Police state vs. Hereditary rule?

[Skirmisher]

Which is better for warfare?

The minus twentyfive percent war weariness gives less war weariness, but hereditary rule solves that by giving extra happiness by units. Also in peacetime.

And when at war it is probably a good strategy to keep some defenders in the cities anyway.

If the wars are short warweariness will not be a problem anyway.

Police state gives a production bonus to units, but is very expensive to maintain in terms of civics cost. It also does not give a garrison happiness bonus.

All in all I think hereditary rule is superior to police state, because it is more flexible in war and peace.

I can see that in some rare instances police state is the best choice, but it is a government that only works well under very specific circumstances.

What do you think?

 

[Sepeteus]

Well, if you are heading into a battle you need all your soldiers in to the battlefield. You are not going to win the war by sitting quietly in your city.

I would say that if you are in an offensing war police state produces units faster + you can lenghten the war 'cause you have less war weariness.

On the other hand, If someone attacks to your country you need your units to be in the cities. So in defensiving war I would recommend to change the civics to Hereditary rule and to Nationhood. Nationhood enables drafting which will give you more units to defend your cities.

But I would still recommend that attack is the best defence.

 

[Multiplicity]

It depends, really. In an earlier part of my current game, Arabia declared war on me when I didn't quite have the strong military to defend myself well at first. I switched to Police State and started to crank out as many military units that I can. It did help in minimizing the damage dealth by Arabia. I had enough happiness in my cities which effectively made Hereditary Rule not as useful. So I believe it is situational. If you are in war and quite a few citizens are unhappy in most, if not all of your cities, then Hereditary Rule can be useful. Even if I did not wish for Police State, and if I have enough happiness in my cities, then I would go for Representation instead.

 

[phungus420]

Man, you still havn't learned in this game there really is no, "better" option, the testers did probably the best job I have seen on this. Really and truly, it depends. Personally I'm a war monger, and I rarely use either, but there have been time in certain circumstances where I have used them, but it depends, and my rational would be far too complicated for me to even recollect why. But we could go into hypotheticals of course.

But as to a "certain" waring civic, it's too broad a question for this thread.

 

[Gufnork]

I usually keep my regular civic, which is usually Universal Suffrage or Representation (it's interesting that you can't have both, like pretty much every single democracy in the real world has). I only change civics when war weariness gets really bad and that only happens when I shoot for Domination. In those cases Police State always beats Hereditary Rule.

 

[zafyro]

in war police state is better, really. 25% for unit production is just a big boost. only point when it would be against is if you have other sources of unhapiness that are not war. Civics are all usefull but each one is better for a determined situation.

 

[The Tollan]

In war with another player police state is probably more useful than in single player.

Police state becomes more useful if you have a lot of courthouses (reduced upkeep).

It mostly boils down to whether you need units to maintain order in your cities or if you are in a solid defensive position and mainly need offensive units (though police state does help you build a defense as well).

If you are playing against defenders who are tough to crack open police state is probably preferable.

 

[Samson]

I thing the real question is what is the best combination of civics for war. I think it would be very hard to turn down the 25% unit production bonus, and the war weariness has to be big, esp. if it changes to NO war weriness at some point (as discused in another thread). Heretitry rule is really big when you have a few very big or unhappy cities and the rest OK. This could just make it worth it for you.

The really important thing for me is having one of the +2 experience points civics (so your units are level 2 straight away, I find most units die on their first combat). Vassalage is high upkeep, and means you cannot have nationhood for the drafting, but Theocracy means you cannot have Free religion, with I tend to find is very important, both for the happiness and the 10% research.

For Labour you have to have a very good reason not to use Emancipation, and for economy I find it does not make much difference whether you are at war, unless you are coquering far away cities, and the state property is a big bonus.

Just my thoughts.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

In war with another player police state is probably more useful than in single player.

Police state becomes more useful if you have a lot of courthouses (reduced upkeep).

It mostly boils down to whether you need units to maintain order in your cities or if you are in a solid defensive position and mainly need offensive units (though police state does help you build a defense as well).

If you are playing against defenders who are tough to crack open police state is probably preferable.

Actually Courthouses only affect City upkeep not Civic maintenance, so they don't help Police State (except by cutting your Other costs)

 

[Sayounara]

It's called, culture spending. I for one never have happiness problems.

And draft is even more penalizing then forced production!

Another note, if you don't mind killing your tech for 10-20 turns, instead of drafting or relying on production benefits, switch to universal sufferage and hurry production!

I see no disadvantage with Police State, unless you have a lot of towns and could use universal sufferage instead.

As for Heredity Rule, I use to enjoy it very much for gigantic early cities, but now, I don't think so. Every new unit will cost, and bigger population will increase civics and maintainence cost. You're better off relying on culture spending and another government civic.

 

[rabottens]

I have seen no war weariness as a result of having a police state in place. That means less production loss and a production bonus on military projects. It is worth the switch in times of war. I volley back and forth between Police state in time of war and universal suffrage in times of peace.

 

[DaveMcW]

If you really want to use Hereditary Rule, disconnect your bronze and iron and build mass warriors. Any unit more expensive than warriors is better used in combat.