Do you like the Modern / Atomic / Information era split?

[HeraldtheGreat]

in Civ6 there should be 30 more techs, 10 or 11 of them being for the future era...

 

[n00bxqb]

That's wrong though.

The US was the only country in the conflict that started out with a semi automatic rifle at the start of the war, and no other combatant used one as standard issue for the majority of the war.

You admit that they were used in WWII (or, at least, at some point in history) but it's wrong? Even if the in-game description isn't 100% factual, the point is you're comparing bolt-action rifles to semi-automatic rifles (as per the in-game descriptions of the units). A 40% boost in combat strength is fully-warranted between the two, IMO.

 

[n00bxqb]

4) City defenses seem a lot weaker at the later eras. This is mainly because bombers can reduce a city to 1hp without putting any other units at risk. This is pretty silly, in WW2 many cities were bombed viciously for years and still put up a fight. Maybe bombers should only be able to reduce cities to 50% health, after which you still need artillery and infantry to finish the job. (Or a Nuke)

I think cities should be able to defend themselves from aerial attacks assuming they have the appropriate tech. Also, I think cities should gain +1 range on their ranged attacks once they enter a certain era.

The game also needs to bring back inter-civilization economics back (assuming I'm not missing something). The airport building (also removed) would be good for this, IMO.

 

[Jabberwockxeno]

You admit that they were used in WWII (or, at least, at some point in history) but it's wrong? Even if the in-game description isn't 100% factual, the point is you're comparing bolt-action rifles to semi-automatic rifles (as per the in-game descriptions of the units). A 40% boost in combat strength is fully-warranted between the two, IMO.

Right, but the vast majority of small arms and infantry tactics using those arms once combat broke out were the same in the world wars.

The exception was the garand, and the lead up to open combat.

It wouldn't be as much as in issue if it wasn't specifically designed to be world war units.

The fact remains that no matter how you say it, there is a MUCH larger gap between the weapons and tactics used between either of the world wars compared to cold war era, than to the WWs to themselves.

They should make the marine a full infantry type unit, slap an m16 or ak74 model on it instead of the thompson, and leave it at that, if not re-balence the tech tree to make the distinction between the WW units bigger.

 

[Piousflea]

The fact remains that no matter how you say it, there is a MUCH larger gap between the weapons and tactics used between either of the world wars compared to cold war era, than to the WWs to themselves.

They should make the marine a full infantry type unit, slap an m16 or ak74 model on it instead of the thompson, and leave it at that, if not re-balence the tech tree to make the distinction between the WW units bigger.

Yes and no... the tech level of the big weapons (fighters, bombers, tanks, ships, missiles, and yes, Nukes) scaled exponentially after WWII. However, if this is going to turn into a firearms thread, old rifles hold up pretty damn well compared to newer stuff. Gunpowder based weapons haven't advanced that much since 1911 or so - they've gotten fancier but it's not like the difference between a WWI airplane and a F-22 Raptor. Anyone who's shot old guns can tell you that they often do just fine.

Different guns make different tradeoffs so they're good and bad in various ways. An AK-47 is all about "More Dakka" bullet spam with horrendous accuracy, a WW2-era Garand has accuracy and stopping power but lacks rate of fire and magazine capacity, and an AR-type weapon (M-16 etc.) has great accuracy and rate of fire but lacks stopping power (.223cal as opposed to larger rounds).

The myth that close range bullet spam weapons weren't invented until the AK-47 is kinda silly. Effective submachine guns have existed since the original Tommy Gun (1919), and WW2 had a crapload of cool looking SMGs. Granted, SMGs generally fire handgun ammo so they don't have quite the stopping power of an assault rifle, but if you shoot someone 10 times it doesn't matter as much.

Again - newer 20th century infantry beats the crap out of older 20th century infantry because of support and communications, not because their armor and guns are magically superior. (they are better, but not that much better) It's hard to represent in a game though, so I agree with the "50 strength" vs "70 strength" etc.

 

[Peacemongerer]

I like a more drawn-out tech tree far more than the whirlwind in vanilla, but the way they did it needs major improvement. The biggest gripe I have is that it allows for waaaay too much beelining.

Case in point: You can get deep into the Information Era without researching Sailing. SAILING. I'm almost ready to send crews to explore the stars themselves but not to explore the ocean? C'mon. Weave the tech tree a bit more so that you don't get more than 2-3 rungs up the ladder without being up to date. Even if you have to put in some "dummy" techs like they had in previous versions of civ that didn't provide anything new, it regulates tech progression some more and . I'm tired of seeing half of the AI in the Middle ages by 500 BC, then stealing Mansory from me in 1800 AD.

