True Success

I just finished the game which I had been playing for the past month and a half. The teaming up of Egypt and Germany was not enough to stop the great Persian civilization. My plan worked to perfection: I ignored Frederick and his German domination over my weaker cities, and concentrated on Hatshepsut's territory. I eventually captured all of her territory, leaving only Frederick in the way of my path to complete domination. After retaking my smaller cities, I attacked him with what seemed to be about 500 tanks. He had no chance. Civilization domination was achieved.
I am now beginning to start a new game, and after studying the Industrial Revolution, I have come to ponder the representation of this era in Civ IV. Knowing that industrialization first began in England due to a variety of reasons, it has become my goal to become like these men who were able to become the first to experience this period of immense growth. By having a wealthy civilization (whether it be by winning wars, trading, or exploring), one is able to have a stable environment. This stability is the foundation of starting an industrial revolution. By adopting new techniques (or philosophies in Civ IV), or by adopting a new form of government, one can be well on his way to a boom in production. Also, as your population expands, the demand will increase. This increase in demand will be a cornerstone of the initialization of the industrial revolution as well. As a result of these factors, it is very possible that your production will be able to increase significantly. This is represented in the game by the appearance of railroads, factories, and machinery. These all lead to greater things such as increased production at a much quicker pace. This will basically increase your civilization's output exponentially. For example, when one is able to construct a factory, this will lead to the possibility of coal, steel, iron, etc. These small advancements eventually allow this civilization to be the most dominant in the country by producing stealth bombers more quickly, or even tanks and nuclear bombs.
Therefore, it is imperative that you get off to the right start in a new game of Civ IV. If not, your industrial revolution will occur much later than others, and you will be left in the dust. In my new game, I plan on declaring war relatively early on a small, weak country. This will allow me to gain much more money while also expanding my territory simultaneously. This leaves room for exploration (and the possibility of more money). I will also focus more on trading than I ever have before, making sure that I am receiving something that will truly benefit me in the future. Hopefully, this will lead to bigger and better things, and I will be the civilization experiencing the industrial revolution first. This will only lead to one thing: Civilization Domination.

Comparative Advantage

I haven't posted in quite some time due to mid-terms, but now that I actually have some time, I am able to express my opinion on the main concept of this game: Comparative advantage. I have realized that it is not intelligent to construct the same building in every city of your civilization (such as a colosseum(culture) or a laboratory(science)). Instead, one ought to focus on developping a culture capital, a capital of technology, and a capital of military within different cities. When you focus on one thing (such as military), it will not take as long in that city to produce a modern armor or a stealth bomber. However, if you were to try to maintain a strong balance of military, culture, and technology within the same city, every single aspect would take much longer. If you simply specialize in the production of one thing, your production speed would increase significantly. It is similar to the example given in class between Muffinstan and Baconia. Each country had its comparative advantage, and therefore, was able to produce more of one thing than another. Say you have 5 main cities within your civilization. One ought to specialize in military, one in technology, one in culture, one in the concept of the economy, and another in science or education. The opportunity cost will become much more favorable as a whole. Say you need to produce a granary. Would you prefer to take 75 turns in order to produce one in your military capital or would you prefer to take 2 turns in producing it in your capital of economic production? Easy decision. This is exactly what should be done in Civ IV, and then, it is imperative that you construct railroads and roads in order to trade within your cities (and we know how that allows one's PPC to improve overall). So rather than trying to balance all the aspects of the game within each city, simply specialize in one aspect in each city. Your production speed will increase, and you will be able to establish a dominant civilization. Then, when you are able to trade and become a more developed civilization, you will become as dominant as I am in this game.