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> There's a lot more of the politics we could get into — like how crazy it is that China would attack its ally, North Korea, or that India somehow sits idly by

> There's a lot more of the politics we could get into — like how crazy it is that China would attack its ally, North Korea, or that India somehow sits idly by while the bombs are falling. Also crazy: India and Pakistan put the past aside and become allies! But let's move on. The story line in the game starts in 2064, so 50 years from now. In 1940 France and Germany were bitter enemies, by 1990, they were best buds. Not that crazy after all, especially when crises change the world order. The article also goes into discussing the necessity of a world hegemon to keep trade open. I wonder if this is less necessary in an age where global economies are much more connected and so many more countries are liberal democracies.

HCIdivision17 12y ago
That's a great perspective to keep in mind. 50 years is a long time. It's less than our life span, so I guess we don't think so, but wow, have things shifted and accelerated. I'm frequently perplexed about people decrying unrealistic future politics. Heck, Back to the Future makes the joke about Japanese tech in the same way. And hey, at least the Siliciods aren't peacefully declaring war on you for your hyper-aggressive inaction on turn one (Master of Orion 3 shall always have the most broken politics). Edit: double checking, the article notes the game starts hundreds of years in the future (and a couple other non-spoiler sites corroborate). Frankly, at that point from now, all bets are off. (A hundred years ago, power grids were just starting to be a pretty cool idea.)
- throwaway7808 12y ago
  Most likely you and your kids are gonna be wiped out by intellegent machines just in a few decades.
smsm42 12y ago
My personal suspension of disbelief was more strained by the premise that nuclear war would somehow lead to very significant warming. Shouldn't just the opposite happen - all the dust and debris causing the infamous nuclear winter? Looks like the game creators are mixing the popular horrors from the 70s with the modern ones and just handwaving over the contradictions.
- gsnedders 12y ago
  To be fair, this is consistent with the results of nuclear war in earlier Civ games. :)
- jerf 12y ago
  The Wikipedia article, which is very interesting in a number of different ways, even has a section on "Nuclear Summer": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_winter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_winter 'A "nuclear summer" is a hypothesized scenario in which, after a nuclear winter has abated, a greenhouse effect then occurs due to CO2 released by combustion and methane released from decay of dead organic matter.' That's all it says about that particular thing, but it's worth a read for everything else.

HCIdivision17 12y ago

That's a great perspective to keep in mind. 50 years is a long time. It's less than our life span, so I guess we don't think so, but wow, have things shifted and accelerated. I'm frequently perplexed about people decrying unrealistic future politics. Heck, Back to the Future makes the joke about Japanese tech in the same way. And hey, at least the Siliciods aren't peacefully declaring war on you for your hyper-aggressive inaction on turn one (Master of Orion 3 shall always have the most broken politics). Edit: double checking, the article notes the game starts hundreds of years in the future (and a couple other non-spoiler sites corroborate). Frankly, at that point from now, all bets are off. (A hundred years ago, power grids were just starting to be a pretty cool idea.)

throwaway7808 12y ago
Most likely you and your kids are gonna be wiped out by intellegent machines just in a few decades.

smsm42 12y ago

My personal suspension of disbelief was more strained by the premise that nuclear war would somehow lead to very significant warming. Shouldn't just the opposite happen - all the dust and debris causing the infamous nuclear winter? Looks like the game creators are mixing the popular horrors from the 70s with the modern ones and just handwaving over the contradictions.

gsnedders 12y ago
To be fair, this is consistent with the results of nuclear war in earlier Civ games. :)
jerf 12y ago
The Wikipedia article, which is very interesting in a number of different ways, even has a section on "Nuclear Summer": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_winter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_winter 'A "nuclear summer" is a hypothesized scenario in which, after a nuclear winter has abated, a greenhouse effect then occurs due to CO2 released by combustion and methane released from decay of dead organic matter.' That's all it says about that particular thing, but it's worth a read for everything else.