More Eras?

[Hydromancerx]

There has been some discussion about splitting up the Prehistoric Era into more eras. Some eras like the Classical Era is getting too crowded. Should we have more Eras? Here are some examples of how games split up their Eras

Empire Earth
- Stone Age (50,000 - 5,000 BC)
- Copper Age (5,000 - 2,000 BC)
- Bronze Age (2,000 - 0 AD)
- Dark Age (0 -900 AD)
- Middle Ages (900 - 1300 AD)
- Renaissance (1300 - 1500 AD)
- Imperial (1500 - 1700 AD)
- Industrial Age (1700 - 1900 AD)
- Atomic Age (1900 - 2000 AD)
- Digital Age (2000 - 2100 AD)
- Nano Age (2100 - 2200 AD)

RoH
7500 BC Neolithic
4300 BC Copper
2700 BC Bronze
1100 BC Iron
300 BC Antiquity
500 AD Dark
900 AD Middle
1300 AD Renaissance
1500 AD Discovery
1700 AD Enlightenment
1800 AD Industrial
1900 AD Machine
1950 AD Atomic
2000 AD Information
2025 AD Genetic
2050 AD Future

Age of Empires I, II and III
- Stone Age
- Tool Age
- Bronze Age
- Iron Age
---
- Dark Age
- Feudal Age
- Castle Age
- Imperial Age
---
- Discovery Age
- Colonial Age
- Fortress Age
- Industrial Age
- Imperial Age (again)

Naucean Timeline
- Prehistoric
- Stone Age
- Copper Age
- Bronze Age
- Iron Age
- Medieval Age
- Renaissance Age
- Exploration Age
- Industrial Age
- Flight Age
- Emancipation Age
- Atomic Age
- Rocket Age
- Modern Age
- Digital Age
- Biotech Age
- Robotics Age
- Nano Age
- Galactic Exploration Age
- Galactic Colonization Age
- Ascension Age

And of course we currently have ...

C2C
- Prehistoric
- Ancient
- Classical
- Medieval
- Renaissance
- Industrial
- Modern
- Trans-Human
- Galactic
- Future

Wat do you guys think? Leave it at a nice 10 eras or split it up into more? Also we would have an issue on the tree needing more colors to separate them Currently its ...

- Red
- Orange
- Yellow
- Lime
- Green
- Cyan
- Indigo
- Purple
- Gray
- White

 

[Azurian]

I think the following Eras should be organized in this manner, similar to Empire Earth Style but Naucean Timeline can work pretty well.

Empire Earth Style

Spoiler :

Prehistoric : Epoch 1
(500,000 BC - 50,000 BC)

Spoiler :

The prehistoric age was a time when the early humans learned how to make fire. Most humans were hunters therefore didn't have a permanent home. Food was very important and was the cause of battles. The weapons used were rather primitive, wood clubs, stones, etc.

Stone : Epoch 2
(50,000 BC - 5000 BC)
Starts: Stone Building

Spoiler :

This is the time period when many tools and weapons were made of stone, such as spears. Religion also developed and became more complex in this era.

Ancient : Epoch 3
(5000 BC - 2000 BC)
Starts: Sedentary Lifestyle

Spoiler :

This is when copper became widely used, in most cases, instead of stone. Warships first appeared, and the Sumerians developed the first wheel.

Classical : Epoch 4
(2000 BC - 400 AD)
Starts: Currency

Spoiler :

The bronze and Iron age came about when tin and copper were mixed to accidentally produce the metal bronze, and also iron ore was made into iron weapons. This became pimarily used metal, especially for weapons. Swords and Phalanxes were invented in this era. Medicine also became more developed and sophisticated.

Antiquity : Epoch 5
(400 AD - 1000 AD)
Starts: Theology

Spoiler :

Roman was at it fullest power, and the theology and feudalism was at its peak.

Middle : Epoch 6
(1000 AD - 1400 AD)
Starts: Tournaments

Spoiler :

In this era, centralized authority and technology reemerged. The castle and the longbow were premier weapons of the time. When the trebuchet and other siege weapons came, this ended the reign of castles.

