World Age?

[SalmonSoil]

So there is an option in the game creation menu which says "World Age". The default being 4 billion years. Does anyone know what this means or how it effects the game? I'm thinking it does something to do with the geography in game, but I havn't got any ideas on what it could possibly add.
So yeah, does anyone know?

 

[Kimuyama]

Dinosaurs maybe?

(that would be awesome)

 

[Schuesseled]

2kgreg told me this i think, but i can't remember now lol

 

[allypower]

I think it's the ratio between moutain and hills and plains on the map. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[AriochIV]

I seem to recall that in a previous version, having an older world meant more erosion, wearing most mountains into hills.

This is actually not very realistic, because in the real world tectonic forces are pushing up new mountains as quickly as erosion is wearing them down.

 

[Terefor]

I think it's the ratio between moutain and hills and plains on the map. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Yes, it was in CivIII too.

 

[Arksa]

I seem to recall that in a previous version, having an older world meant more erosion, wearing most mountains into hills.

This is actually not very realistic, because in the real world tectonic forces are pushing up new mountains as quickly as erosion is wearing them down.

This.
Older world doesn't necessarily mean that it's flatter, it might have more mountains who knows.

 

[Szpilman]

Cool, more mountains plus 1UPT means more fun. Though I wonder if it'll compare to a Tectonics mapscript.

 

[pi-r8]

This was in Civ 1 lol.

 

[falloutboy14]

I recall world age leading to a more varied world. Like a 1M year old world would have 1 massive mountain range, 1 desert etc. Where as in an older world, would have more variation.

 

[Windsor]

I'd love to see a 6000 year old earth alternative

 

[SuperSmash5]

Dinosaurs maybe?

(that would be awesome)

Super Secret Unit = Tank eating T-Rex

 

[Ramesses]

I'd love to see a 6000 year old earth alternative

As long as it can never generate landmasses/terrain remotely Earth-like in appearance, I'm fine with that.

 

[Semmel]

The only effect that I can think of would be bio-diversity and geological differences. 1 Million years wouldn't do much but if you remove like 500 million years, there wouldn't be any oil resources. The geological difference would be more active vulcans and earthquakes on a very young earth and very less on an old earth.

 

[Louis XXIV]

I recall world age leading to a more varied world. Like a 1M year old world would have 1 massive mountain range, 1 desert etc. Where as in an older world, would have more variation.

I believe that's correct if I remember from Civ2/Civ3 days.

 

[Kimuyama]

The only effect that I can think of would be bio-diversity and geological differences. 1 Million years wouldn't do much but if you remove like 500 million years, there wouldn't be any oil resources. The geological difference would be more active vulcans and earthquakes on a very young earth and very less on an old earth.

+ the lack of breathable air on a very young earth

 

[Semmel]

From wikipedia:

The Great Oxygenation Event (GOE), also called the oxygen catastrophe or oxygen crisis or Great Oxidation, was the appearance of free oxygen (O2) in Earth's atmosphere. This major environmental change happened around 2,400 million years ago.

Before all life began to be complex, the atmosphere was oxygenated. I don't think that a lack of oxygen is a valid point for civilization as it requires that pretty complex live has been developed at the start of the game ;-)

 

[Ramesses]

If the world age is set to 3.8 billion years, shouldn't all leaders and units turn into dinosaurs?

 

[DeepQantas]

Giant Dinosaur Robots?

 

[Jerrymander]

Giant Dinosaur Robots?

Stop trying to spoil the super secret unit!