The city caps are as follows, along with other important information for each government.
"Expected Empire Settings" is the expected rations, workday and wages the people of that government expect in the very least. If you go above their expectations happiness increases by 1 for each slider notch, if you go below, happiness goes down 1 for each notch. When you switch to a new government it will always start on the expected empire settings.
See Empire Sliders and Public Works Tax for more information on the Empire Manager.
(Note: "Maximised" means squeezing the most from each element. So "maximising" the rations slider would be giving the minimum rations possible, to allow for maximum growth)
Food: multiply food collected by this figure.
Production: multiply production collected by this figure.
Gold (savings): multiply gold collected by this figure.
Science: multiply science collected by this figure.
Max Science Tax: maximum science rate a government can use.
Support Costs: base support cost for each unit is multiplied by this figure.
Crime: base crime is multiplied by this figure . See "What is Crime?" for more information.
Max War Discontent Units/Per Unit: War discontent amount. See "What is War Discontent?" for more information.
Anarchy 1000 (this is only used when you transfer from one government to another).
Expected Empire Settings: 4Kg, 12Hrs, 8Gold
Food: 0.75
Production: 0.75
Gold (savings): 0.75
Science: 0.1
Max Science Tax: 0%
Support Costs: 1
Crime: 2
Max War Discontent Units/Per Unit: 0/0.1
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Tyranny 10 - Tyranny gives martial law of +1 happiness for each unit up to a maximum of 4 units, so you should garrison Warriors (or Archers if you have Ballistics) early to boost happiness. If you do this, you should easily be able to maintain 14 cities in Tyranny while keeping rations and workday maximised (though you will have to increase wages gradually).
Once you have 14 or more cities, make sure you have the additional settlers (to increase to 20 cities) in locations ready to settle before you have researched Monarchy. War should be avoided at this point, at the most operate one full army, or several smaller roaming armies for slaving barbarians.
When you feel any additional cities will not increase your research toward Monarchy anymore, you should lower wages (compensate by lowering work day) to research Monarchy as quickly as possible.
Expected Empire Settings: 4Kg, 12Hrs, 8Gold
Food: 0.85
Production: 0.85
Gold (savings): 0.75
Science: 1
Max Science Tax: 50%
Support Costs: 1.25
Crime: 1.5
Max War Discontent Units/Per Unit: 5/0.5
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Monarchy 20 - Monarchy has martial law for a maximum of 3 units (+1 happiness for each), this will be especially useful in newly built cities without Theaters or Shrines. This should allow you to immediately maximise all sliders, just make sure you have roads (to reduce any "distance to capital" penalties) or rush a shrine or theater where needed.
Bare in mind that these martial law units will be useless in Republic (and 2 of them useless in Theocracy) for martial law, so building a shrine and/or theater in every city is always a good option for the future.
Building more than 20 cities in any of these governments is a bad idea. It will severly hit your freedom to squeeze more from the empire sliders, and only get worse once war discontent kicks in. War is not ideal in Monarchy, but you can operate a full army or two without too many problems, just don't keep them in the field too long, unless your enemy does too.
Monarchy is the same as Tyranny, in that you need to get out of it as soon as possible. In this case for Republic as it's the closest.
Expected Empire Settings: 5Kg, 10Hrs, 8Gold
Food: 1
Production: 1
Gold (savings): 1
Science: 1
Max Science Tax: 60%
Support Costs: 1.25
Crime: 1
Max War Discontent Units/Per Unit: 10/0.5
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Republic 20 - The extra production alone makes Republic a much better government than Monarchy. Also people in Republic expect to work more too, so you get even more production for no happiness sacrificed. To maximise empire sliders in Republic you will need at least theaters and shrines in every city.
Like Monarchy, Republic is not ideal for war, but it's certainly better than Theocracy...
Expected Empire Settings: 5Kg, 12Hrs, 12Gold
Food: 1.15
Production: 1.15
Gold (savings): 1
Science: 1.5
Max Science Tax: 70%
Support Costs: 1.5
Crime: 1.25
Max War Discontent Units/Per Unit: 10/0.5
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Theocracy 20 - Much lower crime, extra gold and lower wage expectations is very useful in Theocracy, but science will be significantly lower than in Republic, everything else being equal. Theocracy is basically, gold, gold and more gold. If you're not maximising wages in Theocracy you're not getting the most from it, and you may fall behind in science too.
Theocracy gives +1 martial law happiness for 1 unit, so you can push the empire sliders a little bit more than a Republic. To maximise the sliders in Theocracy you will generally need at least a theater in each city (obviously plus the martial law).
It's important to note that because of the much lower crime, food stored is higher in Theocracy compared to Republic on the same rations. Consider then increasing rations to lower wages, or maximise rations to use more scientist specialists but maintain reasonable growth. Production is slightly lower than Republic, due to high support costs in Theocracy though, so always keep workday maximised.
Theocracy has worse war discontent than Monarchy, Republic and even Tyranny, so growing (and rush-buying) your economy is the only game to play in Theocracy.
Expected Empire Settings: 7Kg, 12Hrs, 8Gold
Food: 1.15
Production: 1
Gold (savings): 1.25
Science: 1.25
Max Science Tax: 60%
Support Costs: 1.5
Crime: 0.75
Max War Discontent Units/Per Unit: 5/1
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Fascism 35 - It's the first government with 35 cities, so obviously you want more cities as soon as possible. Ideally you'll have some settlers already in place to build new cities, if not then you probably need to attack your enemy to stop them building too many before you.
