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Strategy Guide section of In Omnia Paratus covers several useful topics that will help you improve your Civilization II gameplay.
Strategy Guide currently covers following topics:
| Government Types | Which form of government to use and when. |
| Defensive Units | Which defensive units to use. |
More topics to come soon.Next topic to come: Keeping your people content. Click here if you want to suggest a topic that Strategy Guide should cover or if you have written your own guide and want to post it here or include a link to it.
There are six forms of governments available for you to govern your civilization: Despotism, Monarchy, the Republic, Democracy, Communism and Fundamentalism.
The selection of government consists of three factors:
All three factors should be considered before changing government systems.
In the following section we will take a look at standard changes of
government systems.
Every civilization starts under the rule of Despotism. This unfortunate system must be replaced as soon as possible, as it has a very high level of corruption and waste and as food, trade and shield production is minimized.
We replace Despotism with Monarchy. Monarchy can be discovered quickly as it requires only the advances of Code of Laws (prerequisite Alphabet) and Ceremonial Burial (no prerequisites) for the discovery. Under Monarchy the corruption and waste rate is not as high as under Despotism and food/trade/shield production is no longer minimized.
Although Monarchy is way better than Despotism, we still need a system that will allow us to discover technology faster. The Republic is quite suitable, since it has a low rate of corruption and waste and since Tax/Science/Luxury rate can be set up to 80 percent. Bear in mind that even though The Republic is a system we desperately need, it's quite difficult to handle since it allows quite a high level of personal freedom - civil disorders will start taking places if you don't keep your people content.
If we want to have a really enlightened empire, we should switch to government system of Democracy. While Democracy eliminates corruption and waste, increases food/trade/shield production and has other benefits, it's also the toughest of all systems. Unrests occur faster than in any other system, especially since every military unit that is not in a friendly city causes two citizen's in home city to be unhappy. If Democracy proves to be to tough, switch back to The Republic or (probably even better if available) switch to Communism. Communism is sort of an advanced form of The Republic, as it experiences no corruption and waste and eliminates senate's interference.
When we discover all the technology we wanted to, it's time to eliminate our opponents. The best government system for military operations is Fundamentalism (Communism is pretty good, too). Under fundamentalist government, no citizen is ever unhappy! Although Fundamentalism experiences a slight rate of curruption and waste, it's still the best combat-oriented system as only every unit beyond tenth unit costs one shield per turn (under Democracy, for example, every unit costs one shield per turn). In addition, the diplomatic penalties for terrorist actions committed by Diplomats or Spies are reduced under fundamentalist government.
Next section is a complete description of government systems: info, unit support, corruption and waste, happiness, when to use a specific system and more.
Most information taken from Civilopedia.
Anarchy represents not so much a government type as the lack of any stable government. Anarchy occurs when your civilization's government falls, or when you decide to have a Revolution. After a few turns of Anarchy, you can rebuild a new government. Anarchy is similar to Despotism, except that the corruption rate is VERY HIGH. However, no taxes are collected during a period of Anarchy, and no scientific research is conducted.
A government collapse is most likely to happen under the systems of The Republic or Democracy. Mainly, there are two reasons for collapses: a civil disorder in the same city two turns in a row is the first. Secondly, under The Republic or Democracy, a government may fall if you perform an action that's against a senate's resolution (example: your Diplomats or Spies perform a terrorist action against another civilization - even though you have a peace treaty with it - and are caught after completing it. The result would be a scandal in the senate and the government would fall).
