Do you want a fourth "Contemporary" era to be added to the game via DLC/XPac?

[Krikkit1]

Expanding ages from maximum turn length of 3x200 to 3x250 might be similar than adding 200 turns on 3x200 on paper. But it would feel quite different imo. A fourth age is another break, another reset, another switch of civs, goals, and mechanics - another new game, so to speak. While expanding the ages - by what would in most cases not be 50 turns played, but maybe 20-30 - is just plunging a bit more in the ages that already exist and try to get more out of them. Even expanding each age by 100 turn would probably feel less long than adding another age.

As to 2.: as I said in another thread, there needs to be something new in case there is a fourth age. Simply continuing from where you left the game at the end of Modern makes no sense. Either expand/change the map to space or have your empire really crumble, leaving only a rump state (or switch to one of your towns and try to gain independence). Most suggestions I read about the fourth age sound like an Age 3.5 (or often just 3.1) and this doesn't have much sense to it. If there has to be another age tacked on, it needs to be fresh, new - something we've never experienced before and that's worth playing. Not a continue your empire on the exact same map with the 1000 year old borders, just with more airplanes, modern units and MAD.

Thats why I think decolonization needs to be an important part of it
Say it starts with 24 Settlement cap
There need to be Mechanics where
-I make it lower for other civs
-Setllements I didn’t found or ones far away or on Distant Lands should cost up to 2-5 against the settlement limit
-you can liberate Settlements to be IPs

The “Global Age” is mostly about manipulating those IPs (and other civs that get weak enough)
Suzereinity isn’t permanent (either use influence or military Proxy wars to make them your suzerein/steal them from the other)

Put your Military bases in to get a Military Legacy

Spread the Corporations that have “Factories” and “Servers” in your civ to get an Economic Legacy (shut down Factories and Servers in other civs that don’t have enough settlements/factory to support them …using your $)

Exert cultural pressure on IPs and other civs with your Multimedia Great Works to get them to adopt your Ideology, Government, and Culture. for a Cultural Legacy (Ideology and Government can also be

Get them to assist you in building projects to reach into space for a science Legacy


All of this while
spending influence (vote early and often…the more you spend the more votes you get discounted for the first #of IPs you have) to Support or Reject Global Endeavors/ Sanctions
and
Making sure your cities have power/Fuel for those “Factories”+Servers and Transport…and dealing with the effects on the environment of using that fuel.
and
dealing with a massive demographic change (massive food burst, and get other yields from excess food, but an increasing %growth penalty …that only reverses with Future civics)
and
Avoiding using your nuclear weapons unless you want to flip the board for MASSIVE war weariness (AI should never first strike)

…. if you do a full scale nuclear war you can start over again on almost the same map in Antiquity

 

[Siptah]

Those are not unique gameplay mechanics themselves, they are real world concepts, which could be used as basis for unique mechanics. I'd say it's too early to suggest particular mechanics before we actually play the game, but I believe Firaxis my have some ideas already.

Some initial thoughts could be:
- Nuclear deterrance and UN could make diplomacy totally different
- Decolonization could provide basis for some mechanics, where keeping distant lands cities incur some significant penalties and it's often beneficial to release them
- Satellites could provide additional layer to the game, more or less similar to how they work in Beyond Earth
etc.

Again, those are just high level ideas. We've seen too little of modern age so far and didn't play ourselves to have real suggestions.

But none of your suggestions has anything to do with internet, AI, robots, drones, etc. This is not a personal attack or critique of your post - you made at least some suggestions - but I see the other things popping up as reasons why we need a fourth age, but I haven't seen any actual reason provided besides that they exist. They wouldn't be the first real world concepts that play no role at all in civ (aside from having a civic or tech named after it). I mean, culture is a quantity that you collect, there aren't any qualitative differences to it nor does it have any meaning what it actually is when you develop your culture. Why start to take it seriously in 1970 but keep it like this in the 6000 previous years?

On your suggestions, I agree on satellites - a fourth age would require *something* that isn't just the earth map. Decolonization could be the overall theme of the 4th age, but this could also be one of the crises of the 3rd age, honestly. And I believe independence movements in the DLs is currently in some form a crisis in the 2nd age? UN, as I've said in other posts, would actually fit the 3rd age as is quite nicely with the focus on ideologies. I also generally agree that it is too early to go into details, but I think if someone supports a fourth age there needs to be a reason provided why this is a) worthwhile and b) what the general concept could be. Just pointing towards robots, the internet and ICBMs doesn't mean much - we also have no mechanics surrounding the distribution of knowledge following the printing press, ways to interfere with sieges via diplomacy, or heresies/schisms/reforms. Those also exist as real world concepts.

