Developer Diary | Ages Part Two
Hello, everyone. This is Ian Fischer from C Prompt Games and today I am taking a break from the post-demo push at C Prompt to present a new Developer Diary for Millennia. A quick aside on that – the demo went really well for us and we received a lot of feedback and bug reports. We have watched tons of players streaming the game and read comments in forums from all over. What we have not done is post a lot of responses. I apologize for that; we do wish we could engage more and we have been able to be more active in the past. But – right now – we are deep in development and focused on using all the time we have to make the game. We appreciate all of the feed and bugs. Thank you, and please know that we are reading / watching. Ok, this Developer Diary is part two on Ages. In the first one, we presented an overview of the basic structure of the Ages system and talked about the mainline, historical Ages. Here, we will build on that and cover Variant, Crisis, and Victory Ages.A Note on Age Gameplay
We have already covered mechanics and vision for the Ages in a few places so I won’t go into great detail here, but I did want to point out a few things about these Ages. To begin with, Variant and Crisis Ages are not “good” and “bad.” I know that, at first glance, the general structure of one Historical, one Crisis, and one Variant might make it seem that way (especially with one titled “Crisis”), but that isn’t the case. There is no requirement that there be three Ages, one of each type, at every Age advancement possibility, that’s just how the initial set of Ages happened to unfold. Variant and Crisis Ages also aren’t designed to be “rewards for doing good” and “penalties for doing bad.” Rather, Variant and Crisis Ages are based on the idea of being different. They can be better or worse for individual Nations depending on their position in the game, but you do not get a Variant Age if you’re doing really well and a Crisis Age if you’re getting stomped. Instead of player performance, what triggers a Variant or Crisis Age is focus – actions (or inactions) in the world. Doing more or less than the “typical” amount of something. For example, when going from Age two to three, if you do more than the typical amount of exploring early you can bring about the Age of Heroes and if you do more than the typical amount of fighting you can bring about the Age of Blood (and if you’re more down the middle, you’ll move to Iron). This is history changing in response to decisions, not the game trying to reward or punish. Similarly, Victory Ages are also not arranged with any kind of performance-based “if you do well, you can get this one” structure (they do tend to have entry requirements but these are more a question of where you have focused than how well you have done)and also surface in response to how history develops in the game. The Age structure overall gives Millennia a way to provide deeper, more focused experiences but this is especially true with the Victory Ages. Since the Victory Age contains the rules that will be used to win, everyone can know and be focused on what is important. There is a shared win condition, which cuts down on “surprise, you lost” endgames.Variant, Crisis, and Victory Ages
As with the earlier Developer Diary, the following is a tour of the Variant, Crisis, and Victory Ages in Millennia, with some brief notes on each. Age of Heroes (Variant) Currently the first possible Variant Age, the Age of Heroes takes inspiration from ancient Greek epics like the Odyssey. You get to develop powerful Hero-Leaders in this Age and send them out to complete Quests, which provide valuable rewards unique to the Age. In addition to allowing for some interesting Quest-focused strategies and Hero-Leader strategies, this Variant is also just fun for players who enjoy early exploration gameplay, as the Quests system refreshes that set of things out there for you to discover. Age of Blood (Crisis) Thematically, this Crisis Age imagines a history where warfare was even more widespread than it actually was. From a gameplay perspective, it supports the playstyle of someone who wants less “build up” in their “build up and fight.” Warfare in the early portion of a strategy game can be difficult to justify given the value of keeping your focus on your early expansion, but Blood seeks to make it easier to consider by removing some of the costs. For example, this Age turns off war Unrest, so you don’t have to worry about Unrest growing and hurting your advance. Also, since everyone is and can only be at war during this Age, you don’t have to deal with any diplomatic declarations or concerns about who the enemy might be. Age of Monuments (Variant) The Monuments Variant Age explores an alternate history where building ancient megastructures, like the pyramids, became a greater focus for all Nations. This Age presents a number of unique construction options (the monuments) as well as a number of construction-related bonuses that can be valuable long after having moved beyond this Age. This Variant also makes possible the construction of Super Monuments, large undertakings that can provide great boosts to a Region when completed.
