What the hell just happened?!!!!!!

So I'm building my cities, improving my defense, expanding my army, and out of nowhere: WAR! Kublai Khan decides that I'm too much of a threat, which he was right, and so something had to be done, someone had to die...

I have to say that I didn't expect him to be much of a threat. I mean we were around the same level, but ignorance is bliss (or was). So there I was with no choice but to except the challenge to see who's going down. At first, I was doing well. Then, out of the middle of the blue, I gradually watched my men die. I suffered substantial damage and lost a few baby cities, but nothing to overly worry about.

Peace came, then right as I'm fixing my society, war again! AGAIN! Alexander, then Gandhi (supposed to be my closest ally), almost Frederick, then Kublai Khan for a second round. All of a sudden, I'm losing man power, completely invaded by cavalry, and hit at all angles. It just wasn't fair. I trusted these people and this is how they repay my loyalty.

During the whole battle all I could think of was now I know how the Romans felt. After so many peaceful years, expansion and domination must one day come to an end. Talk about deja vu! My mini Rome was attacked and conquered from the inside. Once city defenses were weakened and cities were gradually being taken over, I had reached my doom. Maybe Diamond has a point when he talks about having luck mixed with the right environment. Obviously my predators knew my surroundings better then I did and obviously luck was not on my side.

It all seems so illogical that it had to all go down this way. Everything was great and my defenses were strong, yet I kept dying. But what can I say? I guess I'm just not cut out to be a global ruler. However, I will also say this: next round, victory will be mine!!!!

Egypt: RIP 2001

Nothing worse in Civ then being bored!

Unfortunately this week in Civ has been quite the disappointment. As much as I would like to have expanded more or do something dramatic, I just seem to continue to grow internally. Since my previous focus was primarily internal, I wanted to put more emphasis on military support as well as arranging treaties with all of my neighbors. Ironically, military advancements also brings greedy neighbors and constant threats. I was successful keeping everyone at bay, but I am still hesitant to refuse deals: To have a war or not to have a war?! This always seems to be my most frequently asked question.
Right now, the answer is no. I don't feel ready or prepared to handle any more then what I am already doing. As a result, I keep opening my borders to everyone and giving whatever to keep the peace.
However, one interesting decision was which economic system to choose. As different systems are introduced, I wonder how Colander would handle the situation. So many systems and yet only one can be chosen. Considering my options, I opted on the free market with democracy. It seems to work better then whatever I had before, but I'm still waiting to see if everything is going to blow up in my face.

Still Alive and Growing

Thanks to Heilbroner's The Making of Economic Society, Heilbroner actually mapped out a floor plan to help me develop a stronger economic society. The first main objective: roads will increase military development. In reviewing my Roman notes from class, I remembered learning how the Pax Romana was created from elaborate road systems used for military deployment. From this, their population rose to over a 100million, which, in turn, lead to specialized workers, artisans, engineers, etc. I figured that if it worked for the Romans, then why not try my luck in Civ.
Not surprisingly, expanding the road system was my most effective decision. Instantaneously, military defense increased and the internal society flourished. Like a domino effect, expanding roads lead to building theaters, more extensive libraries, and even temples. Therefore, philosophy, science, and arts grew as a result. The only concern is that I have two established religions, Confucianism and Taoism. While moving these religious leaders around the kingdom, I am growing more and more nervous that two religions will sooner or later cause a religious riot. Since you probably don't know, my kingdom is still in Egypt, so religious diversity is nothing new in that part of the world. Considering Africa's religious variances, I am assuming that having options will be beneficial to the people rather than one strict doctrine. Thankfully, I do not have to be too concerned with clergy matters as of yet. Nevertheless, I am in the Renaissance and thus Christianity will soon be on the rise as well as the exploitation of the church and secular clergy. So, in the meantime, I am enjoying my time successfully strengthening socially, politically, and economically.

So much for being passive

As much as I tried to stay neutral with neighbors, it seemed that passivity in Civ does not always work. Ironically, the Mongolians proved to be just as aggressive in the game as they were in history. Even though I stayed within my borders, my workers kept getting killed. In retaliation, I decided to improve warriors and establish better military infantry. Once my kingdom became better protected, peace was established. I like how accurate Civ is to real life situations. I have learned that those with the most gold and the best weaponry are the leaders of the game. Sadly, I'm moving pretty slowly. I am still just trying to figure out the best strategies to each obstacle; but I feel as though a lot of time is being lost. At this point, I would like to change my game plan. Hopefully by becoming more proactive I will be able to improve and expand faster, but we shall see.

My 1st attempt

Since I started reading Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel, I considered my many options for strategizing my Civ game. Considering that I primarily needed food production to develop a functional Egyptian city, my initial focus was to hunt, domesticate animals, and then slowly expand the border. For this reason, most of my attempts have utilized economic benefits. However, as food production grew, so did bordering neighbors who try to start wars. Therefore, I quickly learned that a military was also equally essential as the game progressed and my borders expanded.
Overall, I tried to find a balance between building protection as well as increasing my resources. As a result, I found a lot of success with staying peaceful with my neighbors and finally developing science. Thus far, I have not encountered any setbacks or negative relations within the game. Yet, I believe that this is in part to avoiding religion. As the game continues, I know that I will eventually need to establish religion; but my goal for now is to continue expanding into new territories and improving my society.