| Description | In a Despotism, the ruler has absolute control over his or her subjects, and this control is usually enforced by the military. This system has a tendency to minimize individual freedom, and reduce the efficiency of production efforts. |
| Unit Support | Each unit above the city size costs one Shield per turn. Settlers eat one Food per turn. |
| Happiness | Up to three military units in each city institute "martial law". Each of these units makes one unhappy citizen content. |
| Corruption and Waste | Despotism has a high rate of corruption and waste. The farther a city is from your capital, the higher its level of corruption. |
| Special | Under a Despotism, Tax/Luxury/Science rates cannot be set
higher than 60%. Any terrain square that ordinarily produces three or more of any resource (Food, Shields, or Trade) produces one less. |
| Use | Despotism should only be used at the beginning of the game, when no other government type is yet available. Try switching to Monarchy as soon as possible. |
| Description | A Monarchy is ruled by a single person, known as a monarch. The monarch's rule is less absolute than that of a despot, and he or she usually has the acceptance of at least the upper-class. The aristocrats under this system of government have some economic freedom, allowing the civilization to be more productive. |
| Unit Support | Each unit beyond the third unit costs one Shield per turn. Settlers eat one Food per turn. |
| Happiness | Up to three military units in each city institute "martial law". Each of these units makes one unhappy citizen content. |
| Corruption and Waste | Monarchy has a moderate rate of corruption and waste. The farther a city is from your capital, the higher its level of corruption. |
| Special | Under a Monarchy, Tax/Luxury/Science rates cannot be set higher than 70% |
| Use | Although Monarchy is a pretty good form of government for young civilization, we would still like to replace it soon with a system that has an even lower rate of curruption and waste and produces more trade. |
| Description | A Republic is an assembly of autonomous city-states under the control of a central government. Although the central government has the ultimate say in matters that affect the society as a whole, the city-states are given a certain amount of latitude in the governing of local affairs. Decisions are made by the ruler, but are subject to review by a group of officials known as the Senate. |
| Unit Support | Each unit costs one shield per turn. Settlers eat two Food per turn. |
| Happiness | Each unit beyond the first unit that is not in a friendly city (or in a Fortress within three squares of a friendly city) causes one citizen in its home city to become unhappy. |
| Corruption and Waste | Republics experience a low rate of corruption and waste. The farther a city is from your capital, the higher its level of corruption. |
| Special | Under a Republic, Tax/Luxury/Science rates cannot be set
higher than 80%. Your senate may force a peaceful solution in a conflict. |
| Use | Switch to The Republic from Monarchy if you want to produce more trade (and, therefore, science, money and luxury). But bear in mind that under The Republic it's hard to maintain a large army due to high cost of unit support and due to unhappiness caused by units outside friendly cities (see Happiness section). |
| Description | A Democracy is ruled by a president elected by the people. The rulings of the president are subject to review by the Senate, a group of elected representatives who serve the best interests of the citizens. Democracy allows its citizens a higher degree of personal freedom and involvement than any other form of government. |
| Unit Support | Each unit costs one shield per turn. Settlers eat two Food per turn. |
| Happiness | Each unit that is not in a friendly city (or in a Fortress within three squares of a friendly city) causes two citizens in its home city to become unhappy. |
| Corruption and Waste | Democracies experience no corruption or waste. |
| Special | Tax/Luxury/Science rates can be set to any level desired. Under a Democracy, each square that ordinarily produces at least one unit of Trade produces an extra unit of Trade. The units and cities of a Democracy are immune to bribery in any form. Your senate may force a peaceful solution in a conflict. |
| Use | A Democracy boosts dramatically the production of trade and science, but due to severe happiness restrictions, especially on military units, it's most suitable for large and advanced civilizations. Switch to Democracy only if you have enough structures to keep your people content. Otherwise you may experience civil disorders and government collapses very often. |
| Description | A Communist government is ruled by a controlling party, with a single person, known as a chairman, acting as the head of state. In a true Communist system, all property is owned collectively by the people, and labor is organized to be equally advantageous to all people. This ideal has never truly been realized, however, and the "Communist" governments of the world are usually much different. |
| Unit Support | Each unit beyond the third unit costs one Shield per turn. Settlers eat one Food per turn. |
| Happiness | Up to three military units in each city institute "martial law". Each of these units makes two unhappy citizens content. |
| Corruption and Waste | Under Communism, state control of the economy eliminates organized crime. Your cities, therefore, experience no corruption. |
| Special | All Spy units produced under Communist governments are Veterans. Under Communism, Tax/Luxury/Science rates cannot be set higher than 80%. |
| Use | When rival civilizations are beginning to become troublesome with their military activities, you need to support strong army. If you don't want to decrease your trade and science production dramatically at the same time by, switch to Communism. Also, switch to Communism if you experience too many civil disorders under Democracy or The Republic. |
| Description | Fundamentalism is a form of government organized around a central set of beliefs. These beliefs, usually religious in nature, form a rigid guideline for the actions and reactions of both the ruler and the people. In a Fundamentalist society, the people and the rulers are entirely devoted to their beliefs, and are usually willing to die to preserve them. |
| Unit Support | Each unit beyond the tenth unit costs one Shield per turn (except Fanatics,
which never require maintenance). Settlers eat one Food per turn. |
| Happiness | Under Fundamentalism, no citizen is ever unhappy! |
| Corruption and Waste | Fundamentalism has a very low rate of corruption. |
| Special | Under Fundamentalism, Tax/Luxury/Science rates cannot be
set higher than 80%. Under Fundamentalism, all Science production is HALVED. Improvements that normally convert unhappy citizens to content citizens produce "tithes" (money) equivalent to the number of people they would normally convert, and require no maintenance. The diplomatic penalties for terrorist acts committed by Diplomats and Spies is reduced. |
| Use | If you want to have a really, really strong and large army, switch to Fundamentalism. However, be aware that science production is halved under fundamentalist governments. Fundamentalism is a good system to switch too when all technology is discovered. Do not switch to Fundamentalism if you would like to discover many new advances. |
Government Types Guide concludes here.
