what is the civic that you least use?

[CrimsonEdge]

The two I use the least are slavery and police state.

The reason I don't use Slavery is simple. Every time I try to whip my citizens I can't. No matter what size population I have it simply doesn't give me the option to whip. I've tried everything from making all of my tiles citizens, vice versa, and everything imaginable. It's worked MAYBE once or twice total which is a bummer as I know it's a very strong civic.

The reason I chose Police State instead is because I simply don't find it very usefull for my play style.

 

[Samson]

The two I use the least are slavery and police state.

The reason I don't use Slavery is simple. Every time I try to whip my citizens I can't. No matter what size population I have it simply doesn't give me the option to whip. I've tried everything from making all of my tiles citizens, vice versa, and everything imaginable. It's worked MAYBE once or twice total which is a bummer as I know it's a very strong civic.

The reason I chose Police State instead is because I simply don't find it very usefull for my play style.

You are missing something. To be able to whip you must;

Be in slavery civic
Have enough pop

To caculate the pop required you;

Calculate the hammers needed to finish the project.
Divide that by any multipliers (so divivde by 1.25 if you have a forge)
Multiply by 2 if you have no hammers comtributed
Divide by 30 (at normal speed)
This is the number of pop that will be killed. You need twice that in the city to whip

 

[braindrain]

i don't use environmentalis either...maybe if it came way earlier it might be usefull, but shoot...it's much better to chop those trees and jungles then to save em for environmentalism...

now nationhood...that one is almost my favorite...especially playing as the ottomans and rushing for gunpowder...if you get lucky and get liberalism first, nationhood is free and gunpowder just a baby step away...and with mehmed's large population, the next thing you know your jans hit the ground running around 1100-1200ad (my earliest time anyway) and they stay effective a long time.

 

[Xanikk999]

I just dont see how someone voted state property.

This person must not be a warmonger ever, and have very few cities.

 

[marioflag]

About economic civics i had always the impression that they were too unbalanced in favour of state property.Enviromentalism, merchantilism were too weak IMO, while free market can be useful just in a few occasions when you have a few cities very well developed which in last part of game is a rare situation.I didn't expect so much people using merchantilism and free market probably i have to reconsider something in economic civics

 

[bovinespy]

About economic civics i had always the impression that they were too unbalanced in favour of state property.Enviromentalism, merchantilism were too weak IMO, while free market can be useful just in a few occasions when you have a few cities very well developed which in last part of game is a rare situation.I didn't expect so much people using merchantilism and free market probably i have to reconsider something in economic civics

Most of my wins have been of the Space Race variety, so I doubt I've used State Property more than a couple times in dozens of Civ4 games. I just can't bear giving up that extra trade route from Free Market.

The one I voted for, though, is Nationalism. It was a toss-up between that and Environmentalism. I've never used either, but I picked Nationalism because it seemed more 'shocking'! Looking at everybody extolling Nationalism's virtues, however, has got me thinking that maybe I should try it out soon....

 

[Xanikk999]

Most of my wins have been of the Space Race variety, so I doubt I've used State Property more than a couple times in dozens of Civ4 games. I just can't bear giving up that extra trade route from Free Market.

The one I voted for, though, is Nationalism. It was a toss-up between that and Environmentalism. I've never used either, but I picked Nationalism because it seemed more 'shocking'! Looking at everybody extolling Nationalism's virtues, however, has got me thinking that maybe I should try it out soon....

Well if you have a medium or big sized empire you will make more money with state property thus be able to raise the science rate even higher.

 

[PedalPower]

I actually use some of the least popular civics a lot. Serfdom is a nice alternative to slavery if you don't want that. Slavery may be powerful, but it is cheesy IMO. Mercantilism is better than its reputation, especially if you are playing with aggressive AI settings and open borders may not get you very much, since at any time an AI may declare war on you. Mercantilism with a forge in the city gives you an engineer specialist that produces 2 hammers and valuable GE points. If you have a fishing village out on the ice to get that must have resource out there, that engineer specialist will go a long way to getting that little burg up and running. Even if you don't have a forge yet, that lowly citizen specialist gives you one more hammer per turn and even that can be a big help.

Police state can become almost mandatory if you are going for a conquest victory. If your military is powerful, the AI isn't going to declare war on you, so you will have to start the war yourself and WW can and probably will spiral out of control.

But I have to agree about Environmentalism and pascifism. By the time environmentalism comes around, I have already spent most of the game procuring the buildings and resources for a resonable health and happiness margin. But it may actually be somewhat of an alternative to police state for conquest if you resist the temptation to chop your forrests.

 

[The Navy Seal]

marioflag You should have made it with multiple picks I never use free religion because it hurts your economy more than it helps if you ask me.

P.S and your military.

 

[braindrain]

PedalPower, you had some good points, but i don't understand how you can back up mercantillism and boo pacifism, the two are ment for eachother..what with a free specialist and double gp points, its like a match made in heaven...sure this don't work so good for warmongering, but when going for cultural or space race or running a specialist econonmy they are great to run...especially if you use caste system, build the statue of liberty, and are philosophical... these civics have a defined roll and are usefull in these situations, environmentalism, however, is never really usefull

 

[marioflag]

navy seal i have thought about it but poll doesn't allow you to split civics for type for example (economic,government,labour civics).The best thing was to give 1 choice for every type of civic it would have been more accurated.
Giving 5 choices without splitting would have given voters chance to vote civics of same type which would have been a lot less accurated than just giving 1 choice.For example i would have surely voted enviromentalism and merchantilism and i'm sure a lot of other people would have chosen civics of the same type which would have messed up all the poll

 

[hitlerII]

i have never activated Enviromentalism... ever and i dont intend too.

