If life were a game of Civ3 :)

[GamezRule]

If life were a game of Civ 3, which countries would have won the game in any point of time, i am talking in eras, so time before Alexander the great, from his empire to the fall of rome, the middle ages, 1492 to 1945 (in my opinion the end of the industrial era was marked by the first A-Bomb test in New Mexico), and in the During the cold war (1945-1991). America obviously would be the winner today. Just a random Question.

 

[Verarde]

No, I don't think America would be the winner. China would most definitely be leading the score.

 

[Turner]

If life were a game of Civ3, I would be constantly reloading....

I'd have to agree, that America wouldn't be the overall winner. Maybe back in the 1980s, you could say they were currently ahead, but real life doesn't really follow the way of a civ game, I think. We've had a lot of culture groups who were clearly in the lead at a given point in time, and now are simply fond memories.

But this is interesting... I'd like to see other responses.

 

[quicklion]

Everything that comes to life is destined to fall and wither, such is the rule of life.

If we were going by victory points I'll to go with China or Russia. China is leading the charge in population points and culture points and Russia has the biggest land area. America or Japan are probably higher up in the technology tree than anybody else.

 

[Spoonwood]

Maybe gamezrule44 meant that America would have won by moon landing, given that launching the spaceship comes as equivalent. Not sure though.

 

[Arexander]

No-one wins the Space Race before man launches a rocket to Alpha Centauri! But at that time the world might be united and/or the launch is an international program with astronauts from around the world. So no-one wins it.

 

[GamezRule]

Maybe gamezrule44 meant that America would have won by moon landing, given that launching the spaceship comes as equivalent. Not sure though.

what i mean by that is america is the worlds only remaining superpower today, but china will probably be one in a few years

 

[splunge the 2nd]

One could argue with Mickey Mouse being more famous than Stalin, jeans worn in Dehli and Mecca, rap music being performed in Mandarin, Hebrew and Tajiki that the US has already won a cultural victory.

 

[Spoonwood]

what i mean by that is america is the worlds only remaining superpower today, but china will probably be one in a few years

I don't see how "superpower" status translates into a victory condition in civ III, and a country existing as a superpower definitely does not come as a measurable state of affairs. Some people would also doubt that there exist any superpowers post-Cold War, and there exists no way to definitively show that such a superpower(s) exists. The achievement of a victory condition in civ III can get shown to have happened or not.

One could argue with Mickey Mouse being more famous than Stalin, jeans worn in Dehli and Mecca, rap music being performed in Mandarin, Hebrew and Tajiki that the US has already won a cultural victory.

I don't see that as sufficient. Has the U.S doubled the cultural "notes" of any other country in existence? I don't think so.

 

[BuckyRea]

Of course America would win. We're talking a cultural victory right after we got the TV Networks great wonder and started to get Catherine the Great to start importing the designer blue jeans luxury as part of the peace settlement after the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Oh, the game played for "one more turn" over and over after that. There were even some setbacks in the 1960s, like when all the French cities culture flipped back over to Joan of Arc's control (which of course results in France's new capital being in French Guiana). But by the time we finished the Internet Small Wonder, the whole world was speaking American, even it was with a leet accent.

I don't see that as sufficient. Has the U.S doubled the cultural "notes" of any other country in existence? I don't think so.

Keep in mind that after we reached TV on the technology tree, it made most other culture generating improvements obsolete, including temples, cathedrals, hanging gardens, and most importantly libraries. It's like they just ceased to exist world wide. TV kicks ass!

 

[GamezRule]

remember the civ3 manual describes a culture victory as being so great that other countrys are longing to be a part of it, i would say that the reasons stated would point in that direction

 

[GamezRule]

I don't see how "superpower" status translates into a victory condition in civ III, and a country existing as a superpower definitely does not come as a measurable state of affairs. Some people would also doubt that there exist any superpowers post-Cold War, and there exists no way to definitively show that such a superpower(s) exists. The achievement of a victory condition in civ III can get shown to have happened or not.

if the US is not a superpower then name one country who could sustain an invasion by it if the us really tried, china may have us out manned, but most of china is in poverty, and definitally not able to sustain long term conflict, and remember insurgency doesn't exist in civ3 so once china's cities fall, there would be no more conflict, and remember ww2, look at japanese advances in china, there were advances made even in 1944, and china:japan population ratio was probably 4:1 (guess) correct me if i am wrong, and japan also had lost 95% of there oil when the us stopped trading with them, the real reason for pearl harbor was that the us had said they would use their pacific fleet if the japanese invaded malaysia and indonesia, which was the only japanese option for oil, and also a war with china would destroy their economy, they get all their money from us, and they own all our debt, so the us would find it very profitable, we wouldn't have to pay it back. except that china has but so do we either way were all dead

 

[Spoonwood]

if the US is not a superpower then name one country who could sustain an invasion by it if the us really tried, china may have us out manned, but most of china is in poverty, and definitally not able to sustain long term conflict, and remember insurgency doesn't exist in civ3

First off, what you describe does NOT come as the defining characteristic of a superpower. As a simple example, the U.S. itself could NOT survive an invasion by modern day Russia if it really tried. Russia just launches enough of its nukes, and the U. S. can't sustain a long-term conflict as pretty much all of its people and resources cease to exist. Other countries than Russia also have such nuclear capacity.

