Governments

0:00 Civilization 3 has five governments in the base game, Despotism, Monarchy, Communism, Republic and Democracy, plus Anarchy, the state your civilization passes through whenever it changes from one to another, per the 2001 manual (pp. 125-131). Conquests adds more: the official site's feature list names "Fascism, Feudalism, Tribal Council, and Imperialism" as "just a few" of them (civ3.com, archived). Each government sets how much commerce and production your cities lose to corruption and waste, how many units you support for free, how you rush production, whether soldiers can keep order in cities, and whether your people grow tired of war. The manual sums it up: "the more freedom you give your people, the less they will want to fight for you, but the stronger your economy becomes" (p. 126).

Quick facts

The base game governments compared

Source: 2001 manual, pp. 125-131; Prima's official strategy guide, Table 5-1, pp. 56-58. Each unit beyond the free allowance costs 1 gold a turn; town, city and metropolis are sizes 1 to 6, 7 to 12 and 13 up.

0:52 The table's columns are the whole difference between governments. There is no unit upkeep in shields: units have no home city and are paid from the treasury, Settlers included, per the Complete manual (p. 57). Military police are units with an attack of at least 1, each of which makes one unhappy citizen content (2001 manual, pp. 118, 127-130; see Happiness and War Weariness). Rushing by population means the job is finished for free but the city loses citizens.

Each government

4:39 Despotism is where everyone starts, and the worst of the governments you can choose. It lets you expand and arm without war weariness, but its tile penalty and its corruption are, in Prima's words, "excellent motivators" to make the reign short: Prima advises reaching Monarchy or the Republic "as early in the game as possible" (Prima, p. 57). Under Despotism, any square that would make more than 2 food, shields or commerce makes 1 less (2001 manual, p. 127).

Monarchy is one of the two governments of Ancient Times, reached through Warrior Code, Ceremonial Burial, Mysticism and Polytheism in the base game (2001 manual tutorial, p. 36). It lifts the Despotism tile penalty, pays for rushed jobs in gold, supports two units per town, four per city and eight per metropolis, and lets three units per city keep order. Its corruption and waste grow with distance from the capital. Prima calls it "your only logical choice" for a conquest strategy, "at least until Communism comes along" (Prima, p. 57).

16:46 Communism, an optional Industrial Age advance, levels corruption: every city outside the capital loses the same share whatever its distance, though the share still rises with the number of cities (2001 manual, p. 130). It allows four military police per city, makes espionage more likely to succeed, rushes jobs with population and has no war weariness. Prima calls it the government "that offers the most benefits" to a conqueror (Prima, p. 58). Communists can also build the Police Station and, in Conquests, the Secret Police Headquarters, which acts as a second Forbidden Palace for Communist civilizations only (Complete manual, p. 131).

10:46 Republic is the other Ancient government. It adds one commerce on every worked square already making commerce, keeps corruption to "a nuisance", and buys rushed jobs with gold, but every unit costs a gold a turn, no unit can act as police, and war weariness has "a profound negative effect" on happiness (2001 manual, p. 129). Prima: "Republics are most effective when you're playing a peaceful game" (Prima, p. 58).

14:59 Democracy has the least corruption and waste of any government and the same commerce bonus as the Republic, its Workers work 50% faster, and its cities are immune to propaganda (2001 manual, pp. 130-131). Its price is the strongest war weariness: "if you remain at war for too long, your Democracy can fall into anarchy." Prima calls running a Democracy "one of the most difficult tasks in the game, especially on high difficulty levels" (Prima, p. 59).

Monarchy vs Republic

9:28 The early choice is between Civ 3's two Ancient governments, and both are optional advances. The official guide frames it by strategy: Monarchy for war, with free units, martial law and no war weariness, and the Republic for peace, with more commerce and much less corruption but gold upkeep on every unit (Prima, pp. 57-58). Its Ancient Times chapter says Monarchy is "the better choice" for a warlike game and the Republic for a peaceful one (Prima, pp. 90-92). Prima also warns against conquest under the "peacetime" governments: if you do wage war as a Republic or Democracy, keep "plenty of Gold" to buy culture and happiness buildings in captured cities (Prima, p. 59).

Which is best overall is not settled by any source read for this page. The manual's own summary is a trade-off, freedom for economy against willingness to fight, and the Early Game Strategy and War Guide pages give the sourced advice for each path.

Changing government: revolution and Anarchy

Every civilization starts as a Despotism. Once you learn a government's advance you can call a revolution; your civilization falls into Anarchy, and "after a few turns" a dialog lists the governments you know and the one you pick takes effect at once (2001 manual, pp. 125-126). The Complete manual's tutorial adds that the wait is "not always the same number" of turns (Complete manual, pp. 50-51). Anarchy also strikes on its own when civil disorder topples a government.

