Theocracy

Major Bonus: +5 religious Strength in Theological Combat, +.5 Faith per Citizen in cities with Governors

Minor Bonus: 15% discount on Purchases with Faith

Theocracy Rundown:

Theocracy is a trade-off. It's not as powerful as Merchant republic but is more powerful than Monarchy due to its extra Economic Policy slot. Its actually comparable to Merchant Republic in power due to the simple fact that you will very likely be running two military policy cards regardless if you are running Merchant Republic or not. Also it is desirable to get the civic Guilds as early as possible and an early T2 Government as soon as possible which means getting Monarchy first -- which comes quite early -- then swapping into this as soon as its available is quite appealing. It is also extremely important to mention that any strategies based around Faith -- from Purchasing Naturalists for National Parks to Apostles for Chaplins to Unit purchase strategies with the Grandmaster's Chapel Theocracy is the way to go

Theocracy Strengths:

• Desirable Civic path: Even if you went for Mercenaries first for Professional Armies you will get a T2 Government type (Monarchy) faster than Merchant republic -- usually by about 7-14 turns which means you can get a T2 government district building (usually meaning your Intelligence Agency) 7-14 turns before your opposition. Also you're very incentivized to get to guilds by about the start of the Medieval Era to maximize your bonus from Free Inquiry with Town Charters which is also along the path for this. As a final note with Alliances if there is a run-away state in the game warring everyone nearby it's extremely powerful to get a militaristic alliance against that player to help keep them in check -- also along the civics path for this Government
• Versatility: capable of usage for multiple strategies from Religious to Cultural to Domination Theocracy can cover them all -- even Science if you have Jesuit Education

Theocracy Weaknesses:

• Not the most versatile: While flexible, this government type will never be as flexible as Merchant republic's +1 wildcard just because of the nature of the civics card
• Pathetic "major" bonus: To be frank +5 combat for religious units is a joke in multiplayer -- in the 5,000+ hours I've played multiplayer I've had an actual religious war once and it was versus a player who was specifically coached on what I was doing to get a religious victory and walked through exactly how to counter it. To say its Major bonus is pathetic is being extremely generous -- it's easier to say if you run this government type you're running a government without a major bonus at all
• Heavy Cavalry overflow strategies: This is a carry-over from Monarchy. If you've researched Monarchy then you've lost access to the Maneuver policy card and you no longer have the ability to use overflow strategies with it in the mid/late game

Militaristic Policy Card Slot: 2

To me this is where Theocracy has an edge over Merchant Republic as I tend to run many many military policy cards. Here's my favorites:

• Retainers
• Conscription/Levee En Masse
• Wars of Religion
• Maritime Industries/Press Gangs/Feudal Contract/Grand Armée/Maneuver/Chivalry
• National Identity
• Logistics
• Professional Armies
• Bastions/Limes

Economic Policy Card Slot: 2

it's likely you'll be running the following:

• Serfdom/Urban Planning
• Town Charters
• Triangular Trade
• Natural Philosophy
• Rationalism

Diplomatic Policy Card Slot: 1

At this point of the game I hear often that players tend to gravitate towards running Merchant Confederation however I do not tend to touch this civic card much at all due to my complete infatuation with spies -- and there's some examples of why included. The diplomatic card that I tend to use is Machiavellianism because of this though there are always exceptions to this -- it's a standard for me, not a rule.

Wildcard Policy Card Slot: 1

This will be a filler based off your specific situation -- If simming you can gravitate a bit more towards Economic cards above, if at war an extra militaristic card above

End