Second, one could argue that two places currently have sustained an invasion by the U.S. one since 2001 and the other since 2003. One could also argue that even in the 1960s and 70s a U.S. invasion got sustained. Resistors DO exist in civ III.

 

[TheOverseer714]

I would say that even though muslims are not a country, their culture is extremely strong and the primary competitor for American culture, which is losing ground. Unfortunately, our power is waning in pretty much all other categories, too.

 

[GamezRule]

First off, what you describe does NOT come as the defining characteristic of a superpower. As a simple example, the U.S. itself could NOT survive an invasion by modern day Russia if it really tried. Russia just launches enough of its nukes, and the U. S. can't sustain a long-term conflict as pretty much all of its people and resources cease to exist. Other countries than Russia also have such nuclear capacity.

Second, one could argue that two places currently have sustained an invasion by the U.S. one since 2001 and the other since 2003. One could also argue that even in the 1960s and 70s a U.S. invasion got sustained. Resistors DO exist in civ III.

while that is true, remember we have nukes too

 

[puwen]

remember the civ3 manual describes a culture victory as being so great that other countrys are longing to be a part of it, i would say that the reasons stated would point in that direction

Umm, how many countries can you name that want to be a part of it?
I can't even name one where the goverment have made such a statement.

I think this is some kind of misinfomation that I heard several times when I traveled through the states. People thought I'd like to move there. Sure i'ts a great country with lots of benefits but there are drawbacks. Move there? No thank you.
Go there on vacation and meet the very nice people who live there? Yes please.

 

[Snarkhunter]

First off, what you describe does NOT come as the defining characteristic of a superpower. As a simple example, the U.S. itself could NOT survive an invasion by modern day Russia if it really tried. Russia just launches enough of its nukes, and the U. S. can't sustain a long-term conflict as pretty much all of its people and resources cease to exist. Other countries than Russia also have such nuclear capacity.

And that wouldn't actually be an invasion, but an attack. (The reverse would be true of China and Russia and any other country, nuclear armed or no, if nuclear attacked by the US. And this doesn't even consider the effects of nuclear winter, which would eliminate everyone's capability to sustain long-term conflict.) Neither China nor Russia have the logistics capacity to support an actual invasion of the US; the US certainly has the capacity to do so to them. (How effective such a hypothetical invasion would be is a different matter, but it could certainly sustain itself, as opposed to starving to death or running out of gas or losing its fleet logistics train.)

It's true that China seems to be attempting to develop just such a capacity but as rapidly as it is moving, it will still take several decades to achieve and perhaps longer to acquire the necessary experience. Until then, the US remains the only country that can project military power beyond the scope of ICBM's anywhere on the planet, rapidly & straightforwardly.

kk

 

[CKS]

remember the civ3 manual describes a culture victory as being so great that other countrys are longing to be a part of it, i would say that the reasons stated would point in that direction

While this is what the manual says, this is not how the game actually works. I recently won via culture while my fringe cities were flipping to other civs. (Other cities did flip to me, but my aggressive settling caused me flip problems.) I suppose you could describe some of the growing of the USA from 13 states to 50 states as an accumulation by culture flips.

In any case, I think the case for a USA cultural victory is better made by the spread of music, TV, food, and other consumer/"information" items from the USA to the rest of the world. Other countries don't want to join the USA, but people want the stuff - be it access to information, games to play, cheap & safe food, or whatever - that USAns claim to be the source of.

 

[Deon]

First off, what you describe does NOT come as the defining characteristic of a superpower. As a simple example, the U.S. itself could NOT survive an invasion by modern day Russia if it really tried.
...
Russia just launches enough of its nukes, and the U. S. can't sustain a long-term conflict as pretty much all of its people and resources cease to exist. Other countries than Russia also have such nuclear capacity.

Those two made me laugh .

1) Modern Russia military lacks any real funding and technology, the most Russia can get is some small ex-USSR small country.

2) Russian nukes? You must be kidding. All our "nukes" are where? In Russia. We don't have military installations close enough .
Also you should know that nuclear weapons don't solve wars already. The days when they were psychological weapons which held contries from war have passed. Right now a single nuclear launch would mean a war to all the world, and nobody would do it.

Right now I'd say that USA have won a "UN" victory, with NATO army being a huge alliance spreading through europe and blocking any possible threat.

 

[GamezRule]

maybe the us culture is currently not the leader, however, at one time it was, so they would have won even if they aren't in the current lead