Politics and government play a vital role in the development of your society.
As such, a senate, being where the ruling class may confer with its subjects, is a vital part of your infrastructure.
Senates are important for several reasons. Firstly, where a senate is built will determine where your capital will be set up. A capital will exert a slight boost upon your borders, and will also act as the spawn point of your patriot unit. At each stage in the development of your faction, you will also be allowed to choose one of two self-exclusive technologies at your senate; each one representing a totalitarian or libertarian stance towards government.
To research a government, select your senate, and then click the icons representing your choice government. Apart from effecting some changes to your faction's abilities, the new government technology you researched will also grant you a patriot unit (which represents the ruler of your people) and may even unlock new units.
Alternate names[]
- In Ultima Ratio / Rise of Napoleon, it retains its vanilla name.
- In Rise of the Moderns the Senate is known as the Civic Centre.
- In The Southeastern Dragon, it is replaced with two buildings - the Nobles' Court, and the National Assembly.
Colonial governments 
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All factions will start off with either 1 government researched, or the ability to choose which one to research.
Royal Prerogative[]
"So this is what being king is all about!." — Alexander the Great, using Darius' effects after the battle of Issus
- Cheaper infantry
- Stronger cavalry auxiliary units in [2]
- Access to the Palace Complex for whoever may be able to build it
- Access to Protector of the Realm Patriot.
- Allows construction of all pre-Imperial militaristic wonders
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Liberalism[]
"What is the Third Estate? Everything. What has it been hitherto in the political order? Nothing. What does it desire to be? Something!" — Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, French priest and revolutionary
- Enhanced commerce cap
- Access to Legislator Patriot.
- Allows construction of all pre-Imperial civil wonders
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Imperial governments 
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Sovereign Rights[]
"But I'm the Kaiser, and I want apricot dumplings!" —Ferdinand I of Austria
- Grants access to the Monarch patriot unit and a super cavalry mercenary in Industrial Era.
- Required to build the Presidium for Hispanic civs.
- Cheaper Academy units
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Consensual Government[]
"The power of equal votes for unequal minds." — Charles I Stuart
- Grants access to the President patriot unit
- Cheaper non-library research
- Upgrades infantry mercenaries in Industrial Era.
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Mechanisation governments []
Popular Front[]
"This world does not belong to you, and cannot be ruled just to satisfy your whims." —Tokugawa Ieyasu
- Receives the Populist patriot.
- One-time 500 oil boost immediately.
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Autocracy[]
"I am an upstart soldier. My domination will not outlive the day when I cease to be strong."
—Napoleon Bonaparte
- Receives the Senior Statesman.
- Faster production for naval and siege units.
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Note, however, that you need to be careful with your capital, as in some games, you will lose if your opponent captures your capital and holds it successfully as his own for a limited amount of time, so careful placement of your senate or capital can make a difference between victory or defeat.
Notes[]
1. For Rise of Napoleon, the Age restrictions on all Government techs are removed; however, this results in double research time for Red governments and added costs for Green ones.
2. For Forge of Storms onward, the Civic Centre will be shrunk to a 6 x 6 complex, with the old Senate buildings being repurposed, along with new additions, as the Staff College/Nobles' Courts.The design for the new buildings are as follows:
- Chinese/Asian: Hub of the Forbidden City (main building) with a square.
- Indian/Arab: Umaid Bhawam (central building).
- Malay: Sumbawa palace
- European:
- For West European factions, Palais Luxembourg, later with the addition of a clock tower in the late game.
- For south European/Latin American factions, Caserta palace, later upgraded to resemble the Royal Palace of Madrid.
- For Sweden, Netherlands, America, and Russia, the first level is always represented by a building resembling a 1700 Zemsky prikaz building in Moscow. Much later, it also upgrades for Russia, Netherlands and Sweden to the Eisenhower Building, but America gets the White House.
Thereafter the following are envisioned:
- Painted ladies for Asian, Indian an Arab factions,
- Red brick for North European and West European,
- Neoclassical for all others.