Are the Ages too Short?

[Melkus]

Just to note - there's an interesting pacing twist in the difficulty levels:

Techs and civics are actually more expensive now in higher difficulties (10% per Level). But the AI gets bonuses, of course - so they don't actually tech faster (eventually they do due to production bonuses etc., but not inherently), it's more like the human is slowed down. So Deity is more like playing Civ6 with one of its pacing mods.

That's a least part of the reason why it feels hard to get to the end of the tree in time (and why the ages should probably be set to long).

I also think that Civ7 may be better paced in Epic speed (but I'll continue in Standard with long ages for now to be able to check more leaders/civs out) - mainly because units move more slowly, and battles tend to be longer and more drawn-out. (As opposed to Civ6, where action was swift and quick pace with slower tech was the sweet spot for me).

On the other hand, AI competitiveness is important to me and quicker speeds usually help them (by giving you less chances to outmaneuver them with highly developed military).

 

[Yzman]

I think the length is fine. I should somewhat feel like I am racing otherwise if I have time to complete everything...not much a challenge.

 

[pietro1990]

The ages are to short because every time you or an AI completes a legacy in the era the era progress increase. Era should end if you complete a certain amount of legacy points either finishing one legacy for example militaristic or having a certain amount of points then the era should end.

 

[Yzman]

The ages are to short because every time you or an AI completes a legacy in the era the era progress increase. Era should end if you complete a certain amount of legacy points either finishing one legacy for example militaristic or having a certain amount of points then the era should end.

Future tech also rapidly brings it to an end.

 

[UWHabs]

I agree. The science one is ok, but the other 3 aren't great. Economic you just need 2-3 towns and your work is done early. Same thing with cultural, just convert 4 capitals quickly and you can fill in the rest of the relics with minimal effort.

I would see the antiquities economy route needs a rework too. Too easy to get through standard gameplay.

The best one is the antiquities cultural. That one can be quite difficult to pull off, especially on standard map.

Invariably, the game will get some balance to adjust the victory types. The other parts that are annoying for the current victories are when multiple of them are tied together too closely. Like, on their own, the antiquity military and econ victories are fine, but it's kind of a double-edged sword where having more settlements means you have more resources and more resource slots. The problem now is that if you at all close to the settlement limit, you're pretty much guaranteed 2 points in the econ path without even trying. And if you have a couple camels nearby, it's not too hard to get the golden age.

Maybe antiquity military could stay the same, but shift the econ victory to be some sort of count of trade routes + completed quarters in cities, for example. At least that wouldn't be as directly tied to just having more settlements, and you'd actually have to develop your lands to get the points.

Exploration age agreed as well - some of the relics are a little too easy. Capitals is a bit of a hit or miss option, since often an AI civ will found their religion in their capital and it locks it out. But in my last game, I chose the "one relic per settlement converted in distant lands", and it was super easy to complete. I think I had like 15 or 18 relics by the end of the era, because basically I'd just swim a missionary out to every fishing island settled by the AI, and you get a free relic for one charge. Maybe at the very least, you should have to spend a second charge on a missionary once a settlement is converted to claim the relic? At least then they might have a turn to defend it. And my only problem with the treasure fleets is that if you snowball too hard on the other paths, you can time out the age too early to be able to complete the fleets. Especially if you get unlucky with how the islands are laid out and you have a longer voyage back to your homeland.

 

[jammerculture]

I have a feeling/hope that in the future we will have more eras. I think there is one missing between antiquity and exploration and obviously a later age would be great.

Although the cynic in me says they did it this way to sell more dlc and I can also see how they may want to test out the new paradigm with less variables so base game came with 3 ages.

My first game seemed to last a lot longer but that was because I wasn’t focusing on the legacy paths, just sort of derping along. Later games where I know how the game works have gone much quicker as I am getting more legacy points so more boosts to the age progression. Maybe this type of “strategy” can be used to extend the game.

I had one game where I took an enemies capital and they game me 3 cities for peace and I instantly got the military golden age which sent me halfway through the crisis and completely crashed my game. Every settlement went to like -30 happiness and started defecting like crazy. This was only turn 75 or so!

 

[4Xtra]

Epic+ is almost mandatory for me now. I didn't even start to consider this until one of my games involved me ending the exploration age before half of my opponents even reached the new world. When I don't play science heavy cultures, I find my games running a lot smoother than otherwise. Some cultures, like the Abbasids, have a VERY strong affinity for science. While they're super fun to play, I have to hold myself back from playing them because I scale my output up massively once the Ulema are unlocked. There's other cultures like the Maya that can generate crazy output, but in this screenshot here, I was sitting at something like 600 science 20 turns later due to their unique policies. It's a shame, because their abilities blend really well together, but some of the yields are absolutely disgusting

 

[pietro1990]

Future tech also rapidly brings it to an end.

ha didn't know that but i guess that makes sence

 

[Stoic]

I'm sure the fourth age (information age) and diplomatic victory will be added. Religion will be expanded and may even return as a victory