What good is democracy?

[morchuflex]

Hello.

In Civ2 I always ended playing Democracy. But now I wonder: what good is this gov in Civ3? Is there any situation in which switching from republic to democracy will bring enough additional income to justify researching two optional techs (press and democr itself) and facing potential war weariness?
In almost all my games, the income difference between rep and democr varies from 0 to 5% (when it's not negative due to a big army). That's cetainly not worth it, especially when you are struggling to keep a tech lead.
The increased worker efficiencey is a joke: at this time, all the job is already done except railroads, and an advanced Civ can afford some more workers anyway, so this is really a marginal bonus.
The only situation that I can think of is having a far-stretched empire with a little army and the religious trait (to shorten the transition). In such a situation, the farthest cities could really benefit from the corruption decrease, and having few troops you wouldn't be hurt by the zero unit maintenance.
But other than that, I can't imagine any situation making that gov worthwhile.

 

[sabo]

Since I'm warmongering 90% of the time the only time I ever use Democracy is when I have my Own continent by myself. Doing that and some WW fighting buildings and wonders you can keep the fighting off your own land which helps alot with WW

PS... Oh, and no long wars!! Go in, take a few cities when WW builds then make peace, 20 turns later fight them again and take some more cities... works like a charm

 

[Lennon]

you can keep the fighting off your own land which helps alot with WW

Why was I under the impression that it was the other way around?

 

[Longasc]

Civilization III Conquests is a communist propaganda tool.

It clearly shows the flaws of Facism and the uselessness of Democracy.

Communism is just tooooooo good for conquering the world in C3C.

 

[rainmaker]

One reason I prefer communism over democracy in later stages is the ability to build up ai cities I've taken.

 

[michael4000]

Is there any situation in which switching from republic to democracy will bring enough additional income to justify researching two optional techs (press and democr itself) and facing potential war weariness?

If you are on the road to democracy you are probably wheeling and dealing techs, so the two optionals aren't really a liability you have to justify -- they can be traded around for gpt and whatever techs you skipped, just like any other tech...

 

[sabo]

Why was I under the impression that it was the other way around?

other way around? So you are saying that fighting within your territory helps with war weariness?

As far as I always knew foreign military units (foreign as in the AI you are fighting against) was a big factor in increasing WW.

 

[morchuflex]

they can be traded around for gpt and whatever techs you skipped, just like any other tech...

In C3C the AI hardly ever offers gpt. When they are down to 10 gold and you offer democracy, they offer... 10 gold and a smile. Or useless maps. Anyway.

 

[ForTheEmpire]

As Arathorn correctly corrected me in another thread, democracy can bring about anarchy as opposed to republic just having war waried but still productive citizens.

 

[Tomoyo]

Republic war wearied citizens require about a 50% luxury tax to be productive. However, the good thing is that there is a maximum WW number.

 

[ozo]

The good thing with Democracy is that you get a nice warm glow inside when you use it because you know your citizens are free! Seriously, Democracy isn't much good in C3C. It was better in vanilla, because in vanilla Republic doesn't have free unit support, so the increased tax income of Democracy really made a difference then when you didn't have to pay more for unit support compared to Republic. The faster workers are always nice ofcourse, but Democracy isn't far away from Replaceable Parts, and when you get that tech, the workers are very fast anyway.

 

[Sarevok]

Democracy is pretty good. I actually can sucessfully fight war with it and keep a super-economy.

 

[Aggie]

In C3C the AI hardly ever offers gpt. When they are down to 10 gold and you offer democracy, they offer... 10 gold and a smile. Or useless maps. Anyway.

This depends on the level you play. It's OK around regent but gets better around emperor.

As I said before I don't like democracy. It is only marginally better than Repbulic and not worth the revolt as I see it.

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

It is worth it when you have a larger Army Republic could support, since the per-turn supprot is only 1gpt here. And the faster Worker speed is helpful, especially against Pollution.
However, I hardly ever switch from Republic to Demo, the Anarchy is nearly never worth it (unless REL, of course). But if I happen to be in Feudalism/Monarchy, I'd prefer it when my empire is big enough to benefit from the lower corruption.

And the Techs...since I consider Shakespear's a killer Wonder, I will research it anyway.