grylliade.org Free minds. Free markets. Free beer.

That was pretty cool, although I was never that much of a Civ fan. Oddly enough, I liked Colonization better, maybe because it was more tactical and focused. (Although it always bugged the almighty crap out of me that the computer-controlled opponents were literally playing under a different set of rules than you were.)

I always wondered: did anyone else ever object to the Civ series because of the inherently dictatorial nature of the game? I mean, sure, it's called a "god game" for a reason, and if you weren't directing stuff, there wouldn't be anything to do. But in a bunch of games of this nature, your people will do nothing if you don't do it for them. No scientific advancement unless the great man orders the people specifically what to work on. No hospitals unless the great man orders them built. And as we as good libertarians all know, that's just not how most advancements happen. So the amount of micromanaging always got to me. Looks like Civ IV might be a little more flexible, though...

I've only played a little Civ II, but I played gazillions of hours of Alpha Centauri in high school, and man, did that burn me up! It was basically impossible to have a free market economy; it gave you twice as many negative points as any other setup, you would have riots all the time, and everybody else hated you. It became my obsession to win with a free market economy, something that never happened, because I am universally terrible at computer games. But oh well, it was a nice substitute for a social life.

There are two easiest factions for Free Market (and I had the same burning obsession) - the Morganites and, of all folks, the Gaians.

The trick is that the Gaians hate free markets and will eventually declare vendetta if another faction stays that system long enough - but that's their unique bugaboo. So, if you play them and go free-market, nobody minds (and the Morganite faction will like you). Alternately, play Morganite and avoid Free Market until the Gaians are out or are significantly inferior to you - then switch and laugh at the tree-huggers. :)

Beyond that, for free markets - trade agreements, trade agreements, more trade agreements, and if more than one faction declares vendetta on you (unless all enemies are far inferior), cravenly buy the second one off, then once the current conflict is over, put them in their place without initiating a vendetta or breaking a treaty. Also, the mid- and late-game industrial and transportation stuff (mass transit, beanstalk, etc.) is pretty vital. The mass transit thing and the clone vats let you spread like crazy, as long as you have enough resources for food.

EDIT: Also, late in the game, if you can throw a lot of money at advanced Fungicidal Formers with Psi armor, build a fleet of them and set them to automatically kill fungus. I've actually wiped out all fungus on Planet that way, which makes wildlife problems almost negligible. And it's funny to watch an overgrown tractor wipe out Demon Boils that are eating other factions' heavy military like candy...

During high school I played Alpha Centauri with just Chairman Yang, because it was always more fun to play the dictator when you know that is what the game really is about (not too mention the only pro-democracy force is the freakin' UN, grrr, how I loved using the atrocious Yang to utterly decimate them and their wimpy internationalism).
Another thing, it's amazing that using a free-market economy destroys the environment, when planned in real life is even MORE destructive...but then again, the game probably was designed by a bunch of enviro-anarchists...

I loved CivII. my basic strategy consisted of
1. Build as many cities as possible as fast as possible relatively densely until you meet more than 2 neighbors
2. Sign treaties with all your neighbors and start reinforcing your outer defenses
3. Turn all taxes to research, run deficits as long as you can afford it.
4. Once you have railroads and farms, build and army of engineers to sweep over the land
5. Conquer first neighbor
6. When other neighbor objects, conquer him
7. Finish researching
8. Build massive armies of howitzers, tanks, stealth bombers and stealth fighters, with aegis ships in every fleet
9. Do not research Manhattan Project
10. Kill anyone who starts researching Manhattan project.
11. Finish conquering the world before 2020.
12. Enjoy the fruits of your labor. Go down in history as the greatest (and only surviving) ruler of all time.

and no, i did not have any qualms about the idea of me being a dictatorial autocrat. After all, its good to be the king.