Civics and Opportunity Cost

In CivWorld, every civilization can vote to enact one of several Civics. These are basically public policies that your civilization can choose, each with a benefit and a drawback.

There are two primary things to remember about Civics:

• Your civilization can only have one Civic enacted at a time.
• Each Civic can only be claimed by one civilization at a time.

Now that I've told you that, guess what? There are two exceptions to the above rules. Meritocracy and Closed Borders are not "exclusive" - they can be enacted by all the civilizations in the game if necessary.

Most of the Civics give you a +25% bonus in one category (like Production) and a -25% penalty in another (like Gold).  Some will also affect your citizens' Happiness, which makes all your citizens slightly more (or less) productive.

Meritocracy and Closed Borders are intriguing - they appear to have a benefit without a drawback.  Look at Meritocracy, for example.  It automatically removes inactive players from your civilization, which helps your civ pass votes in a timely fashion and provides space for active players to join.  And hey, it doesn't give us -25% to anything!

The thing to remember is the opportunity cost of having one Civic - you're not just paying the penalty associated with that civic, you're also paying the price of not having another civic in place.  You're forfeiting the +25% in some category that you could be enjoying.  This is particularly true of things like Meritocracy (once your inactive folks are cut out, you're not gaining much and you're forfeiting a +25% somewhere else), but it's true of every Civic.

Think about the civic currently enacted in your civilization - is it the best one for your current situation? Or could your civilization be benefiting more from a different bonus or a different penalty?