Power Democracy strats?

[cond]

I have heard that power democracies are really good but I have yet to see a strat for them in a detailed format. Anybody got one?

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

What's a power democracy?

Creating NON-unit farms (letting the barbarians grab a small city, station spy outside it, bribe a NON unit every couple of turns) can be very handy in democracy/republic. Even better with Leos.

Building Shakespeare in a coastal city and supporting all your naval (and later, air) units there is also useful.

If you don't have the UN, it can be helpful to keep an oedo table handy, revolt every 4 turns to demand tribute/make war, and then go back to democracy...

[rah]

And don't forget to take advantage of getting a new government tech during an odeo year. Even in democracy you can accept the revolt, and only lose the science in the cities that haven't cycled yet. If your capital is the one that delivers the last beaker needed, the revolt will cost you nothing. Choose a government that let's you demand, extort the AI for any monies, go to war with who you want, etc. Then revolt again during your turn, and you can select democracy again.

Painless and it costs you hardly anything (if anything) if you do it right.

RAH

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Of course, you only get a couple of chances per game to do that, rah... when you get Fundamentalism and Communism. But it's a good trick... and really, that's how you should effect all government changes if possible.

One more tip: when using oedo year revolts to start wars and demand cash - make sure you turn off the 'civil disorder' and 'order restored' indicators in the City Reports menu, especially if you have 40+ cities!!

[Bloody Monk]

STYOM,

I suppose you are referring to 40+ size 3 cities where losing shields, arrows, and the ability to rush/tickle units is no big deal; right??

I hate to lose even one turn of production if I don't have to. It is indeed a pain in the neck to cycle 40+ cities to adjust for disorder after going into revolt. I just consider it a cost of doing business. The pain is doubled because one then has to repeat the cycle-thru after the new gov't is set, to reset the cities' back the way they were.

I know you are aware of this point which I offer for the benifit of someone reading this thread who might not be so experienced. The point is, one does not have to endure disorder if they'd rather not.

Monk

[rah]

If you're lazy like I am, just change your tax rate. (since you ain't getting science anyway set it to zero and pump up the luxury) This will take care of about 90% of the cities. Then change it back.

[-Jrabbit]

Good point, rah.

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

@Monk - I agree - of course, I can't remember the last game I played where I didn't get the UN when I wanted it. In such a situation, I'd probably just switch to Fundamentalism if I wanted war, rather than revolt/start war/demand tribute/reselect Demo.

But then this is a DEMOCRACY thread... I like being in democracy for the growth. Pump up the luxuries for 10 turns (build infrastructure with trade profits) and you won't care about shield support. My biggest, most productive cities are always developed in democracy games. You can carry hundreds of units easily if your cities are all 20+. And make a really, really long game...

I stand by my assertion that turning off the revolt/restored indicator is a good idea Besides, the Attitude screen works better... tells you what will happen while you still have a chance to do something about it!

[War4ever]

well i guess the reality for tbs games is that they are played at a slow place. therefore micromanaging is just something that we accept as part of the game. Rahs idea will prevent almost all revolts, but it will not maximize the cities , but it will save you time.

to maximize is to painstakingly go through each city....my days of doing this are far over.

i make a quick assessment of cities and pray for the best haha....in mp time restrictions are rampant and i pride myself on being a great, FAST, player. though i do suffer disorder from time to time

[Bloody Monk]

STYOM,

Did you perhaps mean SOL?? If not, please explain how the UN let's you do that. Are you saying that one can switch gov't type without going to revolt (...switch to Fundamentalism...rather than revolt....)??

When I revolt I crank Lux to 60, then cycle thru and adjust cities, as necessary using--as you suggest--the attitude advisor. For me the revolt/disorder nag is not an issue. It won't sound unless I screwed up one of the cities.

My point was that just turning off the nag doesn't avoid the disorder and I don't like to lose a turn where I can't rush a unit if I need to. Which can't be done in a city in disorder.

And I agree that your approach, turning off the nag is a good idea, even essential to good mental health, if you choose not to micro manage the cities when you revolt. Getting nagged time after time, city after city, is a major irritation.

"...makes a really, really long game."...You got that right!! That's why I'm trying to learn Solo's Early Landing style. Using Democracy but only growing one city. Much simpler.

Monk

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Originally posted by Bloody Monk
STYOM,

Did you perhaps mean SOL?? If not, please explain how the UN let's you do that. Are you saying that one can switch gov't type without going to revolt (...switch to Fundamentalism...rather than revolt....)??

No, no... I didn't explain that well, did I?

I meant that when I have UN, I can just start a war, rather than needing to revolt to do it. And if you start enough wars, it becomes easy to provoke them, I find. Also, the UN=peace rather than ceasefire... and in peace you can demand they withdraw... and that will almost always provoke war.

Without the UN, I do the revolt/war/tribute (the tribute part is important - makes up for lost production, when you go back to Demo a turn later you can crank up the science to make up for lost time, running a deficit paid for with tribute. Or rushbuy with tribute...)/Demo. But there is still a period of anarchy (1 turn- thanks oedo!) which can be somewhat compensated for with tribute.

"...makes a really, really long game."...You got that right!! That's why I'm trying to learn Solo's Early Landing style. Using Democracy but only growing one city. Much simpler.

Monk

Yup... as I said, Demo is good for high score games... grow some huge cities, build an improvement/unit almost every turn in almost every city. Slow, but it looks impressive.

[rah]

The worst thing in MP is the update of the attitude advisor. You page through and no cities are revolting but when you click on the city it can update and show an unexpected unhappy citizen. Somtimes it's best to change your tax rate to force the advisor to update, and then change it back before scrolling through. (the time constraint is what makes it primarily a MP problem)

RAH

[Scouse Gits]

rah ... the quick way is to open the city screen of your capital. Then hit the up arrow on your keyboard. This swiftly scrolls through all your cities until you come back to your first city. Then go to F4 for the current state of affairs.

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SG(2)

[War4ever]

hmmm.... i am going to try that let you known my experiences after some innebriation (spelling?)

[ramses II.]

My own interpretation of power democracy:
1. Wonders:
Shakespeare's, Mike's, Bach's, CfC, UN, W.'s Suffrage
2. At least 5-7 military units per city
3. High income, lots of trade routes
4. 3-5 Super Production Cities (80+ shields per turn)
(for quick reinforcments)
5. More than 20 size 20+ cities
6. Last but not least: A human player in front of the monitor willing to use this possibilities ...