This section of Strategy Guide tries to explain which military units are best used for defending your cities. For information on each unit, check out the table at the end of this section. Most info taken from Civilopedia.
First defensive unit, that is instantly given at the beginning of the game, are Warriors. Although Warriors are very cheap (their production costs no more than 10 shields), you should never defend your cities using them, since they're nothing more than armed citizens and only have a defense rating of 1. You need to have trained troops defending your cities. Phalanx would be sufficient for quite a long time. If you were not given the secrets of Bronze Working at the start of the game, develop it ASAP. You should only defend your cities with Warriors until you discover Bronze Working, which is a prerequisite for Phalanx.
I usually have two Phalanx defending my cities. I think that's enough (unless your rival civilizations have really strong armies), especially if you build City Walls sometime. I keep Phalanx as my defensive units until the development of Gunpowder, which enables Musketeers. There is, however, another defense-oriented unit in between - Pikemen (prerequisite Feudalism), but they're not all that better than Phalanx (they do have defense doubled against mounted units, however), so I usually don't replace Phalanx with them. You could build Leonardo's Workshop wonder and have Phalanx automatically upgraded to Pikemen, but from the development of Invention (required for Leonardo's Workshop) until the development of Gunpowder (required for Musketeers) is really not that long. In addition, I don't think Feudalism is a very important advance at this point.
Musketeers usually remain primary defensive units until the development of Conscription, which gives us Riflemen. Again, if you have Leonardo's Workshop, Musketeers will be automatically upgraded to Riflemen. Riflemen have a defense rating of 4 (Musketeers 3).
After Riflemen, there's another good defensive unit, Alpine Troops (prerequisite Tactics), which have a defense rating of 5. But like before, I usually don't replace Riflemen with them, since better units become available soon. Alpine Troops are good defensive units, however. In fact, they're second best defensive units available in the game. Should you choose for some reason not to develop Labor Union, you should defend your cities with the help of Alpine Troops.
With the development of Labor Union, the ultimate defensive unit is gained. Mechanized Infantry (Mech. Inf.) has a defense rating of 6. You should have at least two (preferably three) units of Mech. Inf. in each city.
In the following example we will show a city that would be virtually impossible to conquer.
In such city there would be following units:
3 units of Mechanized Infantry
1 Howitzer or Armor
Howitzer or Armor are required to quickly execute a counter-attack, since the attack ratings of those two units is much higher than that of a Mech. Inf..
In addition, such city would also have following facilities:
City Walls
Barracks
SAM Missile Battery
SDI Defense
Coastal Fortress
Consult Civilopedia to find out in what way these facilities contribute to your defense.
Important note: Veteran units have their attack and defense rating increased by 50 percent. Build Barracks, Airports and Port Facilities to produce veteran units.
Note also that besides mentioned units, there are other good defensive units, although they may not be specifically designed for defense. Such units include Paratroopers, Fanatics (available only under fundamentalist government), Marines, Armor, Partisans and Legion in the ancient age. However, you may want to use specialized defensive units (the ones described above) to defend your cities.
Following section is an overview of all specialized defensive units. The overview includes description and statistic data, taken from Civilopedia, and brief instructions on when to use a specific unit.
