A strategy game: Civilization 2

One of my favorite games to play is Civilization II. And I think it has all to do with software testing. Here a very short explanation to relate this game to software testing.

This game is a strategy game, were you have to build a civilization where you can choose for 3 goals to win the game:
1. Be the first civilization who builds and lounge a spaceship as first;
2. Eliminate all other civilizations;
3. Keep playing until the year 2020.

The reasons why I think it is like software testing are:
1. before starting you have to determine how the world have to look like. Should there be a large landmass (longer time to play) or a smaller area (shorter time to play);
2. how many opponents you have to beat. If you choose for the maximum there are other circumstances you have to take care of in combination of you strategy to win;
3. were do you focus initially on: building lesser cities with all improvements of larger armies of lots of cities with lesser improvements. This decision will influence the rest of the game;
4. do you "cheat" or just continue playing when something did not went as you hoped for?;
5. when "cheating" which outcome do you accept at that moment.

Ad1: translated to testing: do you choose for time boxing or do you test until you met all acceptance criteria.
Ad2: If a testing team is larger you have to communicate more with the team and make decisions every one satisfies. The lesser opponents, the easier it might be to satisfy them.
Ad3: An optimal designed city might be translated to an optimal defined test process. Only this might prevent you to become the first civilization to build and lounge a spaceship. It is very good to make the year 2020. Focusing on a lesser defined process by building as much as armies (perhaps translated to test scripts) might help you conquer the world and become the strongest.
Ad4: cheating can be done by saving the game. And when you get into battle restore the game until you get the desired result. Or when entering a "hidden" village, accept the newly gained knowledge, or perhaps you found another city or a certain amount of money. This can be compared with regression testing: keep retesting until the expected or acceptable result is there. And not continuing with a loss of armies or accepting the horde of barbarians you released.
Ad5: Based on the situation and moment of the game you restore your saved game and accept in the beginning the newly gained knowledge which enables you to build other improvements. Or perhaps accept the found treasure which enables you to speed up the building of an army so you are able to beat the opponent the next round.

Beside these examples this game triggers you to evaluate every situation and create an open and creative mind. When playing this game more often you might be able to select different levels of playing this game. Start on the easiest level when playing first and see if you are able to define you strategy when playing on the hardest level. Like in software testing, initially you might be able to coordinate a simple project. Keep learning from those projects, encrease your skills and see if you are capable to do more difficult projects.