Rob Zacny Posted March 24, 2023 Three Moves Ahead 586: Industrialization and Snowballing w/ Bret Devereaux Len and Ian are joined once again by our official unofficial historical consultant, UNC Chapel Hill's Dr. Bret Devereaux, to discuss a couple of interrelated topics: Snowballing in strategy games and the process of industrialization. We take a wide-ranging trek through games and history that touches on different ways developers have tried to put checks on snowballing, what factors prevented real societies from hitting that exponential growth until the 1800s, and which games portray it best. There's also a lot of chat on our exploits in the recent 1.2 patch for Victoria 3, because of course there would be. Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rogue Consultant Posted March 29, 2023 A fun listen as always, but slightly saddened that I don't recall the term 'power curve' being used 🤣 A couple of observations which came to mind was the distinction between China & Rome which at their height were effectively without peer competitors, and only constrained by their internal tensions and external 'friction', versus other periods where interstate diplomacy/balance of power considerations would often consolidate anti hegemonic coalitions - this later factor being much easier to represent in games. My perception is that the degree of control which games offer makes representing internal constraints challenging, which leads to the wierd situation where a roleplaying game like CK 2/3 could be said to offerr the fullest representation of these internal tensions simply because it gives subnational units a degree of agency not found in more conventional strategy games. It is also interesting to wonder how our modern perspective allows us to appreciate the risks of our rivals getting richer rather than simply bigger - if Metternich had seen the future, maybe would he have been coordinating a coalition to deindustrialise Great Britain not contain Napoleon... All good food for thought! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tdoggs Posted April 16, 2023 That was a good comment about the episode. It has been a month since I have listened to it. geography in general, but river specifically, play a huge role in development. I recommend supplying war. Armies couldn't move unless by navigatable rivers until never cool, rivers or oceans1630’s and the potato from south America. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tdoggs Posted April 16, 2023 As for snowballing, just end the game Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
