Well you are right that not much "happened" as we typically think of history. All of the underpinnings of civilization were being laid down. By 3000 BC the first writing appeared in Sumeria and the religious infrastructure was well established. City states were the happening thing in the Tigris Euphrates valley. Within 500 years all that had spread. In reality development (civ advances) took place on an even front across many paths. In the game players can and do skip warrior code and the wheel to bee line for mathematics for instance. This completely screws up any sense of natural progression and is not worth trying to address. That's why it is a game.
I think that if the game time scale allowed civs grow to 3 -5 cities, build a little infrastructure and research (and/or trade) one to two levels down most tech paths by 3000 BC (5000 years from the start) that would be about right.
The bronze age should be in full swing by 1000 BC whereever civs have the opportunity to interact.
And IIRC the tech tree should be pretty much completed 1000 years later by the start of the CE.
The question comes down to how many turns are needed in each group of years to make it possible to stay on track with history. If it takes 200 average turns to research/trade for 85% of the first two levels of tech, then divide 5000 by 200 and use 25 years per turn. Then repeat for the Bronze age etc.
I'm sure that research speed will change with difficulty level so pick regent or Monarch as the base and allow that at other levels the pacing will change. Or can you set the years per turn gauge by level?
I will play around with the years per turn and see what happens.
Edit: added:
I think three things need to be balanced:
The span of the game should divided into distinct blocks of years that have a sense of how history progressed. How many techs need to be researched in any given block of years. How many turns will it take to reseach those techs taking into account that some will be traded for.
I think that if the game time scale allowed civs grow to 3 -5 cities, build a little infrastructure and research (and/or trade) one to two levels down most tech paths by 3000 BC (5000 years from the start) that would be about right.
The bronze age should be in full swing by 1000 BC whereever civs have the opportunity to interact.
And IIRC the tech tree should be pretty much completed 1000 years later by the start of the CE.
The question comes down to how many turns are needed in each group of years to make it possible to stay on track with history. If it takes 200 average turns to research/trade for 85% of the first two levels of tech, then divide 5000 by 200 and use 25 years per turn. Then repeat for the Bronze age etc.
I'm sure that research speed will change with difficulty level so pick regent or Monarch as the base and allow that at other levels the pacing will change. Or can you set the years per turn gauge by level?
I will play around with the years per turn and see what happens.
Edit: added:
I think three things need to be balanced:
The span of the game should divided into distinct blocks of years that have a sense of how history progressed. How many techs need to be researched in any given block of years. How many turns will it take to reseach those techs taking into account that some will be traded for.
