ljidol, reinvent the wheel
First, you found a city.
I've spent most of my life preparing for the day when I will have to single-handedly rebuild civilization. Well. Actually, I've spent large portions of my life playing Civilization. The computer game. I started with the original version when I was 12, then continued my training with each new addition. There were other empire and city building games, of course, but it always came back to Civilization. After all, no other game could show me quite so clearly what it takes to uplift humanity.
Once my band of wandering nomads has been persuaded to settle down, we can start to explore the area. We'll concentrate on expansion for a while, and once we have few more settlements, we'll be ready to start on an early world wonder. The great wall, perhaps, or the pyramids. It will take hundreds of years to complete, of course, but our cultural superiority must be established early.
We'll grow quickly once we study medicine and sanitation - so I'll have to leave those for a while, until I've upgraded our farms and figured out a way to keep the serfs happy. Making sure I have enough military units stationed in each city will probably help. At least, it will stop widespread riots. And if the people aren't rioting, they must be happy. Right? It's for their own good. No one will be pleased if the protests set us back so much I have to sacrifice a percentage of the population in order to finish that world wonder.
And the military units may come in handy especially if they're more advanced then the ones our neighbors have. My people will be peaceful and intellectual, of course, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't be prepared, if only for our own safety. My nation-state can't reach it's full potential if we have rivals nearby, threatening our resources. Sooner or later, they'll become jealous of our wealth and achievements. Better to get rid of them first. Once that's taken care of, the future progress of humanity is easy. Almost too easy.
So next, I'll have to work on our nuclear program. After all, if you set off enough bombs, it will leave the world a mess. Probably wipe out all our settlements, along with any other civilizations too small and distant to bother adding to our empire. But I'll make sure enough people survive to get along on their own for a while - say, as wandering nomads.
Then we'll found a city.
I've spent most of my life preparing for the day when I will have to single-handedly rebuild civilization. Well. Actually, I've spent large portions of my life playing Civilization. The computer game. I started with the original version when I was 12, then continued my training with each new addition. There were other empire and city building games, of course, but it always came back to Civilization. After all, no other game could show me quite so clearly what it takes to uplift humanity.
Once my band of wandering nomads has been persuaded to settle down, we can start to explore the area. We'll concentrate on expansion for a while, and once we have few more settlements, we'll be ready to start on an early world wonder. The great wall, perhaps, or the pyramids. It will take hundreds of years to complete, of course, but our cultural superiority must be established early.
We'll grow quickly once we study medicine and sanitation - so I'll have to leave those for a while, until I've upgraded our farms and figured out a way to keep the serfs happy. Making sure I have enough military units stationed in each city will probably help. At least, it will stop widespread riots. And if the people aren't rioting, they must be happy. Right? It's for their own good. No one will be pleased if the protests set us back so much I have to sacrifice a percentage of the population in order to finish that world wonder.
And the military units may come in handy especially if they're more advanced then the ones our neighbors have. My people will be peaceful and intellectual, of course, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't be prepared, if only for our own safety. My nation-state can't reach it's full potential if we have rivals nearby, threatening our resources. Sooner or later, they'll become jealous of our wealth and achievements. Better to get rid of them first. Once that's taken care of, the future progress of humanity is easy. Almost too easy.
So next, I'll have to work on our nuclear program. After all, if you set off enough bombs, it will leave the world a mess. Probably wipe out all our settlements, along with any other civilizations too small and distant to bother adding to our empire. But I'll make sure enough people survive to get along on their own for a while - say, as wandering nomads.
Then we'll found a city.