Benefits of Peace

Since my last post I started a new game, this time with a new plan. From my last game I learned how devastating war can be to a civilization, so in my new game I vowed to avoid war at all costs. What a difference it has made! The year is 1930 and I have not been at war once. Three civs have already fallen, but mine has not because of good relations with others. Remaining at peace has allowed me to focus on scientifically advancing my civ without interruptions.

Scientific advancements eventually led to an Industrial Revolution for my civ. The revolution was very similar to what the U.S. had experienced in its three different revolutions because production increased dramatically. I researched new advancements such as "the corporation", "the factory"and "interchangable parts", all of which stimulated mass production. The book "The Making of Economic Society" notes that mass production increases efficiency and reduces costs (85). Civilization stays true to this economic concept because the building of factories in my civ has led to a huge increase in output, while the amount of workers has stayed the same. Naturally, being able to attain more output without increasing the input results in the production possibility curve shifting outward. My civ's Industrial Revolution will have long lasting effects, as I will now be able to increase the culture, population, and military advancements much qicker and with less opportunity costs.

The "Friendly" Iroqouis and the Importance of Relationships

I made a big mistake about 100 years back in Civilization III. The Aztecs landed their ships on the shores of my territory and demanded gold, so of course I told them to take their empty threats elsewhere. Well it turns out that it wasn't an empty threat and they declared war on me. I thought that I had a chance of winning, but I was wrong; the Aztecs were far more advanced.
Enemies just kept on coming in waves and I had to focus all of my production on soldiers, and not on improving my civ (I chose guns over butter). My medieval soldiers were no match for the gunmen they sent over, so my army got depleted to the point where I didn't have enough soldiers to have one fortified in each of my cities. Because of that civil disorder broke out in every city and I was unable to produce anything. The ships kept coming and I knew it would only be a matter of time before my last soldiers perished.
All of the sudden and very much to my surprise, however, I got a message from the Iroqouis saying that they were willing to sign a mutual protection pact! And this was coming from the same civ that throughout the entire game had continuously prohibited my men from even setting foot in their territory! I had no idea what motivated the Iroqouis to want to help me in a war, but I really didn't care. All I knew was that my civilization was not going to fall to the Aztecs anymore, and it didn't. The Iroqouis obliterated the Aztecs for me.
Sounds good, right? Not exactly. As soon as I started celebrating after my new friends killed all of the Aztecs, I came to realize their malicious plan. I thought that the cities I lost to the Aztecs would again be a part of my civ after the Iroqouis cleared them out, but I was wrong: The Iroqouis took the cities for themselves! There was nothing I could have done about it without declaring war on them, which I knew I would not survive. I thought I had started a good relationship with the Iroqouis but their real intention was to gain more land and resources at the expense of my civ. For this they would pay dearly.
The Americans became my new best friends when only a few turns later they also offered me a mutual protection pact. I accepted and immediately declared war on the Iroqouis. Justice was served when the Americans came to my assistance and punished the Iroqouis for attacking me. A huge battle broke out with huge losses for all 3 civs. My civ eventually fell, but not before inflicting a lot of damage on the Iroqouis. My soldiers had no chance of winning in battle, but they fought bravely nonetheless. They were like Japanese kamakazi fighter pilots in World War II who committed suicide in order to kill more of their enemies. The war my soldiers fought was a war of principle, not a war to obtain resources. The Iroqouis stabbed me in the back and I got revenge. Since my plan didn't work out, I did everything in my power to make it as difficult as possible for theirs to work. If they had not cheated me I would have helped them in the future, but they were disloyal and had to be taught a lesson.
In order to be successful in a global economy it is essential to have positive international relations with other countries. The Iroqouis hurt their ability to trade with other civs when they cheated me because afterwards other civs agreed to enter into trade embargos against them with my civ. Without the ability to trade, production possibilities decrease because comparative advantages can't be realized. Forgoing beneficial trade is an opportunity cost that is hurtful to any economy. This was the price that the Iroqouis had to pay for not being trustworthy. Their conquest strategy would give them many immediate benefits, but in the long term they would suffer from not being able to trade.

Supply and Demand

My civilization is way behind all of the other civs both technologically and scientifically. This unfortunate circumstance has caused huge problems for me; from not being able to survive in wars, not being able to expand my territory with cultural influence, and most importantly not being able to trade.
I can't trade technologies with other civs because they all already have what I have, plus ones that I don't. With nothing to offer them, they are unwilling to give me anything in return. In economic terms, there is no demand for what I have to offer. This is because there already exists such a high supply of what I offer. As I have learned from Economics, when there is a surplus of some kind of resource, demand and prices are low, while scarcity results in a higher demand and higher prices because that resource is very difficult to obtain.
Since I am unable to trade with other civs, my civ is unable to advance at the same pace as others. A pretty good comparison can be made between my civ and Papua New Guinea. Both are able to survive on their own, but advancement is nearly impossible because they have almost nothing of value to the rest of the modernized world. Again, no one demands what I have to offer. This also reminds me off the early history between Britain and China, when Britain first traveled to China to obtain valuable spices. Spices were in high demand for the British, but at the same time the British had nothing of value to offer the Chinese. This of course changed when Britain introduced large amounts of opium to China, and the imbalance of trade flipped in the opposite direction. Like Britain, hopefully my civ will be able to find some valuable resource that some other civ demands. It would be really nice if my civ avoided a war like the Opium War, however, because my economy just isn't strong enough to support a large army. The ideal situation is to be able to trade with other civs and maintain long lasting relationships. In this way my economy will be strong and my civ will stay out of global conflicts.