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Overview Terrain Cities Economy Units
Combat Government Technology Wonders Index
Government
There are several forms of government with which you can rule your
civilization, but none offers complete control. Under autocratic
regimes your citizens readily support the military, but reduce your
trade income through corruption. When granted
representative government they are efficient and producive, but
demonstrate against the use of military force by becoming unhappy.
The possible forms of government are:
- Despotism. Lacking
written words or laws, you rule simply through the force of
personality — whose effect decreases rapidly with distance
from your capital, leading to heavy corruption.
- Monarchy. Written
laws and uniform religion offer the monarch power enough to support
an active military while keeping corruption from overwhelming
trade.
- Communism. With
science and industry come the tools to impose military control over
the workers and implement a planned economy, while suffering only a
slight but uniform level of corruption.
- Republic. The people
respond to freedom with increased trade under this ancient form of
government, but disapprove of military action.
- Democracy. Modern
participatory government and free enterprise eliminate corruption,
allowing trade and science to thrive — but free citizens
agitate most strongly against warfare.
You begin your career as a despot, with your cities suffering
heavy corruption until you gain the technology to impose more
effective government. You may change governments as often as you
like, once another kind is available, by selecting the start
revolution command. This plunges your empire into anarchy for one to five turns, after which you
may select any available form of government. Most players race to
achieve the republic and democracy so they can expand their cities
through rapture and boost
their science output with expanded trade. Monarchy and communism
are popular choices for players embarking on extended military
campaigns.
Many features of the various governments can be easily compared:
Several properties should be noted in addition to those in the
table:
- Under anarchy you lose control of the ratios that allocate trade,
which cities spend entirely on luxuries for themselves.
- A democracy will revolt and plunge into anarchy if any city
remains in disorder for two turns. This makes democracy dangerous
for those not attentive to city happiness.
- Cities under democratic or communist rule produce partisans when taken from
their original owner, if their owner knows communism and gunpowder and least
one player has discovered guerilla
warfare.
- Diplomats and spies built by communist
regimes get automatic veteran status.
The Capital and Civil War
Palace
Cost:100
Requires Masonry
The building from which your civilization is
governed.
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The city containing your palace is
your capital. Should you build another palace elsewhere, its
city becomes your capital and your old palace disappears. As the
center of government, corruption is least in your capital and
increases with distance from it. (But remember that communism
produces the same corruption everywhere, and democracy simply
eliminates it.)
Should an enemy capture you capital, you will be given a new one
in another city, but your empire could experience civil war.
This risk increases with each city in disorder at the moment of capture,
and decreases with each city that is celebrating. Civil war is
catastrophic — you lose as many as half your cities to a new
computer-controlled opponent who takes with him all units and
wonders owned by those cities, and also half your treasury. After
one turn in the state of civil war (whose properties are similar to
those of despotism), both you and the new opponent enter anarchy.
Small civilizations of ten cities or less cannot suffer civil war,
and under similar circumstances simply fall into anarchy
instead.
Once your advances provide you with diplomats, and later with spies, your can observe and
manipulate other civilizations more subtly than is possible with
simple military observation and intervention. Both units are
fragile and must move cautiously — often under guard —
to survive. Diplomats can attempt only one diplomatic act, whose
success or failure brings them to their end, while spies are more
hearty and often survive their mission.
One action requires your unit to approach an enemy unit and
attempt to enter its square:
- Bribe Unit. In exchange for
gold, an enemy unit may be persuaded to join your
civilization.
All other actions require your diplomatic unit to reach an enemy
city alive and attempt to enter it. Enemy diplomats or spies in the
city will oppose any hostile action and decrease your chances of
success. The actions available at an enemy city are:
- Make embassy. Both diplomat
and spy always succeed when you ask them to establish an embassy,
unless your spy has already been working against that empire in
which case she may be recognized and executed. An embassy gives you
permanent contact with that civilization. At any time your embassy
can provide you with basic intelligence about their
government, treasury, trade ratios, and technology. An embassy also
allows you to propose pacts to the other player, as described
below.
- Investigate city. Your
unit will report the status of the city, what units and buildings
are within, and what it is currently producing.
- Sabotage city. Your unit
attempts to destroy either one of the city's buildings, or all of
its work towards its current project. Diplomats will select their
target randomly but spies can be directed towards a specifc goal.
After successful sabotage a spy is returned to her home city.
- Steal Advance. Your agent
will attempt to learn the secrets of one technology held by the
other civilization that you lack. This will only work once in each
enemy city. Diplomats steal a random technology, while a spy lets
you choose which advance to steal. A successful spy is returned to
her home city.
- Entice city
rebellion. In return for gold an enemy city will change
allegiances and join your empire, bringing along all units that
call it home. After enticing rebellion successfully a spy is
instantly returned to her home city.
- Poison city water.
Only the spy can commit this atrocity, which empties the city
granary and kills one citizen.
Currently the FreeCiv players controlled by the computer are
inflexible with respect to international relations — they
remain stubbornly at war with their fellow players and refuse to
treat or negotiate. But when humans play each other, an entire
spectrum of cooperation and betrayal becomes possible.
Players can make informal requests,
agreements, and threats across the in-game chat channel, but to
transfer actual property they must arrange a pact. This can only be initiated by a player who
already has an embassy with the other. The window this brings up
lets each player build a list of items he is offering alongside a
list of what he will receive in return. These can include:
- A copy of your current map — showing either all the
terrain you have discovered, or just which squares are ocean and
which are land without revealing specific features.
- Technological advances you possess.
- Cities in your empire, which will take with them any units that
call the city home.
- Gold from your treasury.
- Access to your vision — everything your cities and
units can see as the game unfolds. Unlike the other items, this is
a persistent ability, and must be cancelled in your player list
when you no longer wish the other player to see what you are
doing.
Only if both players indicate satisfaction is the pact concluded
and the transfer of goods made.
Overview Terrain Cities Economy Units
Combat Government Technology Wonders Index