Military Policies
Native Conquest
Combat victories over units from earlier eras provide Gold equal to 50% of the Combat Strength of the defeated unit. (on Standard Speed)
Required Civics:
- Colonialism
The first wave of European colonization began in the early 15th Century AD when the Portuguese established trading posts along the coast of Africa on their way to the Far East. But when the Spanish discovered the Americas, soon followed by the Portuguese, English, French, Dutch, Swedes, and anyone else who could sail the oceans, the settlement of “empty” lands took on another tone.
For, of course, these lands weren’t empty, but full of natives that had been there for millennia. When the new arrivals clashed with the locals, it turned out poorly for the natives, thanks to Europeans guns, cannons, horses, and diseases.
Grande Armee
+50% Production toward Industrial era and earlier melee, anti-cavalry, and ranged units.
Made obsolete by:
- Military First
Required Civics:
- Nationalism
At its peak just prior to the invasion of Russia, Napoleon’s Grande Armée numbered some 680 thousand men, drawn primarily from France but also including contingents from 11 other nations (95 thousand from Poland alone).
It has been widely acknowledged by military historians to be one of the greatest fighting forces ever assembled, and under the command of Napoleon and his generals, tactically superior to anything it faced.
The Grande Armée was originally the force Napoleon had assembled for the invasion of England but renamed in 1805 AD and put to other uses – like conquering most of continental Europe. It would serve as the template when most of the powers decided they too needed a large, national army.
National Identity
Units have 50% less Combat Strength reduction from being injured.
Required Civics:
- Nationalism
With emergence of a “public sphere” and an integrated national economy in various 18th-Century European civilizations, people began to identify with their country at large rather than the smaller town or province in which they resided. National symbols, anthems, flags, myths, and traditions were elevated in the citizenry’s collective psyche as being somehow important.
The convulsions of the American and French revolutions augmented this development with widespread appeals to patriotic nationalism. Prussian-born Johann Herder was the prophet of this new creed and originated the term “nationalism” to describe an inborn pride in one’s origins, language, and culture. Then came the many wars of nationalism, and a new level was added to the chauvinism.
Military Research
Military Academies and Seaports generate +1 Science.
Made obsolete by:
- Integrated Space Cell
Required Civics:
- Urbanisation
While there were some instances of government military research before, the funding of science with military applications has had a transformative effect on research since the opening decade of the 20th Century.
World War I was termed the “chemists’ war” as scientists funded by their governments raced to develop more and more lethal chemicals and countermeasures against the newest gases; meanwhile physicists were building bigger and better guns, bombs, and machines.
World War II marked an even greater investment in military innovations, culminating in that mushroom cloud over Hiroshima. The sheer scale of military research funding since has had a profound effect on civilization… especially as some (but not all) new discoveries also have civilian applications.
Total War
Yields gained from pillaging are doubled.
Required Civics:
- Scorched Earth
Ancient warfare was generally “total war,” until morality set in and rules evolved. Total war is defined as the mobilization of an entire civilization’s might and the application of that might against an entire enemy civilization – targeting not just its military, but the civilian populace and infrastructure, industrial and agricultural resources, and its will to carry on the fight.
For centuries, professional armies and navies conducted “limited” warfare in colorful conflicts (and that’s not just those pretty uniforms), and chivalry and honor marked (supposedly) the battlefield. But with industrialization, the American Civil War and the even more entertaining First World War, utilizing every means to destroy one’s enemy became the preferred strategy. The Second World War was the quintessential total war (thus far).
Economic Civics
Colonial Taxes
+25% Gold in cities not on your original Capital’s continent.
Required Civics:
- Colonialism
Mercantilism held that great powers needed colonies to serve as a “cash cow” to maintain a healthy home economy; what better way to squeeze cash out than through taxes on all and sundry, taxes that their citizens at home often didn’t have to pay.
Whereas most of the colonial powers – Portugal, Spain, France (to a small extent) and others – levied taxes overseas, it was the British who faced the wrath of their ungrateful colonists over the practice. The Sugar Act, the Stamp Act, the Townshend Revenue Act, and finally the Tea Act contributed to the subsequent revolution… so perhaps colonial taxes weren’t the best policy after all.
Public Works
+30% Production toward Builders, and newly trained Builders gain 2 extra build actions.
Required Civics:
- Civil Engineering
Public works encompass public buildings (schools, hospitals, museums, and so forth), public transport facilities (everything from roads to airports), public spaces (all those parks and squares), public services (sewers, dams, the electrical grids), and anything else (often pork barrel projects) the government might be willing to finance and construct for the “greater” good.
In ancient Rome, the Opera publica oversaw construction of projects to benefit the community… all those lovely aqueducts for instance. American politicians took the lead in reviving that idea; in 1791 AD Pennsylvania launched the first comprehensive publicly financed road system, and in 1801 Philadelphia built the first public water system.
