Slavery is an economic boon to a society. It would result in increases in all types of production relatively inexpensively. Most early societies exploited some form of slavery, whether it was slavery, indentured servitude, or peasantry. I think it goes without saying that early socieities will practice it.
Slavery is very easy to implement without adding to the complexity of the game. For each military unit contained in a city, the city gains a bonus in not only happiness, but shields, trade and food as well.
At some point, slavery could be outlawed, resulting in a slight disruption whereever slavery is practiced, but slave revolts rarely ever end up as civilizational altering events.
Keep in mind that modern day form of slavery is emerging in the form of industrial automation. Maintenance is still required, but the military of yesterday is now being replaced by the mechanic and programmers of today.
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