| description | The earliest military forces were simply the citizens of the city, armed with whatever implements they could use as weapons. Although a militia made up of warriors was inexpensive, they were no match for organized armies. Warriors were usually used as a stopgap measure while waiting for superior units to be trained, or to defend a city that has been temporarily cut off from military support. In a crisis situation, an assembly of warriors is a better choice than no defense at all. |
| use | Warriors should only be used until Phalanx become available. Preferably, Warriors should never be built. |
| attack | defense | cost (shields) | hit points | firepower | movement per turn | prerequisite |
| 1 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 1 | none |
| description | The phalanx was a military formation developed in Greece, and perfected in Macedonia. It consisted of a large group of soldiers in ranks and files, usually from 8 to 32 men deep, armed with spears, swords, and large shields. The first five ranks of men pointed their weapons forward, forming a bristling barrier of spearpoints, while the others kept their spears upright to deflect incoming missiles. An enemy had difficulty approaching this formation. The attacking army was faced with a densely packed body of warriors, who were often advancing on the run. This usually caused the attackers to give ground rather than risk being impaled. Unfortunately, the phalanx lacked maneuverability, and became less prevalent when enemy forces became more professional and learned to outflank the formation. |
| use | You should start using Phalanx as your city's defense immediately and continue using it through all ancient age until the discovery of Feudalism or, should you choose so, until the discovery of Gunpowder. |
| attack | defense | cost (shields) | hit points | firepower | movement per turn | prerequisite |
| 1 | 2 | 20 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Bronze Working |
| description | The growing deployment of knights on the battlefield demanded that foot soldiers develop new means of fighting that would lessen their vulnerability against mounted opponents. One of the best ways to do this was to lengthen the reach of the infantrymen by arming them with long, sturdy spears known as pikes. Massed infantry armed with pikes, in conjunction with archers, managed to even the battlefield odds. Armies equipped in this manner managed to hold their own until the invention of gunpowder made knights a thing of the past. |
| use | You should replace Phalanx with Pikemen only if rival civilizations have strong armies of Knights or/and Crusaders in that era of history. Otherwise, Phalanx don't have to be replaced. |
| special | Defense doubled versus mounted units. |
| attack | defense | cost (shields) | hit points | firepower | movement per turn | prerequisite |
| 1 | 2 | 20 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Feudalism |
| description | One of the most important developments in the history of warfare was the invention of firearms. Originally developed in the 14th century, firearms evolved quickly, and by the late 17th century flintlock muskets had become commonplace in battle. Musketeers, who were relatively inexpensive to equip and train, proved a deadly foe for the knights who had dominated the battlefield for so many years. Armies were often comprised of a combination of musketeers, cannon, and knights, each complementing the strengths and weaknesses of one another. Large forces of musketeers within a fortress or behind city walls proved an exceedingly difficult obstacle to an attacking army. Muskets were the primary firearm in use until they were replaced by repeating rifles in the mid-19th century. |
| use | In the age of Renaissance, developing Gunpowder should be one of your primary objectives. When you develop it, start replacing Phalanx with Musketeers. |
| attack | defense | cost (shields) | hit points | firepower | movement per turn | prerequisite |
| 3 | 3 | 30 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Gunpowder |
| description | Two developments in the 19th century made early firearms such as the musket obsolete. The first was the use of a spiral groove, or "rifling", inside the barrel of a gun. Second, was the development of the repeating rifle, which could fire multiple shots before it required reloading. The rifle was a better weapon than its ancestors, with much more accuracy over a greater range than the musket. Riflemen were first employed in large numbers during the American Civil War. The rifle gave a strong defensive advantage, since riflemen could fire several times while the attackers advanced. This was normally enough to hold any position. Riflemen held the advantage on the battlefield until the appearance of armored attack vehicles. |
| use | You should start using Riflemen at the beginning of industrial age and continue using them until the discovery of Tactics or Labor Union. |
| attack | defense | cost (shields) | hit points | firepower | movement per turn | prerequisite |
| 5 | 4 | 40 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Conscription |
| description | In the colder regions of the world, where winter months tend to leave the ground snow covered, skiing often became one of the most reliable means of transportation. In the alpine countries of Europe, it became commonplace to train special groups of soldiers to take advantage of the snow covered, mountainous terrain by traveling on skis. This proved to be a huge advantage, especially if the enemy forces were not likewise equipped. In November 1939, for example during the Russo-Finnish War, the Finns managed to cut off the supply and communications lines of the vastly superior Russian army through the use of their extremely mobile ski troops, and the Finns continued to hold an advantage throughout the winter months. Alpine troops continue to be trained and utilized in military forces of the present day. |
| use | You should replace Riflemen with Alpine Troops only if you think there will be a long time before you'll discover Labor Union. But even in such case, replace Riflemen only if rival civilizations have strong armies. |
| special | Treats all squares as road squares (uses only 1/3 movement point per square moved). |
| attack | defense | cost (shields) | hit points | firepower | movement per turn | prerequisite |
| 5 | 5 | 50 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Tactics |
| description | The introduction of armored tanks meant that armies could quickly break through enemy defensive positions and move aggressively forward on the battlefield. Such a quick advance, however, left the ground won in the advance largely undefended. Mechanized infantry, which was first used during World War II, was designed to be able to move in quickly and defend the area behind the tanks. Infantry were mounted in armored vehicles, such as half-tracks and Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs), to carry them quickly and safely along with the rapidly advancing armored divisions. |
| use | In modern age, develop Labor Union soon and start placing two or three units of Mech. Inf. in your cities immediately. Mech. Inf. is the ultimate defensive unit. |
| attack | defense | cost (shields) | hit points | firepower | movement per turn | prerequisite |
| 6 | 6 | 50 | 3 | 1 | 3 | Labor Union |
This guide concludes here.
Sid Meier's Civilization II (C) Microprose