If They Were to Add a 4th and Final Age How Would you Like the Civ Transition to be Handled?

[TheGhostEnthusiast]

While I'm still firmly against a fourth Age, I think it would be interesting if you got to pick Uniques available based on the traits and irl geographical regions of all your previous Civilizations, and then you get to pick a name you used in any of the previous Ages. You get to decide whether the crisis maintains your current national identity or leads to a reclamation of an old one, like the (relatively) recent "return" of Greece and Egypt as nation-states in real life. Like, if we get an Exploration "Germany" as an easier name than HRE, your Prussia could become "Germany" again for the late game. You could even sort of represent modern China as a "return" of Han China, the national identity connected to the nation's majority ethnic group replacing the name of the foreign Manchurian dynasty. However, your "Mexico" can just keep the name (unless you're feeling an alt-history modern reclamation of Aztec culture as your nation heads towards an exoplanet expedition, in which case you can go for it!) I'm much more attached to the pick-a-name idea than the pick-your-abilities idea, though, and the former can happen without a fourth age, so...

 

[Sweetiebot]

I would also be in support of an option to reclaim an identity from the past. Just straight up become Roma Nova, why not?

That said, my true preferred option would be to be able to have aesthetically always been Rome, and I want to be clear that this option wouldn’t be considered an acceptable compromise. It would be better than the nothing we currently have, though.

 

[RedCourtJester]

I would also be in support of an option to reclaim an identity from the past. Just straight up become Roma Nova, why not?

That said, my true preferred option would be to be able to have aesthetically always been Rome, and I want to be clear that this option wouldn’t be considered an acceptable compromise. It would be better than the nothing we currently have, though.

I somehow think that may be the direction they go. Obviously it's possible they instead create predefined factions ala Beyond Earth/Alpha Centauri, but in the alternative I think that's a fairly elegant way of representing "the future," as nationalist revivalism has always been a huge part of new state formation. And it's not like it would require a lot of development resources, as there are only a finite number of "civs" in the game to create "future" versions of with a slightly modified icon and name. It would take an intern a few evenings to design and pitch for the entire 39-civ roster.

I would dig it, much more than bringing back the old sponsors. Would also heavily save on developer resources as now they would be able to design a more limited subset of future civ traits separate from civ identities.

 

[Krikkit1]

I would also be in support of an option to reclaim an identity from the past. Just straight up become Roma Nova, why not?

That said, my true preferred option would be to be able to have aesthetically always been Rome, and I want to be clear that this option wouldn’t be considered an acceptable compromise. It would be better than the nothing we currently have, though.

Always being aesthetically Rome (or Han or Abbassid or France or Soviets) should definitely be allowed.

That would take care of a nice chunk of the problems with civ switching where people can still say they took the Maya into space. (even if they had Jacobins and Salons in the Modern Ages) or that I was able to nuke someone as the Shawnee (even if they used Bangs to boost their economy)... they can play the whole game as Spain, (since it still exists, like the Maya and Shawnee)

 

[vorlon_mi]

1. Ages are designed to have game mechanics specific for those ages. Civilizations are designed to interact with game mechanics of their ages, so making new age would require designing those civs from scratch anyway. There's no point in making 4th age if doesn't explore new mechanics and there are no civs which could play around them.

This.

I'm willing to assume that -- over time -- we will get more 3rd age civs, each with their own unlocks, strengths, and tendencies. I might go out on a limb to say that a future expansion pack will change the 3rd age tech tree and its requirements for the Science Victory, so that a crewed mission to Mars and/or an extrasolar mission (crewed or uncrewed) is added.

If we are offered a fourth age, it will include new game mechanics, some of which will involve spaceflight and the Internet. I voted for a new cohort of Civs for the 4th age, to be able to utilize the new mechanics. I would also consider including groupings, like ANZAC, post-unification Germany, or a post-unification Viet Nam.

And yes, as one of the dozen or so fans of Beyond Earth on these forums, I would welcome synthetic near-future civs that are totally speculative and are tailored for the new mechanics. The expansion would give us the option, not requirement, to continue into a 4th age or to simply end the 3rd age with a victory.

A new thought ... the map in Antiquity is small. It grows once (for the player) in Exploration, to create Homelands and Distant Lands. The 3rd age civs grow and occupy the whole map, including small islands. From where would we get the land to expand any 4th age settlements? We would need BERT-style aquatic cities, or build orbital stations, or lunar colonies. I don't think it's practical to expand the world map *again* in a hypothetical 4th age.

 

[Professor Phobo]

My theory is that the 4th Age will be the focus of an entire expansion adding a "Future" era, and we will go to space.

I think the rest of the 20th century and the missing parts of Antiquity/Exploration will just be added to those eras with piecemeal gameplay additions. They might even make a lot of it modular and you have an option of playing a "long" or "short" Antiquity/Exploration/Modern era, where it's the streamlined launch version or the lengthened advanced version.

 

[Brew God]

Hello Civ Fans - I believe the 4th Age is inevitable and I do believe Ed Beach mentioned it in the first live streams or at least hinted towards it's possibility. I voted to have the option to start from scratch. If there is a 4th age to be added in a year ? then you should have a few options going into it which would be unlocked among your accomplishments in the modern age....regarding wealth, military, science and happiness. Or perhaps on something completely else in the regards to how many wonders you built over the ages and how advanced or depressed your civilization was over the ages giving options of 3 directions to choose.

That's my 2 Cents.

Brew God

 

[Krikkit1]

This.

I'm willing to assume that -- over time -- we will get more 3rd age civs, each with their own unlocks, strengths, and tendencies. I might go out on a limb to say that a future expansion pack will change the 3rd age tech tree and its requirements for the Science Victory, so that a crewed mission to Mars and/or an extrasolar mission (crewed or uncrewed) is added.

If we are offered a fourth age, it will include new game mechanics, some of which will involve spaceflight and the Internet. I voted for a new cohort of Civs for the 4th age, to be able to utilize the new mechanics. I would also consider including groupings, like ANZAC, post-unification Germany, or a post-unification Viet Nam.

And yes, as one of the dozen or so fans of Beyond Earth on these forums, I would welcome synthetic near-future civs that are totally speculative and are tailored for the new mechanics. The expansion would give us the option, not requirement, to continue into a 4th age or to simply end the 3rd age with a victory.

A new thought ... the map in Antiquity is small. It grows once (for the player) in Exploration, to create Homelands and Distant Lands. The 3rd age civs grow and occupy the whole map, including small islands. From where would we get the land to expand any 4th age settlements? We would need BERT-style aquatic cities, or build orbital stations, or lunar colonies. I don't think it's practical to expand the world map *again* in a hypothetical 4th age.

In a 4th age the "expansion" would probably not be of your settlements (indeed your settlement #s should drop and many become independent)

The expansion should be of your influence and control over large numbers of new IPs (previously other civs settlements)

 

[GeoGeo]

There's just too much damn baggage around 20th/21st century with China, Russia, and now Iran with Qajar joining the roster. And maybe Korea. And surely other less obvious examples. If you could thread that needle, doing new Civs would be the clear (if resource-intensive) answer, but I don't think they'll risk that.

Whether it's an expanded 3rd age or a 4th age, I'm imagining some sort of "modernization" process where you lose the uniques you previously had but can re-spec into a bunch of new traits based on your past choices. And your "new" civ gets a customizable name with a fancy prefix or suffix: People's Republic of Greece, Shawnee Federation, United States of Siam, whatever--you can even sneak in those controversial regimes as long as it's part of the customization.