Hi all (and devs),

Still having fun with this game though the race gets a bit predictable.

But I'm someone who likes to take my time - as I think alot of people who play turn-based strategy games do. And don't you find that sometimes you have a great emblamatic unit, but you never get a chance to use it because the eras rush by so fast? Or maybe you just want to experience an era longer without all the AI zooming ahead because you enjoy it so much? As it is the only era I spend a ton of time on is the contemporary era because you can play "endless." I play on endless speed, and so eras get about 100 turns - ok that's fine - but what if you want 200 or 300?

So I'm asking if you can add a feature that locks the eras until a certain turn? Now in Civ, they have a game rule that stops era progression at whatever era you want. But I still want to play the full game - I just want more time in each era. For example, maybe you cannot advance to classical era until turn 200, and then medieval until turn 400. So that will give everyone a chance to catch up, play and have some fun in the era, then move on to the next era. And so on down the eras.

What do you think?

Hey,
It is noted :P
I really like the idea, not only for roleplaying but perhaps because you would like to stay more time on an specific era, like the Medieval one. Can not do any promise about it, but we are aware of it.

I really appreciate you attention and that you read the forums :) Thank you!

Yes, I would love such a setting. Devs, please do this!

There could be some kind of era "checkpoint" system. For example, the option to advance from Ancient to Classical era would unlock once the game reaches 1200BC. An option to advance from Classical to Medieval would unlock at 500AD and so on. This would allow us to enjoy the eras longer. And, of course, this would improve the immersion and roleplaying too!

Another thing I would like to see is the era limit. Era limit should allow us to set how many eras are there in the game. I would really love to play a game which starts at Neolithic and ends at Classical or Medieval era.

Amplitude, PLEASE consider these ideas.

That would warrant complete redesign of Scientist Cultures or they'd absolutely dominate with their advanced tech. I could sooner see certain dates unlocking a discount for 'outdated' techs so that all the Empires have easier times being roughly in same era technologically, but that won't really help the OP.

DNLH wrote:

That would warrant complete redesign of Scientist Cultures or they'd absolutely dominate with their advanced tech. I could sooner see certain dates unlocking a discount for 'outdated' techs so that all the Empires have easier times being roughly in same era technologically, but that won't really help the OP.

That's actually a very good insight and a balance problem the team would certainly run into if they were to start implementing this option.

Honestly, right now not too sure how you could balance that without changing how science culture work at the moment.

Is a one era tech lead really insurmountable (and for who)?

Every time I try to do a science culture early on, it screws me over, because I can't build anything. I fall very far behind. Ok, I have the tech, but I have no production or food. And especially no military to fight off the AI.

Is this not your experience?

I guess if you're talking Medieval (getting industrial) and Industrial (getting contemporary), it could become a problem. But is it something that needs to be balanced, or is it just a challenge that a player has to overcome? If the player is the one who chooses science, well, ok they get an easy win - but that's their choice. Who do you think?

You've never been flooded with Swordsmen while still having Ancient armies? It's not fun times and it does present well CS differences between eras. You could try to defeat them with sheer numbers, but remember that after Bolivar such costly victories will count as defeats for War Support. And if we're talking about eras lasting arbitrary amount of turns, it means that Scientists' industry, even if it's behind, will have time to catch up while others' tech trees sit empty.

All of these depend on starting conditions and AI level. They can't balance for every combination.

There's a variety of starts I choose. If I was worried about a flood of swordsmen, I could have a start where everybody gets their own continent; or where there's one giant continent and not easy to get to others; or have 2-3 people per continent, in which case it's luck whether you end up next to the science culture (same way everybody complained about Huns and Mongols - just dumb luck if you're next to them - and if you don't, then some other poor bastard has to get mauled).

And lastly, since lock would be optional...

Anyway, yes, I agree some things need to be thought about.

I'd love to have an optional era lock mode. I think it'd be interesting if we had the ability choose how we want the culture section order to go at the end of the era (since choosing simultaneously with the AI would be aggravating since they could immediately pick the culture). Three interesting orders could be 

1. Fame (Ascending): The further behind in fame you are the earlier you get to choose your culture. Would help players who are behind the pack.
2. Fame (Descending): The further ahead in fame you are the earlier you get to choose your culture. 
3. Random Order: For true chaos.

el-Fakir wrote:

Dayvit78 wrote:
But is it something that needs to be balanced, or is it just a challenge that a player has to overcome?

Deciding between when to advance into next era and how long to stay in current one is already a choice and challenge that players have to overcome.

