The Most Useful Civic

[Mr. Civtastic]

what are u switching between? slavery is in the labor civics area, and that whole area is pretty weak. lots of my games I never switch, it just depends on how badly they demand emancipation.

I was running feudalism some to "catch up" my new cities I had captured and deal with a couple jungle cities. But yeah, I would put it back on slavery once I put my workers away waiting on railroad and still waiting to get emancipation.

 

[Stolen Rutters]

I voted slavery because it is useful in every game I play. I may only whip selectively and I rarely if ever use slavery in the AD, but it comes early and it's valuable way to trade food for more hammers no matter the game. I have played games when I skip over other civics completely, but this one always pays back the one turn of anarchy many times over.

So now I have decided to try a game without slavery and see what I can do with it.

Currently playing Vanilla v1.61, Single player, Monarch, Catherine, Standard size map, standard speed, default selections otherwise.

 

[Zombie69]

Slavery by far, no contest (see my sig for details).

 

[cabert]

in the vanilla version, slavery is the way to go for most (all if not spiritual) of the game

 

[moggydave]

Here's a funny thing: the two most valuable civics are the ones you'd least want to live under.

For the best chance of winning, spend thousands of years as a slave society, then switch to Stalinism in the last century or so.

Hmm.

Bit of a change from the bright shiny utopia we all aimed for in Civ II.

Well I certainly wouldn't want to live under slavery but state property i think is a good idea and shouldn't just be assossiated with autocratic communist states.

I'd rather live under state property than police state.

Anyway, this shouldn't be a political thread.

I did vote state property because you just don't realise how valuable it is until you get it. I knew slavery was popular with a lot of people but I didn't realise it was this popular.

Quick question. What would you whip for in the early game? Wonders? Military? City Improvements? Can someone give a little extra detail (not too much) on how to use slavery well

 

[cabert]

Quick question. What would you whip for in the early game? Wonders? Military? City Improvements? Can someone give a little extra detail (not too much) on how to use slavery well

slavery is powerful because :
- you can whip
- no upkeep

what you whip for? units mostly, and use the overflow for what you need
It's not only the easiest and most efficient way to build things, it's also the easiest and most efficient way to avoid unhappies (you're unhappy? die!)

 

[Damjo]

It's not only the easiest and most efficient way to build things, it's also the easiest and most efficient way to avoid unhappies (you're unhappy? die!)

I like his way of thinking. Keep a smile on your face or be killed..

 

[Quotey]

Barbarianism is obviously the most useful civic!

 

[UncleJJ]

slavery is powerful because :
- you can whip
- no upkeep

what you whip for? units mostly, and use the overflow for what you need
It's not only the easiest and most efficient way to build things, it's also the easiest and most efficient way to avoid unhappies (you're unhappy? die!)

For me Slavery is an essential part of the way a conquered city can be brought into my empire even late in the game (e.g. 1860 and just researched Plastics). When you are in a state of perpetual war and conquer a size 14 city it is going to have horrendous unhappiness once it comes out of revolt. Slavery turns 6 of those unhappy people into a Factory or University or whatever is going to make the city useful AND it usually solves the unhappiness problem in one fell swoop . Emancipation, War weariness and "we yearn for the motherland" forms of unhappiness are all dependent on the population in the city so you need a way to reduce population until essential happiness buildings can be put in place.

Slavery is the strongest civic and the others are not even close...

 

[wiseZippy]

I cant understand why slavery is so popular!! A well planned out strategy, with troops strategically placed (in cities near to) possible enemy CIVS means that you should never have to sacrifice pop for hammers, as any surprise attack can be met by your pre-prepared stack! Well thought out planning beats "rushed" troops/buildings and the such, EVERY TIME! (i voted for State property- vital in the larger maps and useful in smaller ones)

 

[DigitalBoy]

I cant understand why slavery is so popular!! A well planned out strategy, with troops strategically placed (in cities near to) possible enemy CIVS means that you should never have to sacrifice pop for hammers, as any surprise attack can be met by your pre-prepared stack! Well thought out planning beats "rushed" troops/buildings and the such, EVERY TIME! (i voted for State property- vital in the larger maps and useful in smaller ones)

A "bug" in the game allows you to sacrifice one population point (something like 10 to 20 food early in the game when slavery becomes available) for 60 hammers. That makes a farmed grassland almost as good at production as a mined hill. Slavery isn't so much about rushing as it is about an easy, efficient, and reusable way to increase production. And face it, early in the game, production and hammers are hard to come by. Any boon in production you can squeeze out is a big advantage.

