Favorite era?

[Torpid]

Mine's the Industrial Era. I don't know why, but I think it's really cool. Industrialization = factories = more production = awesome. What about you guys?

[vmxa1]

I like middle ages, serious conflicts occur there and you have a large enough empire to have fun.

[Rhothaerill]

Ancient because what you do in the ancient age sets the tone for the rest of the game.

Least favorite: modern. The game is either over or virtually over by then.

[Torpid]

Middle ages, that's it. Sorry 'bout the mistake.

[Solomwi]

Industrial.

While Ancinet sets the infrastructure of the game, and I love Middle because of the multitude of tech paths that can be taken, and how dramatic the difference can be, not to mention all the marvelous Wonders, Industrial is where I always have the most fun. Marines, Tanks, Infantry, Artillery and a modern Navy make late Ind warfare absolutely the most enjoyable part of the game for me. The tactical and strategic options, somewhat limited in the first two ages, just open up like a flower. The production and population explosions both let me know if all my forward thinking in Ancient paid off or not, and where I messed up. Industrial is also where I start really building a large standing army that can strike anywhere in the world with great force in a reasonably short time.

What strikes me about both Industrial and Middle is that early and late in each one feel almost like two separate eras, whereas at the end of the Ancient, I still feel ancient. Speaking militarily, with the right civ (Germany) you're only three techs away from the entire range of units, but in the next two ages, the unit difference from early to late is much wider.

Modern is an afterthought, with enough cool perks to keep me interested.

[ChrisiusMaximus]

I like them all but for me its the Middle Ages that takes the top spot,

[Ecthy]

Middle Ages and Industrial, just for the historical atmosphere

[kermit_the_frog]

Modern age is best beacuse whe i get there thats when my big wars starts =D

[Ecthy]

Yeah, mine start at industrial, but modern is even better, with tanks and all

[Harovan]

My interest decreases with progressing game. The ancient age is cool, you lay the base of your game strategy here and build up your economy. Then comes the medieval age. Pikemen, knights, catapults, later replaced by musketmen, cavalry and cannons. The best wonders of the game. Nice atmosphere. When I hit the industrial age, things become increasingly boring. I usually already have a big advantage here, and mostly the ToE gets me so far ahead, that the game is virtually over. The industrial age ends the need for good tactics and smart unit placement. The railroads a la Firaxis ruin the game, at least for me. Huge stacks of footsloggers, the lacking ability of the AI to use bombardement, and the ruining of once thriving AI civs to pitiful, backwards communist countries in endless MPP driven wars do the rest. Most of my games end in the industrial age, because I can't stand them anymore. I'm in most games far ahead and feel as if I'm herding a drove of idiots. The modern age has cool music, but that's about all good I can say about it. Thank god, with the UN, the spaceship and the quickly growing culture it has plenty opportunities to leave the mess victorious.

[GhengisFarbâ„¢]

Seriously, if the game stopped technologically progressing at Industrialization that would be just fine with me.

In fact I have made a mod that does just that, waiting on Conquests to finish it up and then I hope to get a PBEM started with it.

[Harovan]

Originally posted by GhengisFarb
In fact I have made a mod that does just that, waiting on Conquests to finish it up and then I hope to get a PBEM started with it.

I'm in, I'm in!

[GhengisFarbâ„¢]

Great, now if we can just get Conquests...............

[Dominae]

Originally posted by Sir Ralph
My interest decreases with progressing game. The ancient age is cool, you lay the base of your game strategy here and build up your economy. Then comes the medieval age. Pikemen, knights, catapults, later replaced by musketmen, cavalry and cannons. The best wonders of the game. Nice atmosphere. When I hit the industrial age, things become increasingly boring. I usually already have a big advantage here, and mostly the ToE gets me so far ahead, that the game is virtually over. The industrial age ends the need for good tactics and smart unit placement. The railroads a la Firaxis ruin the game, at least for me. Huge stacks of footsloggers, the lacking ability of the AI to use bombardement, and the ruining of once thriving AI civs to pitiful, backwards communist countries in endless MPP driven wars do the rest. Most of my games end in the industrial age, because I can't stand them anymore. I'm in most games far ahead and feel as if I'm herding a drove of idiots. The modern age has cool music, but that's about all good I can say about it. Thank god, with the UN, the spaceship and the quickly growing culture it has plenty opportunities to leave the mess victorious.

Sometimes I enjoy the Industrial era, but mostly I feel the same way as Sir Ralph here.


Dominae

[joncnunn]

Industrial #1, love building up those Hospitals and Factories in the early to mid industrial period.

#2 is Middle Ages, particlarly mid to late as I catch up with the AI in techs.

Agreed about still feeling Ancient at the end of the Ancient era. On maps with more than the normal amount of land and greater space than normal, I've sometimes not even finished REXing yet on Emperor when the AI enters the Middle Ages.

Agreed about the game virtually being over by the time modern era comes around, the only game that I survived the ancient era and yet lost the game in Single Player was when I purposely chose a one land mass challenge with no fresh water on my land mass & no luxaryies anywhere on the map. (4 players: All survived, I as Greece had a substantial lead at the end but 2 of the AIs were able to vote for themselves, so even with 1 AI supporting me, couldn't win by UN, and the game would have needed to have run thru about 2080 for me to have won by culture.)