 

[Siptah]

Thats why I think decolonization needs to be an important part of it
Say it starts with 24 Settlement cap
There need to be Mechanics where
-I make it lower for other civs
-Setllements I didn’t found or ones far away or on Distant Lands should cost up to 2-5 against the settlement limit
-you can liberate Settlements to be IPs

The “Global Age” is mostly about manipulating those IPs (and other civs that get weak enough)
Suzereinity isn’t permanent (either use influence or military Proxy wars to make them your suzerein/steal them from the other)

Put your Military bases in to get a Military Legacy

Spread the Corporations that have “Factories” and “Servers” in your civ to get an Economic Legacy (shut down Factories and Servers in other civs that don’t have enough settlements/factory to support them …using your $)

Exert cultural pressure on IPs and other civs with your Multimedia Great Works to get them to adopt your Ideology, Government, and Culture.

Get them to assist you in building projects to reach into space.

I agree with the first part of your posts (I suggested somewhere else that your empire should splinter at the beginning of the age into a rump state and what is basically allied towns), but I find corporations as a run towards autocracy and hindering others a bit bland. I think it gets more interesting the other way round: forced globalization. Your own resources and factory goods only give very small bonuses. But you can have home-produced goods from imported resources that give a bit better bonuses. Or fancy imported goods from other civs (that they produced from other civs resources) that give the full bonuses.

 

[stealth_nsk]

But none of your suggestions has anything to do with internet, AI, robots, drones, etc. This is not a personal attack or critique of your post - you made at least some suggestions - but I see the other things popping up as reasons why we need a fourth age, but I haven't seen any actual reason provided besides that they exist. They wouldn't be the first real world concepts that play no role at all in civ (aside from having a civic or tech named after it). I mean, culture is a quantity that you collect, there aren't any qualitative differences to it nor does it have any meaning what it actually is when you develop your culture. Why start to take it seriously in 1970 but keep it like this in the 6000 previous years?

On your suggestions, I agree on satellites - a fourth age would require *something* that isn't just the earth map. Decolonization could be the overall theme of the 4th age, but this could also be one of the crises of the 3rd age, honestly. And I believe independence movements in the DLs is currently in some form a crisis in the 2nd age? UN, as I've said in other posts, would actually fit the 3rd age as is quite nicely with the focus on ideologies. I also generally agree that it is too early to go into details, but I think if someone supports a fourth age there needs to be a reason provided why this is a) worthwhile and b) what the general concept could be. Just pointing towards robots, the internet and ICBMs doesn't mean much - we also have no mechanics surrounding the distribution of knowledge following the printing press, ways to interfere with sieges via diplomacy, or heresies/schisms/reforms. Those also exist as real world concepts.

Honestly, I want to see modern gameplay first, before realistically suggesting anything for contemporary.

 

[Siptah]

Honestly, I want to see modern gameplay first, before realistically suggesting anything for contemporary.

Reasonable. But also means that any cries for a dedicated fourth age in contradistinction to an expanded third age are premature. Well, except for a real future age, probably.

 

[stealth_nsk]

Reasonable. But also means that any cries for a dedicated fourth age in contradistinction to an expanded third age are premature. Well, except for a real future age, probably.

Yep, but this forum is totally into premature speculations

 

[Krikkit1]

I agree with the first part of your posts (I suggested somewhere else that your empire should splinter at the beginning of the age into a rump state and what is basically allied towns), but I find corporations as a run towards autocracy and hindering others a bit bland. I think it gets more interesting the other way round: forced globalization. Your own resources and factory goods only give very small bonuses. But you can have home-produced goods from imported resources that give a bit better bonuses. Or fancy imported goods from other civs (that they produced from other civs resources) that give the full bonuses.

The issue there is using it for Legacy

 

[Siptah]

The issue there is using it for Legacy

Get 80 imported good points at the same time. You receive 1 point for an imported good that‘s produced by another civ from their own resources, 1 point for a good that you produce from imported (DL) resources, and 3 points for an imported good that‘s produced from imported resources.

 

[Krikkit1]

Get 80 imported good points at the same time. You receive 1 point for an imported good that‘s produced by another civ from their own resources, 1 point for a good that you produce from imported (DL) resources, and 3 points for an imported good that‘s produced from imported resources.

That means you want to avoid producing goods (only trade routes to civs that produce goods)

It Might work if civs Don’t produce goods (unless they are really short on gold…Trade routes buying your goods would have to be one of the only ways of getting gold) but only IPs produce goods.

So if you have plenty of Gold, you can afford to get gods from other civs and not produce any yourself.

 

[Siptah]

That means you want to avoid producing goods (only trade routes to civs that produce goods)

Yes, there needs to be a use of your own produced goods, otherwise you would just import stuff. Maybe change how trade route works in this age so that you need to give in order to take?

 

[Phrozen]

If there were four ages I would rather have the ages split differently but still cover the same time period the game does:

Bronze Age: Dawn of Civilization to Bronze Age collapse.
Classical Age: Iron Age and early Medieval period.
Imperial Age: High Medieval to early Industrial
Modern Age: Industrial age to ~1970s/Digital Age

 

[Evie]

75% of the world was basically undocumented before the bronze age collapse, and has virtually nothing to build civilizations on, for crying out loud.

 

[Cooleatack]

Yes, and also a separate ancient era