Democracy a waste of time?

[David Weldon]

I have just about decided that Democracy isn't worth the tech time to research. I tested in the early industrial age, and my net income (science plus money plus luxuries after corruption and unit costs) went from 1248 to 1279. woohoo. The reduced corruption doesn't seem to help very much.

I know Dem. lets your workers work 50% faster, but with Industrial civs I have completely improved every square around all cities and fully connected them all anyway, so I don't really need faster workers.

Republic's lower war weariness seems to be very useful. I haven't waged long wars under Dem. so I don't know how bad it is, but I have taken over entire standard sized continents at one shot without upsetting any of my Rep. citizens. Maybe taking very few losses due to vastly superior tech helped there...

I recall that Dem. was _much_ better than Rep. in previous versions, but here it just doesn't impress me. Can anyone convince me that it's worth 2 optional techs and 5 turns of revolution to get to an extremely similar government from the "ancient" Republic?

[CygnusZ]

It does feature less corruption... which means more money and faster technology. If you're going to war though, go communist or monarchy.

[EnderSword]

I find democracy useful for just after conquests, when you send in waves of workers to develop and connect your new cities.
But the governments as a whole leave ALOT to be desired, there's really no 'alternative' governement. Even communism isn't that different from Democracy. only difference in war weariness/police

[Dawe]

If you use it right...

Democracy really shines when you A) have few units; and B) Have lots of roads combined with city improvements (markets, banks, libraries, universities...). My income went up about 50 and science about 250 when I switched. But war weariness is brutal.

[Cao]

IN reference to alternative gov't---

Don't forget about Communism's espionage bonus.
Sun Tzu said "...the superior militarist strikes while schemes are being laid."

This means winning by intelligence.
With a higher chance of success, your spies should keep you informed about the positions of your neighbors allowing you to make efficient decisions with your army.

Why is this so critical in a communistic gov't?
Economy.

It's what the communists don't have and the only way to get it is to steal it. With free support for up to 8 units and accurate knowledge of the enemy, you have a lot of muscle to throw around. Demands of lump sums and per turn payments of gold is the only way to keep up with a commercial/dem/rep civ.

For every tech that's stolen, that's an extra 7-10(avg.) turns of research that you don't need.

Gold is also saved from not having to maintain a large infastructure --due to the fact that science and gold is stolen and happiness is controlled through police units.

Use your units to control (not necessarily develop) most of the board. Luxury and Strategic resources can be filtered strait into your economy through trade with far off nations.