*Move Gunpowder Towards Far Right

Renaissance : Epoch 7
(1500 AD - 1800 AD)
Starts: Nationalism

Spoiler :

The "rebirth" saw the advancement of older knowledge and the progression of art and music. Artillery weapons became more frequently used in this time period, although longbows were still preferred as artillery weapons were unsafe at best. In 1492 Columbus came to the American land which he had thought to be Asia.

Industrial : Epoch 8
(1800 AD - 1900 AD)
Start: Steam Power

Spoiler :

This epoch was mostly an economic period, although advancement in weapons continued. The appearence of the steam engine, created the prominent economic technologies of that period. Science became more popular; such things as pastuerization and microbiotics were created.

Atomic Epoch: 9
(1900-1970 AD)
Start: Combustion

Spoiler :

The Atomic Ages are made of World War I, World War II, and the end starts the Modern Age. The first of these cover the era around World War I, or roughly the 1st quarter of the 20th century. The First World War saw the introduction of the airplane and tank into the battle field.

Modern : Epoch 10
(1970-2030 AD)
Start: Computers

Spoiler :

This covers the ladder three-quarter of the 20th century until . This saw the perfection of the jet aircraft, nuclear powered submarines, and the helicopter into the theater of battle.

Digital : Epoch 11
(2030 AD - 2100 AD)
Start: Wearable Computers

Spoiler :

Based on the ever increasing digitized world where computers are commonplace in everyday objects and personal robots are everywhere.

Cyber : Epoch 12
(2100 AD - 2150 AD)
Start: Skyroads

Spoiler :

"Mechs" become ever more powerful, even sentient, and humans are cybernetically enhanced.

Nano: Epoc 13
(2150-2200AD)
Start: Nanobotics

Spoiler :

The start of nanowarfare and sentient earth.

Galactic: Epoch 14
(2200-3000 AD)
Start: Planetary Colonization

Naucean Timeline
I like the concept of the Naucean Timeline with some minor modifications.

1. - Prehistoric
2. - Stone Age
3. - Copper Age
4.- Bronze Age
5.- Iron Age

6.- Medieval Age
7.- Renaissance Age
8.- Exploration Age (Rename it to Imperial Age)
9.- Industrial Age
10. - Flight Age

11.- Emancipation Age Remove it and combine with Flight Age
12. - Atomic Age
- Rocket Age Remove It 'combine with Atomic age
13.- Modern Age
14.- Digital Age
15.- Biotech Age (Rename it to Genetic)

16.- Robotics Age (Rename it to Cyber)
17. - Nano Age
18.- Galactic Exploration Age (Rename to Interstellar aka "Traveling Multiple Stars")
19. - Galactic Colonization Age (rename to Galactic aka "Traveling Multiple Galaxies")
20.- Ascension Age

 

[BlueGenie]

I think 10 is perfectly alright. Then again I never start in a later Era so can't really say if it'd be good because of being able to start mid-era (as they are now). Though I think where that would be good for breaks is something everyone has their own opinion of, so hard to consolidate.

Cheers

 

[strategyonly]

OK, yes there has been talk about new era's but looking over this, there is NO way i am going to do all of that, i think, i am just going to leave well enough alone, unless i have a HUGE uprising here. Because everything will have to be moved "again" civs/ buildings/units, str/ etc... no way!

 

[Hydromancerx]

I have to agree with SO. The the current 10 are good for what we have. So what if prehistoric or galactic eras are longer than most eras. You still would have the same techs no matter how your separated the eras.

 

[Dancing Hoskuld]

OK, yes there has been talk about new era's but looking over this, there is NO way i am going to do all of that, i think, i am just going to leave well enough alone, unless i have a HUGE uprising here. Because everything will have to be moved "again" civs/ buildings/units, str/ etc... no way!

Isn't that why you are waiting for me to do my mod based on RoH (and Civ III's Paths of Glory) with a C2C base.

