Why Republic?

[Marlos]

I have played entirely too many games of Civ2. And in virtually all of them, I do not go into Republic. I will stay in Monarchy until I build SoL or discover Democracy or Communism or Fundamentalism.

Why Republic? The downfalls:

1) Limited production, since each unit requires a shield
2) Widespread corruption
3) Need for luxuries, despite inefficiencies above

You end up with modest science and gold production, increased trade bonuses mitigated by corruption, and limited military flexibility. So why bother with Republic? Am I missing something? Are there practical reasons to be in Republic?

 

[Andu Indorin]

In a nut shell:

(1) Early growth via WLCD. (2) Increased bonuses on trade, and thus research and gold.

Directing research toward the Republic at the game's outset, and going with it and keeping with it from early in the game is the quickest road to the Power Democracy.

 

[Prof. Garfield]

Marlos, if you read the Civlopedia to get your info, you are forgiven. The civlopedia does not point out the extra trade arrow from republic, and that is almost a crime. I had always thought that the only benifit of republic over monarchy was the lowwer coruption, but then one day, I revolted thinking that I had democracy, but when the revolution was finished it wasn't in my choices. I chose republic just because, and that was how I found out about the republic trade benifit.

 

[ElephantU]

Compared to the other two choices early in the game (Despotism and Monarchy), Republic has significant benefits. That said, I prefer to use a period of Monarchy to set the stage for Republic, which I further look at as setting the stage for long-term Democracy. Yes, Republic has some corruption, but it is significantly less than Monarchy, and of no comparison to Despotism. Republic also allows more cities before the basic content citizens start to be unhappy. The extra trade can be achieved through Celebrating Monarchy, but the Luxuries you will have to devote to keeping that going are a bit more than the Luxuries you will have to devote to balancing happiness in Republic. There is also the extra 10% on the sliders, which can be a big help at the point you are hitting your 20th tech.

So I'd say think of Republic not as an end in itself, but as a stepping stone to the real power: Democracy. If you can get and keep a good, tight Republic going, your switch to Democracy will be smooth. Stay longer in Monarchy if you know you are going to be at war for a while, but if possible make peace along your borders and focus on getting ahead in technologies. Then you can either reach for the stars or blow your enemies away.

 

[Terrapin]

Agreed with AI (much smarter than computer ai!), the Prof. and 'Phant. I would just add that loss of martial law is mitigated by the fact that by the time you research Republic, your earliest cities are probably exceeding the six citizens which a temple+three units can keep content. With 0% luxuries, they will disorder even in Monarchy. At that point you will need at least 10% luxuries anyway. You will probably need more with limited trade in Monarchy.

For me, the biggest disadvantage of Republic is the hungry settlers (2 food per) which means that each city will probably need 1 or 2 irrigated grasslands just to offset that. Ultimately, all the objections I have read to the representative governments come down to wanting to play a style which is more like a straight up war game. Rep/Dem means spending most of your time building up the civilian economy and placating your citizens. But as the others say, the long term advantages are enormous....

 

[Prof. Garfield]

Republic and democracy are like compound interest, time gives the greatest benifit.

 

[Marlos]

All good points, thank you. I guess that I spend my game building an expansive military and when/if I switch to Republic, I find myself very hamstrung by the shield maintenance and happiness considerations. So I tend to avoid it.

Overall, though, the main point brought to light that would help is the growth from celebrations. This would bring extra citizens = extra workers = extra trade arrows = extra everything. Okay, now I have to try a game where I switch to Republic and try to make this work!

 

[la fayette]

Marlos

You should read solo's "Early landing Strategy Guide" (over at Apolyton, Strategy Forum) before playing your "Republican" game.

That guide provides you with lots of good advice about running a strong Republic, even if your objective is not Early landing.

 

[Marlos]

Thank you, la fayette, but evert time I go to Apolyton, I can never find anything. Can you post a link for me?

Nevertheless, I have been in Republic in a trial early landing game that I am playing, and things are going quite well. I decided to play an early landing game for the first time, with the thought of perhaps utilizing it as a strategy for the GOTM. I figure that I wouldn't have to take out the AI capitals this way -- just take the rest or most of the rest of their cities to effectively disable them. No restarts that way, either!

But I digress. Normally, I have been keeping my sliders set at 40% luxuries, 30% - 30% for most turns. Occasionally, though, I max the luxuries at 80% to get a little growth. When the WLTS (Speaker -- silly Americans) celebrations end, I go back to the 40-30-30.

It seems to work pretty well. I have a good treasury, good production because of all the growth, and it does 'train' me to operate co-operatively -- as I would in an early Democracy.

Wouldn't Monarchy still be better for early conquest games, though?

 

[la fayette]

Here is the link:
http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=82209

...yet I don't understand why you find it so difficult to find anything at Apolyton: when you are on the front page, you click upon "forums" and you can see the list of all forums available (including civ2 of course), ...just like here at civfanatics

 

[Marlos]

...yet I don't understand why you find it so difficult to find anything at Apolyton

I suppose it is because I am an idiot. After all, I never did use Republic until recently. But thank you just the same.