Neolithic Era is just no fun

[monkeypunch87]

I have to say, I really hate the first era after playing it numerous times due to constantly starting over. It is just plain boring to play. If I'm unlucky, I will be late to the party of picking a culture. Or I can exploit the era to gather a "Scout Army" to steamroll some AI...

I wish I could skip this era.

[kip1214]

Thats dumb.

[Swisspike]

Originally posted by monkeypunch87:

I have to say, I really hate the first era after playing it numerous times due to constantly starting over. It is just plain boring to play. If I'm unlucky, I will be late to the party of picking a culture. Or I can exploit the era to gather a "Scout Army" to steamroll some AI...

I wish I could skip this era.

Put your scout on auto explore, and then break off new ones each time you get another pop point. You will get the first, second, or third choice for your next civ every time. The AI KNOWS where to head, and this just levels the playing field.

[IdealPersona]

I disagree, I actually really enjoy how the Neo era can lead to snowballing. But I understand where you are coming from and the game absolutely should let you skip it if you want for the sake of customization.

[monkeypunch87]

Originally posted by Swisspike:

Put your scout on auto explore, and then break off new ones each time you get another pop point. You will get the first, second, or third choice for your next civ every time. The AI KNOWS where to head, and this just levels the playing field.

That's even more boring and pointless.

[AmesNFire]

I think they should expand the Neolithic stage and let players spend more time developing their wandering tribes more. Probably something to be done with an update to the Cultures.

Wanting to skip it seems odd to me since your exploration/fame/units/outposts during that period set up the whole Ancient Era.

[Cacheelma]

How much fun do you expect to get from a bare-bone era with just some exploration? The era is supposed to last only a few turns, as well. Did I play it wrong? Was I supposed to drag it on to turn 30?

[The Doctor]

It's easy to understand why some folks would find it boring; there's not really very much to do and it's generally something you want to get through as quickly as possible to really get the game started. It's basically just Hunt for food, gather food or gather science and it's pretty random where you can find all that. Science in particular is RNG because you never know how much science you're going to get from an anomaly.

Having said that, funnily enough, I actually enjoy it while I'm playing the game and am reluctant to leave too early before I've gotten as much out of it as possible.

It's like the culture shifting between eras, it's a design decision that some folks are just not going to be able to accept so they're going to complain about it here and insult folks who enjoy it ot complain about it and move on. Not much else to do.

[Tiasmoon]

Originally posted by Cacheelma:

How much fun do you expect to get from a bare-bone era with just some exploration? The era is supposed to last only a few turns, as well. Did I play it wrong? Was I supposed to drag it on to turn 30?

Staying longer gives an era perk, more outposts spread out (there's no influence penalty from creation outposts further away) and a way larger army & population. Plus you could crush a nearby empire with your mass of units.

[monkeypunch87]

Originally posted by Tiasmoon:

Originally posted by Cacheelma:

How much fun do you expect to get from a bare-bone era with just some exploration? The era is supposed to last only a few turns, as well. Did I play it wrong? Was I supposed to drag it on to turn 30?

Staying longer gives an era perk, more outposts spread out (there's no influence penalty from creation outposts further away) and a way larger army & population. Plus you could crush a nearby empire with your mass of units.

As I mentioned in the OP: It is an exploit, an unfair advantage, since the AI can't do it.

[Astasia]

Personally I'm hoping it's expanded and made longer, I really enjoy that phase of the game. The two things about this game that really stand out over say Endless Legend are the tribal phase and the trade mechanics. It's just a shame you are heavily encouraged to rush into the ancient era to start earning "real stars" as fast as possible.

[Tiasmoon]

Originally posted by monkeypunch87:

Originally posted by Tiasmoon:

Staying longer gives an era perk, more outposts spread out (there's no influence penalty from creation outposts further away) and a way larger army & population. Plus you could crush a nearby empire with your mass of units.

As I mentioned in the OP: It is an exploit, an unfair advantage, since the AI can't do it.

AI's get large bonusses to things like unit production and what not. And going into an era early has its own advantages.

[jonnin]

This era may be dull after the 20th time doing it, but it is also critical.
Its your first 3 or so outposts, often targeting horses, copper, or rich land.
Its your first 10 population or so, back fed from scouts into your city as needed.
its your first 300 or so influence, from hunting animals and nodes.
its your first leg up on the AI who rushes on to the next era losing 200 fame.
its the time of discovery of what your lands will be for a while and where the AI are going to be.

All that to say, the rule change is the only thing here. You stop getting influence for hunting and stop getting population for eating and stop getting healed anywhere in exchange for building your city. Those early era rules though, they can be exploited to a massive great start, or bypassed for the culture of your choosing.... Its kinda neat how both options are viable, but rushing forward IS fairly boring compared to farming it for all it is worth.

[Professor Hardknocks]

They just need an "Advance Start" like Civ4 had. Place a few units and a city or something, basically enough to get you a "small start" but nothing too good.

[The Former]

I enjoy it. It lets me scout out the perfect spot for a first city before I build it without punishing me. Something I always did in Civ anyway, to my detriment.

[Orphan Martian]

I love that this 4x strategy game opens with you wandering aimlessly collecting random loot and killing random animals. So much strategy.