A government question

[cumi]

Hi,

I would like to know your experience/strategy about your first revolution.

Do you wait until republic or you switch to monarchy?

When and why exactly do you do this?

I am asking this, because I am always undesided. I don't know if I should research republic or monarchy first. Are my scientists work better when I switch to republic ASAP or it is too early?

Hoping for a nice discussion and advices

cheers

cumi

[nbarclay]

In most games, I'll head for Republic about as quickly as I can. I generally maintain a relatively small military in the early game, so the extra gold from Republic vastly outweighs the free unit support and military police advantages of Despotism. (And even when I build up a good-sized military for early conquest, I want them out conquering by that stage of the game, not sitting around as military police.)

There is, however, a notable exception. If I'm playing a religious civ with a strong ancient UU (e.g. Egypt or the Celts), I'm likely to head for Monarchy first so I can get a non-despotic golden age earlier. With Egypt, I'll probably research and switch to Republic fairly quickly during my golden age, but with the Celts, I'll likely be spending too much of my gold upgrading warriors to Gallic Swordsmen to make the switch very quickly.

Nathan

[vulture]

For religious civs I'll quite happily go for whichever gets researched first, and move between them as needed.

For non-religious civs I tend to stick in despotism until republic is an improvement. My transition criteria is this: Add up the number of population points in my civ (as an estimate of how many extra gold per turn I'll get). Multiply by 0.9 (probably need to have luxury slider at 10%). Take away the number of troops (or the number supported for free, whichever is relevant). If greater than zero, its time to change, unless there is a compelling reason not to (a few turns away from completing a wonder for instance, or in the middle of a long war).

[Mountain Sage]

In most games, I switch to Republic asap (as to profit from my GA when I build the Colossus/Pyramids/GLighthouse/GLibrary sequence), but only after I completed my last Wonder. I then disband all my 'police warriors' and build a new military from scratch, IF I need it. I usually have 1-2 groups of Horsemen strategically located which I upgdrade then to Knights and Cavalry. Since I have 1 Worker/city, my military looks rather impressive, even if it's not.

[Arrian]

I tend to use Monachy a lot, especially if playing a religious civ, so that I can warmonger.

Republic is great if you want to build up your empire peacefully. It does NOT do well if you have a large army and intend to use it.

-Arrian

[CerberusIV]

I usually go for Republic and stick with that until late medieval. Then I switch to Democracy and build during the early Industrial. Once I have Universal Suffrage and police stations I can usually manage to stay in Democracy for the late game even if fighting some wars.

[nbarclay]

Originally posted by Arrian
I tend to use Monachy a lot, especially if playing a religious civ, so that I can warmonger.

Republic is great if you want to build up your empire peacefully. It does NOT do well if you have a large army and intend to use it.

Monarchy is suited for long, drawn-out slugfests between civs with comparable technology. Republic is suited for building a technological advantage and, if you succeed, demolishing opponents in just a few turns with fast-movers (especially cavalry and modern armor), at least if the amount of land per civ isn't too high.

The thing about Republic is that it doesn't feel like a great warmongering government because you spend such a small percentage of time and resources on war. But can be highly deceptive, because the relatively small amount of time and resources involved in warfare can be worth so much with the right tech lead and planning.

Nathan

[Arrian]

Monarchy is suited for long, drawn-out slugfests between civs with comparable technology. Republic is suited for building a technological advantage and, if you succeed, demolishing opponents in just a few turns with fast-movers (especially cavalry and modern armor), at least if the amount of land per civ isn't too high.

Absolutely.

I often do quite a bit of fighting as a republic (or democracy), but that's after I've gained a significant advantage over the opposition (numerical, technological, or preferably both).

-Arrian

[badams52]

If I'm going to start wars, it's monarchy. If I'm going to wait for the AI to declare war on me, then I'll use republic. Either way, I'm planning to all but wipe out the civ I'm warring with.

[Ubergeek]

I agree with nbarclay -- both Republic and Democracy are very good warfighting governments if you plan properly and can whomp your opponents in just a few turns. You can have a cutting-edge military that can do a lot of damage to an enemy and force a peace very quickly if that's the route you want to take with it. Even when I'm playing Religious civs, I don't do a lot of switching because the advantages of playing Republic or Democracy almost always outweigh the drawbacks with my playing stlye (I'm a peaceful builder, and generally the only wars of aggression I'll undertake are for luxuries/resources located on the near edge of an enemy empire or to grab off any enemy cities behind my borders that stubbornly refuse to flip.)

[Ephesos]

Okay, here's my take on this. Get Monarchy ASAP, no question. Then, if you get into an early war, stay in Monarchy. Otherwise go to Republic and eventually Democracy. Stick the game ou tin Democracy, unless you go to war. If you do go to war, switch back to Monarchy. Then again, I play for peace when possible. (key word: when possible ) Avoid Communism. It's basically a neo-Despotism.

[Ubergeek]

If I'm faced with a prolonged modern war, I do switch to Communism -- of course, I modified Communism so it's now actually worth being in that government for a long war. As the game came out of the box, Communism was worse than useless.

[Wizard55]

I play Emperor Level,Standard map. Sometimes I'll go back and play Monarch if the AI is kicking my butt.

I like to get to Monarchy ASAP. I'll stay in this government until half way thru the Industrial Age. Then switch to Democracy.

If I should go to war and can't get out of it early I will switch back to Monarchy. I don't use Republic or Communism I think they suck.

But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong!!

[Cort Haus]

Many good replys here ... Nathan summed up the slugfest / blitzkreig consideration, and Vulture's formula is an approach I sometimes take to estimate how my civ would behave in republic, but it often depends on starting techs which in turn influence tech strategy for that era. UU also plays a role.

If religious I often beeline to Monarchy - trading it, CB, Mysticism & Polytheism for the rest of the era. Of course, when religious you can change fairly freely, so it's all not such a big question.

Commercial civs can get to writing quickly, and on to republic.

If Greek or Cathaginian, you need less defenders - and the Numidian Mercs give the best punch-per-unit for impresssing opponents with your army strength without building and maintaining so large an army. Republic suits these Civs well for peaceful building.

[MrWhereItsAt]

Everything depends on how many lux I can swipe for myself, an idea that drives my REX. If I get 4 or more, then I will switch to a Republic ASAP, and never go back to Monarchy again (I find war in a Republic possible in this situation with my difficulty levels). If I have fewer than 4 lux I will stay as Monarchy until I get Democracy, at the very least.