The beelining also makes things worse because you have to choose between beelining to get a tech lead and having still warriors defending your cities at the start of the Renaissance (I've done this several times). If you have some obligation just as part of the tech tree to research across the board, beelining is not as prevalent and it keeps warfare and city populations and whatnot around the world somewhat even. It's just not the same watching Riflemen get piledriven by Modern Armor as watching two armies of evenly-matched Longswordsmen duke it out.


Here's my idea for a hypothetical tree:

Ancient Era:
Should be an era of exploration and making the most out of your surrounding land while establishing your empire.
3rd tier: Mapmaking, Horseback Riding, Mathematics
-Instead of giving Triremes, Sailing gives a basic exploratory type of ship that doesn't participate in combat (Perhaps a galley?) or which is very weak in combat. Barbarians could still have a combat ship at this point.
-Mapmaking requires Calendar and Writing. Increases movement and sight of scouts and galleys by +1. Pivotal tech for exploring.

Classical Era:
Should really be an era where your Empire gets taller after exploiting its resources and sees major strides made militarily.
1st tier: Literature, Iron Working, Optics
2nd tier: Armed Forces, Construction, Currency, Drama and Poetry, Navy
3rd tier: City Planning, Engineering, Philosophy
-Iron Working requires Bronze Working.
-Literature requires Writing. Move libraries here instead of writing. This is where civilizations should be able to really manipulate their progress in the tech race.
-Optics requires Mapmaking and Sailing. Unlocks a basic, weak melee naval unit as well as embarkation.
-Armed Forces requires Iron Working and Horseback Riding. Put Hero Epic here.
-Construction requires Iron Working, Mathematics and Mansory. Move Hanging Gardens and Petra here.
-Currency requires Mathematics. Adds +1 gold in all cities.
-Drama and Poetry requires Literature.
-Navy unlocks the Trireme and requires Optics.
-City Planning requires Construction, Currency and Literature. Adds +1 food in all cities.
-Engineering requires Armed Forces and Construction.
-Philosophy requires Drama and Poetry and Optics.

Middle Ages:
Tech growth should be significantly slowed as you enter the era with a major spike in tech costs, as your civilization seems to hit a sort of wall in advancement. This should be alleviated towards the end of the era.
1st tier: Civil Serivce, Guilds, Metal Casting, Theology
2nd tier: Chivalry, Education, Machinery
3rd tier: Banking, Compass, Physics, Steel
-Civil Service requires City Planning and Engineering
-Guilds requires City Planning
-Metal Casting requires Engineering and Armed Forces
-Theology requires Philosophy and Navy
-Chivalry requires Civil Service and Guilds
-Education requires Civil Service, Guilds and Theology
-Machinery requires Guilds and Metal Casting
-Banking requires Chivalry and Education
-Compass requires Education
-Physics requires Education and Machinery
-Steel requires Chivalry and Machinery

Renaissance:
This should be an era where technological progress seems to breeze by comparatively and where older militaries and those civilizations which do not invest in sciences see themselves thoroughly outclassed.
1st tier: Acoustics, Astronomy, Chemistry, Printing Press
2nd tier: Architecture, Economics, Gunpowder, Metallurgy, Navigation
-Acoustics requires Banking and Physics
-Astronomy requires Compass and Physics
-Chemistry requires Steel and Physics. Unlocks Alchemist's Workshop which helps somehow with science. Requires a nearby source of metal.
-Printing Press requires Banking and Steel.
-Architecure requires Acoustics and Astronomy
-Economics requires Acoustics and Printing Press
-Gunpowder now unlocks the cannon as well as the musketman. Requires Chemistry.
-Metallurgy requires Chemistry and Printing Press.
-Navigation requires Astronomy and Printing Press.