 

[Gen.Rommel]

The most useless one that i see is pacifism. I dont see anyone trying to win game after game peacefully. Its no fun without the fighting, and would be unbelievably expensive to use it if your a warmonger.

 

[PedalPower]

PedalPower, you had some good points, but i don't understand how you can back up mercantillism and boo pacifism, the two are ment for eachother..what with a free specialist and double gp points, its like a match made in heaven...sure this don't work so good for warmongering, but when going for cultural or space race or running a specialist econonmy they are great to run...especially if you use caste system, build the statue of liberty, and are philosophical... these civics have a defined roll and are usefull in these situations, environmentalism, however, is never really usefull

Sure, the bonuses add up, but I would think that most people running pacifism would want to have those lucrative foreign trade routes. There is a heavy commerce penalty to pay with mercantilism, but if you are going to take that hit anyway because of frequent wars, at least mercantilism gives you the consolation prize of the free specialist.

 

[Antilogic]

When playing as a Philosophical leader, Pacifism can be a great addition to your game even if you are trying to conquer the world. If you have a shrine, you can afford it, and you can build up great people like no tomorrow (I've had nearly 200 great people points per turn running that combo, and I'm sure under the right conditions I could beat it!).

If you are playing as Elizabeth, you can always try the relatively peaceful route early until you get to the industrial era, and then go hog-wild and try and conquer the world by the advent of the Modern Age. Early game warmongers, I agree, Pacifism has limited use. But for late game warmongers, it has a purpose.

Generally, I've found foreign trade routes only lucrative if I have several coastal cities with harbors to boost the income. Inland cities might only get +3 or +4 from foreign cities, +2 from your own--what's the point? I'd rather use State Property late game and save all that money...and more. No single civic besides State Property has ever allowed me to do this: running 70% science and barely losing money per turn, then go to 90% science and still make about 20-30 per turn.

Free Religion I've found has other uses than just the meager science bonus. It's the only religious civic that adds happiness, so if that's a problem, it helps, and the more religions the better. It also essentially gives you a bonus in the diplomatic arena--not having a state religion is great for playing the intermediary between two massive religious blocks...you'll be able to trade with each! I've played games and never have declared a state religion, staying pagan until free religion comes along.

 

[hitlerII]

When playing as a Philosophical leader, Pacifism can be a great addition to your game even if you are trying to conquer the world. If you have a shrine, you can afford it, and you can build up great people like no tomorrow (I've had nearly 200 great people points per turn running that combo, and I'm sure under the right conditions I could beat it!).

If you are playing as Elizabeth, you can always try the relatively peaceful route early until you get to the industrial era, and then go hog-wild and try and conquer the world by the advent of the Modern Age. Early game warmongers, I agree, Pacifism has limited use. But for late game warmongers, it has a purpose.

Generally, I've found foreign trade routes only lucrative if I have several coastal cities with harbors to boost the income. Inland cities might only get +3 or +4 from foreign cities, +2 from your own--what's the point? I'd rather use State Property late game and save all that money...and more. No single civic besides State Property has ever allowed me to do this: running 70% science and barely losing money per turn, then go to 90% science and still make about 20-30 per turn.

Free Religion I've found has other uses than just the meager science bonus. It's the only religious civic that adds happiness, so if that's a problem, it helps, and the more religions the better. It also essentially gives you a bonus in the diplomatic arena--not having a state religion is great for playing the intermediary between two massive religious blocks...you'll be able to trade with each! I've played games and never have declared a state religion, staying pagan until free religion comes along.

Such a good point and the thing about Pacifism is that it has NOTHING to do with whether or not you are a warmonger so whoever said it ruins the game it doesn't affect wars! I activated in the middle of a war (me v Germany+China) and besides all it does is give you culture points.

 

[Bongo-Bongo]

Such a good point and the thing about Pacifism is that it has NOTHING to do with whether or not you are a warmonger so whoever said it ruins the game it doesn't affect wars! I activated in the middle of a war (me v Germany+China) and besides all it does is give you culture points.

Pacifism can be crippling for a warmonger. The civic increases upkeep cost by one for each unit outside you cultural borders. This can cripple your economy, and may well cause you to fall behind in the tech race.

 

[hitlerII]

I never noticed it when i was fighting outside my cultural borders and i was paying attention in case anything could happen (FYI i was Napoleon)

 

[Caesius]

I've never used Police State, Nationhood, Caste System, Mercantilism or Vassalage (and a pretty sure I've never used Theocracy) but I've used Environmentalism once or twice back when I was new to Civ4 and didn't know just how useless it was. I'll never switch to Environmentalism unless the AI gets the UN and is ******** enough to have a vote for Environmentalism.

I personally use Serfdom a lot more than Slavery since I only play at Noble and have never gotten the feel of what or when to whip (one reason why I've had this game for a year and have yet to go to Prince). Serfdom doesn't actually give +50% for all improvements though - in fact I'm pretty sure it only makes a difference in jungle and forests. Because of this I'll only switch to Serfdom if I don't have Emancipation available and I can switch to it along with another civic I want without adding any turns to anarchy.

Pacifism is much better late-game when you can support your units, also (and no support cost is nice if you tend to go long periods of time with just enough military to defend yourself). I generally don't go warmongering until mid-to-late game anyway.

 

[hitlerII]

I actually use either Slavery or Universal Suffrage the most. Them and occasionally Free Speech (because there is no upkeep cost).