Note, I play regroup, haven't tested these on Continuity.
There are a bunch of ways to take advantage of the last turn or 10 or 20 turn countdown, especially if you have been artificially slow-playing the Legacy Paths to extend the Age. Some of these tricks work as soon as the age countdown begins, others are really best reserved for the final turn of the Age.
Things that otherwise advance the Age:
Cash in Legacy Paths. Once the 10 or 20 turn countdown starts, you can complete Legacy Paths that you've deliberately held off on completing to avoid advancing the Age. These won't cut off any turns because you are already in the countdown. If you don't play with a countdown, these are best done on the final turn. In Antiquity, you can slot your final codices and resources to complete the Science and Economic Legacy paths. You can conquer a few settlements, or, ideally on the last turn, settle a bunch of settlers for the Military path. This can push you over the settlement cap, but you will get a larger settlement cap in Exploration. In Exploration, you can slot your final relics for the Culture path, cash in your final treasure fleets for the Economic Path, and convert your distant land settlements to finish the Military path.
Collect Future Techs/Civics. You can research either (or both) Future Tech/Civic until there is one turn left, and then research Masteries until the countdown begins. Then finish off the final turn of the Future Tech/Civic and try to squeeze out another in the countdown. You can also hold off on selecting a City State reward for either a Scientific or Cultural City State until the final turn of the game, research as many Future Techs/Civics on your own as you can, then select a bonus Tech/Civic from the City State reward.
Capture Capitals. Capturing an AI capital advances the Age. You can defeat their troops and pillage (see below) until the countdown begins, then grab their Capital either on the last turn of the Age (without countdown), or when the countdown starts.
Things that reset on Age transition:
Let your cities burn. All of the pillaged tiles you have at the end of an Age will heal on Age transition, so it doesn't make sense to repair either with production or money. Similarly, you can pillage the AI at the end of the Age, and then pillage the same hexes as the Age begins after the transition. Don't build new Age-specific buildings, unless you plan on using them in devious ways as the basis for pillaging, or plan on Golden Age Academies etc. Build troops and unique improvements instead.
War and Peace. The last turn or turns of an era are an excellent time to declare war or peace.
For peace, the last turn is usually best. You can use any extra influence to get a better deal and extract a final settlement, or you can give away captured settlements that you don't want because of the settlement cap, or want to pillage/recapture in the next Age. Note that the AI gets to move troops/attack AFTER your final turn, so it makes sense to end all the wars you can after you've gotten a final round of attacks by your troops, sparing them the retaliation from the AI and keeping more alive for the next Age. Wars don't continue (although you can start them the first turn after the transition if still Hostile), so there is no purpose to ending the Age at war if you can make peace.
For war, a final turn DOW (or multiple) can set up conquest in the next Age. If you want to avoid spending the time (and influence) sanctioning them at the beginning of the next Age, just declare a Surprise War on the final turn. You can get some looting in, and capture poorly defended settlements even despite the negative war support. This is also a good final use for extra influence, since you can cash it in to reduce the war support penalty after your DOW. This is all best done in the final turn or two, since your happiness will take a big hit, and you don't really want to fight a longer war with that negative support along with whatever bonuses the AI gets due to difficulty.
You can't take it with you: Gold and influence on transition are capped at 3000/500 or so, you also get 1 turns worth on starting the next Age. So spend it! Prioritize finishing warehouse buildings and Unique Improvements as these won't get debuffed after transition.
Anyone have other tips/tricks?
There are a bunch of ways to take advantage of the last turn or 10 or 20 turn countdown, especially if you have been artificially slow-playing the Legacy Paths to extend the Age. Some of these tricks work as soon as the age countdown begins, others are really best reserved for the final turn of the Age.
Things that otherwise advance the Age:
Cash in Legacy Paths. Once the 10 or 20 turn countdown starts, you can complete Legacy Paths that you've deliberately held off on completing to avoid advancing the Age. These won't cut off any turns because you are already in the countdown. If you don't play with a countdown, these are best done on the final turn. In Antiquity, you can slot your final codices and resources to complete the Science and Economic Legacy paths. You can conquer a few settlements, or, ideally on the last turn, settle a bunch of settlers for the Military path. This can push you over the settlement cap, but you will get a larger settlement cap in Exploration. In Exploration, you can slot your final relics for the Culture path, cash in your final treasure fleets for the Economic Path, and convert your distant land settlements to finish the Military path.
Collect Future Techs/Civics. You can research either (or both) Future Tech/Civic until there is one turn left, and then research Masteries until the countdown begins. Then finish off the final turn of the Future Tech/Civic and try to squeeze out another in the countdown. You can also hold off on selecting a City State reward for either a Scientific or Cultural City State until the final turn of the game, research as many Future Techs/Civics on your own as you can, then select a bonus Tech/Civic from the City State reward.
Capture Capitals. Capturing an AI capital advances the Age. You can defeat their troops and pillage (see below) until the countdown begins, then grab their Capital either on the last turn of the Age (without countdown), or when the countdown starts.
Things that reset on Age transition:
Let your cities burn. All of the pillaged tiles you have at the end of an Age will heal on Age transition, so it doesn't make sense to repair either with production or money. Similarly, you can pillage the AI at the end of the Age, and then pillage the same hexes as the Age begins after the transition. Don't build new Age-specific buildings, unless you plan on using them in devious ways as the basis for pillaging, or plan on Golden Age Academies etc. Build troops and unique improvements instead.
War and Peace. The last turn or turns of an era are an excellent time to declare war or peace.
For peace, the last turn is usually best. You can use any extra influence to get a better deal and extract a final settlement, or you can give away captured settlements that you don't want because of the settlement cap, or want to pillage/recapture in the next Age. Note that the AI gets to move troops/attack AFTER your final turn, so it makes sense to end all the wars you can after you've gotten a final round of attacks by your troops, sparing them the retaliation from the AI and keeping more alive for the next Age. Wars don't continue (although you can start them the first turn after the transition if still Hostile), so there is no purpose to ending the Age at war if you can make peace.
For war, a final turn DOW (or multiple) can set up conquest in the next Age. If you want to avoid spending the time (and influence) sanctioning them at the beginning of the next Age, just declare a Surprise War on the final turn. You can get some looting in, and capture poorly defended settlements even despite the negative war support. This is also a good final use for extra influence, since you can cash it in to reduce the war support penalty after your DOW. This is all best done in the final turn or two, since your happiness will take a big hit, and you don't really want to fight a longer war with that negative support along with whatever bonuses the AI gets due to difficulty.
You can't take it with you: Gold and influence on transition are capped at 3000/500 or so, you also get 1 turns worth on starting the next Age. So spend it! Prioritize finishing warehouse buildings and Unique Improvements as these won't get debuffed after transition.
Anyone have other tips/tricks?
