Well for a more pseudo-realistic evolution at all stages game
1. you get Food points to increase your species population (the other members of your species wander in seperate areas and get food points too.. they will tend to follow your lead in terms of cooperating or competing with others for food and what food sources to target)
2. Each species accumulates DNA points based on its total population, once a species has enough DNA points, it spawns a New species. If you control the species, then you can decide when the DNA points will get used to make a new species and HOW they will get used (there is a also a maximum number of DNA points that CAN be used in making a new species, the rest of the DNA points are left with the old species). If you make a new species, you lose control of the old species and need to get food points for your existing species.
3. Also You could select for a % of the DNA spent to be Random when making a new species. So when a new species is made, you can only spend a fraction, the rest of the DNA points are spent making other changes (although none that reverse the effect of the changes you made)
The Random % could either be a setting at the beginning of the game [Design v. Darwin] and/or things cost less when Random points are spent on them
Once the new species was made (with both Designed and Random characteristics) then you would chose whether to take control of the new species or the old one.
4. The division shouldn't be food/friend it should be competitor/cooperator. (so the interactions are ... fight with prey for food, fight with competitor to keep food for yourself, charm partner to share food)
5. If your species died, then you would take control of the nearest "relative" species still alive
6. Different Climates on the planet, in Creature phase, the different 'nests' will all have one 'Climate Zone', but the Climate Zone of the nests can change (since this is over Geological time)
A similar model could be used for the other stages, each would have Evolutionary stages where one X developed out of another
so in Civ one government/Empire would develop from the breakdown of another and attempt to replace the previous empire (Greece, Rome, England, America, the various Dynasties of China, etc.) so if you decided to take control of the Confederacy when it formed, when it died you would get control of the Union (The next closest relative)
so
Creature: basic resource=food, advanced resource=DNA
You control one creature and other creatures of that species act independently (but they follow your pattern)
creatures collect food for the species as a whole,
Food -> Pop size,
Pop size->DNA,
DNA-> spent on modifying/adding/removing parts on a New species
Parts unlocked would depend on parts you currently had... so redesign would be constant
[New species starts of with a pop of 1 creature]
Tribe level would be accessed when you built a species with the parts required for intelligence+tool use
Opponents would be Slightly different variations on your species
Tribe....Basic resource=Labor, Advanced Resource=Social
You control one tribe and other tribes of that region act independently
Pop units of the tribe Either collect food or build tools
Food->pop growth
Tools->improve efficiency of activities, including increasing maximum population/number of territories a Tribe can control
Pop size->Social
Social->increase the list of Tools a New Tribe can build
Tools unlocked for New Tribes would depend on Tools the previous tribe built and tools neighboring tribes built.
Tools which are"unlocked" for a new tribe would still require Socialpoints to make them "Buildable".
[New Tribes start off with 1 Territory, and the population of that Territory]
A Tribe has Territories and Population...
When a Tribe conquers or allies with a Territory that it cannot control, two new Tribes are formed. Each new Tribe gets a portion of the "foreign" Tribe's Tools unlocked for it, and possibly a bonus to their Social based on the "foreign" Tribes's Social.
The population of a MultiTerritory Tribe is divided equally among its Territories.
Civ level would be accessed once you have control of all neighboring Territories (which would require certain Tools)
opponents would all have slightly different variations of your Tool base. (giving them certain starting characteristics)
* you could domesticate other species as either Food sources: Eggs/Milk or as Riding Animals (a key part of the first Vehicles in the Civ Phase)
Civ...Basic resource='Spice', Advanced resource=Ideas
You control all the cities + vehicles of an Empire
Vehicles/Cities (controlled by your actions) collect 'Spice',
'Spice'->Vehicles->Cities through conquest/conversion,
Cities->Ideas,
Ideas->Adding/modifying new Buildings for New Empires
Buildings are the 'Parts' of cities, all cities in your Empire would have the same types of buildings giving the Empire its characteristics (social and technological) like the parts of Creatures.
Buildings would unlock based on the buildings you currently had in your cities.
Vehicle Parts would continuously unlock as Idea levels built up based on which parts were in use on your Vehicles.
[New empires would start with some fraction of the Old Empires cities.. depending on how many of the Old Empires Buildings were removed, so you if you want to remove the Old Empire buildings, you need to breakaway and fight them. If you are just adding buildings, then you will only have a few Luiddite cities to put down.]
Conquering/Allying with a new city would get some of its Buildings unlocked for your Empire.
Forming a New Empire would allow spending Ideas to design your cities by adding or modifying Buildings that have been unlocked, removing them requires no Idea spending, but it provides extra Idea points in exchange for less cities for the new empire.
Space would be reached once you unlocked certain vehicle and Building components
