Tweet
Hmmm... "Real" Civilizations...
By 2250 BCE there were precisely three literate societies: Sumero-Akkadian (effectively Babylon in game terms), Egypt, and the Harappans along the Indus River (which is where the Indians should logically start. (Sorry I don't have a Chinese literacy date at hand.)
Greeks first wandered into Greece ca. 1850 BCE.
Phoenicians and Etruscans arrive on the scene ca. 825 BCE.
Assyrians go on their rampage ca. 670 BCE.
Carthage is on the scene by about 480 BCE.; the Persian empire is about at its largest extent at that time as well.
Alex the Great rules ca. 323 BCE, and his empire divides into four kingdoms (ruled by Lysimachus, Antigonus, Seleucus and Ptolemy) upon his death.
Rome's a going concern by 270 BCE.
I don't have my non-Eurocentric sources at hand but I'm sure you get the drift -- "realistically" probably only Sumer/Babylon, Egypt, India, and I suspect China "should" start at the game's beginning.
... On the other hand, the climactic disaster of the sixth century CE sort of put every civilization back a few steps; turn lengths could be changed to keep the number of turns the same and, starting in the 9th Century we'd have (depending upon precise starting point):
Germans
French
Byzantines
proto-Spain (Galicia) / Visigoths
Italians / Ostrogoths
Russia (the trading posts which became Russia were in existence by then)
India
China
Aztecs
Bantu
various khanates and emirates
etc.
(this list is off the top of my head, so kindly forgive any imprecision).
Spme (random) examples of civ advance impoverishment:
The French would lack math, construction, philosophy and (arguably) currency.
The New World civs would be starting out near ground zero.
Play with the Civ tech tree some, play-balance, and it should make for a very interesting and decently historical game.
-Ozymandius
By 2250 BCE there were precisely three literate societies: Sumero-Akkadian (effectively Babylon in game terms), Egypt, and the Harappans along the Indus River (which is where the Indians should logically start. (Sorry I don't have a Chinese literacy date at hand.)
Greeks first wandered into Greece ca. 1850 BCE.
Phoenicians and Etruscans arrive on the scene ca. 825 BCE.
Assyrians go on their rampage ca. 670 BCE.
Carthage is on the scene by about 480 BCE.; the Persian empire is about at its largest extent at that time as well.
Alex the Great rules ca. 323 BCE, and his empire divides into four kingdoms (ruled by Lysimachus, Antigonus, Seleucus and Ptolemy) upon his death.
Rome's a going concern by 270 BCE.
I don't have my non-Eurocentric sources at hand but I'm sure you get the drift -- "realistically" probably only Sumer/Babylon, Egypt, India, and I suspect China "should" start at the game's beginning.
... On the other hand, the climactic disaster of the sixth century CE sort of put every civilization back a few steps; turn lengths could be changed to keep the number of turns the same and, starting in the 9th Century we'd have (depending upon precise starting point):
Germans
French
Byzantines
proto-Spain (Galicia) / Visigoths
Italians / Ostrogoths
Russia (the trading posts which became Russia were in existence by then)
India
China
Aztecs
Bantu
various khanates and emirates
etc.
(this list is off the top of my head, so kindly forgive any imprecision).
Spme (random) examples of civ advance impoverishment:
The French would lack math, construction, philosophy and (arguably) currency.
The New World civs would be starting out near ground zero.
Play with the Civ tech tree some, play-balance, and it should make for a very interesting and decently historical game.
-Ozymandius
)
Comment