While the "math" of strategy games are typically exposed (and with it the ability to optimize) - the fun of strategy games is to balance competing demands by ma

While the "math" of strategy games are typically exposed (and with it the ability to optimize) - the fun of strategy games is to balance competing demands by making decisions with long-term consequences. The difficulty with creating strategy games is to make something replayable that isn't formulaic. I think the Civ series has succeeded so far because of its ability to introduce enough chaos that no single pattern of game play will always win no matter what. (Though unfortunately I don't feel there is much variation in the harder difficulty levels which does produce a stagnant experience).