Dominated

I finally finished my first game, and it did not go so well. I was the least developed of all the countries, and constantly considered the "hopeless". I never did figure out how to claim other nearby empty islands so I can expand my empire which ended hurting me in the end. I declined many trade proposals through out the game fearing that to much trade would not be good. That did not turn out to be a good strategy. Many countries that had thriving economies had great efficiency; the means of achieving a goal as cheaply as possible. The best way to achieve efficiency is by having an on going trade system with other countries, such as the Germany did in my game. That way it will be faster and cheaper to achieve tecnological advances and foreign produts. The Germans were the most advanced and efficent and ended up winning the space race because their great trade system they had with other countries. My leadership abilities were compared to Dan Quayle, the vice president for George H. W. Bush from 1989-1993. His most famous blunder was when he corrected student William Figueroa's correct spelling of "potato" as "potatoe" at an elementary school spelling bee in Trenton, New Jersey, on June 15, 1992. I figure that my leadership abilities were compared to Quayle because I did not build my empire very well and I did not get very far with my technological advances. Basically I did not run my empire very smart and Quayle was not the smartest guy either. The one thing that I did well was my formation of my army. I did not go war until the late 19th century. China decided that I was not very advandced technologically, so they tried to take me out during the beginning of the 21st century. They attacked my country and took over my capital for less than two years because I quickly sent all my units to take back the city. I feel that it was a good strategy to have a good amount of units but since I did not go to war very much I think the next game I play I will work on building a stronger economy which will hopefully make my army more advanced than others requiring me to not have as many units. This is evident in history with Jared Diamond's national geographic documentary. The film shows that the hispanic conquistadors who envaded the mayan empire were very few in numbers compared to the mayans who had thousands of civilians. But the spainards wre victorious because of the guns and steel they had compared to the mayans wooden and stone weapons.

First Experience of Civilization IV

I am enjoying playing the game Civilization. I am nowhere close to mastering the gameplay yet, but I am doing the best that I can with my little nation island of Japan. I feared attacks from other countries because I am easy accessible because I am an island, so right away I built a fleet of ships so I could protect myself from the water. And if my ships failed I had a whole arsenal of catapults and Bowmen. I built up such a defense because felt I was so vulnerable, but I have not gone to war with anyone yet and it is 1837 AD. I believe that no one will declare war on me because of my great defense system; all four of my cities have a defense of 80% or higher. But the fact that I have only four cities is my problem.
The people of my cities have not been very happy over the past 300 years because the cities are overcrowded. Just like Jared Diamond said in his book overcrowded populations cause terrible diseases, and that is exactly what is happening to my empire. I do a lot of trading of livestock with other countries, so to add that to overcrowded cities has not helped my cause. The diseases cause a delay in the improvement or movements of societies. I have not yet mastered the way to obtain land nearby that has not yet been claimed by other countries. When I do I can build cities on the other land so that the cities I have now will not be so overcrowded with diseases. In the game Germany has an abundance of cities. They have expanded greatly and in doing so they are the superior power, dominating in the technological process as well.
Another way to increase sickness and overpopulation on my island would to be go to war so I could take over cities of the countries that I conquer. The death of some of my people will also reduce the population. That is exactly what China did to the Mongolian empire, and now China is extremely prosperous. I Know I have the army to conquer a few other empires, but it is a gamble that I have to be willing to make. Next time I play I am going to find out how to get more land, so I can expand my empire. If it is going to take war to do it that is a chance I am willing to take. I feel if I can expand my empire I will be able to increase technologically, and become one of the dominate powers.