MONARCHY
A crown, and a country that can finally keep what it grows.
THE TILE PENALTY IS GONE. Every tile yields what the land yields, which makes irrigation and mines worth building for the first time. This alone is usually the largest single gain of the ancient era.
Corruption falls well below despotism, though the far provinces still steal.
Each city supports THREE units free; only the fourth and beyond cost a shield.
Special resources yield +1 trade, so the whale and the wine begin to pay.
Martial law applies: troops in a city quiet its citizens, and a monarch may hold a restless empire together with soldiers rather than luxuries.
A warlike civilization can win under a crown. A trading one should look to the Republic.