Civilization VI as an Educational Tool

As of this writing, I have spent about 70 hours playing the computer game Civilization VI. It's quite fun and bears a sufficiently close resemblance to real life that I think it could profitably be used as an educational tool. Below I've collected some questions and essay prompts that one could pair with the game.

• Effects of different map types: play the game on a Pangaea map and then on an archipelago. How does your strategy change?
• How do different terrains affect development?
• What is the function of trade? Benefits of trade: do you think the scoring for trade routes is reasonable?
• Modes of victory: how would you define the endpoint of the game? How would you define scoring for the game as a whole? Is this compatible with historians' view of great civilizations?
• Population growth: in what ways does this benefit a civilization? What constraints can limit population growth?
• Currencies: how sensible is it that you can purchase military units and improvements with gold? Who do you think you're paying that gold to?
• Economics: what are the best ways to increase the productive capacity of a city in the game? How does that compare to real life?
• General: what features of the real world are missing from the game? Which are most/least accurately modeled by the game's dynamics?
• Information: as a leader, what information would you like to have at your fingertips? What would make it easier for you to execute your strategy?
• Government types: why do different governments permit more policies than others? Do you agree with the advantages attached to each policy?
• Is there inflation in the game? What is the rate? Is this realistic?
• What do you think of the reminders about insufficient housing or amenities?
• Culture: what role/advantage does religion confer in the game? Is this realistic?
• Policies: pick a handful. What are the actual policies the government would have to implement to gain these rewards?
• Pick one civilization that's not in the game. What leader/special unit/district/policy/etc would you pick for it?
• City placement: how do you pick where to settle?
• Military tactics: read The Art of War and then wage a domination campaign in the game. How did things work out?
• Try playing as a city state - i.e. never produce any settlers. How does your strategy change? What do you do differently to manage your civilization?
• Types of government: give an account of when different forms of government first appeared and what their primary advantages and disadvantages are. Do the number of policy slots of each kind (military, economic, diplomatic, wildcard) match what you know about each government?
• Policies: pick three policies and propose a method for attaining that policy's result. What difficulties can you foresee in getting such a policy passed? * What second-order effects might there be?
• Yields: gather data on the productivity of timberland, mines, quarries, farms, and fishing boats in real life. Do the data seem to support the relative yields of different tiles in the game?
• City governance: city growth is limited in the game by food and housing. Identify 5 real constraints on city growth and explain how they work.
• General strategy: what lessons have you learned about long-term planning and acting in a stochastic environment? How can you apply this to your current life? (Possible answers: work with what you've got (i.e. better to strategize around your given abilities and environment and to pick a path to victory that is compatible with that starting location than to blindly pursue your own pet strategy); don't go looking for trouble (sending out search parties to hunt barbarians is going to end with you encountering barbarians))

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