i've come to view luck as preparation + opportunity. You can't directly make yourself "lucky" but you do have control over how much you prepare (study, practice, exercise, think, train, drill, paying attention to surroundings, planning for future, etc) and you can expose yourself to more opportunities by meeting more people, being more ambient, being social as well as analytical, watching community and industry news, etc.

ps. huge fan of Empire! thank you sir for working on that game. i think Sid Meier cited it as a design influence for Civilization as well.