Civics

A major change in Civ 4 that pointed the way to future developments in the franchise was the introduction of Civics. These are broad policies about how your society will be structured, and they have consequences for what you can do. The Civics in Civ 4 seem loosely based on the Social Engineering options in Alpha Centauri, and they come in 5 categories: Govenrment, Legal, Labor, Economy, and Religion. And then each category has 5 options, though you start off in a default base in each category that has no prerequisites and no benefits. This is similar to the situation in Alpha Centauri. But as the game progresses you can open up new options as you progress through the Tech Tree. Often the benefits are so attractive that you might want to adopt the new civics right away, but be careful: each time you change Civics it is like having a revolution and you will experience a short period of anarchy, and during anarchy your city production, growth, and research are all halted. And once you have done this, you can’t do it again for several turns. If you have a Leader with the Spiritual trait, however, or if you have the Cristo Redentor Wonder, you will not experience any anarchy when changing Civics.

Here are the Civics:

Government Civics

• Despotism – The base case where you start the game in 4000 BC. It has no prerequisite tech and has no effect on your Empire, and the upkeep costs are low.
• Hereditary Rule – This becomes available when you discover Monarchy. It gives you one additional Happiness for each military unit stationed in each city. The upkeep costs are still low, however.
• Representation – This becomes available when you discover Constitution. It gives you three additional Science per Specialist, and it also gives you 3 additional Happiness in 4 to 6 of your largest cities, the number depending on map size. But it also increases the Upkeep costs from Low to Medium.
• Police State – This becomes available when you research Fascism. It gives you a 25% bonus to production military units, and reduces your war unhappiness by 50%. However, it increases your upkeep costs to High.
• Universal Suffrage – This becomes available when you research Democracy. It gives you one additional hammer from every town, and allows you to spend gold to rush production.

Legal Civics

• Barbarism – The base case where you start the game in 4000 BC. It has no prerequisite tech and has no effect on your Empire, and the upkeep costs are low.
• Vassalage – This becomes available when you research Feudalism. It gives you 2 additional experience points for new units and more free units. However, it increases your upkeep costs to High.
• Bureaucracy – This becomes available when you research Civil Service. It gives you plus 50% production and plus 50% commerce in the Capital. However, it increases your upkeep costs to High.
• Nationhood – This becomes available when you research Nationalism. It allows you to draft 1 to 5 units per turn, depending on the map size. It gives you plus 25% espionage points in all cities, and 2 additional Happiness from Barracks. And there are no upkeep costs.
• Free Speech – This becomes available when you research Liberalism. It gives you plus 100% Culture in all cities and plus 2 Gold from each town. Upkeep costs are low.

Labor Civics

• Tribalism – The base case where you start the game in 4000 BC. It has no prerequisite tech and has no effect on your Empire, and the upkeep costs are low.
• Slavery – This becomes available when you research Bronze Working. You can sacrifice part of your population to rush production in a city. This is commonly referred to by players as “whipping” production. The upkeep costs rise to Medium.
• Serfdom – This becomes available when you research Feudalism. It allows your workers to build improvements 50% faster, and the upkeep costs go back to Low.
• Caste System – This becomes available when you research Code of Laws. You can have unlimited Artists, Scientists, and Merchants, and you receive one additional production from each Workshop. Your upkeep costs rise to Medium.
• Emancipation – This becomes available when you research Democracy. You get plus 100% growth for cottages, hamlets, and villages. In addition, any other player that does not have Emancipation experiences a Happiness penalty. Upkeep costs are Low.

