And being a small god
I like my daily news about Ukraine from Dylan Combellick. For three years, he has been giving us a consistent and fair assessment of this conflict. With Dylan’s insights, I am seeing why the world should have taken a more decisive path early in this conflict. Because we doddled in Ukraine, we are at risk of another world war as this conflict has ramifications outside Ukraine and Russia. There are tentacles to the Middle East. Both Koreas are now involved. War and civilizations go hand-in-hand.
Sometimes Dylan goes outside his usual articles. In one article, Dylan talks about the Civilization franchise, a computer game developed by Sid Meier. Unfortunately, I did not save this link, and my workings of the Medium search engine could not find it. Nonetheless, there is still an important story to tell.
Civilization is a computer game where the player takes on the role of a small god building a new civilization. The player competes against several AIs, who are building their own civilizations.
I have played Civilization I, II, III, and IV and have probably spent too much free time on this pastime.
We amateur historians can easily see the flaws of how Civilization is put together. But because there are so many things that the designers got reasonably right, we, who like to be small gods, can really dive into this game. Our reigns last centuries! This is a popular gaming franchise.
After a 10-year absence, I am back to playing Civilization. I haven’t gone to the newer versions of Civ V or Civ VI. I don’t want another big learning curve in my life. And I suspect my basic computer might not be able to handle the advanced graphics. So I grabbed a retro-version of Civ III, designed to work with Windows 11. Besides, I never did master any of the earlier Civ’s. Maybe I can finally beat the AIs of Civ III!
My early strategy in Civ III is to colonize as much land area as possible. With a bigger landmass, I usually have more access to future resources. When the final borders have been established, then I start building my military, culture, and research. If my landmass can hold at least 15 cities, I can dominate the AIs (at my current level). But 10 cities is a recipe to lose the game.
Civilization is about balancing many balances
The first balance is keeping our society happy. If a city has more unhappy people than happy people, it goes into revolt. All production in the city stops until the ruler fixes the problem. The easiest way is to turn some citizens into “entertainers,” who help some citizens forget their problems. But entertainers are not conducive to production. So other ways to keep citizens happy should be sought.
The second balance is balancing budget. Taxes must be raised to pay for the assets (like libraries and banks) and military units. But taxes take away from production, happy citizens, and scientific research. If the societal bank account goes to zero, the software starts randomly selling assets from the cities. There is no “quantitative easing” in Civ III.
The third balance is technology. Falling behind in technology is a good way to get a low Civ III score. There are various ways to improve the output of scientific research, but all these ways require sacrifice from other aspects of society.
The fourth balance is an adequate military. History has all sorts of examples of societies which failed to support a proper military. Then a neighboring civilization later conquered them. Well, the same holds true in Civ III. If your military is too little or too obsolete, the AIs pick up in this and will try to conquer you. But if you have a reasonable military, the AIs usually tend to keep their military in their own borders. Note the word “usually;” some AI’s are a bit foolish, and you must be prepared for that. And militaries do cost money, which lowers tax revenue, scientific research, and citizen happiness.
The fifth balance is developing a culture that your citizens will be proud of. If you develop this culture, citizens of cities just outside your border might decide to join you. You get a free city without having to build or fight for it. Likewise, if your culture is less than your neighbors, they can assume your border cities.
The sixth balance is ecology. As a civilization enters the industrial revolution, pollution appears on the landscape, rendering land as unproductive. To restore the land, workers can clean up the pollution. But the better solution is to build assets that reduce pollution, like recycling centers and mass transit. But these assets are hard to build during times of economic downturn or war.
The seventh and final balance is diplomacy. You should be making the right alliances for trade and military protection.
When you enhance one of these balances, you usually somehow hurt the other balances. Managing these balances is tricky.
Civilization & Politics
The Civilization game is indeed a balancing act. A successful small god in Civ III just cannot wish and decree the good things to happy. There is careful managing of current resources and long-term thinking to vault the small god’s society above the competing AIs’.
Today’s politics is also a balancing act. To have an elected position, a political player has to make the right alliances, handle enemies and the media, and know the formal and informal rules. Such a politician also has to know what principles to compromise and when to compromise them.
But just because someone is successful in politics does not mean he or she can be successful in Civ III. The balances are just too different. In fact, a successful politician today can have zero knowledge in how to build a strong society — and still win elections.
If I were indeed a small god, I would like to lock up every aspiring politician in a small room. Give them one week to figure out Civ III. If they can’t get a good “peaceful” score in Civ III, their name does not go on the ballot.
Dave’s Civilization Score
Admittedly, I have not done well in any version of Civilization. I have not made it to the higher levels.
I believe I have mastered six of the seven balances. But diplomacy eludes me. Supposedly we small gods can manipulate the AIs into behaving peacefully. Yet when fortunes in the early game relegate me to being a small nation, I haven’t figured how to survive, let alone prosper, in this situation. I eventually get conquered.
My current Civ III game has me leading in both technology and production. My military is strong enough to discourage attacks from my neighbors. I could have conquered some of their cities if I wanted to. But I was trying to build a peaceful world.
Now two of my neighbors have allied against me. One has attacked from the north; the other from the west. I have a war on two fronts. They might win. If I win, I will lose the benefits of 20 or 30 turns of peace to build my civilization score. What did I do wrong in diplomacy to reach this condition? I have a hard time figuring this out.
I believe my natural instincts in Civ III diplomacy (and politics) is lacking.
Civ III and Tiered Democratic Governance
It is time to get into a little rant about my alternative democracy.
When this democracy is implemented, there will be less of a “conquer or be conquered” mindset. We will see our neighbors as people to co-operate with. We can uplift each other.
And this new democracy won’t have small gods making decisions for the masses. We will learn how to collaborate a lot better.
Then we truly can relegate Civ III to history — fun to play, but no longer relevant.
Published on Medium 2024
