I always find myself wishing civ could carry on beyond the modern age. Wouldn't it be great if we had a mod that carried the game into the future, with new techs etc and, most importantly for me, a new map allowing for space colonization?

The new map could consist of our solar system, complete with the planets and many asteroids. Instead of cities, civs would found giant space stations which would act as a base for harvesting nearby resources on planets and asteroids, as well as solar energy. It would allow for a new era of expansion in a way that could plausibly happen in the near-future of the real world.

Oh well, I've no idea if this is possible and I certainly don't have the skills/time to do it myself at the moment, but we can all dream :).

Genetic Era for Warlords (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=184182)
I don't think it goes as far forward, but it goes into the future.

I had a look at that earlier today actually. It looks very good and I hope I get a chance to try it some day. I said 3000 AD in the thread title, but the genetic era aim of of 2250 certainly satisfies me.

Not sure what I think about the sea colonies though - in real life, I can't see why that would ever happen and would prefer a near-future mod to feel reasonably plausible. That's why I'm more interested in space colonies - I think they may well happen before the end of this century simply because of the phenomenal amount of money to be made by harvesting the abundant resources of space. All it would take is something like a space elevator to give a relatively cheap way of accessing the final frontier; and that's something that's already in the game.

In the Evolution mod we are working towards an extended future. Maybe you could help with some ideas.

That's why I'm more interested in space colonies - I think they may well happen before the end of this century simply because of the phenomenal amount of money to be made by harvesting the abundant resources of space.

What resources?
Space is empty. Completely and utterly empty. Its density is measured in atoms per cubic kilometre. Sea colonies are more reasonable. There is a lot of methane and minerals on the sea floor and 95% of the gold on the earth is in the sea.

In the Evolution mod we are working towards an extended future. Maybe you could help with some ideas.

Well needless to say it'd be great if you managed to include the opening up of space. For future techs I remember the Alpha Centauri tech tree was good, seemed fun but also plausibe; it'd be nice to see that implemented in civ4. I'll take a look at the evolution forum and see what angle you're coming from.

Space is empty. Completely and utterly empty. Its density is measured in atoms per cubic kilometre. Sea colonies are more reasonable. There is a lot of methane and minerals on the sea floor and 95% of the gold on the earth is in the sea.

I read up a bit on ocean colonization after my other post and it seems that may there is enough stuff to be mined to justify the cost of building down there after all. Certainly didn't know about the gold!

The potential wealth of space comes from all the ore and minerals to be found in the asteroids and planets. The asteroid 3554 Amun, which is easier to reach than the moon, is thought to contain enough material wealth to make someone 450 times richer than Bill Gates. And that's just one of hundreds of asteroids which cross the Earth's orbit. Asteroids are frequently so densely packed with valuable material that a single 1km-wide asteroid could easily contain more iron ore than has been mined in the entirety of human history.

Also, collecting solar energy in space and then beaming it back down to earth would be be a very efficient energy source: there are no clouds, no nightime and no atmosphere to get in the way and no neighbours to complain about solarpanels which are thousands of miles wide.

good point about the asteroids and the solar panels. I look forward to seeing this mod completed, as I feel that the current ending is a little abrupt. Will you also change the technologies needed for the spaceship?

I like the cheap energy idea. Maybe a national wonder...

PM me and I'll send details about our plans.

good point about the asteroids and the solar panels. I look forward to seeing this mod completed, as I feel that the current ending is a little abrupt. Will you also change the technologies needed for the spaceship?

Alas there is no way I am going to be abe to create a mod of that scale in the forseeable future. I was just throwing around ideas in case they inspired someone with more time/skills than me to use them in their own mod.

If I were creating such a mod then yes I'd make it require much later techs, as well as a scattering of space colonies to use as launchpads. That or I'd do away with it completely.

I like the cheap energy idea. Maybe a national wonder...

PM me and I'll send details about our plans.
Certainly, an interesting idea. But wouldn't it make more sense for a city improvement? Seeing as how after all that if we were to build one solar energy satellite in space, we'd build many thereafter for more energy, and money. People would build their own solar satellites and launch them, and then charge for the money.

But I suppose national wonder makes sense, too, if it were a large network (and government-paid, albeit through tax dollars) of said satellites. The possibilities are truly endless in another 1000 years of technology, and since such great leaps have been made in the past 200 years alone... well, it'd definitely be a mod of great scope.

You're right it would make more sense to have them as city improvements or a wonder. They're not restricted by space so I suppose it wouldn't make sense to have them as terrain improvements. If it solar power satellites were a national wonder, they could act similarly to the three gorges dam wonder: supplying clean energy to all cities.

That sounds pretty good. Anyone who misses out on Three Gorges still has a chance, later, for the satellite wonder.

Or better yet, the satellite wonder *places* a solar satellite in every city. I think that each city would only need one anyway, and so having it as a city improvement could be quite logical.