[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by PTTG

The game of Go spread westward starting in the mid second century. Its remarkable simplicity made it an easier game to manufacture, and the already rich established culture of the game in the east spread with it.

There, the game found lasting purchase. Although Chaturanga, among other games, arose as a form of wargame, Go remained supreme. Roman streets were compared to the lines of a go board, tacticians studied the game's brilliant control of positioning.

It seems that this last element had widespread consequences. A subtle difference in tactics grew over the centuries, as western commanders saw the control of ground to be more important than the exact positioning of certain experts. Knights still existed, but rather than being heavy cavalry warriors, they were more like low-level commanders, less heavily armored. Individual soldiers were, in contrast, raised up in importance, and were critical to hold positions.

Battles tended away from pitched fights in open fields, and instead involved far more skirmishing.

This ultimately changed the entire history of Europe.

A really interesting changepoint PTTG. Switching the dominant metaphore or battle and struggle would create thousands of subtle changes