User Guide

57
generations when the line
of succession came into
question or dispute. We
refer to the creation of
a dynastic tie using the
term “royal marriage”.
The two main prerequi-
sites for creating a royal
marriage are that both
countries must belong to
the same major religious
group, and both coun-
tries must have a form of
government that has a dy-
nastic head of state. We
will discuss the method
for arranging a royal mar-
riage in the chapter on
Diplomacy.
Countries that are
able to form royal mar-
riages will benefit from the short-term advan-
tages of improved relationships, but also open
themselves up to possible strife in the future.
We saw this potential earlier when we looked
at the things that might
happen when your ruler
dies. This includes the
possibility of inheriting
another country’s terri-
tory, becoming a junior or
senior partner in a person-
al union, or the dangerous
turmoil of a succession
war. Most governments
that are a form of repub-
lic with an elected head of
state cannot create a royal
marriage (since there is
no “royalty” formally rec-
ognized), thus they limit
their diplomatic options
somewhat in exchange
for somewhat greater long-
term security.
Changing
Your Form of
Government
Clicking on the form of
government button will
display a list of all the
other government types
that are currently avail-
able to you. Early in the
game, you will have very
limited choices (or even
no choice at all) because
most advanced forms of
government must first be
researched by investing
in government technol-
ogy. As you reach higher
levels of technology, you
will have a wider range of
options.
There is a small loss of
stability whenever you alter your form of gov-
ernment, reflecting the fact that such bureau-
cratic transitions rarely go smoothly. You must
have a nation stability level of at least 0 before
you will be allowed to
select a new form of gov-
ernment. You will also be
prohibited from making
a drastic change in a sin-
gle step. If a form of gov-
ernment is greyed out on
the list, it will be neces-
sary to change to one or
more interim forms of
government before it will
become available. The al-
lowed government transi-
tions are included in the
listing in Appendix F.
National Ideas
Immediately below the
form of government but-
ton are ten “National
Ideas” boxes. A national