9 Things Learned from "Civilzations: Revolutuion"

My apologies to my long-term Facebook friends who have already read this. 

1. Being in possession of nuclear weapons is a good way to end open hostilities with another country. This I learned very quickly the first time I built the Manhattan Project wonder, all other empires gave me an offer of peace, even the Arabs. who I was in the middle of a century long war with.
 Addendum:  The UN rather negates this with nuclear disarmament treaties and what-not, but having them at least counts.

2. To ensure the survival of a nation, a strong military is needed. I don't mean armed militia either. I mean state-of-the art military technology with the capability of have large amounts of its units out in the field on a campaign, and still have large forces at home on defense and ready to cycle in to replace casualties.

3. Don't go to war until you are ready and able to support the strong military in number two. If you go to war to early, you won't be able to support them. Take to long, and they'll invade and you'll be stuck on defense. (tip, if this happens pull an Inchon, invade them somewhere else

4. Always stay one technological step ahead of your enemies, and allies. A technological advantage would be fighting spear men with riflemen, (Which is common). This advantage also gives you a plus to other advantages, such as mining, medicine, whatever it may be. Always keep researching, and there are other advantages as well, just look at what came of the space race.

5. Be willing to accept peace terms, but never offer them, unless you truly are ahead. Weakened enemies will, eventually, realize their mistake and sue for peace. Accept their offer. It will make your country look better and spare you from inner turmoil from too many casualties. It also gives you time to recover your strength.

6. Never crumble to hostile threats, unless it is a better idea than to fight. I generally spurn threats received from AI enemies, because I  am always far more powerful than they are. No, that wasn't hubris. I am generally always ahead of them in technology by a slim thread. That gives me an advantage. I also know I probably spend more on military units than I should. Sometimes, however, you are unable to fight due to another war, or some certain problem you're having.

7. Always maintain friendly relations with your citizens. Keep the people happy with good education, jobs, and cultural things. It'll keep them educated, happy, and prosperous, thus increasing your chances of scientific breakthroughs and reducing the risks of them becoming disgruntled and rebelling.
Addendum:  Just make sure you support the stuff, rather than give it to them.

8. Be sure to back up your threats, bluffs, etc. If you threaten to attack a country, and they want proof, you better give them proof, or else. "Or Else" means the realization that you can't back up your threats and will lose most of your power.
Corollary:  Never make a threat unless you can and are willing to back it up. Mean business.


9. Know your targets and priories, whether it be by spies, satellites, or high atmospheric planes. You must always know the priority targets that you would strike if necessary. Cities, industrial facilities, etc. Know your targets, and in what priority they lay. In "Revolution" I always head straight for the capital. More simply, have good intelligence.

Perhaps some embarrassing moments in history could have been avoided if leaders played this game, or read Sun Tzu's The Art of War (More on this book to come soon, think of this as a humorous introduction)


From a hidden bunker,
Varon

5 Essentials for Space Opera (tongue in cheek of course, but I mean every word)

 This was written for an online writer's group I'm in for science-fiction month. So, without any further ado...

  Space opera is the iconic sub-genre of science fiction for most people. Just mentioning the magic words “science-fiction” brings to mind images of lasers, starships, and colorful (though sometimes flat) characters. I’ve assembled my own personal list of 5 essentials to make a good space opera. Explanations may or may not appear. Starships are definitely an important part, but I couldn’t find room for them in the list.

#5: FTL FTW!
Translation please? FTL FTW is an acronym made of two separate acronyms that stands for the phrase “faster than light travel for the win.” That’s quite a mouthful there. More importantly, what does that mean? Well, one of the key elements of space opera is a big setting. That takes really, really fast travel methods to prevent you’re story from becoming the space version of a road trip without the quaint interesting little towns along the way. A pretty boring trip unless you like watching the constellations change shape.
            #4: Giant Super-weapons
  These monstrous symbols for man-kind’s ruthlessness and technological weapons improvement bring about high stakes and pulse-pounding adventure while oftentimes thumbing their nose at modern science (or treaties). Perfect for space opera, aye? Seriously though, space opera is all about being big and exciting. Plus, there are brownie points involved from the special effects, sometimes billions of dollars of profit. (Avatar anyone?)
            #3: Battered Freighters
  Maybe it has to do with the plucky underdog valiantly fighting better, more modern ships, but battered are almost a staple, nay, a cliché of the genre. Albeit, a lovable one, much like those scruffy rogues who pilot them. Or, perhaps, it’s the rogue that makes the ship. Nah, definitely the ship. Star Trek, in my opinion, is not that great of a space opera for several reasons, from boring costumes to not being all that fun for the whole family (a whole different post), plus the heroes were always flying a warship. Where’s the fun in that? Other than the vast firepower available of course.
            #2: Cocky Warrior Princess (and their hair-dos)
  The politically correct term would be strong, independent female leads. Isn’t that a bit boring? This archetype is almost as old as space opera itself, possible originating in Edgar Rice Burroughs’s novel  A Princess of Mars. Not to mention, Princess Leia’s iconic cinnamon bun hair-do has been forever ingrained as a cultural celebrity moment.
            #1: Aliens
 Aliens take the number one spot because of the color, variety, and imagination added to a story. Make them good, bad, ugly, slimy, or shimmering energy beings. Just make them unique and exotic. Nothing make’s a boring bar, excuse me, cantina scene more interesting than some two-headed aliens, a scary furry thing, and some other wildly creative aliens hanging about. Robert Heinlein’s  space operas were good, but they were a bit bland with the best aliens being primitive frog things on Venus. Not much to go on there.

Conclusion: The rule of cool either works really well for space opera, or was invented for space opera. Remember this list (but be creative) and you’re space opera will have a chance at becoming as memorable as Star Wars. Maybe.