Yeah - although I think some of that in real life is incorporated within diplomatic structures (building alliances to ensure support, etc.) And there are other peaceful ways to expand in those games, with big cities and technology. It's the back-and-forth that's missing.
-
-
Replying to @mssilverstein @perdricof and
And, tbf, it likely isn't that fun even if simulated well. Do I really want to play a game of Civ where I have to study the personalities and varied interests of my neighbors?
4 replies 0 retweets 4 likes -
Replying to @mssilverstein @perdricof and
And also, I think a lot of real-world things are hard to simulate, because they're things like strong cultural ties to specific bits of land that will feel very arbitrary if generated randomly. Or they're in your own head, only.
1 reply 0 retweets 3 likes -
Replying to @mssilverstein @perdricof and
Because I *do* play games like that sometime (I must avenge the battle of Turn 40) but the CPU doesn't know that.
2 replies 0 retweets 2 likes -
Replying to @mssilverstein @chrysopoetics and
interestingly, "failing to understand the enemy's motivations and ideology" is actually a really common feature of diplomacy -- often this is the cause of truly great catastrophes
2 replies 1 retweet 4 likes -
Replying to @perdricof @mssilverstein and
pearl harbor is an instructive example. the japanese assumed this would bloody america's nose and dissuade us from pursuing a long and costly war, when in fact it assured the exact opposite and led to the total destruction of the japanese regime. whoops!
2 replies 0 retweets 4 likes -
Replying to @perdricof @mssilverstein and
There were even people who said so at the time (the Sleeping Giant speech) Sam Houston said something very similar warning his fellow Southern politicians about why secession was a really stupid idea
3 replies 0 retweets 3 likes -
Replying to @arthur_affect @perdricof and
Using the old metaphor of climate for temperament "Your Northern brothers may seem like they lack your fiery temper, for they were raised in colder climes But once their anger is aroused it will crush you with the full force of an avalanche"
1 reply 0 retweets 3 likes -
Replying to @arthur_affect @perdricof and
I mentioned earlier the South's various "Ranger" units just letting bandits and thugs run free robbing and killing people along the border Which was this conscious strategy going "Yankees are all soft clerks who will crumple instantly at their first bloody nose"
2 replies 1 retweet 2 likes -
Replying to @arthur_affect @perdricof and
This was also broadly the sense in Imperial Germany at the outbreak of World War I - France is soft, and they'll melt before our brave troops. Then everybody died.
2 replies 1 retweet 3 likes
The French had, in fact, already absorbed a lot of "cheese-eating surrender monkey" mockery after the Franco-Prussian War and spent decades letting that old shame fester into overwhelming unreasoning fury It's where we get the term "revanchist"
-
-
Replying to @arthur_affect @perdricof and
Yeah - and I guess the experience of 1871 was a pretty good sign of German superior military prowess...it was just 40 years out of date.
2 replies 0 retweets 2 likes -
Replying to @mssilverstein @arthur_affect and
There were huge parts of the war planning, on all sides, that were just flatly and obviously wrong. Not just for bigotry reasons, but things like the cult of the offensive: offensives aren't sounds strategy with trenches and machine guns!
1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes - Show replies
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.