Skyscrapers
+15% Production toward all wonders.
Required Civics:
- Civil Engineering
Until the Industrial Revolution, any structure over six stories was rare indeed and likely considered a “wonder.” Known as the “grandfather of skyscrapers,” built in 1797 AD, The Flaxmill in Shrewsbury used cast-iron columns and beams to support a five-story brick construction.
Sixty years later Elisha Otis invented the “safety” elevator, and architects started to think bigger. In 1885 the ten-story Home Insurance Building in Chicago was christened, incorporating a steel framework, fireproofing, elevators, and electrical wiring… all considered indispensable in modern skyscrapers. Though they don’t really scrape the sky, some of them get pretty tall, like the Burj Khalifa in Dubai at 2,722 feet (829.8 meters).
Grand Opera
+100% Culture yield from Theater Square district buildings.
Required Civics:
- Opera and Ballet
As if opera isn’t enough (and it certainly is for many folks), for a period from the late 1820s through the 1850s “grand opera” was all the rage in France. The genre was marked by four or five acts, large casts and orchestras, lavish costumes and stage effects, with plots based on dramatic historical events.
The first of these monumental productions was La Muette de Portici by Daniel Auber; set in 1647 revolutionary Naples, it ends with the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the heroine throwing herself into it. There was not a dry eye in the theater after it premiered, and for nearly two generations European audiences flocked to grand operas.
Public Transport
Receive 50 Gold per Appeal of tile when replacing a Farm with a Neighborhood district.
Required Civics:
- Urbanization
Public transport – in Asia, run as profit-driven, privately-owned enterprises; in the Americas, generally as government operations; in Europe, a mix of state-owned and private companies – provide inexpensive passenger services to the general public… buses, subways, trams, commuter trains, ferries, and such.
The first such organized system appears to have been the omnibus service that operated in Paris commencing in 1662, but it didn’t last long. Omnibuses were reintroduced in Nantes in 1826, and in London in 1829.
Shortly thereafter, as London became more crowded and unsanitary, good folk began settling in “suburbs” around the city, a development helped by the creation of the Metropolitan Railway in the 1860s which offered cheap fares into the heart of the capital. Soon, ever industrial city wanted a public transit system too.
Expropriation
+50% Production toward Settlers. Plot purchase cost reduced by 20%.
Required Civics:
- Scorched Earth
Expropriation – as opposed to eminent domain, which usually involves some form of compensation – is the government taking private property for a purpose deemed to be in “the public interest.”
Often this is land, but in the 20th Century it became a major element of nationalization, as governments sought to redress perceived wrongs or stabilize their economies or lessen foreign influence (or all three, as in the case of the Mexican expropriation of American oil company holdings in March 1938). Communist policies in the 1920s and across Eastern Europe after World War II saw the expropriation of virtually all foreign holdings in those countries.
Diplomatic Policies
Raj
+2 Science, Culture, Faith, and Gold from each city-state you are Suzerain of.
Required Civics:
- Colonialism
When the British East India Company screwed up royally and the British Royal Army had to step in to put down the Sepoy Mutiny, rule of the sub-continent was transferred to the Crown, in the person of Queen Victoria, who was declared Empress of India in June 1858.
The British Raj was divided into two aspects: the regions under direct British control, and those ruled by Indian princes (under British “tutelage” of course)… some 565 princely states in 1947 when British dominion ended.
Most of these princely states, while nominally sovereign, were under British control regarding their defense, external affairs, communications, transport, and trade (indeed, most of their exports went to England to pay for all this other stuff).
Great Person Policies
Symphonies
+4 Great Musician points per turn.
Required Civics:
- Opera and Ballet
Although the first symphonies – instrumental works in three or four movements scored for large orchestras – appeared in the early 1600s, it was during the 18th Century that they took on the form known today.
The aristocracy, followed by the rising affluent middle-class, became fans of these extended pieces of music in cultural centers such as Vienna, Milan, and Paris, performed in 100-piece ensembles of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. Sponsors devoted fortunes to helping aspiring composers, and symphonies came to play a highly visible role in public life in Europe.
In the early 19th Century, Beethoven – among others – elevated the symphony even more, from a popular but common genre to supreme musical artwork. It remains so to this day.
Military Organizations
+4 Great General points per turn.
Required Civics:
- Scorched Earth
A highly-rigid, hierarchical military organization first came into widespread use with the Roman Army. Until the so-called Age of Reason however, throughout the Middle and Renaissance periods, most military organizations were rather ad hoc affairs.
The rise of mostly professional, national armies changed that. And professional armies needed professional officers, not just those appointed to command due to connections or wealth. The first national academies opened to fill the military hierarchy – the oldest the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich in 1720 AD – offering training for aspiring officers.
An established military organization provided opportunities for the gifted graduates to rise rapidly through the ranks… and have the chance to be brilliant. Occasionally, that even happened.
