The Ages of Civ 4 S&T

[adhiraj.bose]

Link to video.

 

[trexeric]

And Jumpman was an animal abuser.

 

[Moai_Spammer]

Note that I am biased because I only actually was here through a few of these eras, but I analyzed dates and time between posts and titles for stories to get this data.

A New Forum: 2004?-November 2005
-A new game was born unto this world. Civ 4 reached the masses and the elderly Civ 3 was retired. A new story forum was needed and created. In the ensuing chaos many stories filled with random newcomers and various people cluttered the forum. There were no rules and no precedents, but little did those first few know, something great was to be made. No survivors are recorded.

The Era of Contstruction: December 2005 - December 2007
-The forum itself begins to take shape. Stories of actual character are now emerging and evolving into what they were to become. Some of Civ 4 S&T's most famous stories come from this time period, such as Princes of the Universe. This is an era of much tranquility as the fledgling forum grows into a power. The population is unprecedented and wouldn't stop growing for years to come. Nothing would seem to stem this flood. Very very few remain from this time period.

The Divided Era: January 2008-October 2008
-This is a darker time in the sub-forum history. The forum is soon divided into two camps, with the large, successful stories, whom were few in number, trampling over the smaller stories. The view gap widens as the small become smaller and the large become larger. These issues begin to mend themselves as the short age goes on, but it is a problem that still has its repercussions seen 7 years later and would create an irreversible trend.

The Regression Age: November 2008 - March 2010
-The stories of Civ 4 S&T once had much character, but this seems to slow down to almost a grinding halt at this time. The lively tales now turn to short gameplay blurts or tidbits of information. The sad times show how the sub-forum regresses, but it still has the numbers and power it had before, but it is misguided and misdirected. This power was soon to go, though, as the age of dominance would come to an end soon enough.

The Pre Civ 5 Days: April 2010 - August 2010
-Civ 4 enthusiasts watch in agony or hope as Firaxis prepare to release its newest version of Civilization. The people of the story and tales subforum go about their daily writings, unaware of the damage that this new game will do to their tidy community that had stood for around half a decade.

New Trials and Tests: September 2010 - August 2011
-The damage done by the new release is almost instant. The number using and replying drop almost instantly with the release of Civ 5. Those who simply scrolled and replied or had small stories dropped off and never came back, presumably to play the new Civ 5 game. The old-timers stay, but only just. The demographics show that a few come back after being disappointed, but the damage is done, and it is painful.

The Dark Ages: September 2011 - March 2013
-After the hit of Civ 5, the forums once more change. A small revival occurs, with new stories being built and created and made. This seems to be good, but the stories are quickly abandoned. This era is filled with many short, unfinished, blurbs about little to nothing. Overall though, the stories are few in number. This period of about a year and a half are the darkest times the sub-forum has seen, but one can only go up from the bottom.

The Consolodation: March 2013 - February 2014
-Stories are still few, but they are building up. No more short blurbs are being made, as now full-length stories are the only creature to have survived. Writers such as Moai_Spammer, constantinople, and so on hold a few newer mainstays that become very prevalent in the sub-forum. Times are still dark, but they are seeming to be moving more into the light.

The Renaissance: March 2014 - August 2014
-The forum sees its most brilliant recovery with the creation of America: Write Your Own History. This IAAR is not the first of its kind, but it absolutely explodes in popularity. Over the summer this story causes much of the growth that was seen, and spawned many other large stories, such as The Rise of Brazil, A Tryst with Destiny, and so on. Many other stories were made and forgotten but this time of friendship and prosperity would last for a very long time, relatively speaking.

The Downturn: September 2014 - February 2015
-The story that brought the growth of the forum back has ended, and many others have too. Now the forum sees a major loss in many of its major participants. A few stories attempt to recapture the public, but nothing works. While not as bad as the Dark Ages, this is still a bad time for the forum. Fewer stay, with only a few steadfast writers refusing to let their stories wither away.

The Second Revival: March 2015 - Present
-After the downturn, many new story writers took a stab at creating their own masterpiece. The friendships of the Renaissance stay and so do the large stories. The forum appears to now be once more littered with short blurbs, but this trend will not stop the hopeful, ever forward march of progress.