Fascism allows 2 units to give +2 happiness each (+4 total), so it's essential all new cities get 2 units garrisoned once settled. Older cities should also now have 2 units each to maximise happiness (and thus lower crime).
Growth is poor in Fascism but production is not, so obviously you need to start converting some of that production into food. That means farms or advance farms, as you should have Agricultural Revolution by now (or very soon). Also be sure to pick up Ocean Faring for fisheries soon too. Science will still be largely generated by scientists, but you should be able to maximise your wages (rations and workday should already be maximised) now too.
Once the additional 15 cities (or the land intended for them) are secure, now is a good time for war, or just to bulk up your defences. Cavalry should not be far away either. You will need to find a good balance between improving your land, and increasing your army at this time. Fascism is ideal for war though, high production, low support, and low war discontent.
See the Military Units and Armies section for details on the Fascist unit.
Expected Empire Settings: 5Kg, 10Hrs, 12Gold
Food: 1
Production: 1.3
Gold (savings): 1
Science: 1.25
Max Science Tax: 60%
Support Costs: 0.75
Crime: 0.75
Max War Discontent Units/Per Unit: 15/0.5
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Democracy 35 - Coming out of Fascism right away you should notice how much harder it will be to maximise your empire sliders. Generally you will need at least a shrine, theater and arena in each city, and basilicas (or entertainer specialists) to compensate for any war discontent, distance from capital or other happiness penalties. Obviously this will require a long period of peace to build these up, so for now it's best just to focus on the reason/s you're using Democracy in the first place - growth and/or science.
Growth. You can run 4Kg rations with the higher crime and still store more food than Fascism at 2Kg. If you need growth run 2Kg though obviously. Check out some of your opponents city sizes to get a general idea of how big they are, also to see what tile improvements they have. Squeezing more growth than you need can be a waste, and risky if you need more immediate science or production.
Science. It will still largely come from scientists, but they will generate far more in Democracy. A scientist in Fascism will generate 25-30 science, a scientist in Democracy will generate 45-50 science, so you don't even need to maximise the wages slider in Democracy to boost your science. If you've read the Technology Goals or the Military Units sections, you should know your main goal from here is researching Tank Warfare.
Another option is to turn off the science tax altogether. Your scientists will still give 45-50 science, but all your commerce will go to gold savings instead, which allows for a little more rush-buying, which will help with your low production. You should check your advance counter to see how this effects your research speed though. You may need to use more scientists to maintain good research this way though.
By now you probably have a lot of military units (and ideally you don't need any more for now), so support costs will be high, but more importantly so will war discontent, so get your units in cities or forts immediately. Keeping war discontent under control, while maintaining a large defensive army, is essential in Democracy.
Expected Empire Settings: 5Kg, 10Hrs, 16Gold
Food: 1.25
Production: 1.15
Gold (savings): 1.25
Science: 2
Max Science Tax: 80%
Support Costs: 1.5
Crime: 1
Max War Discontent Units/Per Unit: 5/2
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Communism 35 - Pound for pound the "best" government in this period. Sure Democracy has great science and growth, and Fascism has great war stats, but Communism can do more.
If you didn't finish your terra-forming and tile improving in Fascism (because of unit building most likely), then now is the only time to terra-form and tile-improve everything you can. If you're not doing this then you're wasting the best part of Communism. Nothing can rush this stage, so the sooner you do it, the better placed you'll be later in the game. In fact how well each civ develops in this stage will decide many games.
Tanks and PT Boats can be built in 3-6 turns each in a well developed Communist empire. If you have time, build Factories and Oil Refineries first, if not use labourer specialists to boost your production.
If the game looks to have no immediate end, you will have to start thinking about research again, and eventually your next government...
Expected Empire Settings: 5Kg, 10Hrs, 12Gold
Food: 1.15
Production: 1.5
Gold (savings): 1
Science: 1.25
Max Science Tax: 60%
Support Costs: 0.75
Crime: 0.75
Max War Discontent Units/Per Unit: 10/1
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Corporate Republic 45
Expected Empire Settings: 7Kg, 10Hrs, 16Gold
Food: 1.25
Production: 1.3
Gold (savings): 1.75
Science: 2
Max Science Tax: 80%
Support Costs: 1.25
Crime: 1
Max War Discontent Units/Per Unit: 10/1.5
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Technocracy 45
Expected Empire Settings: 7Kg, 8Hrs, 16Gold
Food: 1.15
Production: 1.3
Gold (savings): 1.25
Science: 2.5
Max Science Tax: 100%
Support Costs: 1
Crime: 0.5
Max War Discontent Units/Per Unit: 10/1.5
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Virtual Democracy 60
Expected Empire Settings: 7Kg, 8Hrs, 16Gold
Food: 1.25
Production: 1.3
Gold (savings): 1.75
Science: 2.5
Max Science Tax: 100%
Support Costs: 2
Crime: 0.5
Max War Discontent Units/Per Unit: 0/3
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Ecotopia 60
Expected Empire Settings: 5Kg, 8Hrs, 12Gold
Food: 1.5
Production: 1.15
Gold (savings): 1.5
Science: 2
Max Science Tax: 80%
Support Costs: 1.25
Crime: 0.75
Max War Discontent Units/Per Unit: 15/0.5
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