Industrial Era:
Should see huge spikes in productivity and efficiency. Warfare should momentarily seem less arduous with the discovery of Dynamite and without planes complicating the equation.
1st tier: Archaeology, Fertilizer, Industrialization, Military Science, Rifling, Scientific Theory
2nd tier: Biology, Dynamite, Electricity, Manufacturing, Steam Power
-Archaeology requires Architecture and Navigation
-Fertilizer requires Gunpowder
-Industrialization requires Economics and Gunpowder
-Military Science requires Metallurgy
-Rifling requires Economics, Metallurgy and Gunpowder
-Scientific Theory requires Architecture, Economics and Gunpowder
-Biology requires Archaeology and Scientific Theory
-Dynamite requires Fertilizer, Military Science and Scientific Theory
-Electricity requires Industrialization and Scientific Theory
-Manufacturing requires Industrialization. Increases output of factories by 1 or 2 hammers and speeds unit production.
-Steam Power requires Industrialization, Rifling and Scientific Theory

Modern Era:
Sheer destructive firepower should come into play as aerial and mechanized units crush their ground-bound organic forerunners. Should encompass the WWI period, the interrignum and early WWII technology.
1st tier: Flight, Radio, Railroad, Refrigeration, Replaceable Parts
2nd tier: Ballistics, Combustion, Electronics, Plastics
-Flight requires Manufacturing and Steam Power
-Radio requires Electricity and Manufacturing. Unlocks a pre-Battleship Dreadnaught.
-Railroad requires Dynamite and Steam Power
-Refrigeration requires Electricity and Biology
-Replaceable Parts requires Electricity, Manufacturing and Steam Power
-Ballistics requires Flight
-Combustion requires Railroad
-Electronics requires Replaceable Parts and Flight
-Plastics requires Radio and Replaceable Parts. No longer unlocks WWII Infantry.

Atomic Era:
Should start-off firmly in the late WWII feel with large military strides, but the third tier should be getting into a more contemporary feel, setting the stage for the Information Era.
1st tier: Atomic Theory, Combined Arms, Penicillin, Radar
2nd tier: Computers, Ecology, Nuclear Fission, Rocketry
3rd tier: Advanced Ballistics, Lasers, Mass Media, Mobile Tactics, Satellites
-Atomic Theory requires Electronics and Plastics
-Combined Arms requires Ballistics and Combustion. Now unlocks WWII Infantry and Marines.
-Penicillin requires Refrigeration and Plastics. No longer unlocks Marines (To make them less out-of-the-way). Perhaps buff Medical Labs to make up for this.
-Radar requires Ballistics, Electronics, and Plastics.
-Computers requires Radar.
-Ecology requires Atomic Theory and Penicillin
-Nuclear Fission requires Atomic Theory and Radar
-Rocketry requires Combined Arms and Radar.
-Advanced Ballistics requires Nuclear Fission and Rocketry
-Lasers requires Computers.
-Mass Media requires Computers. Adds a new wonder or two and maybe another happines building.
-Mobile Tactics requires Computers.
-Satellites requires Computers and Rocketry. Associated spaceship part moved to Robotics.

Information Age:
Your chosen victory condition should firmly establish where you invest here. Globalization will be about
1st tier: Mobile Tactics, Robotics, Stealth, Telecommunications
2nd tier: Cold Fusion, Globalization, Nanotechnology, Particle Physics
-Telecommunications requires Mass Media and Satellites.
-Mobile Tactics requires Lasers. Now out of the way of a Space Victory.
-Robotics requires Lasers. Now unlocks the spaceship part from Satellites as well.
-Stealth requires Lasers.
-Cold Fusion requires Mobile Tactics, Robotics, Satellites and Stealth.
-Globalization requires Advanced Ballistics (Long-ranged nukes should maximize the importance the UN), and Telecommunications. To make-up for it coming earlier, increase the hammer cost of building the UN to maybe 2,000 hammers or delay diplomatic voting another 10 turns after the UN is built.
-Nanotechnology requires Robotics.
-Particle Physics requires Lasers and Telecommunications.

 

[Yngvi]

Well there is the semantic oddity that the modern era comes before the others...

Actually, I don't mind that because we are now well into the "post-modern era." I can easily think of the modern era as early twentieth century--Pablo Picasso, Albert Einstein, and Frank Wright. I just want the era graphic for modern and atomic eras exchanged. That old 1930-looking street scene would be perfect for the "modern" era.

Anyway, my main gripe with the tree is the scale. I play on epic speed, 750 turns, and the game is always over about turn 575--I (or somebody else) have reached the stars. The space race (or utopia project race or bribe-the-city-state race) should heat up after turn 700.

The early eras fly by way too quickly while, due in part to some turn lag, more recent eras seem to develop more slowly. The early eras should develop far more slowly; we should be mucking about with horses, bows, and blades far longer, just like an actual civilization (this is not meant to start a debate about reality vs game play). In other words, most of those extra 125 turns I miss should be in the ancient through medieval eras.

Finally, I would love a well-developed future era, even if it is a mod like Next War from Civ IV. I enjoyed the future era there so much I even modded that mod to flesh it out with extra techs and remove some of its sillier aspects.

