8 ages?

[prisoner of hss]

that there are going to be 8 ages in civilization IV, including stone, bronze, iron, middle, rennaissance, industrial, modern, digital(2025 A.D.). Something like that

 

[Trajan13]

Actually the info is that there will no longer be any predefined ages.

 

[prisoner of hss]

huh, ill have to recheck

 

[Dearmad]

You do that.

 

[ForbiddenPalace]

Actually I really hope they can keep the age concept. If there could be 14 or 15 ages in civ4 like EE, that would be great.

 

[mastertyguy]

I prefer it like it will be. I hated when I want to continue in the other age, but couldn't because I had to research Polytheism.

 

[Leprechaune]

The ONLY parts about ages I liked was that it labelled your technological level AND that it made your cities and leader head upgrade in appearance....

THOSE parts they could keep IN and they can be triggered by crossing the same lines.

 

[warpstorm]

Actually I really hope they can keep the age concept. If there could be 14 or 15 ages in civ4 like EE, that would be great.

If you have 15 ages, why have any? You will switch ages every couple of techs with that many.

 

[Dearmad]

Some brilliant game designers in here....

Moderator Action: Please don't post in the thread if you can't contribute to it.

 

[ew0054]

I would like to see an Entended game like in Civ2. The fantasy and science fiction scenarios were awesome, as well. They really poured their hearts and soles into that game! I was disappointed to hear that they shortened the game length to 2050 A.D.

I enjoy playing in the modern era, but then the problem is that once all of the other civilizations have reached it, there's nothing left to do except fill up all the land with improvements and such. I would like to see some more made-up future techs (the sequential "Future Tech"s don't do anything except add points the the score).

 

[Dreadnought]

Actually I really hope they can keep the age concept. If there could be 14 or 15 ages in civ4 like EE, that would be great.

Umm yeah how many techs will be needed so that you don't advance in age after two techs? Would you care to make them into the game...?

EE is a whole different game than Civ4. Hands down...

 

[truckingpete]

I don't really care if there is or isn't any ages...as long that its a good game...

 

[Avayaman]

there aren't enough techs to go around for 8 ages... also, because not all civilizations followed the same path, it is very hard to generalize ages, like the rennaissance, which was strictly a western thing.

 

[ForbiddenPalace]

Umm yeah how many techs will be needed so that you don't advance in age after two techs? Would you care to make them into the game...?

EE is a whole different game than Civ4. Hands down...

Guess the good parts of ages are not as obvious as I though, so here it goes:
1. I love to see the changing in appearance of the city styles, unit styles, terrain improvemets, and leader appearances.

2. If the tech trees are not divided by ages, one could focus on a particular research path so much that the game will enter an embarrsing stage. I remember once in test of time, I have researched industralization while I am using archers to attack.

3. There are about 82 techs in civIII and each age has about 20 on average. If we reduce it to 11, then 15 ages will only require 165 techs, about doubling the # of techs in civIII. I am sure 165 techs. are not too much to describe 5000 years of human race evolution.

 

[warpstorm]

If the tech trees are not divided by ages, one could focus on a particular research path so much that the game will enter an embarrsing stage. I remember once in test of time, I have researched industralization while I am using archers to attack.

And this is bad, why?

 

[Janos]

No more "ages". If i wanted ages i would play Civ III, Age of Empires, or Empire Earth (which is utter crap anyway). I like how they're going to make the system - you will get modern units and buildings anyway, you don't need a big "Modern Age" at the top of your screen to show you that.

 

[ForbiddenPalace]

And this is bad, why?

This is a good one.

 

[henry k c]

That is dissapointing news, I would rather have 4 well designed eras than 8 ages. The game will become too confusing. EE sucked in my opinion because of the over-complicity.

 

[warpstorm]

Henry, there are no ages at all. One big tech tree.

 

[Yusaku Jon III]

No ages, eh?

Actually, the concept of "ages" as we know them today is a relatively modern concept. European scholars during the 18th and 19th Centuries started distinguishing ages by the level of techological development followed by related changes in social organization. Yet the average person was (and still remains) unaware of any changes, unless the technology developed impacts him or her in a direct manner. Hence, I can see the logic of Civilization IV dropping the age distinction in addition to whatever advantage it has in speeding up the gameplay aspects.

Still, in my ideal game, which keeps the age distinctions (in addition to combining elements of the Civilization series with those of the Total War series), I'd have modified the age concept to include the basic outline:

PALEOLITHIC STONE AGE

NEOLITHIC STONE AGE

COPPER AGE

BRONZE AGE

IRON AGE

CLASSICAL AGE

MEDIEVAL AGE

GUNPOWDER AGE

IMPERIALIST AGE

REVOLUTIONARY AGE

INDUSTRIAL AGE

MODERN AGE

INFORMATION AGE

INTERPLANETARY AGE

I could elaborate on how all these would be distinguished, but all that would require days of thought and discussion...