Writer's thoughts: The current trends kind of worry me. What tends to seem to happen is a bunch of new stories are made, forgotten, abandoned, and then the forum has a small collapse. I just want everyone to know that you are invaluable to the creation of the forum we have made together. There have been problems, big and small. There have been fights and arguments. We have survived though. We are a resilient group and I hope that all of you will try your hardest to stay here as long as you can. I hope you newcomers can make a proper home in our forum, for we welcome you all. Thank you.

sorry for da necro, but a few comments i'd like to make

first is on The Consolidation

i'm flattered that you included me by name in this section, as i always found my stories rather sub-par. (with the notable exceptions of, and you can consider this "Moai's list of classics",Tsars to Stars, which is my personal favorite and will one day revisit, The Land Between the Rivers, it really was a beautiful accident with a writing style that was quite fun to work with (I plan to begin working on it again once I get my newest story off the ground), Nightfall over Rome, this one is going to be sweet once i begin working on it again (probably when im a decent ways into my newest story), and my first story The Civ4 buddhist challenge wasn't that bad until I over saturated it with ponies, so I will definitely revisit it around the same time I revisit Tsars to Stars

and then there's The Sapphire of Gaul, I plan to make this a classic, so expect to see updates for this one quite often)

i better get back on topic before this turns into a list of my update plans for the next few centuries

next up is something that's been pointed out already, but I feel like adding my 2 cents to it The Dark Ages

I really think these were a golden age, or at least the foundation of later ones

heck, I got my inspiration to start making my own stories from lurking the ones made during this time (particularly TD's, yoshiegg's, and constantinople's stories). Alot of classics were made here. oh, and the Parrot Wars and the Epic wars, those were fun to watch

lastly is The Second Revival and the author's note at the end

while the forum is still busy enough, the trend is certainly disheartening.

Though, I do plan to have an uninterrupted long term stay from this point onwards, as alot of my hiatuses were caused by having 7+ stories weighing me down, to the point where eventually if my IRL life got too stressful i would have to take a leave. The point im making is that I expect to focus more on quality than quantity from here on out, so expect to see more of me in the months, and possibly years to come

I'll try my best in the effort to make sure this subforum doesn't fade into obscurity

 

[clanky4]

over saturated it with ponies

There can never be too many.

 

[Niccolo Edwards]

over saturated it with ponies

Going to be honest here; I thought that had just the right amount of ponies.

I do agree with you; the current trend is worrying especially with RT and Random leaving... forever... okay maybe not forever.

I pledge to make my best effort to prevent this sub-fourm from vanishing into the darkness.

 

[CaterpillarKing]

Though, I do plan to have an uninterrupted long term stay from this point onwards, as alot of my hiatuses were caused by having 7+ stories weighing me down, to the point where eventually if my IRL life got too stressful i would have to take a leave. The point im making is that I expect to focus more on quality than quantity from here on out, so expect to see more of me in the months, and possibly years to come

Same problem here too. I'm focusing on Mexico and Mexico only from here on out.

 

[TheNoob]

My problem is I want to write, but I never have the time/energy/inspiration to do so.

I feel terrible about it, because I've only finished 2-3 of my stories, and I always start new ones to get that inspiration back, but it never works.

I know you guys say I'm a lot better at writing in my USSR story, and I really want to update it, but it's not an easy story to write. Plus with my lack of motivation for writing, it makes it even worse.

If you plan to share any tips, I will read them; I haven't left the forums. I've just been reading and not posting, which I will probably continue unless something changes within me.

 

[Noyyau]

Sounds cheesy, but "Just do it" is what usually works for me. No distractions, simply start doing the thing. Even if it's slow going and hard, you need to begin it, or else you never will.
You can distract yourself after you've done what you want/need to do.
That's how I passed my exams, that's how I spammed hundreds of CVs until finally (months later!) someone called me and now I got a job.

 

[trexeric]

The issue with "just do it" is that it makes writing here seem like a chore. I have the same problem as Noob. I want to write, but I just don't have the time, or when I do have the time I don't have the motivation, or when both come together and I have both time and motivation I don't have anything to write about. When all these line up and I get a spark of inspiration when I actually want to do something, it ends up being a story I make one chapter of then quit because, frankly, I've lost interest in it.

If I were to just do it, I would lose all interest. It would be a dull story because it would be a chore to do it, and I wouldn't be actually passionate about making it.