slower approach -- it's a question of what style you like.

pterrok's comments above are also very good.

Charis

 

[hbdragon88]

Just read the "Waging War in a Democracy" (or similar name) article in the War Academy. It's pretty good.

 

[Maverick069]

"In times of peace,prepare for war".So stockpile units in striking distance from your wouldbe enemy cities,and then strike.Units like lots of marines on transports and para in helicopters ought to help.