Free Market Economy = Good

In my game I finally gotten an opportunity to upgrade from a mercantilism economic civic to a free market economic civic. This upgrade would help me dramatically with the success of my empire. In a free market economy, like the United States economy, the suppliers and consumers determine the price for products rather than the government. The government does maintain some control over the price by setting price ceilings and price floors; also the government can establish labor laws, for example maximum working hours for children or establishing a certain standard of working conditions.

The importance of this economic system in my civilization game is somewhat unapparent at first. I did notice that my trading system became more productive, but the slowly I realized that the system put me in an overall advantage compared to my competing neighbors. In the real world the states that have a free market economy are economically wealthier and have a higher standard of living compared to states that do not have a free market economy. Thus, having this economic system adds to my increasing superiority over my neighbors.

South America and Aftrica

As my African territory flourishes, my South American territory slowly becomes larger and stronger. I realized that starting to build new buildings, military strength, and new settlers and workers takes a lot of time and resources in South America, while in Africa it does not take any time to build these same resources. I started to build airports and planes and have a very efficient trade route via boats across the Atlantic from Africa to South America. Having a good trading system and route between my two main territories is key to balancing the territories and having good control and leadership.

Also, it is important to maintain a good flow of communication and resources between the two areas, without this my South America territory would be so far technology and culturally behind compared to my Africa territory. This bilateral trade arrangement is the only possible way to fully develop my entire empire. Also, choosing to conquer South America provides me with many more resources that I do not have in Africa. My African territory is very strong at mining and not so strong at farming. Fortunately, my South American territory excels at farming.

Best Interest

I just entered the Modern Era and am coming to the end of my game. I realized that I have accomplished a lot of great things, for example flight and nuclear weapons, while staying peaceful and in good terms with my surrounding neighbors. This was not easy at sometimes. For example, the Indian Empire proclaimed that I have fallen under the heathen religion and to stop trading with one of my strongest trading partners, Greece. Obviously, changing my religion and ending trading with Greece would not be in my best interest, so I had to smooth things over with India in order to keep things mutual and on good terms. I presented them with a gift and accepted the trade of fur for incense (two luxury items which I believe not to have that much overall impact on my game).

My overall goal in this game is to create peace between my nation and all the other nations, while still acting in my best interest. Acting in my state best interest will always be my number one goal; in the real world states must act in their state and their people’s best interest in order to accomplish anything. If you do not act in your state’s best interest then the ruler will lose the support of his own people while putting his nation in bad standing in the international system. I believe that I accomplish acting in my state’s best interest while keeping peace perfectly, even though at times it would have been very easy to just bomb or end all ties with another country. I wanted to stay peaceful with every nation because I did not know what nation could provide me with the best source of resources or protection. However, as I start a new game my plan is to be more aggressive and conquer more territory.

Trade

I was lucky to start my empire on land that produces great resources from mining. I am, in fact, the most powerful empire in my area with the greatest amount of resources However, even though I am very powerful and have the most production I do not produce certain foods very well, including bananas and other seafood, including claims and fish. Thus, I must establish a good trading partner that will supply these food products to my empire because an increase in these products increases my cities happiness.

First I have to start a relationship with a country that I trust and that produces the food products that I want at a low cost. I open my borders to numerous empires, but I had decline trade offers, like trading world maps and other trades that I thought I would not benefit from enough. Once I discovered that my neighboring Roman Empire has a comparative advantage in producing claims compared to my production rate, I proposed a trade for wheat, in which I have a very large supply of. Through this trade both of us benefited greatly. My people were happy that they now have claims, while the Romans were happy to have wheat.

Germs

I realized that I was significantly above the rest of the competing Empires. I was the only empire to develop Guns and swords and had developed three world wonders. I also started to develop Galleons and other boats to cross the Atlantic and explore the Americas, and I could easily declare war and defeat smaller nations. These advantages over the competing nations means that the other nations would not even think of starting a war with me due to the fact that I could easily defeat them; however, even though I gained this hegemony status does not mean that I can walk over and take advantage of other nations. Being aware of my empire’s status compared to my neighbors’ status is important to determine where I stand in the international system.

According to Diamond, the key to success is to gain germs, guns, and steel; I have guns and steels, and maybe once I enter the Americas I can spread disease in order to conquer them easier. (I actually do not know if this is possible in the game, but I will eventually see) I am currently sending Galleons over to Americas with one settler, one worker, and one knight or other military protection. In Guns, Germs, and Steel, Diamond describes Pizarro, a Spanish conquistador, conquering the Incas in 1535. I hope to have the same success when I cross the Atlantic as Pizarro did, and the reason that he had such success was based on the fact that the Spaniards were exposed to more diseases than the Incas were. So when the Spaniards came in contact with the Incas they spread their diseases killing most of them. The spread of germs really started with the herding of animals when humans came in contact with these animals the animals were able to spread their diseases. I do not think that germs will play a major role in my game, but if the game parallels real world history it really should. Germs have caused many deaths and struck fear in people even to this day. Diseases have defiantly shaped people’s behaviors and cultures (practicing medicine, vaccines, and disposal of garbage)

Religion

Religion has not really played as much as a major role in my civilization that I thought it would play. Reflecting on world history, religion has played a major role in conflicts between nation and even the development of nations. Many wars begun due to different views on which religion is the correct religion. Other empires have approached my empire and proclaimed that I have fallen under a “heathen religion” and encouraged me to convert to their religion. I have declined all these offers and continued practicing Taoism throughout my empire. My relationship status with these nations has declined, but if I just convert to any nation’s religion my empire would fall apart. My first concern is not how other nation’s view me based on my religion, but on how my empire is doing and growth. If I always converted then my nation would seem like a weak, confused nation.

