To Seige or Not to Seige.

Sid Meir's Civilization IV was a great game to play throughout the semester. It really had a good approach of teaching you how to build a civilization starting out with one city and building it into a dynasty. The accumulation of wealth, resources, land, and power seemed to be the primary aspects of the game that would really determine ones fate. However the way that you could actually win the game was very interesting. There were so many ways that one could win the game, that I really found it to be very difficult at times. The one type of victory that I thought was unfair and was the diplomatic victory. It was really annoying because it caused the game to be over as soon a solution was made. This was a unfair advantage to the leading team.

Diplomatic Victory was stated in the game to be a victory where any civilization can build the United Nations, but any leader in the game can become its Secretary-General, which means they can call for votes on various resolutions. One of those resolutions declares a diplomatic victory for them. If one civilization built the United Nations and than a higher scoring civilization became the Secretary- General you might as well say game over. There was no way around it to win when you are in that scenario. Its like a dead lock essentially. No matter what you do, what ties you break, or if you declare war, the end result is failure. I don't think that it is reasonable for a civilization to be able to be awarded the position of Secretary-General, but voting is fair I guess because its the only way to really be sure a decision is made right.

Ethics were a key player in this particular setup because while trading you could be unethical to sway the vote by offering resources for votes. The game didn't actually let you do it in that manner, but I saw that trade agreements could effect the outcome. Relationships made a significant impact as well. The only resolution that I saw to make this problem not last was to create the United Nations and than break ties with all trade, but even that didn't work. There was no way out. Utilizing a vote system doesn't prove justice it just expresses favoritism. There is no one way to make it right. There were many other ways to win and the only way to avoid the dead lock was to not build a United Nations and prevent anyone else from doing so.
My claim to fame was Time Victory. I ran the turns time after time till the clock reached zero. lol, or should I say 2050 A.D. At this point in the game everything is over. No matter what progress is made the leading team in the game with the highest score is declared the winner. I felt this was the best way to win. To make it happen I did like the saying goes; "keep your friends close, and your enemies closer". There was no use crying over spilled milk when I broke a friend's heart because I was able to counteract my decision by declaring war and gaining support to destroy them one by one. This method is what I like to call, process of elimination. If you build a stable trading relationship and have open routes with the opponents; you have area to work with and places to house warriors and other artillery. By placing them where they need to go than you can judge when to strike. It takes a lot of planning, but when done the right way I always came out victorious.
Costs are factored into everything and are the key contributors to global economy's'. This game was a very good learning experience and if there is one thing that I learned about victory, it was that victory always comes with a price; it's just to what point are you willing to pay the price and not only who, but what are you willing to put on the line.

Capitalist System Guiding A Civilization

Civilization IV gave me a real good insight into developing a city that would stand strong and outlast the rest. I took the approach of looking at the various types of economic systems that I could put in place to have a stronger chance in winning the game. The problem I was faced with though, was trying to determine which economic system would be the best to follow through with. After playing this game on several occasions with many different types of groups, I found a niche. Capitalism. I narrowed my search to this one particular view. Capitalism is an individualistic based market, which made me very weary of the success that I would have. Effects of this market pose a huge risk, but would that risk be positive in the end or cause a downfall?
Before I chose an economic market based solely on a Capitalistic system, I had to research. From reading I found that Capitalism is as a way of thinking is fundamentally individualistic, that is, that the individual is the center of capitalist endeavor. This idea draws on all the Enlightenment concepts of individuality: that all individuals are different, that society is composed of individuals who pursue their own interests, that individuals should be free to pursue their own interests. All in all it provides economic freedom to everyone. This market provides an outlook in a democratic sense that individuals pursuing their own interests will guarantee the interests of society as a whole. The biggest dilemma that was created was solely based on the decisions that I made. No longer did I have the opportunity to seek support with the decisions that i made. The ball was in my court and now everyone waited in anticipation for what I would do with it. I felt like all the pressure was on my every move to make the right decisions, and if I followed my gut than I could disappoint the inhabitants of my city. It was hit or miss each and every time, but the one thing on my side was that no matter what decisions that I did make that could create tension and animosity toward, there was always a chance to turn things around for the good.
The fundamental unit of meaning in capitalist and economic thought is the object , that is, capitalism relies solely on the creation of a culture of consumerism. This meant that a large segment of the population that wasn't producing and goods or bearing resources were the ones responsible for the consumption of what was being produced. Since capitalism, like mercantilism, is fundamentally based on distributing goods consumers have no social relation to the people who produce the goods they consume. Making ends meet was what it was all about. I had to find ways to offset the consumption of goods by finding ways to produce more. The good thing about it was the land that my city was located on provided many renewable resources and had a large surplus of preexisting resources as well. Not only that, but being on the water and having the technology of fishing was very beneficial. I was able to fish to produce another resource to sell in the marketplace along trade routes, and was able to explore more areas to set up new settlements.
Capitalism was the greatest choice I ever made. In such a system, individuals and the industries I had situated in my cities had the right to own and use wealth to earn income and to sell and purchase labor for wages with little or no government control. The function of regulating the economy was achieved primarily through the operation of market forces where prices and profit dictated where and how resources were used and allocated. What the resources were used for was and how much people received was the brute force that impacted my economy. Domination and wealth resulted from the great decision. I became the greatest civilization in the game and claimed victory!!!

Mercantilism

Economic markets are formed for many different reasons that have a large impact on goods and society. Making the decision of what type of economic market that a country will utilize to regulate the country is a big decision in itself. Throughout the playing of this game, I had many instances where I had to make the determination of what type of market that I wanted to make my country stabilized with. The market choice one time that I had chosen was Mercantilism. Would my country rise or would it fall from the type of decisions this market had in place? This market had many highs and lows, but I wasn’t sure what impact that would have on my civilization being a prosperous one.
Mercantilism is a medium-upkeep form of economy that requires banking. It gives the civilization one free specialist per city and doesn’t allow trade routes with foreign cities. This protects wealth but also risks economic health on the ability of the few to make good business decisions. Since I was unable to create trade routes with foreign cities, I was forced to make do with the current circumstances of my own cities. I had to learn how to trade within my own civilization to profit. This choice of market was a very difficult one to maintain for self gain because I was unable to really make an impact on the rest of the cities. I had to depend on cross-selling goods within my cities which wasn’t the best idea because it caused the cities I had developed to be scarce with certain resources.
Trading within your own cities can be advantageous if you have a large amount of resources or if you can find other methods to make large amounts of money. The advantage of trading with other cities is the ability to have a wide variety of goods and resources to choose from and you can develop many relationships with other cities not only on a trading level, but a personal one as well. Trade is a very imperative aspect of the game to be successful because it helps build the economy, develop lots of capital, and allows for you to explore land to find new resources. Working with other cities helps develop friendships. That is very important especially when having war declared on oneself because they can provide goods at a good negotiated price when aid is needed.
Utilizing mercantilism as my primary form of economy had many pros and cons, but in the end the solution to the problem was that I was able to expand my borders to a large enough are to have the land necessary to get the surplus of resources. This plan enabled me to keep my strong and maintain a very stable environment. My economy thrived. The basis of mercantilism was to restrict trade it wasn’t the best system to use in this game, but at least kept my civilization stable so I was able to survive and not be overtaken by other civilizations in the process. The end result was a functional economy for the people of my economy and balanced market.