Link: http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1032878/goverment-shift/page/1
Please give us an official ruling of the matter.
My opinion:
Simple guideline for SOT actions:
Your SOT --> change/no change government --> found city (cities)--> collect benefits from gov/wonder(s) --> culture card (s) --> Your End of SOT
Once Player A switch to democracy from feudalism during the SOT, he forfeited the right to harvest resource at the SOT, and chosen to gain a coin and 2 trades instead. Feudalism was out of power along with its associated benefits for the entirety of the turn, because it failed to rule the civ during the SOT.
Go through the same line of thinking with Pyramid, the Player who owns the Pyramid have to choose one gov per start of the turn, EVEN when he/she has all the options in the world without the penalty of anarchy. The rest of non-in-power gov has no effect on the player's civ, as though they have never existed, and gave away the chosen gov the authority to effect/benefit the player's civ for the duration of the turn.
All the switching around is simply part of Player A's decision process as he gained more and more options with the flow of the game, not necessary means his final decision before the end of the SOT phase. The resulting gov is his final decision.
Another case to clear the same line of thinking: after Player B canceled Player A's city management(CM) action with the Writing resource ability (spy), (according to FAQ) Player A get back all the resource and culture card(CC) that was used for the canceled city action by Player B. Player A's city action "happened," resource was "used", and CC was "discarded," but because of the final decision via Player B's spy was the
cancellation of the city action
-- it's as though nothing happened, because all player A's initial actions before the cancellation became only part of the decision process NOT the final action. Only one action
"cancellation of Player A's city action"
had any effect in the flow of the game.
Therefore,
because the final chosen gov, and only the final chosen gov of Player A's SOT
will has any effect in the flow of the game. the cancellation of the resource gathering under Feudalism, will give away to the gaining of a coin, and two extra trade under Democracy for Player A, at the end of his decision process for the end of the SOT phase.
After Player A gained assess to Feudalism after last turn's Research phase
Case 1: Player B use CC(Knowledge Shared) before/during Player A SOT.
Player A have to choose btw Feudalism/Democracy BEFORE inherit the respective gov's ability/benefits.
Result: Only one gov ability/benefit.
OR
Case 2: Player A uses CC during his own SOT and learns Democracy.
Player A have to choose btw Feudalism/Democracy BEFORE inherits the respective gov's ability/benefits.
Result: Only one gov ability/benefit.
OR
Case 3 (rare): Player B use CC after Player A SOT.
Player A's SoT was finished, he can not change his gov out turn. Player A could change to this new found gov penalty (anarchy) free during his next SoT, the first gov changing oppotunity.
Result: Only one gov ability/benefit.
OR
Case 4: Player B CC (Citizens are revolting) targets Player A, whom fall into Anarchy.
Since CC can be played anytime during SOT, all player A's benefit/ability from his own gov could/should be wiped away.
Result: Only one gov (anarchy) ability/benefit.
You switch to or already are that government. You collect 2 culture because it says "Start of Turn." Then you change to another government. Then you immediately change back. You collect an additional 2 culture because it says "Start of Turn." Repeat until satiated.
Now, I understand that we'll all be quick to say that a player can't do this. But what's truly interesting is why each of us might say that. It will give insight into how we interpret a change of government.
"You can't take the same government's bonus more than once!" Why not? You did change away and come back, so it's a different instance of that government. If you think that a single government type can't grant its reward multiple times, then you must admit that multiple government types can't each grant their reward during the same SoT.
"You can't switch to the same government twice during the same SoT!" Why not? That's not written anywhere. Switching to Republic to found a city using an army and then switching back to your preferred government seems like a respectable strategy.
"The problem is with expansion intermixing." It is true that these issues arise from expansions, so a FAQ that addresses the specific issue may not yet be available. This might mean that it's fair game to repair and that no amount of strict rules analysis might actually produce the "correct" answer.
"The designer didn't intend this exploit!" This is of course speculation, but it means that you recognize that there is the potential for trouble, either for your own group or for groups at large. Like the above example, this issue may very well be uncharted territory, and we may be the pioneers. I have previous info to suggest that our interpretation of what should be done will influence how FFG ultimately rules it.
Case Study 3
Real game situation when Egypt Pyramid broke the game.
http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1034878/civilization-pbf-game-88-fame-and-fortune-faq-2/page/1
*Immune to anarchy + unlocking all gov + Double Dipping actions every other turns for an ancient wonder(pyramid) is absurd.
**the player can only take 1 gov's bonus per turn.
So, in summery, there is no rare situation that allow you to double dip, under the one change, one ability, and no change after ability guideline:
For Gov Shift in SoT
1. You can't change government during your own SoT after you made use of a government's ability.
2. You can only change gov once
3. You can only use one set of gov ability/benefit.
There is no exception.