Also, in world history religion has played a major role in the economy of the nation. In Medieval times, the Catholic Church believed that selling products for a profit was a sin and that all products should be sold at the “just price”. (Heilbroner 29) This severely affected the idea of a market in those times. However, as soon as the religious fever changed, and people did not believe that selling for profit was a sin the development markets changed the economy of medieval times.

While playing the game, I wondered if there was an advantage in the game by practicing one religion. I think the game would be much more realistic if religion played more of a role. When I first started playing the game, my empire was split between Taoism and Confucianism. I decided to avoid internal conflicts over religion to convert every city to Taoism and build temples and all that jazz. But would I have succeeded more in the game if I decided to convert to Confucianism or if I left it split? Would that even play a factor in the game? In real life, it would play a huge factor. There are many conflicts currently fighting about which religion is best for their nation, and deciding which religion and how to go about converting (war or peacefully) would most def affect that nation.

Once I completely conquered Africa and before I began forming troops to conquer the Americas, I wanted to improve my cities through expanding my trade routes. Instead of building roads I started to create railroads which would cut the travel time in half. This leads me to specialized my cites depending on what that particular city produces the best. For example, one of my cities, Vera Bradley, has great mining, thus instead of wasting land with farms or pastures I just mine there. Then because I connected all my cities I can ship the iron and other metals that I uncovered in Vera Bradley to my other cities. This specialization and division of labor provides me with the most efficient society in which I can grow my empire via technology and land. Also the development of railroads and linking all my cities enables me to move most of my military force in one of my centralize cities and then I can quickly send my troops to any one of my cities in one turn if I spot an enemy approaching. This advantage leads me to focus on training fewer but more effective soldiers, thus becoming a more advance society and furthering other empires to think twice about starting a war with me.

I believe that the one of the keys of having a successful society is to have a centralize government and have all the cities connected and working as one unit. The centralized government is necessary in order to coordinate all the trade. All the cities working together and sharing resources will produce the strongest empire one can create. Before I can focus on anymore expansion, I must make sure that all my cities are in top condition and working as one.

In the game I have successfully conquered all of Africa, and still had limited and positive interactions with other nations including the Roman, Indian, and other empires. My goal was to first focus on conquering all Africa, then to expand by either traveling across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas or to travel to Australia. In order to efficiently and successfully conquer all of Africa I first had to produce many settlers to start new cities. Once I created the new cities I wanted first I wanted to develop military protection for each of my cities and then I wanted to culturally expand the city.
My first city, Coach, was developed on the top right corner of Africa. Then I started to expand and without even realizing that my settlers expanded on the east and west axis of Africa. When I did realize this, I began to send my settlers to the south; however, the process of developing these cities took much longer then the easily develop cities on the upper portion of the continent.
Diamond goes on to discuss that the main reason that the spread of civilization is so easy and fast on the east-west axis is because that along that axis is the same climate, day length, and type of animal life. He continues to relate this to the ability of Eurasia to develop so quickly and its ability to conquer other nations including the Incas in South America and other nations in Africa.

Military

I decided to work with the Egyptian Empire because Egypt is a great location for interaction between countries. I surprisingly had great luck while playing the game. The only interaction I had with other nations was a positive one. I open my borders for trade, while declining war and keeping peace. I believe that staying peaceful with other nations is extremely important for my success in the game at this stage. I have started building military strength through warriors, horse chariots, and war elephants; however, my main focus was expanding my empire through building farms, plantations, and other buildings. In the book Guns, Germs, and Steel, Diamond discusses the importance of food production on the development of the society. In order for my citizens to focus on other activities, like military strength, there has to be a surplus of food.

The ultimate goal of the game is to become the most powerful empire; in order to accomplish this the empire must have a strong military and will probably enter war with other nations, just like the United States. The United States is currently considered one of the most powerful nations in the world. During World War II the United States avoided going to war until the Japanese bombed America at Pearl Harbor. This attack against America not only made Americans extremely upset, but also tested America’s strength and power. At times nations in fact have to enter a war in order to protect their people or to defend their stance as the most powerful nation. I know that during the course of building my civilization I will have to enter the war; however, until then I will continue to focus on my expansion of my nation’s technology, land, and military.

I also have to continue on focusing on getting different resources that will help me defeat my enemy in a war, for example steel and iron. I need to upgrade my warriors’ weapons from clubs to guns and swords. I will never be able to defeat any nations without these crucial upgrades. I am now switching my focus from food production to military production in order to ensure my survival in the game.