Age of Plague (Crisis)
Going back to the notes on Age gameplay, above, the Age of Plague can come about if you “overheat” your expansion. A heavy focus on growing population can produce more workers and rapidly expand an economy, but higher populations also bring about additional Needs. In this case, the Sanitation Need. So, if you focus heavily on population growth but do not also focus on also meeting the Sanitation Need that comes with that, you might drift into the Age of Plague. This presents some new challenges for your booming population, primarily in addressing the outbreaks.
Age of Discovery (Variant)
Discovery explores an alternate history where the drive to cross the oceans and explore is supercharged. The ability to cross deep water and to conduct Expeditions are part of the standard Age progression but Discovery introduces superior naval and scout options and also presents more valuable Expeditions via the Cities of Gold. On any maps with multiple land masses surrounded by deep water, moving into the Age of Discovery can be an “open the floodgates” event.
Age of Intolerance (Crisis)
Once the ability to create or adopt a State Religion is introduced, Intolerance can come about if a Nation fails to meet the Faith Need of its population. This Crisis is something of an amplification of Millennia’s baseline Religion model. Nations with the same Religion normally have a diplomatic bonus and those of differing Religions normally start with a penalty, but during Intolerance, these modifiers are far stronger. Similarly, bonuses and penalties for having your population following your religion are also multiplied. The end result tends to be more pronounced expansion of Religion and conflict during the Age but both this and the content unique to the Age can have a lot of impact in the future, particularly for the importance of Religion (and the tools you have to influence it) in later Ages.
Age of Conquest (Victory)
Conquest presents an alternate history involving early global domination that doesn’t come to an end – an Empire of Cyrus, Alexander, or Genghis that keeps going. This is the first possible Victory Age and, as it comes before the final Age of the game, it is what we call an “offramp Victory Age”. The general intent here is that, if you’re running away with the game, you have a way to win without having to continue hitting “Next Turn” long after you know you’ve won. At the same time, it’s also somewhat of a gamble – you need to be pretty dominant to be able to trigger Conquest and once you do, you’ll be at war with everyone. If you don’t win your fight against the world here, your losses might land you in a less-than-dominant position when the next Age begins.
Age of Heresy (Crisis)
Culture is a valuable resource in the game, both to gain access to Culture Powers and also to support expansion. Your population has a general need for Culture too, and if you don’t provide it, or don’t provide enough of it, they might go looking for it on their own. The Heresy Crisis explores this alternate history, one where cultists are growing in numbers and power, pursuing unknown objectives.
Age of Alchemy (Variant)
This Variant Age lets you explore an alternate history where elements of alchemy are more than pseudoscience. Arcana is introduced in this Age as a Good as are Alchemists, Improvements to make use of the new resources and Goods lines. Signature to the idea of alchemy, this Age treats Gold as a prominent Good and allows a number of ways to obtain it and also to convert it into a wide variety of resources. Many of the Ages involve additions or changes to the economic model but this more extensive in Alchemy.
Age of Aether (Variant)
The Aether Variant Age is inspired by predictions about the future made in the late 1800s. This supposes things like a continuation of steam power and skies above cities filled with flying vehicles. Aether unlocks a number of unique additions that come from this space, including Steam Fighter aircraft, Land Ships, and Improvements operated by automata workers. At the center of all of this is a new resource, Aether, which is (among other things) a different early source of Power.
Age of Ignorance (Crisis)
The Ignorance Crisis is themed after a backlash to industrial and technological advancement. If you focus heavily on Knowledge (which comes to require Education) without providing Education, you can trigger the Age of Ignorance. This Crisis has somewhat different structure than other Ages, with a small number of very expensive Technologies.
Age of Harmony (Victory)
The Harmony Victory Age provides an opportunity for a Religion-focused offramp. If a Nation has managed to get a high percentage of the world population to follow their Religion, the Harmony Victory can trigger and present an opportunity to achieve victory by converting a large majority of the population to one State Religion. Content unlocked in this Age can be valuable even if the a player does not manage to achieve victory – along with additional tools for spreading Religion, Secularism is weakened and delayed by Harmony and can thus help a Nation with a Religion strategy later in the game.
