Time Periods - do they do anything?

[frenzyfol]

What is the significance of each time period..?
I've always ignored the; for example "you have advanced to the Renaissance period" announcements.
Does it actually do anything to the game?

[Virulent]

Not really, other than changing stuff like city style and background music.

It's more or less an indicator on how well you are doing tech-wise.

However in BtS some quests will fail if you advance to an certain era before completing the requirements.

[Ari]

I'm pretty sure certain in-game calculations depend on the era. War weariness, for one (though I can't remember how; there was a link in a recent thread, though).
I think certain events are enabled/disabled depending on the era. Somewhat hillariously, the flavor text when a tornado hits varies with the era (with no fewer than 3 variations, starting with "wrath of god" and ending with "perfect storm spawning f5 tornados").

[snoopy369]

Look in the xml file
/assets/xml/gameinfo/civ4erainfo.xml
(that's slightly abbreviated but it's approximately correct)

It tells you all of the differences in the eras

[frenzyfol]

Here are the era specific tags that I thought were changing some game mechanics. I can't tell if they are increasing the mechanic they refer to or decreasing it.
Basically I'm trying to figure out if its best to choose a tech that moves you into the next era, or finish off researching as many of the current era techs.


ERA
ANCIENT
CLASSICAL
MEDIEVAL
RENAISSANCE
INDUSTRIAL
MODERN
FUTURE


iFreePopulation
0/0/0/1/2/3/4

iStartPercent
0/10/25/37/50/65/80

iGrowthPercent
100/100/100/90/80/70/60

iTrainPercent
100/100/100/90/80/70/60

iConstructPercent
100/100/100/90/80/70/60

CreatePercent
100/100/100/90/80/70/60

ResearchPercent
100/90/80/70/60/50/40

BuildPercent
100/ 100/ 100/ 90/ 80/ 70/ 60/

ImprovementPercent
100/ 100/ 100/ 90/ 80/ 70/ 60/

GreatPeoplePercent
100/ 100/ 100/ 90/ 80/ 70/ 60/

CulturePercent
100/ 100/ 100/ 90/ 80/ 70/ 60/

AnarchyPercent
50/ 50/ 40/ 40/ 34/ 34/ 34/

[Blaupanzer]

frenzyfol, I think that whole list relates to starting the game in that era. The changes caused by advancing in game are mostly in unit and building appearances and the possibility/presentation of certain random events.

[frenzyfol]

Thanks.