2:57 Anarchy is costly. Cities make nothing but food, no taxes are collected and no research is done, squares producing more than 2 food lose one, and Workers toil 50% slower; in exchange, no upkeep is charged for buildings or units (2001 manual, pp. 126-127). Prima advises making sure every city has food in store before switching (Prima, p. 35).

Religious civilizations suffer less. Both manuals say Anarchy lasts only one turn for them (Complete manual, p. 26), although Prima's table and GameSpot's 2001 review say they skip it entirely; see Civilization Traits.

Other effects of government

Government changes how fast captured cities accept you. Resistors settle down sooner when the conqueror's government is more advanced, and propaganda succeeds more often from a freer government against a less free one (2001 manual, p. 126).

Government also sets the draft. With Nationalism, each draft turns a citizen into a unit from Spearman up to Infantry, depending on your advances, and makes one citizen unhappy for 20 turns; Republic and Democracy may draft one citizen per city per turn, the others two, and Anarchy none, per the official FAQ (civ3.com, archived, Mar 2002). Prima's table gives Communism three.

Units cost nothing in production under any government. Johnson, the game's co-designer, later credited this "global unit support", paid from the treasury, with helping the AI manage its resources and cutting micromanagement (Game Developer, Nov 12, 2010).

Conquests governments

Conquests added governments, but the rules for them are not in any manual read. The official feature list of 2003 said "Forming an Islamic Sultanate is just one of the new ways to rule your people" (civ3.com, archived, May 2003); a later version of the same page names "Fascism, Feudalism, Tribal Council, and Imperialism" (civ3.com, archived), and GameSpot's report on the expansion going gold names "new government types like fascism, feudalism, and imperialism" (GameSpot, Oct 24, 2003). The Complete manual lists Fascism among the optional Industrial advances (p. 126) but has no chapter on governments, so the corruption, support and war weariness of the Conquests governments are not given here. GameSpot's review also notes that Conquests tweaked "many of the existing technologies and government types" (GameSpot, Nov 18, 2003), so the base game table above may differ in detail from the Complete edition sold today.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best government in Civ 3? No source read names one best government for Civilization 3: Prima's official guide recommends Monarchy and later Communism for conquest, and the Republic or Democracy for a peaceful game, since they give the most commerce and least corruption but suffer war weariness.

Monarchy or Republic in Civ 3? In Civilization 3, Monarchy suits war (free units, military police, no war weariness), while the Republic suits peace (extra commerce, far less corruption, but 1 gold per unit and war weariness), per Prima's official guide.

How many governments are in Civ 3? Civilization 3's base game has five governments (Despotism, Monarchy, Communism, Republic, Democracy) plus Anarchy, and the Conquests expansion adds others, among them Fascism, Feudalism, Tribal Council and Imperialism by the official site's list.

Does Communism have war weariness in Civ 3? No: in Civilization 3, war weariness affects only the Republic and Democracy, so Despotism, Monarchy and Communism can fight long wars without it.

How long does anarchy last in Civ 3? In Civilization 3, Anarchy lasts "a few turns", and the Complete manual says the number varies; Religious civilizations go through only one turn of it.

Can Democracy collapse in Civ 3? Yes: in Civilization 3, a Democracy that stays at war too long can fall into Anarchy from war weariness, per the 2001 manual, and Prima adds that several turns of civil disorder can do it too.

What does Communism do to corruption in Civ 3? In Civilization 3, Communism makes corruption and waste the same in every city regardless of distance from the capital, though they still rise with the number of cities.

Sources

• Civilization III manual, First Edition (archive.org copy), Infogrames and Firaxis Games, Sep 2001
• Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete manual (Steam-hosted PDF), Atari and Firaxis Games, 2005
• Sid Meier's Civilization III: Prima's Official Strategy Guide (archive.org copy), Prima Games (David Ellis), 2001
• Civilization III: Conquests features (archived), Atari, 2003
• Civilization III: Conquests features (archived May 2003), Infogrames, 2003
• Civilization III FAQ: Combat (archived), Infogrames and Firaxis Games, Mar 2002
• Civilization: Conquests enters golden age, GameSpot (Tor Thorsen), Oct 24, 2003
• Civilization III: Conquests Review, GameSpot (Jason Ocampo), Nov 18, 2003
• Civilization III Review, GameSpot (Tom Chick), Oct 30, 2001
• Analysis: AI Fallibility And The Chick Parabola, Game Developer (Soren Johnson), Nov 12, 2010
• Civ 3 Government Tutorial, Suede, May 9, 2019 (video)
• Civilization 3: Everything you need to know, Suede, Nov 12, 2025 (video)