31-03-2003 20:40									#1
	Monarchy over Republic? Suffering from ads?

OK - I have to ask. Wouldn't we better off with Monarchy over Republic?

I haven't seen the math - but the miltary unit allowance under Monarchy versus the 1 gold per turn maintenance cost under Republc has got to really favor Monarchy.

No matter how you cut it - this is going to be a war mongering game. I would rather go with Monarchy. I do in many of my SP games - just to avoid the war weariness associated with Republic. My understanding is that the ptw does not have the same war weariness impact - but the unit issue alone has got to be a clincher.

My sense is that this game may not last beyond the middle ages - and will involve constant wars and alliances. There are probably not going to be long periods of peace and building infrastructure, with minimal defensive armies for which the Republic is so well suited. Not going to happen.

	31-03-2003 22:58									#2
	Increase the size of your Attachments

I too usually stick with Monarchy vice Republic on my LAN games because of the "free" unit upkeep cost and lower war weariness. Granted our research will not be as good as a republic - but we'll worry about cranking our research up after we've sown-up all of Estonia.

	01-04-2003 01:25									#3
	Support Apolyton

In my SP games I usually try to go straight for Monarchy and make the switch as soon as I can. I get a jump on the AI and make it to the Middle Ages first. I pass up Republic because I know the AI will research it for me. I want to get a jump on the Middle Age wonders. Once I get Republic from the AI I quickly switch, but then I have some nice cities by then. Republic has always been a better choice for me. Basically, I use Monarchy to provide me with improved growth and commerce for the later half of the Ancient Age.

One thing to consider is that most of our cities are small. The free units in Monarcy are two for small cities (<= 6 pop), four for medium cities ( 7 - 12 pop), and eight for large cities (>= 13 pop). Even in small cities, all it takes is two citizens to have +1 commerce each in Republic to make up for the two free units with any additional additional citizens providing increased commerce for gold or research.

	01-04-2003 23:46									#4
	Support Apolyton

An advantage of Monarchy is that some units in the city produce happiness. This may not help much in most of our cities in this game since we get 3 or 4 content citizens per city. Places where it can be useful are Dissidentville when we pop-rush and in conquered cities to get over that initial period of unhappiness.