 

[Jabberwockxeno]

Yes and no... the tech level of the big weapons (fighters, bombers, tanks, ships, missiles, and yes, Nukes) scaled exponentially after WWII. However, if this is going to turn into a firearms thread, old rifles hold up pretty damn well compared to newer stuff. Gunpowder based weapons haven't advanced that much since 1911 or so - they've gotten fancier but it's not like the difference between a WWI airplane and a F-22 Raptor. Anyone who's shot old guns can tell you that they often do just fine.

Different guns make different tradeoffs so they're good and bad in various ways. An AK-47 is all about "More Dakka" bullet spam with horrendous accuracy, a WW2-era Garand has accuracy and stopping power but lacks rate of fire and magazine capacity, and an AR-type weapon (M-16 etc.) has great accuracy and rate of fire but lacks stopping power (.223cal as opposed to larger rounds).

The myth that close range bullet spam weapons weren't invented until the AK-47 is kinda silly. Effective submachine guns have existed since the original Tommy Gun (1919), and WW2 had a crapload of cool looking SMGs. Granted, SMGs generally fire handgun ammo so they don't have quite the stopping power of an assault rifle, but if you shoot someone 10 times it doesn't matter as much.

Again - newer 20th century infantry beats the crap out of older 20th century infantry because of support and communications, not because their armor and guns are magically superior. (they are better, but not that much better) It's hard to represent in a game though, so I agree with the "50 strength" vs "70 strength" etc.

I'm aware of all of that, I'm just saying that if it came down between having WW1 units and Cold war era units, it would cover a overall wider range of time and make more sense to include the latter, as at least the infantry unit is a passable substitute for both world wars, but bot for WW2 and all the way till 2000.

Anyways, your username...

Ilovebees? the halo ARG?

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I really like the new split into the 3 different late game eras. I have no fundamental problems with the unit set or their strengths.

I would, as someone suggested, like to see the late game turns represent less time than a year to slow down the progression. Although not as bad as it was in Vanilla, I still wind up having to update all of my armies or at least large sections of them every 5-10 turns late game. Also, for this to work properly the late game techs would have to cost substantially more beakers to slow things down. Otherwise you could concievably bulb a new tech every 6 months or something similarly rediculous.

I would also like to see future era units other than the GDR. Someone mentioned drones and I think they have had a big enough impact on the real world that Civ is going to have to include it in-game. I have thought that drones could provide a good way to fufill the 'bully this CS' quest by enabling a civ to destroy units in the targeted CS (without DOW and accompanying diplo hits).

Although the bully mechanic doesn't currently require all-out war or destruction of units, alllowing a hypothetical drone unit to do this would be realistic and fun. It's a step down from massive aerial bombardment, but a step up from 'give me your lunchmoney CS punk'. Plus, it has the benefit of accurately reflecting what the US and other countries actually do these days.

 

[OmniPotent42]

@Peacemongerer:
I like your idea much better than the current confused tech paths/rampant beelining. Someone should mod this.

 

[NukeAJS]

I think it'd be interested if they added the future era again and put techs that clearly should be in there like fusion. Also, they could add some new (non-essential) techs or two in the future era. I want robot armies darn it!

 

[Rooftrellen]

The only real problem I have is that, at times, I have gotten several units that need oil without researching biology to know what it is. Combustion and biology are actually quite opposite each other. I think the ideal solution would actually be simply change what tech allows you to discover oil. I'd say industrialization, moving coal and factories to steam power, or simply move oil to scientific theory, to avoid messing with anything else.

I'm also not overly fond of "great war" units, since its a totally different history of the world.

Finally, I'd like to see globalization moved up a few techs, maybe up as early as right after radio. But give the UN options outside of just a diplo winner, for those who aren't going that path, while providing a decently early access to it for those that do want to try for a diplo win and not pushing them to the back of the tech tree. With that, a few changes to diplo wins would be nice, but that's neither here or now.

 

[kamex]

I'm also not overly fond of "great war" units, since its a totally different history of the world.

I strongly agree. Ever since I first saw these units in the screenshots before G+K was released, this irritated the hell out of me!

 

[ambill10]

@Peacemongerer:
I like your idea much better than the current confused tech paths/rampant beelining. Someone should mod this.

Agree 100%. I think a mod for a tech tree like Peacemonger laid out would be amazing. If I had knowledge of modding necessary to build that out I would already be working on it. I play mostly Marathon speed to elongate the eras, but would love to be able to play Standard with a tech tree like that!

