Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[TheOverseer714]

Democracy is like a lousy version of Republic, it has absolutely nothing that Republic doesn't already have and lacks the unit support, at least in Conquests. It also has worse WW. The 2nd worst government, with Fascism the worst. I rarely bother to research either.

 

[thetrooper]

What about worker efficiency in demo? 150% of the republic, no?

 

[Lord Emsworth]

Democracy is similar to the Republic. Both get a commerce bonus (+1) for any square that already produces at least one commerce.

However:
Democracy has a slightly lower corruption (nothing to go crazy about)
Workers under Democracy are faster (+50%; in comparison, Replaceable part makes workers 100% faster)
War Weariness is about twice as bad as for a Republic, and if WW reaches a certain level the government will fall forcing you into Anarchy.
The unit support is different between Republic and Dem, but only in C3C. As a Democracy you pay one gold for every national unit.

 

[againsttheflow]

Democracy is like a lousy version of Republic, it has absolutely nothing that Republic doesn't already have and lacks the unit support, at least in Conquests. It also has worse WW.

Well that's not really accurate. While Republic does have unit support (1/3/4 for town/city/metro) its individual units cost is 2 gpt while in Democracy they cost 1. While the increased worker rate of 3 (Democracy) over 2 (Rep) can be negligible toward the later game it is nonetheless a slight advantage. Also corruption is slightly less assimilation chance is 4% over 2%. It is also immune to propaganda for whoever may be worried about the issue.

edit: partly x-post with Lord Em

 

[Padma]

I recall years ago someone demonstrated mathematically that the production/gold lost during the late-game anarchy necessary to switch to Democracy was enough to severely hamper the player in the end-game.

Like everything in Civ, however, "it depends". If Religious, Anarchy doesn't hurt so much. Or if you're a small Civ, e.g., OCC, or 5CC, it won't be as bad. OTOH, it requires researching an optional tech, taking time and effort away from more useful techs. Rule Of Thumb: It just ain't worth it.

 

[vmxa]

Demo is a reasonable option in vanilla or C3. this is due to neither Republic or Demo having troop support. This is not true in C3C or Conquest. PTW is mainly the same as C3.

The biggest problem for me in demo is that you have to learn those optional techs and there by not get to Steam as soon.

 

[CivAgamemnon]

I have to agree with Vmxa, (and Padma) because optional techs aren't a choice when you're behind in the tech rate (as you usually are in the upper levels). For me, I only make one government change, because that's all I can afford - and that change is to republic. You can't afford the wasted time in shields and research points lost on the higher levels otherwise.

 

[SleeperLv]

What about worker efficiency in demo? 150% of the republic, no?

Yeah i forgot that, worker efficiency also, but as soon as you get replacable parts, or if youre industrial civ(or both), then those lausy 50%(or 100%) in addition to 200% or 400% isnt too much of a deal. And btw when you get domacracy you probably aleady have all forests cut down and roads finished, unless youre playing very fast-teching builder type. If you play kindof-expansionist(REXer or something where you sacrifice population=earl commerce in order to make more cities), warmonger(slow tech), culture-building rushing styles then you probably will have either much workers or slow tech. Any way you will most likely have everything finished until democracy. And btw, usually when i research democracy i wont switch to it right away, i dunno how it happens, but theres some prolonged war, a wonder that needs(like newtons university or bach's cathedral) 6 more turns or something, so i dunno 150% doesnt look too effective to me. The same goes for fascism - 200%, not much difference at all. Atcually it might even be worse then democracys 150%, because deomcracy might be somewhat useful for railroads, as opposed to when you get fascism - RR already dont(or have use for it, meaning you have to have hospitals in most cities, or you lose too much pop when swtiching to fascism). Maybe only if youre hardcore warmonger with like 30-40% bombers in your army or nukes for example So when you capture city you have to rebuild everything

Btw anyone has any idea where from i remember that Democracy had 3 gold instead of republic 2 per square with road?

 

[Spoonwood]

I can see how Democracry *might* work out as beneficial in some fast-tech paced games. Space or diplo, maybe... but I wouldn't bet on it. However, even as religious, I don't see Democracy as useful in any 20k game I can think of. Come to think of it, I've only gone Democratic once, when I played as Babylon to see how I would handle war weariness, and I've only gone to Monarchy for very brief periods in 20k games. In other words...

STICK WITH THE REPUBLIC