If real life were Civ3, who'd have the highest end score?

[nato]

Well just to quickly defend myself ...

I don't think televangelism could be considered mainstream or big enough to say the US is heavily religious.

About the religion once a week ... I didn't say everyone did that, but I think it is the most common and typical.

I think American universities are considered the best ... at least our graduate schools definitely are. I'm not saying that out of patriotism ... to my knowledge that is an "accurate" statement (though of course other countries have great world-class universities, I didn't say they didn't).

edit: Just to make it clear, I am NOT saying other country's universities are bad or anything! Just that this is one of America's legitimate strengths.

On the good side, I agree about Britain! And that not all Americans are happy (especially inner city ones) ...

However we probably are the happiest ... no one can match our high consumption! We have the greatest consumption on Earth! (and that one I AM certain about)

[spicytimothy]

The British don't stand the test of time? Strange, given that, for instance, Canada, Australia and New Zealand inherited political systems, culture and language from the British Empire- and still have the British monarch as head of state (a situation which should be rectified sometime soon).
Culturally, Britain still has a strong influence- the King James Bible (from the 17th Century) and Shakespeare (from the 16th Century), two notable exports to the world, have helped shape the English language and common parlance, and are read as far apart as Belize and Burma.

Yes, these countries had inherited something from the British, just like my home country (well... city... Hong Kong...) but I use the term crumble bcoz they never get to keep the places long... I mean, yeah they inherited the system, the language, but they are now considered totally separate countries, and all the British has left of the main islands and a bit of Ireland and some tiny islands scatered thruout the world... remember what this thread is about: how would the Civs ranked if it ends TODAY in the real world, not 1914 for land mass, post-WWI for culture etc.

As for crumbling after two wars- well, the Empire was at its greatest extent after World War I,

you really think so?? I'm not sure about this... they've already lost North America, and China was falling into Communist against Kuomintan already...

In 1914, Britain possessed the largest overseas empire, occupying 11 million square miles of territory on every continent and ruling over 400 million people, and had a network of defensive alliances and protectorates over Egypt, the Sudan, southern Persia, the Persian Gulf, and substantial financial interests and influence in China and South America.

yeah exactly... in 1914... how large is USA / China now?

Before anyone accuses me of being a propagandist for Empire, or some British jingoist- I'm not (I'm of Irish descent). I'm simply interested in a more accurate perspective.

well me either! I'm a Chinese.

Also- the calculation for happiness for the United States seems remarkably rose-tinted; has there never been social/political/ethnic unrest in the United States? You know, during the Great Depression, in the industrialisation of the country (the IWW, strike breaking, unionisation), the Oklahoma Dust Bowl, opposition to the Viet Nam war, the America Firsters, let alone the racial divide that continued after the Civil War was supposed to put an end to slavery- culminating in the Civil Rights movement. Surely any calculation of unhappiness/happiness/war weariness should attempt to reflect this- especially with such a short-lived civilization....

yeah but these things happened to all Civs... the focus should be on how fast the gov't react and how the gov't handle them... i think what the American gov't did is so good that not even the "long-lived" Civ can accomplish... (Look at India this past month...)

Don't be offended... just wanna give an objective view on the subject.... and excuse me for all the typos...

Spice Girls Forever

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by spicytimothy

you really think so?? I'm not sure about this... they've already lost North America, and China was falling into Communist against Kuomintan already...

Yes- the British Empire was, in terms of territory held, at its greatest extent after World War I- it took over Kaiser Wilhelm Land in Papua New Guinea, German East Africa, German South West Africa, Nauru, German Samoa, the Bismarck Archipelago, part of Togoland, and also Iraq, Transjordan, Palestine and Cyprus.

The United States only became a superpower in 1919- having suffered no damage in the war, and being owed $ U.S. 4.7 billion by the British. The British, incidentally, were owed at least $ U.S. 11 billion by other countries, and France owed the United States and Britain $ U.S. 7 billion.
Also, the refusal of the United States to write off the debts as contribution to the joint war effort ensured the Allies sought to recoup their losses from a shattered Germany. And we all know where that led....

[spicytimothy]

interesting

mmm... that's very interesting... i never knew that b4...

still... too bad the empire have since shrank sooooo much...

[Topher655]

USA Obviously

Pshhaw, you guys, the USA wins easily.

Whether the ending time is 2002 or 2050, the US does and will have the largest/most advanced army, the greatest political sway, THE MOST FAR-REACHING CULTURE WITHOUT QUESTION (Michael Jackson in Iraq; need I say more), and its quite simply the shaper of the modern world.

Need I mention that the government of Democracy in the form it takes in civ3 would simply not exist, if not for the USA.

[Andrew Cory]

Originally posted by molly bloom
The United States only became a superpower in 1919- having suffered no damage in the war, and being owed $ U.S. 4.7 billion by the British. The British, incidentally, were owed at least $ U.S. 11 billion by other countries, and France owed the United States and Britain $ U.S. 7 billion.

The US became a superpower after 1919, yes, but it was a world power in 1899 after the Spanish-America war (no idea what the rest of the world calls it, but it should be straitforward enough).

In fact, the US could have been considered a world power anytime it got off its butt and decided to _do_ somthing in the world, but some sort of weird isolationist tendancy kept us from doing that for decades. When a sociologist can explain the difference between the isolationist "average" american, and the internationalist policies of the leasership...