If this feature is ever implemented I hope it will be completely optional otherwise it would kill for me all the challenging and fun aspect of era changing in Humankind. 4X or strategy games are all about making players decide and choose about what, when, where and how, in my humble opinion.

Dayvit78 wrote:
I just want more time in each era.

Can you, please, elaborate more on this? What exactly prevents you from spending more time in an era? Do you feel compelled to advance as soon as you get 7 era stars or do you think you're falling behind since your opponents are all advancing?

Fully agree with both your points above - the main decision factor in the game is deciding when to advance to the next era. That is a fun decision to make. And that's why era locks should definitely be completely optional game rule - to change things up when you want to try something different.

As for as why I want to spend more time in one era. What I mean is that sometimes I want to play with everyone in the same era. I want to have knight vs knight battles, not knight vs warrior. :) The AI are all over the place - some advance quickly and the rest get stuck in classical era forever. I would just love to have some time where everyone is (theoretically) equal and have some fun in that. it's not about feeling compelled to advance - if that was the case, I would just lower the difficulty.

Dayvit78 wrote:
As for as why I want to spend more time in one era. What I mean is that sometimes I want to play with everyone in the same era. I want to have knight vs knight battles, not knight vs warrior. :) The AI are all over the place - some advance quickly and the rest get stuck in classical era forever. I would just love to have some time where everyone is (theoretically) equal and have some fun in that.

Oh, I see now. This makes sense. I'd also like to have proper wars among roughly equivalent peers in Industrial and Contemporary eras which I've never been able to do because, as you said, AI generally falls too behind to be a competitive rival by the time I reach Industrial Era. I've never used contemporary units, for instance. I just once attacked horsemen from Classical Era with attack helicopters just for fun and it wasn't fun either. :)))

I think a separate game mode that would allow to play pre-determined scenarios (like in Civilization, Total War games or recently released Old World) would be great to implement in Humankind as an answer to your request here. I'd love to play such curated mini-campaigns in Humankind setting.

Well, I don't mind conquering cities with bionic commandos when there's barely conscripts inside, but one of my favourite books have a roughly WW2-era civilization "invading" a world of magic that barely invented gunpowder, so I may be biased :D

Jokes aside, that's why I thought "old" tech could receive a discount either at arbitrary dates or once sufficient amount of Empires advanced to next era/researched said tech, so that everyone has it easier to keep up - while there's still window of advantage, albeit shorter, to being first to research a tech. That and allow Science Osmosis events go both ways, if one civilization culture envelops the other, the tech should seep from less advanced to more, no matter who influences who.

I think the current way it works is most resembling to reality - we still have some third world countries that haven't entered the Industrial Era.

That being said, I could see this as a game settings option. Although I don't like relying on a set number of turns.

What do you think about the following suggestion?:

When an empire gains its last era star, it will be asked whether it wants to advance to the next era.

Only once all of the empires have agreed to advance, the players will be given a choice of culture (in the order that they reached the next era possibility).

vensa wrote:

I think the current way it works is most resembling to reality - we still have some third world countries that haven't entered the Industrial Era.

That being said, I could see this as a game settings option. Although I don't like relying on a set number of turns.

What do you think about the following suggestion?:

When an empire gains its last era star, it will be asked whether it wants to advance to the next era.

Only once all of the empires have agreed to advance, the players will be given a choice of culture (in the order that they reached the next era possibility).

I think you have a quite innovative idea. Make it like a "United Nations Security Council" and we advance to the next era whenever it is a unanimous vote :) That means, as the player you have a veto power over how long you want to stay in an era (as the AI will probably mostly say yes as long as they have enough stars) And yes, as you say, whoever reached first should get first pick of the next culture.

Thanks. I'm glad you like it :-)

vensa wrote:

I think the current way it works is most resembling to reality - we still have some third world countries that haven't entered the Industrial Era.

That being said, I could see this as a game settings option. Although I don't like relying on a set number of turns.

What do you think about the following suggestion?:

When an empire gains its last era star, it will be asked whether it wants to advance to the next era.

Only once all of the empires have agreed to advance, the players will be given a choice of culture (in the order that they reached the next era possibility).

Not much of a fan of this. You would need to revoke the era tech limit then. Otherwise other empires can dictate your play and basically stop you from advancing in tech so other can catch up.

Not much of a fan of this. You would need to revoke the era tech limit then. Otherwise other empires can dictate your play and basically stop you from advancing in tech so other can catch up.

Are you talking about multiplayer?

Because having everyone catch up is basically the reason I want an era lock option. I want to enjoy a world where everyone is in medieval era even if some took longer to catch up than others. For example, to test equivalent EU vs each other.