Road Networks Applied to Sid Meier’s Civilization
Civilization is a series of turn-based strategy video games. The primary concept of the game is that multiple civilizations are pitted against each other. For example, a sample game would be Germany, United States, Canada, Britain, Russia, etc. Each player controls all aspects of a different civilization, and the goal is to win. Players can win by different means. For example, there are science based victories, war victories, culture victories, religion victories, etc.
As for the beginning of the game, the area that a given civilization starts out in is randomized. Just as we learned from how road networks work in class and how cities have the most influence based on positioning, it is crucial for a player to be positioned next to as many cities as possible. Civilizations that aren’t placed next to other cities and those that are on outskirts have a very hard time doing well in the game.
This is because cities that start on the outskirts of other cities, not connected to many others, have no influence. They have no bearing on how other cities trade, diplomatic relations, religious affiliations, etc. As we learned in class, the city that is connected to as many other cities as possible, especially those that do not have any other connections, are the most powerful cities. Therefore, being positioned in the center of the map goes far to increase the chances that a given civilization does well.
However, this strategy does have drawbacks as well. For example, being positioned next to as many other cities as possible makes it more difficult to defend from attacks from others cities, as there are more fronts to fight on. Nevertheless, it is entirely possible for a given civilization to do well in spite of this by taking advantage of other considerations, such as trade, diplomatic relations, and religious victories. This is just one of the many strategic considerations that makes the Civilization series a set of such enjoyable games.
Sources: Networks: David Easley & Jon Kleinberg, https://civilization.com/