Asian Wisdom

Civilization: China
Difficulty: Settler
Game Speed: Normal

I won another game, and I've got both bad news and good news. The bad news is that I still lead like Dan Quayle and I'm not sure how to change this. And really, this is a dubious member of the "bad news" category since it only causes me a bruised ego. The rest of the news is definitely good. In my second game, I improved beyond anything I had anticipated. Just a few statistics for comparison:

--In my first game (Rome), the civilization's population reached 10 million in AD 1946 and ended with a population of 22,705,000. China's population reached 10 million in AD 1220 and ended with 63,701,000 souls.
--Rome had a GNP (gold) of 311 million gold and a crop yield of 450 million bushels. China's GNP was 1129 million gold, and the crop yield was 1129 million bushels.
--Rome built 21 cities. China built 38.
--The Roman Empire covered 419,000 sq km. The Chinese Empire spanned 1,131,000 sq km.

You get the idea: I dominated, utterly trouncing all my rivals and far surpassing even my previous victory.

Why the vast difference? I attribute mainly to a fundamental shift in strategy. This game, my m.o. was basically one of non-violent expansion, hence the dramatic increase in the number of cities. I made it my priority to start a new city wherever there was available land, determined to beat my rivals in claiming territory. By the end, China's territory included all of East Asia, a good part of Russia, Indonesia and its surrounding islands, Australia, and most of the North American continent. The Russian part of my empire was largely gained from a successful conquest of the Mongolian Empire (which I am very proud of), but I acquired most of my territory by simply beating my rivals to it.

The dramatic increase in territory correlates with the huge jump in GNP, crop yield, population, and manufactured goods. I hate to keep harping on the same theme, but the more land you have the more you have available for farming, and the more you farm the more food you generate, which leads to . . . food surplus! Hence, as we've had drummed into our heads, your civilization's population grows, political systems develop, and so on. One thing I noticed during the game was that I could acquire new technologies much more quickly. That was a definite plus, since it allowed me to win a space race victory in AD 2026.

There are a couple of other things that were interesting about my second game. For one, on the eastern edge of my empire, two different rival cities (one Mongolia's, one India's) revolted and joined my empire! I found this a little surprising, but I suppose those disaffected citizens were attracted by the various civil freedoms I offered. I also adopted environmentalism this time around. I would have done so last game, but I had chopped down most of my trees, so I figured it would make my citizens unhappy and chose not to. This time I made sure I left plenty of wooded areas interspersed throughout my empire.

One final note: In both my games, I've reached basically the same political positions: universal suffrage, free speech, emancipation, and free religion. This I did without really thinking, following my own convictions. However, it occurred to me that I should experiment with different modes of government and economy, even if I disagree with them personally. In order to determine what forms work best, I need real data, not guesses and assumptions.

So that's the plan. For now, I will bask in the glory of my success. I know we're not playing this game with the aim of winning, but it does feel good. . . .