One more age after modern?

[AzNtoccata]

I realize that this topic has been discussed before, but it's been dormant for awhile so I'm gonna bring it up. DOn't yell at me plez, I have sensitive ears . ANyway, I think that there should be one more age after modern. THis "future" age should include nano-tech and genetic engineering and advanced space travel. I never really understood why people would limit there options and cling onto an old feature. I mean if people really hate it that much, Firaxis could always just have an option. I envision the future age having almost as much technology as the other ages. I don't think stuff like fusion power or nanotechnology is unrealistic. The military units should be like the ones in Empire Earth, mechs with huge cannons slung over their back or Japanese anime style robots or little Kbot style mechs from Total Annihilation.

[BeBMan]

Hm, of course only if they include the techs you mentioned. Personally, I think they shouldn´t include techs that are pure scifi. Things like Genetic Engineering are nearly possible today, so in my eyes they fit into the modern age.

[SerapisIV]

I don't want to see mechs and stuff like that in the game. CTP used them and the game didn't feel right with all the future stuff. If you want SciFi, go play SMAC or MOO. I like the historical foundation of Civ, it's more tangible then nanotechnology which for all its promise is pretty far away from having a significant impact on our lives, I know that for fact because no matter what Michael Chricton (spelling is off) novels talk about, I've talked to more then a few of the major researchers in the field and the only direct impact that they see for nanotechnology in the next 15 or so years is in optical switching, but thats heavily dependent on how much of our communications infrastructure (copper wires) is replaced with fiber optic networks.

[Yog-Sothoth]

Don't like it. As Serapis says, it don't feel right. I like the historical feeling of civ, never really got into SMAC. I find it hard to relate to all this weird scifi stuff.



I'd like to see a conservative main game, but with great tools for customization. This way everyone can add to a basic foundation whatever they like to have in the game. And if you're unable/unwilling to make you own customizations or scenarios I'm sure there are plenty of others who will.

[Lord_Davinator]

well I think Firaxis should have an option to pick whether you want to play the future age or only up to our age.

I think the future age is something worth adding thought it will end up eating up even more of our precious time

ummm.... that is if its good enough... I hope it will be cause it will be a heck of a lot of fun

[Dauphin]

Assuming there is a limit to the number of turns the game can last, I would rather have a more in depth game upto the modern era, than a more sparse game upto a future era. Instead of introducing 20 or so future techs just have 5 or so added to each historical era.

[tniem]

I have no problem with Civ III extending into the future, but I would prefer to have the game end around the modern age. I think it will be easier to get into and for the creators to make the game better.

[Cyclotron]

No way... end it at the modern age, and leave the future to scenarios.

EDIT: I found an older quote of mine on this topic... for reading by pro-future posters... IMHO, a definitive answer to "why not future techs?" for me and several others.

May I remind the pro-future tech people that even the near future (next 50/100 years) is extremely uncertain. I have seen magazines from 1950 that predict such things as flying cars, people living on other planets, time machines, and tons of other things we have not even come close to doing in 2001. Any guess into the near future, whether it be about moon colonization or neurotechnology or molecular fusion, is likely to be just as far off and just as whimsical as those predictions made earlier in the 20th century. In addition, since we have no concept of how such "future techs" will function, how could we begin to model them? Cryogenics might create more income... or then again, the process could turn out to be prohibitvely expensive and therefore have no measurable effect on the economy. Fusion tanks might exist, and have big "fusion cannons" and such stuff, but it is equally likely that a fusion reactor once invented will not fit in a tank.

Another reason future techs do not work is because most future units are modular. Putting a fusion reactor in a Sherman tank (if even possible) would not in any way upgrade the armor or weapon. So something as ambiguous as a "Fusion Tank" is completely absurd, and is impossible to visualize or understand. Riflemen (conscription) need both new weapons (gunpowder) and new organization (democracy or other tech) to be true riflemen. Nukes need Nuclear Fission and rocketry to be true nukes. So... what does a "cyber ninja" need to be a true cyber ninja? What techs create all the tiny different devices in a wormhole sensor, not to meantion all the technology needed to build the actual station? Saying that just knowing "wormholes" lets you build a huge orbital wormhole detection station is like saying that knowing how to design a tank lets you build tanks without knowing what steel is.

So what does compose a future unit, or a future improvement? Beats me, and most likely everybody on earth is as baffled as I am on this issue. So why have it? The jury's still out on that one, too.

[Dr.Oogkloot]

I disagree. There should be more than one age after modern.

[Zanzin]

Although we can't say that because it didn't work in CTP it won't work in Civ3....I think the game is best left ending at 2020.

I agree with former posters who've said leave the future for scenarios.

[Rhuarc]

I think the game should go a little farther into the future than today. Perhaps include things like nanotechnology, fusion power, and mech units. I don't think we should go as far into the future as CTP2 did. At least not unless Firaxis and Sid can implement it a whole lot better than Activision did.

[SerapisIV]

Wasn't there an official poll for a future age? I did a search for it but couldn't find anything, but that might just be due to the forum upgrade. I'm pretty sure the majority of Apolytoners were against future tech for a more traditional civ timespan, but I can't prove it

[Unspeakable Horror]

I agree with AzNtoccata there should be a future (Total Annihilation Era ) but it should be optional or something else (like a MOD perhaps?).

[Dr.Oogkloot]

Optional is always good.
I'd like to see a really ambitious game that covers a very long time span including a lot of space travel and colonization, though.

[Kevin Ar18]

I made a suggestion for a plug in era. That is you can make a new era like a future or alien era and plug it into the regular game if you want.

See this URL:

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19589