Economy Civics

• Decentralization – The base case where you start the game in 4000 BC. It has no prerequisite tech and has no effect on your Empire, and the upkeep costs are low.
• Mercantilism – This becomes available when you research Banking. You get one additional free Specialist per city. You are not allowed any foreign trade routes, and foreign corporations have no effect on your Empire. Upkeep costs rise to Medium.
• Free Market – This becomes available when you research Economics. You get one additional trade route per city, and maintenance costs from Corporations are reduced by 25%. Upkeep costs are Medium.
• State Property – This becomes available when you research Communism. You have no maintenance costs from distance to Palace, plus 1 Food from each Workshop or Watermill, plus 10% production in all cities, and Corporations have no effect. Upkeep costs are Low.
• Environmentalism – This becomes available when you research Medicine. You get an additional 6 Health in all cities, but maintenance costs from Corporations go up 25%. You get plus 2 Health from Public Transportation, and plus 2 Commerce from Windmills and Forest Preserves. Upkeep costs are Medium.

Religious Civics

• Paganism – The base case where you start the game in 4000 BC. It has no prerequisite tech and has no effect on your Empire, and the upkeep costs are low.
• Organized Religion – This becomes available when you research Monotheism. You can build Missionaries without a Monastery, and cities that have State Religion can build buildings 25% faster. Upkeep costs are High.
• Theocracy – This becomes available when you research Theology. Cities that have State Religion can build units that have 2 additional experience points and no other non-state religion can spread. Upkeep costs are Medium.
• Pacifism – This becomes available when you research Philosophy. Plus 100% in the birthrate of Great Persons in cities with state religion. One additional gold support cost for each military unit. No Upkeep costs.
• Free Religion – This becomes available when you research Liberalism. You cannot have state religion in any of your cities. You get one additional Happiness per religion in each city, and plus 10% research in each city. Upkeep costs are Low.

Strategic Thinking and Civics

Previously we looked at the various Leaders and Civilizations and the traits they bring to the game, and we saw that it was important to align the Leader choice to the kind of strategy we wanted to pursue. You would not want a Leader whose strengths lay with the Military if you were going to pursue a Culture victory, and vice-versa. Similarly, you would want to focus to implementing Civics that align with your strategy. Some civics are clearly helpful for certain strategies. Let’s look at a few examples:

Military Conquest

For your Government Civics, the best in the relatively early game is Hereditary Rule, which becomes available when you research Monarchy. In the late game Police State, which becomes available when you research Fascism, is a sound choice. For Legal Civics, Vassalage, which becomes available when you research Feudalism, is very good. and in the late game Nationhood, which becomes available when you research Nationalism, is the best choice. As for Labor Civics the choice is not so clear-cut. Both Slavery and Serfdom have something to recommend them, depending on the circumstances. Slavery can help you pump out buildings faster, and you will definitely want to get Barracks in each city, and probably Walls to help with Defense. But the logistics of moving units to the front makes building Roads very important, so Serfdom can help you here. And you also want to be sure you build the Mines to get the Copper and Iron needed to equip your soldiers, and build the Pastures for the Horses needed for your mounted units. For Economy Civics you can make an argument for State Property, but really none of them is particularly better. But in Religion Theocracy is the stand-out choice for a Military Victory strategy.

Science

If you are going for a Science victory, the choices are different. For Government Civics, Representation is the best. There is no standout choice for Legal Civics. But for Labor Civics the Caste System is going to give you more specialists, including scientists. For Economy Civics, Mercantilism will give you free specialist in each city, and for Religious Civics Free Religion gives you a science boost.

Culture

For a Culture victory, no Government Civic gives you a direct boost, but Representation with the Science boost is a good indirect benefit since Science opens up other possibilities. For Legal Civics, Free Speech is the obvious choice, but until you get there Bureaucracy is a good bet. For Labor Civics, Caste System is again a good bet since you can get more Artist specialists. In Economy Civics, Mercantilism again is the choice for the added specialists. And for Religious Civics, Pacifism when combined with a state religion gives you more Great People, and you will want Great Artists.

Civics and Research

The various Civics choices beyond the simplest ones all become available when a specific technology is researched. This means you need to think about your Research choices strategically. Don’t pick the next technology to research willy-nilly, or by blind guessing. You know what strategy you are following, and you should choose things that fit your strategy. We’ll look at Technology and Research next.