Government -- too Simple

[9 ECAC Titles]

OK, this may simply be the result of my own style of game play (which tends to be more peaceful than warlike with an emphasis on getting and holding the science edge), but do you feel like there are not enough situations in which the selection of government presents a real choice. It seems to me that:

(1) Revolt from Despotism to Monarchy as soon as you discover it.

(2) Move from Monarchy to Republic as soon as you have temples in every city (which in Civ3 happens earlier because you need them for culture expansion).

(3) Move from Republic to Democracy as soon as you discover it, unless you're at war, in which case move to Democracy after the peace.

(4) Never touch Communism.

Is it really this braindead, or are there subtleties I'm missing? I generally play on Monarch.

[MarshalN]

I think if you generally go the peaceful path, which I take as well, I'd skip the monarchy and go straight to Republic. If I am planning on fighting wars, then I'd go with Monarchy depending on circumstances..... if you make a beeline for Republic in your tech search, you can get there before you're anywhere close to monarchy and can get a big bonus on trade, and since you play peaceful, unhapiness isn't a huge issue.

Granted, there will be more unhappy people, but in smaller cities (where you probably don't have temples yet) a few luxuries will usually do the trick of keeping them happy until you get the temple...

I think the turns of anarchy with no production is too damaging for monarchy to be worthwhile, unless, of course, you play religious.

[War4ever]

dont underestimate the power of communism...especially when conducting roads and the ability to sacrifice your people for the war effort....

i too would skip monarchy as republic is right around the corner...
those turns in anarchy are brutal unless playing religious

[ICMB]

I agree that there is not a lot of choice. I always go right for Republic, and then to Democracy as soon as I can, and stay there for the rest of the game.

This includes games in which I fought major wars as a Democracy.

Communism is a possibility for a militaristic style of play, but I would really like it if there were either more choices, or more varying effects between the choices.

- ICMB

[eMarkM]

I used to do the same thing (also on Monarch level) and I'm now skipping Monarchy altogether. Unlike Civ2 where monarchy came so far before Republic that is was natural to beeline for it, now you can get to either one equally fast.

Despot is actually very powerful with pop rushing and I'll generally fight an early war under it to give me space, get some slaves, get a leader, some luxuries, and maybe a wonder (you certainly won't be building any early) or two. Once I take out or "vassalize" a neighbor, I'll switch to Republic and go peaceful and build my infrastructure. By this time you should have the biggest empire and the tech lead.

I then head for Democracy. Same as ICBM said, I've had no problems fighting wars under Dems, just make sure you have the luxuries (at least 6) to keep the masses pacified. I usually go for the SS win, but I let the circumstances of the game dictate which win I go for. I've used Communism when I decide to go for domination when I know it will be a very long protracted affair.

e