First, a very brief "historical" overview -
Before the most recent Ice Ages (we just happen to call the most recent one "The Ice Age") was a period of time similar to ours with the ghastly name, "Eemian." It lasted from about 130,000 - 115,000 years ago.
People - Homo sapiens - have been around for 200,000+ years. "The Forgotten World" assumes that we wandered out of Africa, strolled around, and began settling down all over the place at about the same time. It was a warmer and wetter world. Scandinavia was an island; the Sahara was fertile; there was a "Lake Chad" where the country of Chad is today, and it was about the same size.
Rather than having Culture Groups be adjacent Civs with similar ethnicities or religions, in TFW, Culture Groups reflects the types of environment in which each Civ has evolved. So there are Sea Peoples, Hill Peoples, Plains Peoples, Forest Peoples, and River Peoples - scattered separately, all over the globe.
Each Culture Group will also have one Civ of each Flavor - Scientific, Religious, etc. So many UUs - and Improvements -
Each Culture Group will begin with, and be immediately able to build, an Obelisk unique to its Group. Each will cost next to nothing, and will provide +1 Content & + 1 Culture. I'm guessing it'll be the first Improvement built in most cities, and many specific Improvements will be dependent upon it. There will be Great Wonders only available to one specific CG etc.
Each Culture Group will also one Civ with each of the Traits; I have already "designed" UUs for Religious Sea Peoples etc.
I'm guessing that the 1st Era Tech tree will be very different for each Culture Group; I'd like to see how many later-Era Improvements I can devise requiring earlier ones, etc.
... And I want this puppy to be fun! I've already decided that earlier advancements in metallurgy will give us room for plenty of steam tanks (not "Steampunk;" no "ether fliers" & whatnot.) Given the generally conservative nature of militaries, widespread use of the internal combustion engine will first begin with a "fringe," then increasing enthusiasm for air ships. The first AFVs will be armored cars built to protect aeroports.
Concern: keeping the myriad Civs colorful and different will be easy for the 1st two Eras or so; limits begin to come into play with the limited types of first steam tanks then air ship units available. I really don't want the Civs, in all their glory, to become too much alike, just before the coming Ice Age erases all memory of them ...
- Thoughts?
Before the most recent Ice Ages (we just happen to call the most recent one "The Ice Age") was a period of time similar to ours with the ghastly name, "Eemian." It lasted from about 130,000 - 115,000 years ago.
People - Homo sapiens - have been around for 200,000+ years. "The Forgotten World" assumes that we wandered out of Africa, strolled around, and began settling down all over the place at about the same time. It was a warmer and wetter world. Scandinavia was an island; the Sahara was fertile; there was a "Lake Chad" where the country of Chad is today, and it was about the same size.
Rather than having Culture Groups be adjacent Civs with similar ethnicities or religions, in TFW, Culture Groups reflects the types of environment in which each Civ has evolved. So there are Sea Peoples, Hill Peoples, Plains Peoples, Forest Peoples, and River Peoples - scattered separately, all over the globe.
Each Culture Group will also have one Civ of each Flavor - Scientific, Religious, etc. So many UUs - and Improvements -
Each Culture Group will begin with, and be immediately able to build, an Obelisk unique to its Group. Each will cost next to nothing, and will provide +1 Content & + 1 Culture. I'm guessing it'll be the first Improvement built in most cities, and many specific Improvements will be dependent upon it. There will be Great Wonders only available to one specific CG etc.
Each Culture Group will also one Civ with each of the Traits; I have already "designed" UUs for Religious Sea Peoples etc.
I'm guessing that the 1st Era Tech tree will be very different for each Culture Group; I'd like to see how many later-Era Improvements I can devise requiring earlier ones, etc.
... And I want this puppy to be fun! I've already decided that earlier advancements in metallurgy will give us room for plenty of steam tanks (not "Steampunk;" no "ether fliers" & whatnot.) Given the generally conservative nature of militaries, widespread use of the internal combustion engine will first begin with a "fringe," then increasing enthusiasm for air ships. The first AFVs will be armored cars built to protect aeroports.
Concern: keeping the myriad Civs colorful and different will be easy for the 1st two Eras or so; limits begin to come into play with the limited types of first steam tanks then air ship units available. I really don't want the Civs, in all their glory, to become too much alike, just before the coming Ice Age erases all memory of them ...
- Thoughts?
TY!
I was actually toying with the idea of turning "Pollution" into "Frost" with pretty much every Improvement causing Pollution, especially as I've never seen an AI worker clean it up. Instead, I decided that would occur during an (imaginary) 5th or 6th Era. What I have decided is to end the game at a sort-of-Diesel Punk Industrial Era - so, no nukes to leave high traces of Strontium 90 and Cesium 137 for us to discover and ponder, or lasers to etch their otherwise to be forgotten history in sheets of diamond. It is, after all, a Forgotten World. 
) but I believe there is a fairly rigid sequence of tile transformations from global warming (here's another vague recollection: that you can change the naming and properties of certain of the tile files to "fool" the A.I.)
