The Best Government Type

[Donald Duck]

When you have all techs - the best govt. is a Fundamentalism (my favourite)
Democracy is the best but you have to have many many cities for it to be successfull otherwise even monarchy is better.

 

[DSN]

I find it is hard to keep democracies happy, especially if you're at war and lots of units are out. Monarchy is good because you can have martial law, but when you leave monarchy to, say, democracy you can get a shock because the martial law is gone, so you're cities get unhappy when previously they were happy.

Happiness is very important for me, as if your cities are unhappy and rioting, they are not producing anything and preventing riots means building things (so spending time and money) or having less workers on the land (so you have less food/trade/prod. etc.).

So fundamentalism is good because everyone is happy, otherwise monarchy with lots of happiness wonders.

 

[Singing Guy]

Eh, honestly, if you have trouble with maintaining happiness during a Democracy, you're obviously doing something wrong.

Are you building lots of military units? Spies/Diplomats get the job done much easier, not to mention that you can get tons of NON military units by bribing them while they're closer to another civ's city than one of yours. Or try to set all your military units to be supported from the city with Shakespeare's Theater (usually your SSC), that way it won't matter that there's a lot of them.

Quite frankly, end-of-game monarchy sucks. All/most of your oponents will be in Rep/Demo, and there's really no way to make up for the trade icons lost from not being in one of those.

 

[DSN]

Honestly I haven't played Demo in this game for a while, perhaps I'm confusing it with Civ-call-to-power, which I've played more recently.
I have to say that usually I win by conquering all the other cities using loads of military units. Perhaps in the next game I play I'll focus more on non-military.

 

[geofelt]

It depends on the situation.
Despotism sucks; it has no redeeming value.
Monarchy is good early because a settler takes only one food while you are busy expanding.
I like to get "statue of liberty" early. I revolt to Democracy only to grow; set luxuries to 60% and grow for a few turns or until I stop growing. Hanging gardens is invaluable here. I would stay there, but the shield support costs early take too much out of my production capabilities. If I need some science, I use communism which will come close to democracy, while reducing shield maintenance costs. It usually only takes two units to keep happiness. If I need gold, more than science, I use fundamentalism. Perhaps I am missing something, but I never use republic. Democracy seems to be a better alternative. If I need war, I use fundy or communism.

 

[PHSikes]

I tend to go from Mon. to Rep. as soon as possible then to Fun. when i can...if I'm not to far behind on tech. by the time i get Dem. i'm fighting too much and everyone is mad/revolting.

 

[DSN]

I never use republic, though the ai does often. It makes the population unhappy and has little science/gold I think, but lots of maintainance.

Or atleast that's my impression of it.

 

[Prof. Garfield]

I never use republic, though the ai does often. It makes the population unhappy and has little science/gold I think, but lots of maintainance.

Or atleast that's my impression of it.

Do you do anything with roads? An early republic has a dependance on a small amount of roads, or ocean. A republic can be in place with just HG at diety (have done this) but it is a little dificult. After mikes, there is little reason not to switch. After Bach, a democracy is very easy to maintain. If you are the early war type, you may not like rep or demo, but on diety it is almost imperative to reserch, as in the early game the comp has production advantages.
If you cannot maintain a democracy, you are ether very sloppy or very bad. A democracy takes work, but your work will be paid back exponentialy. Read up on power demo for more info.

 

[DSN]

Well I just tried demo in the current GOTM game and chaos ensued. But then I don't have many temples, though I do have 'Mike.' I think I'll go back to monarchy now.

"If you cannot maintain a democracy, you are ether very sloppy or very bad."
that's me!

I do want a demo, as its income is four or five times that of monarchy.

 

[Shycho]

DSN i'm in the same boat as you as soon as i revolt to republic or democracy half my units get disbanded, and in democracy all my cities revolt but in republic my cities are happy but i still use a lot units

 

[Ace]

Before you switch to Demo, you need temples and marketplaces in all your cities, and at least two trade routes in each city. When you revolt and pick demo, set your luxury rate to %40. Than check the happeness in each city to see if you can reduce the luxury rate without unhappyness.

Go to the general discussion forum and open the first thread which is an index of "good stuff", than go down to the link to Power democracy and read that one. it will tell you all you ever wanted to know about demo.... LOL

 

[DSN]

Well I tried demo today an it worked ok (lots of money and growth), but then I did have both Mike and Bach. Now I've switched to fundametalism, as I need to send units out to war (fundamentalism avoids unhappiness and production reduction).

 

[Gelion]

Communism on easier levels,
Fundamentalism on harder levels.

 

[Prof. Garfield]

Communism on easier levels,
Fundamentalism on harder levels.

You have it wrong, it's:
Democracy on easier levels,
Democracy on harder levels.

Celebrations are difficult to maintain in those govts, and if your city grows and offsets the celebration balance, it will be difficult to reestablish. If a democracy stoppes celebrating, you can decide to stall growth to the normal sub-exceptable rates. No loss of trade.

Democracy takes planning, decide early if you wish to use it. If so, build the bare minimum of units, and avoid wars. When in a republic or democracy, use diplomates and coins whenever possible. If units are needed, keep them for the shortest amount of time possible. Reserch, and use tanks and howies against weak units (a power demo can achieve tanks against pre-muskets, I have done this [some had gunpowder, but it was from a blunder on my part and others didn't have it]) so you don't need many extra units in the early stages.

 

[DSN]

Yes but if you're having a war that isn't going well for you in demo, you can have problems. I still think fundamentalism is best for war, but democracy better for peace. So it is important to get Statue of Liberty as soon as possible to enact them before you have the actual technologies.

 

[Duke of Marlbrough]

Democracy can be used for peace as well as war. If it is set-up properly you should have no real problems with it during either.

 

[DSN]

If it is set-up properly you should have no real problems with it during [war?] either.

That's exactly the point, I lack the skill to have it "properly set-up!"

 

[Duke of Marlbrough]

'no real problems with it during either'; meaning no problems with it during peace or war. You should be able to function during either state you are in.

Some info on a Power Democracy:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=87937

 

[geofelt]

The big problem with democracy in war is sustaining the war. Once you capture a city, the senate will usually force a cease fire when the ai contacts you. You can refuse contact and sometimes continue "peacekeeping", but not for long. If you try to contact the ai before they talk to you, they will tell you to "begone" and you can keep up the attack.
When revolting to change to democracy, I set luxuries to 60% which is the maximum under anarchy and this keeps some cities frpm revolting. I also change the options to not get a warning of revolting cities. This is easier than micromanaging things beforehand. After the revolt, I arbitrarily keep luxuries at 60% to keep growing.

 

[DSN]

Yeah I found it much easier to keep demo up once I upped the luxuries to just 30%. They even celebrated and grew. When at war I put it to 60%. Even at only 30% tax, I still got much more money than at max. monarchy.

The senate is a pain.