Where is the money goin?

[hanibal32916]

just a general question for everyone. what does everyone do for the balance of production vs. military? in particular i usualy run into the problem of my military is too big and thus i am either not making money or i have to cut back on science research to make up the difference. unless another civ is weak i'm usually don't attack early on, but i usually run into the problem of other civs having a larger army b/c i lack the funds and therefore they bully me and sometimes even just straight up attack me. so i was just wondering what the more successful players other then me do. such as...
what type of govn't?
how big to you let ur army get?

most of my problems occur early on in the game. if anything is unclear or if you have questions about my rambiling post, i'll check back later. thanks guys.

 

[Hygro]

If you post a savegame I could look at it and critique it. Otherwise I'm kinda in the dark.

 

[Arathorn]

I can kinda answer some of your questions.

What type of govn't? Republic, almost always, as early as I can get there, in nearly every type of game.

How big an army? Pretty small, actually. Border cities get 1-2 defenders, and then a force of mobile troops and artillery as soon is possible. If it's too big, I go bonk some heads.

It sounds like your particular problem is unit upkeep costs interfering with your desire to run very high science. Simply sell your techs for cash/techs/luxes/etc. to the AI civs and a lot of your problems will be solved. Also be sure to road everywhere.

Arathorn

 

[Cornflake]

I don't see the point in Democracy and Republic, I eman, you have to keep up your whole army.

What are the advantages?

 

[mbrown]

Early in the game I use despotism or monarchy as my governments which allow a large military force to be maintained (but lower science). I maintain this form of government until I am the dominant power on my continent. This generally means that I have destroyed or crippled the other civilizations on my continent.

I will switch to a higher form of government (democrarcy or republic) later in the game after my security situtaion is cleared up. I will then generally keep 1 defender in each inner city, 2-3 defenders in frontier regions and a large mobile force (cavalry, artillery, etc.) for counter-attack.

 

[Arathorn]

The advantages are 1 commerce from every square already producing commerce, plus multipliers.

In a relatively small empire of 12 cities, with average population 8 (half cities, half towns, fairly early in the game), that's 96 citizens each getting an extra commerce (+96 gold). Say half those cities have marketplaces, for an extra 24 gold. That's 120 extra commerce EARLY in the game, and I never have 10 troops/city that early in the game.

Later in the game, with 20 cities of size 20 (still relatively small), it's 400 bonus commerce, directly, but add in markets, banks, and stock exchanges, and it's 1000 extra commerce, every turn. Communism would give 160 units with no upkeep (I believe) with a similarly-sized empire. 1000>160, so the cash is MUCH better. Even with 20-30% luxuries, the people's governments produce way more cash.

Arathorn

 

[Hygro]

Oh, and make sure you've built roads everywhere!

 

[civ_steve]

Early on, in Despotism, each Town/City you have provides free support for 4 units. This number includes workers, scouts, warriors, etc. Since you start with a worker, you can build up to 3 more units before you start having to pay. Every unit over 4 costs 1 gold per turn. It's critical not to go overboard at the beginning of the game and build an army too big to support. Once you've built a 2nd city, you can have 8 free units, 3rd city allows 12 free units, and so on. The F3 Military Advisor tells you how many units you have, and how much you pay per turn, so hit F3 and see if your big army is causing you economic grief.

Definitely build roads; initially only in the spaces your citizens work, and to connect other cities and resources, but eventually you'll want roads everywhere! River spaces are great because they give you a free commerce for each adjacent space; adding the road makes 2 commerce in that space.

And I agree with the earlier discussion on the Republic form of government. As early as I can I switch, and rarely switch to any other form later.

 

[kb2tvl]

I usually don't bother to research much if at all in the early mideval period. I try to get markets in a few cities and if I am religious, I will switch to monarchy first and then rep after I have a few markets up. The extra mp is nice early on... before you have many roads working and you have a large number of workers. The key early on is getting that population up.