 

[strategyonly]

Isn't that why you are waiting for me to do my mod based on RoH (and Civ III's Paths of Glory) with a C2C base.

Quit trying to get me in "hot water" A man has to say what a man has to say, *hint, hint.* You give too much away

 

[Azurian]

Now that I am really pondering about it, Changes to Eras should be low priority, maybe sometime way later we can rearrange everything we have many more techs and stuff.

 

[ls612]

I think that the current amount/distribution of eras we have now is perfectly fine, and that effort spent changing what is mostly a cosmetic thing is effort wasted.

 

[rightfuture]

I think that breaking the prehistoric down into
Paleolithic Age
Mesolithic Age
Neolithic Age
is a great idea; it follows History better, and it groups/organizes the technologies in the tech tree.

 

[Sgtslick]

If it means having to physically move heaps of code just for the sake of historical accuracy and cosmetic appeal, then of course don't even consider it.

 

[Dancing Hoskuld]

The real for having at least one extra era is so that people will be able to skip the nomad start if they want to.

 

[BlueGenie]

Can't that be done with an extra Game Option that gives all players all Nomad phase techs?

Cheers

 

[Sgtslick]

maybe nomad will be considered apart of prehistoric in the erasinfo.xml but i don't really know what im talking about

 

[BlueGenie]

It will be/is. Having a Game Option that grants all Civs this and that tech on game start shouldn't be too hard to implement though, but then again I have no idea really as I'm no modder, just a lurker.

 

[rightfuture]

I really like/vote for the idea of splitting up the prehistoric / stone age.

Prehistoric / Stone Age >
The three -lithics are subdivisions of the Stone Age in the three-age system developed since classical times

1. -Paleolithic Era
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic

Paleolithic was an age of purely hunting and gathering.
During the Paleolithic, humans grouped together in small societies such as bands, and subsisted by gathering plants and hunting or scavenging wild animals. The Paleolithic is characterized by the use of knapped stone tools, although at the time humans also used wood and bone tools. Other organic commodities were adapted for use as tools, including leather and vegetable fibers.

2. - Mesolithic Age
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesolithic
In the Neolithic domestication of plants and animals had occurred.
Some Mesolithic people continued with intensive hunting. Others were practising the initial stages of domestication. Some Mesolithic settlements were villages of huts. Others were walled cities. The type of tool remains the diagnostic factor. The Mesolithic featured composite devices manufactured with Mode V chipped stone tools. The Neolithic mainly abandoned the modes in favor of polished, not chipped, stone tools.

Neolithic Age
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neolithic
Beginning with the rise of farming, which produced the "Neolithic Revolution", and ending when metal tools became widespread in the Copper Age (chalcolithic) or Bronze Age or developing directly into the Iron Age, depending on the geographical region. The Neolithic is a measured progression of behavioral and cultural characteristics and changes, including the use of wild and domestic crops and the use of domesticated animals.

New findings put the beginning of a culture tentatively called Neolithic back to around 10,700 to 9400 BC in Tell Qaramel in northern Syria, 25 km north of Aleppo. Until those findings are adopted within the archaeological community, the beginning of the Neolithic culture is considered to be in the Levant (Jericho, modern-day West Bank) about By 10200-8800 cal. BCE. It developed directly from the Epipaleolithic Natufian culture in the region, whose people pioneered the use of wild cereals, which then evolved into true farming. The Natufian period was between 12000-10200 cal. BCE and the so called "proto-neolithic" is now included in the PPNA between 10200-8800 cal. BCE. As the Natufians had become dependent on wild cereals in their diet, and a sedentary way of life had begun among them, the climatic changes associated with the Younger Dryas are thought to have forced people to develop farming. By 10200-8800 cal. BCE, farming communities arose in the Levant and spread to Asia Minor, North Africa and North Mesopotamia. Early Neolithic farming was limited to a narrow range of plants, both wild and domesticated, which included einkorn wheat, millet and spelt, and the keeping of dogs, sheep and goats. By about 6900-6400 cal. BC, it included domesticated cattle and pigs, the establishment of permanently or seasonally inhabited settlements, and the use of pottery.

