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Geography The level of impact that geography, either physical or cultural, has on the process of technological innovation and creativity is a point of much dispute. Few environmental factors are either absolutely necessary or completely sufficient for technological creativity. Rather, most geographic conditions act simply to focus and direct the level of creativity that exist in a given society. It's arguable, then, that geographic factors are far more permissive than they are causative. In Egypt, for example, a great deal of technological development, such as shipbuilding and agriculture, was intimately coupled with the Nile. The vast majority of common Egyptians lived their entire lives according the seasonal fluctuations of the Nile. Some scholars have even speculated that the presence and nature of the Nile itself was an irreproducible component in the development of Egyptian civilization.
Most God Games at least pay superficial attention to the effects of geography on technological innovation. In Ensemble's Age of Empires series, the player's ability to gather resources, and therefore the types of technology they can develop, is determined by their geographical surroundings. Likewise, in Impression Game's Pharaoh (one of my particular favorites at the moment), players are unable to engage in mining activities if there isn't anything around to mine. One of the most common effects that geography has on technological innovation has to do with building space. Players can't build something on unsuitable land (rocks, marsh, etc). This kind of approach really doesn't do justice to the effects that geography has on technology. If a player overcomes the lack of either suitable building land or immediately available resources, they are free to encourage the same sort of technological innovations available to them in other scenarios. Geography has almost no effect on the technological path (something that will be talked about shortly) that a society takes. The tech tree of a scenario that takes place in the desert is usually identical to one that takes place in a river valley. So, what's the alternative? Well, for each scenario that a player has access to, there should be a predetermined path of technological possibilities that is partially controlled by geographic setting. For civilizations that reside in river valleys or close to the ocean, the technological path could include maritime trade, the waterwheel, shipbuilding, and hydroelectricity. For civilizations where population centers are widely dispersed, the path could include long distance trade, communication devices, and high-speed travel. The pace and manifestation of this technological path would in turn be influenced and affected by a suite of other variables (like those discussed in this article). Granted, the civilization wouldn't be limited to that one specific technological path. It would, however, serve as a base upon which the civilization's technological character would be founded. Perhaps some sort of bonus would be available to the players who develop technology that lies along their civilization's base technological path. ________________________________________________________ |
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