Yea, after playing around with it some, I definitely preferred the "old" stats. The special units provided seem particularly unimpressive, basically a beefed up general/spy or general/supply wagon combo. Nice thing, though, is it's free and does not require a castle. If killed, it gets replaced after a suitable time delay.

Once you research a government, you are stuck with it, no changing it until you reach the next "level." Then you choose between the next level military or economic one. However, you RETAIN your previous government powers. This means choices are permanent, and you can tailor your civ throughout the game to fit your preferences:

Level - Choices
II - Despotism and Republic
IV - Monarchy and Democracy
VI - Socialism and Capitalism

You research these in order, in Classical: D or S, in Gunpoweder: M or D, in Industrial: S or C; so, during the course of the game, you really have 8 potential approaches:

D-M-S     R-M-S

D-M-C     R-M-C

D-D-S     R-D-S

D-D-C     R-D-C

There is problem with this in its current form which leads me to immediately see an optimal path (at least for me). The problem is that some of the benefits are temporary, and some of them are long-lasting. Some are good and some are pretty much worthless. I suppose it all comes down to your strategy; however , for example, I'd much rather have a permanent reduction in military unit costs than a "temporary" reduction in non-library research costs. It's temporary because I will eventually run out of things to research.
posted by Tim at 9:24 PM