Government (Civ6)

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The concept of forms of government makes a grand re-entry in Civilization VI. The government represents the current command structure of your civilization - how exactly its governing bodies are organized, and what real effects this has on its development and abilities. You start with Chiefdom, the most basic and ancient form of government, but will unlock other forms of government as you progress through the Civics tree.

Government properties

Government manifests itself in two chief ways:

1. Through the number and configuration of Policy Card slots. For example, Chiefdom offers one Military and one Economic Card slots, while Classical Republic offers two Economic, one Diplomatic, one Wildcard and NO Military slots!
2. Through particular gameplay bonuses. They will distinguish the government further, and also allow you to earn Legacy Bonuses!
3. Each increase in the number of policy slots comes with faster generation of Envoys.

To establish your Government, you need to place Policy cards of the respective type in the Government's slots, forming your current political agenda. Thus you customize your government, making it distinct, and responding to the current challenges and future goals for your empire.

There are ways to add more Policy Card slots to your Government, for example by building Wonders. Those slots will be added regardless of your current form of Government, and will stay even if you lose control of the city with the particular Wonder.

Changing Government Configuration

The cards that occupy your government slots, and the form of government itself, cannot be changed whenever you please. There are two ways to do that:

1. Whenever you finish researching a Civic. Your citizens get excited about the new possibilities the civic principles give them, and you may freely alter your government configuration.
2. After you pay a tax in Gold.

Every time you change government configuration, you are able to change both the form of government (Chiefdom, Classical Republic, Autocracy, etc.), and the Policy Cards in your government slots. Normally, each slot must be filled by a card of the corresponding type (Military Card in a Military slot, Economic Card in an Economic slot, etc.), but Wildcard slots are exceptions: they can be filled with either a Wildcard or any of the other card types, thus allowing you to enjoy the benefits of cards for which your government does not otherwise have slots available. Of course, you are only able to choose Policy Cards which you have unlocked via Civic research.

While your people are always eager to try out new forms of government, they are not so enthusiastic about going back to a type of government you have previously tried - to them this feels like going backwards to something antiquated. Every time you switch to a form of government you already had previously, your empire will enter several turns of Anarchy! How many will depend on how many times have you previously adopted that government - the formula is 2 turns + 1 per each time.

Legacy Bonuses

As stated above, each form of Government (except Chiefdom) offers specific bonuses; one of them is always quantifiable, appearing as a percentage value over something. By practicing a government system, your statesmen gain particular knowledge of it, which they are able to transfer whenever you switch governments - this is known as Legacy bonuses. Each time you start a new government, you start earning a particular Legacy bonus, based on that government's specific quantifiable Bonus. The longer you keep the government, the greater your knowledge of its particulars, and the greater this Legacy bonus will grow. The specific effect manifests itself as 0+1% of the Bonus every several turns. The number of turns is set, but is subject to bonuses from Civics. So, for example, after you practice Classical Republic, you will gain a Legacy Bonus increasing Great People Points generation; the longer you had practiced Classical Republic, the greater that bonus. Of course, since you're already earning a Legacy Bonus for your current government as well, this bonus will stack with the existing Bonus, effectively increasing it the longer you keep this government.

Legacy Bonuses allow your empire to further distinguish itself from other ones - it is very rare that other empires follow exactly the same path as yours!

Forms of government and Diplomacy

As in the real world, nations which have the same forms of government will feel closer, and gain a bonus to diplomatic relations. And conversely, those with different governments will gain a negative bonus, souring relations. After all, a democratic society cannot see eye-to-eye with a fascist one!

Forms of government

Here are the known forms of government and their specifics:

Government	Required Civic	Military	Economic	Diplomatic	Wildcard	Effects	Legacy Bonus
Ancient (2 slots)
Chiefdom	Code of Laws	1	1	0	0	No bonus.	No bonus.
Classical (4 slots)
Autocracy	Political Philosophy	2	1	0	1	Capital receives +1 boost to all yields. 10% Bonus to wonder production.	Additional +1% Bonus to wonder production every ? turns.
Classical Republic	Political Philosophy	0	2	1	1	All cities with a district receive +1 amenity. 15% Bonus to Great People point generation.	Additional +1% Bonus to Great People point generation every 15 turns.
Oligarchy	Political Philosophy	1	1	1	1	All combat units gain +4 strength. 20% Bonus experience for units.	Additional +1% Bonus experience for units every 5 turns.
Medieval / Renaissance (6 slots)
Merchant Republic	Exploration	1	2	1	2	+2 trade routes. 15% Discount on gold purchases.	Additional +1% Discount on gold purchases every ? turns.
Monarchy	Divine Right	3	1	1	1	+2 housing in any city with medieval walls. 20% Bonus influence points.	Additional +1% Bonus influence points every 10 turns.
Theocracy	Reformed Church	2	2	1	1	Can buy land combat units with faith. All units gain +5 strength in theological combat. 15% Discount on faith purchases.	Additional +1% Discount on faith purchases every 15 turns.
Modern (8 slots)
Communism	Class Struggle	3	3	1	1	Land units gain +4 defense strength. Industrial Zone districts can defend. 10% bonus on all production.	Additional +1% bonus on all production every ? turns.
Democracy	Suffrage	1	3	2	2	Patronage of Great People costs 50% less gold. 30% bonus yields from district projects.	Additional +1% bonus yields from district projects every ? turns.
Fascism	Totalitarianism	4	1	1	2	All combat units gain +4 combat strength. 20% bonus on unit production.	Additional +1% bonus on unit production every ? turns.

Gallery

The government screen and some policy cards

The civics tree