Wow, you have a very interesting idea here with the dust leak. I'm already starting to drool when thinking how it would affect the dynamic when paired up with a flat dust bonus. And, as you have mentioned, it leaves more room for a comeback (but also doesn't completely screw over the leading player). I think this could work quite well!



And yes, the victory itself also feels a little bit anticlimatic... though that is a subject for another threat so I did not mention that here ^_^ Right now I'm mostly concerned with the sixth era itself

Love the whole idea. I particularly like the parts that Sirlin would describe as "perpetual comeback" - basically, the further behind you are in the game, the easier it is to catch up (#1 to an extent and #2 especially). Obviously needs some balancing, but the overall concept is sound.



Perhaps to tweak #1 a bit and have an added dimension - not only do empires gain a flat bonus to dust income, but on the flipside, dust stockpiles gradually leak (say 10-25% of the dust stockpile at the end of the turn lost per turn). So all of that hoarding that generally happens at the end of a game is counteracted by the massive loss in dust. People with small dust stockpiles don't lose much, but people with larger dust stockpiles do. Basically dust all over the world has just gotten more chaotic.



The only part I don't love is #6 - I'd just prefer to cut life and/or cut defense and/or cut city fortification points and/or increase damage, making it easier for elites to fall.



I agree wholeheartedly with the anticlimactic feeling you get in the last turns of a game. I was playing Wild Walkers and, thanks to their Dekari Rangers, wars were a cakewalk, so I could maintain a very isolationist strategy (five or so regions on a continent exclusive to me) - and it got to the point where in my capital (because of building reduction bonuses and industry bonuses) I could literally build the game-ending Wonder in less than half a turn of production. I put off building the Wonder and then won by Scientific victory... at which point I just called the game.



The other thing that is anticlimactic is not just the path to victory but the victory itself - there should be some sort of epilogue, for closure or something.