 

[sizesixteens]

My guess as to why there's a large, quick jump between Great War to Infantry units is to encourage a large-scale war (or World War, hehe). When you get access to a 20 strength-boosted unit, you tend to want to use it. As soon as you, or another civ, start pumping them out, so does everyone else. Then it hits the fan, like it did on Earth 70-80 years ago.

Now, I'll be the first to object to a warmonger-fits-all perspective, but during this period of technological advancement, it's clear that it's militarily focused. For a peacemaker, investing in defense during this time is an absolute necessity, whereas in earlier eras you could hold off more attackers with less. Plus, cities are built up so much that losing one would be a nasty blow, and on the flip side, capturing one would be a huge bonus.

Just my top-of-my-head thoughts, I probably haven't considered everything.

 

[bcaiko]

The UN requires 56 techs. The spaceship parts require 73 techs. That's a pretty big difference.

I'd just like to emphasize this. The UN Victory only looks like it comes at the same time as a Science Victory. They've really improved the victories, IMHO.

 

[Peng Qi]

Sadly, all of these tactical considerations are rendered moot by nukes and GDRs, which come just a few dozen turns after the WW2 stuff. GDRs are practically invulnerable against any unit except for nukes, and they are the only melee unit in the game that can attack-move into an equal-tech city without any help from siege units. GDRs cost few enough hammers that you can easily replace any that get nuked. Basically in a true endgame war whoever has the most Uranium wins. (By the way, why is uranium used for fusion power?)

Actually I took down a GDR in a recent game using only two WW2 Infantry. They're not really that strong, and they cost uranium. If you removed them from the game, Modern Armor would be the new "strongest unit" and fill the same role, albeit without the uranium cost. Modern combat in CiV needs to take place in the field if you want to have any chance of winning; you can't turtle in late eras, and that's by design.

My thoughts on endgame wars:
1) The years-per-turn should REALLY REALLY slow down at and after WW1-tech. There is no reason why destroyers and airplanes should take 6 years to cross an ocean, so one turn should represent a lot less time. It should take many more turns to advance from WW1 to WW2, and from WW2 to 2000.

This is a meaningless argument. You could set the years to 20,000,000 per turn and the game wouldn't actually change (except that the Maya would be sad).

2) We need distinct infantry roles, analogous to longswords vs pikes vs crossbows. Right now infantry in the WW1- and WW2- era are a confusing mess. The MG occupies a weird place in the tech tree where it is later and stronger than most other WW1-era units, but is earlier and weaker than WW2-units. The infantry/marine/paratroop all overlap each other, and then they are all obsolesced by the massively superior Mechanized Infantry.

I tend to agree with this statement, but find it odd that you want to remove the GDR because it allegedly obsolesces everything before it, but not Mech Inf for the same reason.

IMO, the infantry balance could be maintained with something like this (WW1/WW2/2k):
Great War Infantry / Infantry / Mechanized Infantry: Standard infantry, weak vs tanks.

I'd actually like to see a split between Mech Inf and non-Mech Inf, wherein Mech Inf would either cost aluminum and be stronger than non-Mech or, alternatively, where Mech Inf is weaker than non-Mech but moves faster. A WWII Mech Inf unit would be neat, too, seeing as how the Germans used them.

None / Paratroopers / Tilt-Rotor Infantry (Ospreys!): Ability to drop behind enemy lines. Can be intercepted just like bombers. If not intercepted they gain a stack of Fortify upon landing.

I don't disagree with a more modern paratrooper, but I think I'd use the more generic "Special Forces" for the unit name.

Machine Gun / Heavy Machine Gun / Close Air Support (infantry with AC-130 gunships overhead): Work like gatling guns, can attack without retaliation but are expensive and cannot take cities. Also should take extra damage from air attacks.

I don't like the CAS; air units should behave like air units or helicopters, and an AC-130 is not a helicopter. My idea for a chariot upgrade path ended in Harrier Jets which behaved like helicopters, and I think a similar unit could be used here.

None / Bazookas / LAW Infantry: Extra damage vs tanks but much lower strength otherwise.

These already exist in-game as the anti-tank promotion. There has never been any kind of real-life unit composed entirely of missile launcher dudes, and I see no reason to model one in-game, especially when we already have a dedicated anti-tank line in AT Gun->Gunship.

3) There should be a WW2 level of artillery that is halfway in between Artillery (WW1 strength) and Rocket Artillery (Info Era strength). Bring back Howitzers!