 

[Andrei_V]

A "bug" in the game allows you to sacrifice one population point (something like 10 to 20 food early in the game when slavery becomes available) for 60 hammers. That makes a farmed grassland almost as good at production as a mined hill.

Early in the game, when you have no Forge or OrgReligion bonuses, you cannot use that "bug", so you exchange 1 pop for 30 hammers plain and straight.

A city of size 2 with Granary only needs (20+2*2)/2 = 12 food to get that whipped pop back. So, 12 food in exchange of 30 hammers. A farmed grassland is indeed comparable to or even better than 4H mine.

Compare two cases:
1. A city of size 2 works a grassland cottage and that 4H mine for 5 hammers total, and it is stagnant. You're building an Axe (35 hammers). It'll take 7 turns to complete that Axe.

2. The same city works a grassland cottage + 3F farmed grassland. It makes 1 hammer, and grows at the rate 3 food/turn. In 4 turns (12/3 = 4) it is size 3. On the next turn, when you get 5th hammer for the Axe, you can whip the rest (30 hammers) for 1 pop.

You see what I mean? Both cities in the end are of size 2 and have built an Axe. Only the second city did it in 5 turns instead of 7.

 

[gdgrimm]

I cant understand why slavery is so popular!! A well planned out strategy, with troops strategically placed (in cities near to) possible enemy CIVS means that you should never have to sacrifice pop for hammers, as any surprise attack can be met by your pre-prepared stack! Well thought out planning beats "rushed" troops/buildings and the such, EVERY TIME! (i voted for State property- vital in the larger maps and useful in smaller ones)

Uhhhhh...... Where do you get those "planned" troops from?

Early game, for me, they come from the whip.

 

[cabert]

I cant understand why slavery is so popular!! A well planned out strategy, with troops strategically placed (in cities near to) possible enemy CIVS means that you should never have to sacrifice pop for hammers, as any surprise attack can be met by your pre-prepared stack! Well thought out planning beats "rushed" troops/buildings and the such, EVERY TIME! (i voted for State property- vital in the larger maps and useful in smaller ones)

you don't understand it because you never tried!

When you capture a size 12 city, surrounded by enemy culture, you either let it starve (=lose the pop and get nothing) or whip it down all the way to size 1 (extreme example, but however, = lose the pop and get : a granary+a forge+a theatre, depending on your traits)

 

[ggganz]

Well, I am saying something against my own favorite Civic, but the need to make this joke is too powerful...

Hereditary Rule is getting beat by Slavery a lot.

 

[PhanTasmO]

The one where you get 60 hammers for 1 pop point. See Zombie69's micromanagement article for full details.

Slavery is by far the best civic in the game...be sure to check out the power bands for the extra hammers on page 10 or 11..

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=159109

 

[Nares]

Uhhhhh...... Where do you get those "planned" troops from?

Early game, for me, they come from the whip.

That about sums it up. Slavery doesn't necessitate haste, but it can surely facilitate solid planning to a degree no other civic can, with or without the bug. As was said elsewhere, even in the end-game it has its uses for eliminating the unhappy citizens in a newly "liberated" city, while being able to put in place valuable infrastructure.

 

[Beamup]

Fundamentally, slavery isn't just for emergency builds. It's also the most efficient, effective, and widely available source of hammers in the game. Building stuff by working tiles producing hammers simply can't come close to competing, even without the bug.

 

[Tonifranz]

Slavery. But I voted for State Property. Basically, in all my games, I always choose those two civics as soon as they're available.

 

[TyranusBonehead]

Hmmm, apparently I need to start playing around with slavery....

I voted for Universal Sufferage, I always liked the kick it gives to your civ's productivity.