Not all of these cultural elements characteristic of the Neolithic appeared everywhere in the same order: the earliest farming societies in the Near East did not use pottery, and, in Britain, it remains unclear to what extent plants were domesticated in the earliest Neolithic, or even whether permanently settled communities existed. In other parts of the world, such as Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia, independent domestication events led to their own regionally-distinctive Neolithic cultures that arose completely independent of those in Europe and Southwest Asia. Early Japanese societies used pottery before developing agriculture.[5][6][7]

Unlike the Paleolithic, when more than one human species existed, only one human species (Homo sapiens sapiens) reached the Neolithic. Homo floresiensis may have survived right up to the very dawn of the Neolithic, about 12,200 years ago.

I say the argument is sound. What do you all think about splitting up the prehistoric era?
Modders, since you are incorporating the nomadic start, and adding the ROH technolgies and polishing the prehistoric era, could you please consider this?

 

[rightfuture]

I also like the idea of eventually splitting up the Classic Era.

1. - Copper Age
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalcolithic
An archaeological site in southeastern Europe (Serbia) contains the oldest securely dated evidence of copper making at high temperature, from 7,000 years ago. The find suggests that copper smelting may have been invented in separate parts of Asia and Europe at that time rather than spreading from a single source

It appears that copper was not widely exploited at first and that efforts in alloying it with tin and other metals began quite soon, making it difficult to distinguish the distinct Chalcolithic cultures from later periods. The boundary between the Copper and Bronze Ages is indistinct, since alloys sputtered in and out of use due to the erratic supply of tin.

The emergence of metallurgy occurred first in the Fertile Crescent, where it gave rise to the Bronze Age in the 4th millennium BC. There was an independent and limited invention of copper and bronze smelting by the Incas in South America and the Mesoamerican civilization in West Mexico (see Metallurgy in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica).

The literature of European archaeology, in general, avoids the use of 'chalcolithic' (the term 'Copper Age' is preferred), whereas Middle Eastern archaeologists regularly use it. The Copper Age in the Middle East and the Caucasus began in the late 5th millennium BC and lasted for about a millennium before it gave rise to the Early Bronze Age. The transition from the European Copper Age to Bronze Age Europe occurs about the same time, between the late 5th and the late 3rd millennia BC.

According to Parpola, ceramic similarities between the Indus Civilization, southern Turkmenistan, and northern Iran during 4300–3300 BC of the Chalcolithic period (Copper Age) suggest considerable mobility and trade.

2. - Bronze Age
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze_Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age. The term Stone Age implies the inability to smelt any ore, the term Bronze Age implies the inability to smelt iron ore and the term Iron Age implies the ability to manufacture artifacts in any of the three types of hard material. Their arrangement in the archaeological chronology reflects the difficulty of manufacture in the history of technology.

During the past few centuries of detailed, scientific study of the Bronze Age, it has become clear that on the whole, the use of copper or bronze was only the most stable and therefore the most diagnostic part of a cluster of features marking the period. In addition to the creation of bronze from raw materials and the widespread use of bronze tools and weapons, the period continued development of pictogramic or ideogramic symbols and proto-writing, and other features of urban civilization.

The Bronze Age is the second principal period of the three-age system as proposed in modern times by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen for classifying and studying ancient societies. A region could be in the Bronze Age either by smelting its own copper and alloying with tin, or by trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere.

A difference between some of the Bronze Age cultures was the development of the first writings. Cultures in Egypt (hieroglyphs), the Near East (cuneiform), but also in the Mediterranean, with the Mycenaean culture (Linear B), had viable systems of written communication. The archaeological findings are evidence of the first written sources.

3. - Iron Age
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing agricultural practices, religious beliefs and artistic styles. The Iron Age as an archaeological term indicates the condition as to civilization and culture of a people using iron as the material for their cutting tools and weapons.

