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

[Krikkit1]

Hahahahah

Someone could've written that in 1820 or 100 AD.

They were wrong then, and we can write about it.
If ee aree wrong now noone will write about it…possibly ever again.

Nukes don’t stop all wars, they stop Direct wars. War have to be Covert, Proxy, Limited, etc. (in a 4th age Civs=nuclear powers, all others are IPs)

 

[8housesofelixir]

To be honest, there isn't much interesting and unique design space left for a 4th Contemporary Age. For India and Russia, maybe; for other civs, not so much. The current French Empire design covers from the late Ancien Régime to Belle Époque, the American design covers from the Revolutionary War to WWII, the Mexican design covers from Cry of Dolores to the Mexican Revolution, and the Siam design features Phibunsongkhram, whose prime ministership lasted into 1957.

 

[Professor Phobo]

My actual prediction is we'll see expansions on each of the three core ages, adding in maybe a 4th crisis and some mechanical elaboration here and there.

There will eventually be an expansion adding a 4th "Future" optional age with fictional near future Beyond Earth sponsor-style factions and lots of sci fi mechanics, but it'll be a checkbox you click and not a core assumption you're going through all four ages.

 

[123joanna321]

I'd love and really want a post 1950's to 2100's era, but I think an era between ancient and exploration is much more needed 1st.

 

[korn469]

I am surprised that people DON'T want a contemporary/near future age. Even Civilization, which released nearly 35 years ago had computers and the space race represented in the game. Civ II had stealth bombers, lasers, super conductors, nuclear power, and that game also came out in the 1990s. I hope the contemporary/future age is the last major expansion, and comes out 2 or 3 years from the release of Civ 7, after the team have really figured out the limits of this engine. Plus by 2027 or 2028, AI, robotics, medicine, space exploration, possibly even fusion power would all be even more advanced than they are now.

If this expansion adds 150 turns past 1950, that would put its end date from 2025 to 2100, depending if year year was one turn or 2 turns, or a combination like the first 50 years are 1 turn per year, and the second 50 years are 2 turns per year. If the game ends at 2050 and comes out in like 2027 or 2028, it wouldn't require straying too far from history into science fiction, though a 2025 or 2030 end date could make it even more grounded. I could easily image a situation where people are still playing Civ 7 in the early 2040s.

Everything from the Moon landings to mass television broadcasts, to the internet, smart weapons, smart phones, drones, and AI should all be in the game. Plus with the age mechanics, it'd be easy to through in corporations/companies, NGOs, satellites, ICBMs, MAD, SAMs, etc.

 

[Professor Phobo]

I'd love and really want a post 1950's to 2100's era, but I think an era between ancient and exploration is much more needed 1st.

My guess is we'll get "Age X.5" expansions, where the game will add enough stuff to Antiquity/Exploration/Modern to fill out the existing gaps. So an Antiquity 1.0 will be at launch and we'll get Antiquity + via expansion doing more to cover the middle ages. Likewise with the Exploration and Modern eras. They've basically saved room for stuff in each era to do more but without a Civ switch "Age transition" moment, which I think will be kept to 3 and only 3.

The only exception will be my expected optional "Future" era with a 4th switch using fictional Civs. Because what's a Civ game if you aren't needlessly annoying Alpha Centaurans?

 

[seasnake]

Yes but not for a long while. The next dlcs should be about rounding out the roster and any patches for bugs and balance. Then a major xpac that fleshes out the base game. Finally, the fourth age expansion.

 

[Caprikel]

Assuming we get a 4th age, one of 2 things will happen. Either it will be bare bones and feel absolutely unnecessary, or it won't be bare bones, and will take up a bunch of development time that could be spend expanding the current 3 ages. I don't really want either of those outcomes.

 

[Professor Phobo]

Assuming we get a 4th age, one of 2 things will happen. Either it will be bare bones and feel absolutely unnecessary, or it won't be bare bones, and will take up a bunch of development time that could be spend expanding the current 3 ages. I don't really want either of those outcomes.

The game is positioned for "long tail" development and lots of smaller DLCs, given the commercial realities of modern game industry. I suspect the Future Era expansion is a. inevitable but b. won't be for a while. We'll be getting new Civs for the core 3 ages and mechanical expansions adding depth to each Age well before we see stompy robots, AI apocalypses, and Alpha Centauri missions.

 

[GeneralZift]

I don't think it's really Civ without the present. Yeah it's not always the most exciting part of the game and nor can you really expect it to be. When you write a story, the ending isn't the most thrilling part, that'd be the middle (i.e. the climax).
The ending serves to tie it in a nice knot and brings it up to what we see now in an understandable way.

