New GA Model

[sir_schwick]

Here is the new GA system. I have not determined triggers, but each cycle will have three components. Golden Age - This is the first part and you get a bonus depending on duration. Dark AGe - This is right after the end of the GA and you get penalties depedning on the duration of the GA. Normal Age - This is the time when no new GA can occur after the DA.
Whenever a GA could start, you get to choose the duration. Of course you can only choose durations that will go completely through the end fo the game.

Ultra Short - 5 Turn GA, 7 Turn DA, 12 Turn NA = 24 Total Turns
GA: All cities generate an extra unit of trade. Corruption reduced by 25% in all cities. +1 movement on roads.
DA: All cities lose a unit of trade. - 1 Happiness from Markeplaces if they generate any.

Short - 10 Turn GA, 15 Turn DA, 25 Turn NA = 50 Total Turns
GA:All cities generate (1/2/4) extra trade and 1 extra shield. Corruption reduced by 25% in all cities. +1 Movement on roads and water. -1 N(see my post above) for a single unit.
DA: All cities lose (1/2/4) trade. Corruption increases by 25% in all cities. -1 Happiness from Marketplaces if they generate any.

Moderate - 20 Turn GA, 30 Turn DA, 50 Turn NA = 100 Total Turns
GA: All cities generate +1 trade in squares that have them, (1/2/4) shields. Corruption reduced by 40% in all cities. +1 Movement on road, +2 on sea. -2 N for one unit, and -1 N for two more. +1 Happiness for first luxury. Worker rate increased by 50%
DA: All cities lose (2/2/4) trade and a shield. Corruption increased by 25% in all cities. -1 Movement on sea. +1 N(really +3 N) for former -2 N unit. - 2 Happiness on luxuries if they generate any. Worker rate 75%.

Long - 40 Turn GA, 60 Turn DA, 100 Turn NA = 200 Total Turns
GA: All squares generate +50% trade and +1 shields. Any food squares with 2 food or more generate +1 food. Corruption reduced by 60% in all cities. +2 Movement on road, +4 on Sea. -4 N for two units, -2 N for six, -1 N for the rest. Double happiness on 4th and 5th luxury. +(1/2/4) research beakers per city. Worker rate doubled. Edit: Add a third civ trait of your choice.
DA: Allc ities lose one trade per square and (2/2/4) shields. Food production is -1 for all squares over 2. Corruption increased by 75% in all cities. -1 Movement on roads, -3 water. +2(past original discount)N for all units. 2 Unhappy citizens per city. Worker rate 50%. Edit: Remove a civ trait of your choice.

Ultra Long - 80 Turn GA, 120 Turn DA, 200 Turn NA = 400 Total Turns
GA: All squares generate +100% trade and +50% shields. Any food squares with 2 food or more generate +1 food. Corruption reduced by 80% in all cities. +3 Movement on road, +4 on Sea. -4 N for two units, -2 N for the rest. Double happiness on 4th through 8th luxury. +(2/3/5) research beakers per city. Worker rate tripled. +2 Happy citizens per city. Edit: Add a third and fourth civ trait.
DA: Allc ities lose one trade per square and one shield per square. Food production is -1 for all squares. Corruption increased by 90% in all cities. -2 Movement on roads, -3 water. +4(past original discount)N for all units. 3 Unhappy citizens per city. Worker rate 25%. Edit: Lose all civ traits.

 

[Keirador]

What exactly is a normal age? I'd assumed it was exactly that, a "normal age", but you've put a turn restriction on it. Does that mean you get Golden Ages on a regular basis?

 

[Keirador]

And what if, instead of a Dark Age directly following every Golden Age, you could have seperate GAs and DAs, but a trigger that could prematurely end a Golden Age could also start a Dark Age, so that most GAs *do* end up as a Dark Age, but not all. Thats historically accurate, but there are occasional Dark Ages or Golden Ages with no balancing age directly following or preceding.

 

[sir_schwick]

Here are a couple clarrifying points.

There are no UUs in the Civ 3 sense. Hopefully Firaxis will make all units for each civ look different. Here explains how unit upgrades would work, with the N numbers listed above.

GA would be able to be started differently(ideas are always welcome) but yes, more often. The main reason of the Normal Age is so that long GA cannot be done back to back. It also adds to the idea of normalcy that exists in any cycle.

While it is true that there were not always GA and DA proceded by a counter, gameplay mechanics that are hazy do not fit in with Civ. One of the best parts of Civ II and SMAC was that you knew roughly how all gameplay mechanics and calculations worked. Also, no matter how good a system you had, it could be exploited or would be too random for players to like(GL system).

Also, I am ammending some of the GA and DA effects, so look up there.

 

[Punkymonkey]

I think having a dark age is a bad idea because a civ may have a GA and then just slip back to a "NA". Dark ages should depend on break down of order and trade which would be hard to implement

 

[Jon Shafer]

Your dark ages are way too mean.

 

[sir_schwick]

GA and DA both assume certain things happen which are never shown or even simulated.

As for mean DA, maybe I should tone them down. The point was that the GA would be triggered when you wanted(not sooner, but maybe later) so you could choose exactly when you needed them. The GA are so good there has to be something that forces you to accomplish as much as possible in the GA, or so the other players can come back.