Feyd Rautha
Prince
One of my major gripes about the Civ series is that you spend about equal time in each age when it comes to game length. Historically, however, we spent the longest time in the older ages and the shortest time in the present ones. Civ accomplishes this by making the years between turns longer in the early game, but what if we still want the early game to last longer??
What I propose is a mod to increase this game period while keeping the ~100 turn modern age intact.
First step is where to position the classical age. For this, I think history does give us a good structural point with which to start. The four techs after agriculture (Archery, Mining, Pottery, and Animal Husbandry) have roots stretching back much further than 4000 BC.
I think a key element in the mod should be starting at 5000 BC. That would give a little extra leeway at the start of the chain for development of the first tier of techs at 4000 BC. The next jump was roughly 1500 years later to the age of writing, bronze, and masonry (2500 to 2000 BC). Finally, you have the development of the next level of technologies (Horseback Riding [aka the Stirrup], Philosopy, Iron Working, etc.) which came to dominance around 800-600 BC.
The next issue is that we label the fourth tier of techs the Medieval era because we try to fit things too tightly in a box imo. I would continue to have the first wave in the classical period which would then add another 1000 years at least to the classical period ending around 200-400 AD when we start seeing widespread use of steel, trebuchets, and other advanced weaponry paired more widespread education access for the masses (aka the 5th tier techs).
That leaves us with...
First tier techs finish in 1000 years (4000 BC)
Second tier techs finish in 1500 years (2500 BC)
Third tier techs (Beginning the Classical Era) finish in ~1800 years (700 BC)
Fourth tier techs (including Compass and beginning the Medieval Era) finish in 1000 years. (200 AD)
After that, we have the Medieval period where technology stagnated due to the Dark Ages. This could be implemented by making the 6th tier of techs be such a large leap forward that the one tier (which goes from about 200 AD to 1400 AD) work in a similar way to the previous one and require a leap from the previous Era unlock.
Fifth tier techs (Beginning the Renaissance Era - one tech length long) finish in 1200 years (1400 AD).
After that, things go much faster. Within 200 years of the start of the Renaissance, cannons had replaced trebuchets, and frigates had replaced the caravels used by Columbus and others (sixth tier complete). 200 years after that, riflemen were becoming the standard on the battlefield and concepts of fertilization of crops fed massive population booms (seventh tier complete).
We then see an almost meteoric rise in technology as steam power rushes people across Europe and America by the 1850's first by boat and then by rail (a mere 75years later), and hospitals become established across the continents.
Whearas the Renaissance would have taken 1200 turns to unlock, and the industrial period 400 years after that, by the start of the "modern" era a scant 150 years has passed since the start of the industrial era.
So... given this a historical equation and therefore game length goal would be...
Ancient Era: 4000 years (Starting in 5000 and ending around 1000 BC)
Classical Era: 1200 years (Ending in 200 AD)
Medieval Era: 1200 years (Ending in 1400 AD)
Renaissance Era: 400 years (Ending in 1800 AD)
Industrial Era: 150 years (Ending in 1950 AD)
Modern Era: 100 years (Let's just say... so ending in 2050 AD)
I'm not a math person, but it would seem we should focus more on that early period as well!
So... the next step...what do we do about it? Well that's where I need your help. How long is too long for the ancient period? 100 turns? 200 turns? If I have a 200 turn ancient period what would I need to extrapolate from the costs? If I then want to speed things up how does one go about doing that?
Anyway, this is a starter post for me and I will post more thoughts later, but I want to get it out so we can start discussing it! Thanks in advance.
What I propose is a mod to increase this game period while keeping the ~100 turn modern age intact.
First step is where to position the classical age. For this, I think history does give us a good structural point with which to start. The four techs after agriculture (Archery, Mining, Pottery, and Animal Husbandry) have roots stretching back much further than 4000 BC.
I think a key element in the mod should be starting at 5000 BC. That would give a little extra leeway at the start of the chain for development of the first tier of techs at 4000 BC. The next jump was roughly 1500 years later to the age of writing, bronze, and masonry (2500 to 2000 BC). Finally, you have the development of the next level of technologies (Horseback Riding [aka the Stirrup], Philosopy, Iron Working, etc.) which came to dominance around 800-600 BC.
The next issue is that we label the fourth tier of techs the Medieval era because we try to fit things too tightly in a box imo. I would continue to have the first wave in the classical period which would then add another 1000 years at least to the classical period ending around 200-400 AD when we start seeing widespread use of steel, trebuchets, and other advanced weaponry paired more widespread education access for the masses (aka the 5th tier techs).
That leaves us with...
First tier techs finish in 1000 years (4000 BC)
Second tier techs finish in 1500 years (2500 BC)
Third tier techs (Beginning the Classical Era) finish in ~1800 years (700 BC)
Fourth tier techs (including Compass and beginning the Medieval Era) finish in 1000 years. (200 AD)
After that, we have the Medieval period where technology stagnated due to the Dark Ages. This could be implemented by making the 6th tier of techs be such a large leap forward that the one tier (which goes from about 200 AD to 1400 AD) work in a similar way to the previous one and require a leap from the previous Era unlock.
Fifth tier techs (Beginning the Renaissance Era - one tech length long) finish in 1200 years (1400 AD).
After that, things go much faster. Within 200 years of the start of the Renaissance, cannons had replaced trebuchets, and frigates had replaced the caravels used by Columbus and others (sixth tier complete). 200 years after that, riflemen were becoming the standard on the battlefield and concepts of fertilization of crops fed massive population booms (seventh tier complete).
We then see an almost meteoric rise in technology as steam power rushes people across Europe and America by the 1850's first by boat and then by rail (a mere 75years later), and hospitals become established across the continents.
Whearas the Renaissance would have taken 1200 turns to unlock, and the industrial period 400 years after that, by the start of the "modern" era a scant 150 years has passed since the start of the industrial era.
So... given this a historical equation and therefore game length goal would be...
Ancient Era: 4000 years (Starting in 5000 and ending around 1000 BC)
Classical Era: 1200 years (Ending in 200 AD)
Medieval Era: 1200 years (Ending in 1400 AD)
Renaissance Era: 400 years (Ending in 1800 AD)
Industrial Era: 150 years (Ending in 1950 AD)
Modern Era: 100 years (Let's just say... so ending in 2050 AD)
I'm not a math person, but it would seem we should focus more on that early period as well!
So... the next step...what do we do about it? Well that's where I need your help. How long is too long for the ancient period? 100 turns? 200 turns? If I have a 200 turn ancient period what would I need to extrapolate from the costs? If I then want to speed things up how does one go about doing that?
Anyway, this is a starter post for me and I will post more thoughts later, but I want to get it out so we can start discussing it! Thanks in advance.