In historical archaeology, the ancient literature of the Iron Age includes the earliest texts preserved in manuscript tradition. Sanskrit literature and Chinese literature flourished in the Age. Other text includes the Avestan Gathas, the Indian Vedas and the oldest parts of the Hebrew Bible. The principal feature that distinguishes the Iron Age from the preceding ages is the introduction of alphabetic characters, and the consequent development of written language which enabled literature and historic record.

The beginning of the Iron Age in Europe and adjacent areas is characterized by certain forms of implements, weapons, personal ornaments, and pottery, and also by systems of decorative design, which are altogether different from those of the preceding age of bronze. The work of blacksmiths—developing implements and weapons—is hammered into shape, and, as a consequence, gradually departed from the stereotyped forms of their predecessors in bronze, which were cast, and the system of decoration, which in the Bronze Age consisted chiefly of a repetition of rectilinear patterns, gave way to a system of curvilinear and flowing designs. The term "Iron Age" has low chronological value, because it didn't begin simultaneously across the entire world.

There are areas, such as the islands of the South Pacific, the interior of Africa, and parts of North and South America, where peoples have passed directly from the use of stone to the use of iron without the intervention of an age of bronze.

I think that the distinctions of the classic age are compelling and important. Most everyone has heard of and recognizing these eras.
C2C is defined enough that splitting these ages should be a good argument.
When time permits I hope this can be implemented.
Everybody, please let me know your opinion on this?

 

[E_T]

There has been some discussion about splitting up the Prehistoric Era into more eras. Some eras like the Classical Era is getting too crowded. Should we have more Eras? Here are some examples of how games split up their Eras

Empire Earth
- Stone Age (50,000 - 5,000 BC)
- Copper Age (5,000 - 2,000 BC)
- Bronze Age (2,000 - 0 AD)
- Dark Age (0 -900 AD)
- Middle Ages (900 - 1300 AD)
- Renaissance (1300 - 1500 AD)
- Imperial (1500 - 1700 AD)
- Industrial Age (1700 - 1900 AD)
- Atomic Age (1900 - 2000 AD)
- Digital Age (2000 - 2100 AD)
- Nano Age (2100 - 2200 AD)

RoH
7500 BC Neolithic
4300 BC Copper
2700 BC Bronze
1100 BC Iron
300 BC Antiquity
500 AD Dark
900 AD Middle
1300 AD Renaissance
1500 AD Discovery
1700 AD Enlightenment
1800 AD Industrial
1900 AD Machine
1950 AD Atomic
2000 AD Information
2025 AD Genetic
2050 AD Future

Age of Empires I, II and III
- Stone Age
- Tool Age
- Bronze Age
- Iron Age
---
- Dark Age
- Feudal Age
- Castle Age
- Imperial Age
---
- Discovery Age
- Colonial Age
- Fortress Age
- Industrial Age
- Imperial Age (again)

Naucean Timeline
- Prehistoric
- Stone Age
- Copper Age
- Bronze Age
- Iron Age
- Medieval Age
- Renaissance Age
- Exploration Age
- Industrial Age
- Flight Age
- Emancipation Age
- Atomic Age
- Rocket Age
- Modern Age
- Digital Age
- Biotech Age
- Robotics Age
- Nano Age
- Galactic Exploration Age
- Galactic Colonization Age
- Ascension Age

And of course we currently have ...

C2C
- Prehistoric
- Ancient
- Classical
- Medieval
- Renaissance
- Industrial
- Modern
- Trans-Human
- Galactic
- Future

Wat do you guys think? Leave it at a nice 10 eras or split it up into more? Also we would have an issue on the tree needing more colors to separate them Currently its ...

- Red
- Orange
- Yellow
- Lime
- Green
- Cyan
- Indigo
- Purple
- Gray
- White

The thing about a 4-color map is that you can use it in (close to infinate) multiple varities of varied repetitions and combinations and still not have to worry about color overlap.

So, if you want to expand beyond 10, just start repeating the colors, simple really....