The best game I've ever played was Civilization II Gold Edition. It's a world conquest game.
You start out by building your first city in year 4,000 B.C. You begin developing technology, and expand & explore your surroundings. So the first technology you 'discover' would be the Wheel or Horseback Riding, or something basic along those lines.
You keep expanding, founding cities, and you'll meet other rival civilizations. You have several different ways of dealing with them, war is just one of them. You can threaten them in order to get money or technology, or ally with them, sign peace treaties, ignore them, bribe them to declare war on an enemy, etc.
Naturally, treachery is a large part of the game. Especially when playing against human opponents rather than just the computer. Treaties are created & tossed aside much more carelessly by humans, and you really get pissed off at someone who Pearl Harbored you after signing a peace treaty with you. Oh yes, I've let Nukes fly over such indiscretions!
Your technology discovery rate is a direct result on what kind of government you have & how your economy is doing. Sending spies in to steal technology or to incite a revolt of a rival civ is almost guaranteed to get your ass landed in a war! lol
Anyway, by the end of the game, you have Aircraft Carriers, stealth fighters, subs, nukes, tanks, battleships, etc... this is where the game gets really good, because it's not necessarily how strong your country is (although that is a factor), it's how smart you are in deploying your armed forces & out maneuvering your opponent(s). You win when you capture all of your opponents cities - and rule the world! Muuuaaahahahahahaa!! lol
The downside to this game is that it's turn based, so sometimes there's a few minutes between your turns if someone is fighting a major war... but that gives you time to rethink your strategy and tweak some of your cities.
I also have Civ III, but it's pretty difficult to learn on. Civ II is a perfect one to learn on, and then step up to Civ III. This game is extremely addicting, especially when you're learning it because of the fascinating different outcomes of any tactic you choose.
Have you played this one or do you know where you can get a copy? If not, I can burn you your own official pirated copy and send to you.
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