For the Information age, they can go for a slightly different design. For example, no Civ switching, just introduce new mechanics, large emphasis on the sort of diplomatic issues, migration, tension, issues that you might expect to see in the 21st Century.

While Modern age is more about wars of ideology and imperialist stuff, Information age would be more covert ops and diplomacy. Also, this would be the perfect point to have a Global Warming mechanic. A social media or Internet mechanic. And maybe Corporation mechanics (if they're not in Modern).

Finally, it's totally possible for them to have a Future tech aspect here too. It would be nice to see some representation of near-Future technology, like I said, to tie the knot and make it a cool ending to your journey.

 

[Zaarin]

I don't think it's really Civ without the present. Yeah it's not always the most exciting part of the game and nor can you really expect it to be. When you write a story, the ending isn't the most thrilling part, that'd be the middle (i.e. the climax).
The ending serves to tie it in a nice knot and brings it up to what we see now in an understandable way.

This argument doesn't follow IMO. The story doesn't have to be brought to the present in order to be brought to a satisfying conclusion.

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

While Modern age is more about wars of ideology and imperialist stuff, Information age would be more covert ops and diplomacy. Also, this would be the perfect point to have a Global Warming mechanic. A social media or Internet mechanic. And maybe Corporation mechanics (if they're not in Modern).

The only one of these I'd personally want to see is Corporations. But that should be possible in the current Modern age we have now.

 

[Zaarin]

The only one of these I'd personally want to see is Corporations. But that should be possible in the current Modern age we have now.

Teddy Roosevelt is profoundly disappointed in you.

 

[Angry_shroomish]

I remember they added a future era for civ 6 and that one felt very lacking, I am scared that that will happen when they will add another age. I would rather see them extending it to the third age then creating a new age for it. So I voted "no".

 

[Oberst Kraft]

"Contemporary"? No. I expect the 4th Age to be Alpha Centauri kind of game.

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

Teddy Roosevelt is profoundly disappointed in you.

I don't care. I prefer to cut down as much forests as possible, at least in game.

 

[GeneralZift]

This argument doesn't follow IMO. The story doesn't have to be brought to the present in order to be brought to a satisfying conclusion.

I'm not saying it needs to reach the present to be satisfying, I'm saying that it needs the present to feel complete in my opinion. And that the fact that it isn't as engaging as the climax of the game doesn't mean it needs to be missing completely. In fact, this new Ages system should be the chance for them to make an Information/Future era that can really stand on its own two legs and therefore make a really satisfying conclusion that fills the game's storyline in a way that makes sense.

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

I'm not saying it needs to reach the present to be satisfying, I'm saying that it needs the present to feel complete in my opinion. And that the fact that it isn't as engaging as the climax of the game doesn't mean it needs to be missing completely. In fact, this new Ages system should be the chance for them to make an Information/Future era that can really stand on its own two legs and therefore make a really satisfying conclusion that fills the game's storyline in a way that makes sense.

Is there any reason why they couldn't just extend the Modern Age, considering technology wise it roughly goes to 1960-1970ish anyways, without having a whole new age and new civs?
The possible list of civilizations is really my main worry.

 

[TheMarshmallowBear]

I'll be honest, I kinda of want The 4th Age to be about the Atomic+ with 3rd Age being reworked to be more about the Industrial Era, just like in Civ 3, where the Ages were Ancient - Middle Ages - Industrial - Modern

 

[GeneralZift]

Is there any reason why they couldn't just extend the Modern Age, considering technology wise it roughly goes to 1960-1970ish anyways, without having a whole new age and new civs?
The possible list of civilizations is really my main worry.

They could, but in my opinion, they shouldn't.
Instead, the new age should have no new Civs or civ changing mechanism -- just new global mechanics, new technologies, civics, narrative events and so on.
In other words, it'd be a Modern Age + where issues like Global Warming start really amping up, the Internet come into play, Diplomacy / Rules-Based-Order becomes the norm, covert operations slowly become the main form of sabotaging opponents and the game slowly transitions into a future-like world by the end.

Not unabashedly futuristic or cyberpunk, just realistic near-future. If somehow they can fit the GDK, or the underwater cities from the old games, that'd be a fun easter egg.

EDIT: will expand on my opinion: I think they shouldn't because the modern era would be longer than the other two eras, that might feel lopsided. i've heard that a game in Civ7 already has a longer than average turns to finish than predecessors.