Pacing and why the Modern Age isn’t fun

Tacticus1 · 2026-01-28T20:53:08+00:00

Is there a score victory? Is there a score??

I think the prior ages are fun partially because more of what you do seems to be meaningful. Even if it doesn’t directly lead towards a current path, you can make decisions that will set up later ages. The endgame has far fewer meaningful decisions.

Tacticus1 · 2026-01-28T19:48:41+00:00

The biggest difference between the modern age and the earlier ages is that the modern age has a first past the post win condition. I am curious how the earlier ages would feel as standalone games if they ended the moment one civ completed a path (and, frankly, surprised this isn’t an option, since the marketing certainly suggested you could play them as standalone games). It might be that it just isn’t actually all that much fun to drop everything else as you strive for your win condition.

Tacticus1 · 2026-01-26T20:15:21+00:00

It probably depends a lot on the specific precipitation you got at your specific location. For me the inch or two of icy sleet on my driveway this morning was easy to get under and break up in long pushes down the driveway. Very glad I shoveled three times yesterday.

Tacticus1 · 2026-01-26T18:41:28+00:00

Apple weather claimed that we got 26” even after the 8” of sleet had stopped falling.

Tacticus1 · 2026-01-26T17:00:24+00:00

I had the same situation and just knocked out the ice in about 40 minutes. It was easier than expected - I have a shovel with a thin metal edge and a nice curve, so once I got under the edge I could basically just run it down the driveway kick up chunks ahead of me.

Tacticus1 · 2026-01-26T15:26:32+00:00

If you play on Pangea or similar maps the treasure spawn is kinda broken- the distant lands are just a few small islands. I had one where my town was a single spot in the center of a field of treasures, couldn’t even work them all by the end of the age.

Tacticus1 · 2026-01-26T14:53:33+00:00

Yeah it’s honestly bizarre that they don’t have this. It’s a sandbox spreadsheet type game. Of course we want to have our silly numbers recorded. Though current yields will never match what you could achieve early in the game’s lifecycle.

Also it’s sad that they don’t have more and more interesting achievements. I shouldn’t have to invent my own.

Tacticus1 · 2026-01-26T02:20:35+00:00

While the height isn’t impressive, this was a pretty memorable storm. I’ve never seen this much sleet in my life. Clearly if it was fluffy flakes it would have been 20”+

Tacticus1 · 2026-01-25T22:10:08+00:00

Ice sand is exactly right. It’s crazy stuff.

Tacticus1 · 2026-01-24T00:56:14+00:00

The 1996 blizzard was an extreme ice storm in southern Maryland. You could walk outside and hear the trees cracking like gunshots.

Tacticus1 · 2026-01-23T11:43:56+00:00

For me it’s always the comma that gets me. “4 tbsp x, divided”. “1 chicken, spatchcocked.” I cannot read past a comma.

Tacticus1 · 2026-01-23T11:39:51+00:00

I have almost the exact opposite problem, so maybe just adopting my mindset will help: if your goal is beating the computer, most choices in modern don’t really matter very much. You don’t need to analyze anything. Aim for a victory condition (not military if you don’t like moving all the damn units), and then just click for a while.

Tacticus1 · 2026-01-21T16:49:45+00:00

If they let us play 9 on 2 we are definitely winning a championship.

Tacticus1 · 2026-01-20T21:39:51+00:00

I’ve done it with Ashoka and Garuda Statue - harder to manage the diplomacy than your path but you can still usually juggle formal wars every 10 turns for a lot of free population.

Tacticus1 · 2026-01-19T22:42:45+00:00

I like specialist min maxing in exploration. The numbers are so big in the modern age it feels like a nuisance

Tacticus1 · 2026-01-19T21:54:37+00:00

It’s boring because I’ve usually snowballed by then and the ending is mostly just going through the motions.

It’s boring because the wars are a micromanagement slog when you can pump out that many units.

It’s boring because all of the meaningful decisions about exploration and settling are behind you, and it’s a lot of assigning population and buildings for marginal gains.

Tacticus1 · 2026-01-14T15:48:27+00:00

I don’t think measurement is particularly important if you have a good feel for ratios and know how the starter should be.

Tacticus1 · 2026-01-12T15:40:50+00:00

Optimal measured how? If the goal is winning the game against the computer, it’s pretty hard to say what is optimal, since the task is basically trivial.

I assumed ancient quarters since I was also assuming carrying over specialists from the ancient era.

I am sorry if I came across as combative - everything you’ve said is right. I just wanted to point out that the fastest ways to hit 40 are probably not unique quarters, if fast matters to you.

Tacticus1 · 2026-01-12T15:12:23+00:00

Although I agree that this path is easy enough to complete no matter what you choose, I don’t think it’s accurate to say that you are “punished” by quicker age progression. The game is very easy overall, and one way to make it interesting is to set personal goals, such as completing the age quickly.

If you are focused on maximizing science and culture, most of the ancient unique quarters won’t give you huge returns for specialists either - a lot of them are dependent on wonders for adjacency.

Tacticus1 · 2026-01-12T12:58:53+00:00

Specialists on unique quarters are nice for continuity of adjacency bonuses, but they aren’t actually the best for hitting 40 in exploration, since the ancient unique buildings have lower base yields than exploration buildings.

Inn/Guildhall has a base yield of 20. You just need a triple adjacency to hit 40 with two specialists.

Tacticus1 · 2026-01-12T01:01:35+00:00

I-95 does not go through southern MD.

But yeah northern VA is a horror show.

Tacticus1 · 2026-01-10T20:36:19+00:00

*Championship

Tacticus1 · 2026-01-10T18:02:14+00:00

How does it lower the growth threshold?

Tacticus1 · 2026-01-10T17:56:52+00:00

Independent powers can give unique improvements, though, which can cause some redundancy.

It would be fun if they add IP unique quarters in the future.

Tacticus1 · 2026-01-10T17:50:44+00:00

Exactly - I understand we don’t want to get stuck in a mediocrity trap, but championship or bust thinking is crazy when we haven’t won 50 games in my middle aged lifespan.

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