This I disagree with. Artillery did not advance much between WW1 and WW2, and the usefulness of artillery in WW2 was questionable at best.

4) City defenses seem a lot weaker at the later eras. This is mainly because bombers can reduce a city to 1hp without putting any other units at risk. This is pretty silly, in WW2 many cities were bombed viciously for years and still put up a fight. Maybe bombers should only be able to reduce cities to 50% health, after which you still need artillery and infantry to finish the job. (Or a Nuke)

Said cities rarely put up a fight once infantry were knocking at the door. Again, late-era wars are won in the field in CiV. If bombers have reduced your city's defense to 0 and you have no mainline infantry in front of it, it should fall. The house-to-house fighting of WWII is represented by the civil disorder in the city after you take it, not by the unit combat on the map.

5) The "Future Tech" level of wars is stupid because GDRs obsolesce everything else. Either GDRs need to be removed or they need to add an additional tech level for future tech. Honestly I'd be fine with not having GDRs at all, this is Civ and not Starcraft or Alpha Centauri.

GDRs are just super-tanks. As I said above, I don't see any problem.

Since the civ game is about massive-scale fighting, on a national scale WW2 infantry would definitely beat the tar out of WW1 infantry. It wouldn't even be close. 50 strength vs 70 strength is pretty appropriate.

From a gameplay perspective, however, 50 vs 70 is pretty crazy considering how close together they are technologically. I, too, would like to see this gap somewhat reduced, or WW2 infantry pushed back a bit.

 

[Jatta Pake]

The Modern/Atomic/Information Age need to be fleshed out more with Diplomatic and Science Victory coming later. UN should allow Alpha Centari style global resolutions that change the game rules allowing a Diplo victory after a certain number of resolutions have passed.

Late Information Age should include Swarm Drones, Cyber Warfare, Biologically Enhanced Soldiers, Robotic AC-130s, Stealth Destroyers, Unmanned X-43s, NORAD, Directed Energy Weapons, MOAB Bombs, Metal Storm Sentries, MTHELs, DREAD Gun Satellite Killers, Active Denial Systems, EMP Cruise Missles, and/or De-Proliferation Forces.

There is so much military technology in the pipeline it is a crime to end the game with Stealth units. This isn't the 90s for Goodness sake! Get rid of the GDR and celebrate current scientific achievement. Every weapon above already exists today!

The Atomic and Information Age need to be massively expanded with Technology. Why are more technologies invented in the Classical Age than the Information Age? Social Networks have completely upended civilizations across the globe. Extremophiles have vastly expanded our concept of life itself. Quantum teleportation happened. Brain scanners that can literally read the mind are being developed. New chemical elements are being created. Particle accelerators. Cloning. We are shooting laser beams on Mars as I write this. C'mon Sid, this isn't 1997!

 

[nukehumvee]

The modern techs should just do more in general. Computers should be huge, not just give me access to....a great firewall....

I think the Internet should return and replace the fricking firewall. As much as you can't build a dam where there's no water, you can't build a firewall without the Internet.

 

[nukehumvee]

The Modern/Atomic/Information Age need to be fleshed out more with Diplomatic and Science Victory coming later. UN should allow Alpha Centari style global resolutions that change the game rules allowing a Diplo victory after a certain number of resolutions have passed.

Late Information Age should include Swarm Drones, Cyber Warfare, Biologically Enhanced Soldiers, Robotic AC-130s, Stealth Destroyers, Unmanned X-43s, NORAD, Directed Energy Weapons, MOAB Bombs, Metal Storm Sentries, MTHELs, DREAD Gun Satellite Killers, Active Denial Systems, EMP Cruise Missles, and/or De-Proliferation Forces.

There is so much military technology in the pipeline it is a crime to end the game with Stealth units. This isn't the 90s for Goodness sake! Get rid of the GDR and celebrate current scientific achievement. Every weapon above already exists today!

The Atomic and Information Age need to be massively expanded with Technology. Why are more technologies invented in the Classical Age than the Information Age? Social Networks have completely upended civilizations across the globe. Extremophiles have vastly expanded our concept of life itself. Quantum teleportation happened. Brain scanners that can literally read the mind are being developed. New chemical elements are being created. Particle accelerators. Cloning. We are shooting laser beams on Mars as I write this. C'mon Sid, this isn't 1997!

Yeah, technology has grown by leaps and bounds in 21 years. But the Future/Information Era tiers are too sparsely populated, as if not much breakthroughs happened in this period.