For the past few months I have been working on improving the already great prehistoric era, mostly by integrating suggestions and accommodating complaints regarding units or buildings that should be useful but simply aren't, like Chasers.
I wanted to share my proposal first as I feel this is too profound a change to introduce without discussing it first.
The first and most important change is to the tech tree itself, I tried my best in reordering the technologies to make buildings/units unlock in a more balanced way while at the same time keeping up with their expected historicity (mainly by researching through Wikipedia and the scholarly sources it cites).
Proposed tech tree vs. Regular tech tree
An unexpected but favorable change is that players now start with three choices instead of two, and each was made more meaning, requiring players to ponder more what will be the first technology.
Education providing and crime and disease combating units are now situated in the same column in the tech tree, meaning you could unlock them at roughly the same time. Like hunters they are more evenly spaced between each other.
The first important "strike team" units, Rouges and Ambushers, now unlock with the brand new late-prehistoric tech called Nocturnalism.
In regards to buildings, not much has changed. The two most important would be Harems, which now unlock at game start and require the Alpha Male building, and Elder Council, moved to Chiefdom. A few buildings have had their unlock requirements changed to be more easy to get and fewer less had their yields modified a little bit.
Many buildings have had their names changed though not drastically (e.g. from "Wood Carver's Hut" to "Wood Carver").
Last but not least, many cultures are now unlocked later when their first unit is made available. Normalized Heroes strength too as there were a couple of cases where there were 13 heroes in a time where the most powerful unit is 6.
In my playthroughs the AI plays just fine, I would actually suggest you to lower your difficulty a level or two in order to adapt to the new changes.
I then present to you my proposal for a changed and, hopefully, better prehistoric era.
I wanted to share my proposal first as I feel this is too profound a change to introduce without discussing it first.
The first and most important change is to the tech tree itself, I tried my best in reordering the technologies to make buildings/units unlock in a more balanced way while at the same time keeping up with their expected historicity (mainly by researching through Wikipedia and the scholarly sources it cites).
Proposed tech tree vs. Regular tech tree
An unexpected but favorable change is that players now start with three choices instead of two, and each was made more meaning, requiring players to ponder more what will be the first technology.
- Cave Dwelling is the first choice, it allows access to six different prehistoric cave world wonders that give tremendous bonuses ( ) for the lucky civilization that manages to constructs it. This is also where the Neanderthal culture resides, allowing the player to build neanderthal units that are stronger compared to regular Homo Sapiens. This is an high-risk/high-reward pick however, so make sure you got caves nearby and hope another civilization doesn't chose the same wonder as you do!
- Nomadism is the second choice, although seemingly bare compared to the previous pick this one allows the construction of the first exploration unit, the Wanderer, that is able to get much better results from Goody Huts compared to Stone Throwers. There's also the not so obvious benefit of getting to Scavenging or Gathering faster, very important technologies for revealing many map resources and unlocking many and buildings.
- Language is the third choice, pick this one first if you are near to a Wonder of Nature as these provide various bonuses that can kickstart a player's development. It also allows direct access to the first two civics, both of which improve rate.
Education providing and crime and disease combating units are now situated in the same column in the tech tree, meaning you could unlock them at roughly the same time. Like hunters they are more evenly spaced between each other.
The first important "strike team" units, Rouges and Ambushers, now unlock with the brand new late-prehistoric tech called Nocturnalism.
In regards to buildings, not much has changed. The two most important would be Harems, which now unlock at game start and require the Alpha Male building, and Elder Council, moved to Chiefdom. A few buildings have had their unlock requirements changed to be more easy to get and fewer less had their yields modified a little bit.
Many buildings have had their names changed though not drastically (e.g. from "Wood Carver's Hut" to "Wood Carver").
Last but not least, many cultures are now unlocked later when their first unit is made available. Normalized Heroes strength too as there were a couple of cases where there were 13 heroes in a time where the most powerful unit is 6.
In my playthroughs the AI plays just fine, I would actually suggest you to lower your difficulty a level or two in order to adapt to the new changes.
I then present to you my proposal for a changed and, hopefully, better prehistoric era.
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