Hi all, I've had some ideas kicking around in my head that I wanted to write down. 

Implementing these would probably be too significant a change within the current game, but I think they are worth discussing: 

The overall goal of these ideas is to have a game where empires will rise and then fall over the course of the game, with each era.

Main change: 

When picking a new culture, instead of just switching in situ, you instead re-start with no city and an  army of 3-4 emblematic units and also some more generic units (i.e. similar to if you were an independent people suddenly appearing on the map)

You will need to rapidly found and/or capture a new capital city. 

Your previous empire will go into decline - they will stop building anything in their cities except city projects and diplomacy would be disabled

Conquering the capital of a previous empire will grant you the title 'heir of X' and only at this point would you gain the legacy trait.

[Balance/gameplay dependent] You could potentially gain either one title per previous era or multiple titles

You could choose to replace the current avatar system with a leader per culture. So you would interact with a series of AI leaders each era. 

Worked example: 

I spawn in the Neolithic and pick the Egyptians.

In the next era I pick the Romans. 

As the Romans I would spawn near the Egyptians with a small army and no city. I must found Rome and then conquer the Egyptian capital to claim the title 'heir of Egypt'

I then choose the Byzantines

I would spawn near the Romans with a small army and no city. I must found Byzantium and then capture the Roman capital to claim the title 'heir of Rome' and the Egyptian capital to claim the title 'heir of Egypt'.

In terms of fame you could either: 

1. Stick with fame accumulating to the player over eras

2. Have the fame attached to the 'heir of X' title - this would mean late game swings in fame as capitals are captured and lost.