Age of Utopia (Variant)
Utopia is inspired by, as the name says, visions of a Utopian future. Mechanically, Utopia has ties to the Innovation system and a number of rewards surface through Innovation events during this Age. There are a number of unique unlocks that support the Utopia concept but the ability to build underwater cities is probably the most symbolic content of this Age (and the most meaningful change that comes from it, from a strategic perspective).
Age of Dystopia (Crisis)
Something of the mirror of Utopia, Dystopia is inspired by common fears for the future (acid rain, global warming, overpopulation) and is associated with the Chaos system. Mechanically, this Crisis comes about primarily by allowing Chaos levels to grow and stay high and also makes itself felt through unique Chaos events. Riots from an unhappy populace are common during Dystopia and finding ways to deal with them (especially ways that do not add more Chaos to your pile) is an important part of navigating this Age.
Age Generals (Victory)
In a rough sense, the Age of Generals is a Millennia’s equivalent of a World War 2. Like Conquest, it is triggered on having substantially more power than other Nations, but Generals also has a Factional component, so it need not be only one Nation trying to defeat the others. Positioned where it is in the timeline, Generals also features a number of unique unlocks that represent industrialization and military development as a result of the war (which, like many of the other Ages, can have utility later, even if you do not win in a Generals attempt).
Age of Ecology (Variant)
This variant explores an alternate history where human development is more focused on a “mastery over the environment”. As that suggests, there are a number of unique unlocks here that can be provide alternate ways to get Power or to meet population Needs later in the game. Terraforming is also unlocked by Ecology, so if a power called “Flatten Mountain” seems like it could be useful, try a detour through this Age. Investment in Social Fabric is necessary to get into this Age and Ecology offers good opportunities to increase Social Fabric further, making Ecology a good option if you’re planning for a Transcendence Victory.
Age of Visitors (Crisis)
You don’t want me to ruin this one for you, do you? Look, if you send messages into space, be careful, because you don’t always know who is on the other end of that telephone. This Crisis Age lets you find out, as they show up and start doing unkind things to you and your fellow humans.
Age of Archangel (Victory)
One of the final Victory Ages, Archangel is a future where space has been weaponized and orbital lasers, the Archangels, can make an appearance on the battlefield. Technically, the victory condition for this Age is simply having far more population than the other Nations, so you could win without ever firing an Archangel, simply by managing your Regional growth really well. However, you can also increase your relative population by erasing another Nation’s population, so we both know that the lasers are coming out. Archangel is a strong Victory Age option for Nations that have a large population spread out across a high number of Regions.
Age of Transcendence (Victory)
A generally more peaceful way to achieve victory, Transcendence is based on your Social Fabric scales, which you must maximize to win. Much of the content in this Age scales in value based on how well you have built your Nation – the number of Allies you have, the number of Landmarks you’ve discovered, the number of Regions you have with no Unrest – making this a good option for Nations that have invested more in diplomacy and quality of life.
Age of Departure (Victory)
Victory in Departure is achieved by building a Colony Ship and getting off this rock. As the Colony Ship is a very expensive to complete project, Nations with high overall production will likely seek out this Age, which itself offers an array of options for building up substantial Production lines. However, you need to be able to defend your industry too – Nations with less production likely aren’t going to sit around patiently waiting for all of your unprotected factories to finish winning….
Age of Singularity (Victory)
In the end stages of Millennia, there are some technologies that allow Nations to really build up their Knowledge economy. Everyone likes Knowledge, it’s fun to unlock new Technologies. But, there are risks with this. If you go too much, too fast in a rush to get as much Knowledge as possible, the obvious will happen. The “obvious” being that the computers wake up and decide to eradicate humanity. So, as far as “victory” Ages are concerned, this one might seem a little un-victorious in that it produces a powerful, angry, enemy-to-all AI that starts rampaging across the planet. However, the victory condition here is “survive that” and if you have better defenses than the other Nations, it might be the way to go.
