Variant Ages vs. Crisis Ages

[The Konrad]

Why do I feel the Crisis Ages seem to be more interesting, less shallow and kinda refreshing while the Variant Ages which sound all fancy and all seem rather mediocre?
I had a blast with Age of Blood and Age of Intolerance
but was underwhelmed by the Age of Harmony, the Age of Utopia (Water settlements sounds fun but...) and the Age of Ether doesn't seem that much interesting either...
Am I missing something here?

[lusciouslanguidity]

It’s just your opinion.

Some people don’t like the stress of crisis ages, and the variant ages offer twists and new mechanics without going overwhelming and overboard.

[The Konrad]

Thank you for pointing out that my post is my opinion.
Now, what twists and new mechanics am I apparently missing?

[parent child bowl]

I tend to agree that Crisis Ages make the game more interesting. They add something in between the steady climb for players to deal with which is a really good concept. It definitely makes games feel less stale than they traditionally are in for example in the civilization series.

I can't wait until simultaneous multiplayer is implemented. Steering through the ages against humans will be a ton of fun.

I'd really like them to remove the one Variant/Crisis Age per two ages restriction though and I hope that they implement more ages like the Age of The Old Ones that build on other crisis ages or even variant ages.

[The Konrad]

I would love to have more options at the game start, I want my faction stumble in to each and every crisis era, each progress. That would be so much fun, now with each new game I have to select which crisis/variant I prefer to deal with.

[Thamalandis]

Aside of the "Age of Plague", crisis ages tend to unlock permanent bonuses and are just another variant age.

Intolerance unlocks unique outposts which give more faith and more faith options and culture. Inquisitors which can speedrun culture (which means you can then buy culture with production) and other good things.

Age of Blood is the ONLY way the game lets you use meat outside of kitchens by preserving it in a product chain + other bonuses.

Age of Plague... is just bad aside of better town defenses and until the next tech level, farms that produce food without labor. Which is "meh".

I personally dislike the Age of Heroes. The AI sucks at it and the player comes out of it with +10 or more knowledge gain over the AI easily.

The age of monument just wastes limited building space to begin with and you skip the powerful Age of Discovery for it with tons of free mana in the deep sea.

Just play the ages you like or roleplay your nation to pick an age depending on its ingame history.

[Ricochet]

Responding above about Age of plague. Age of plague acts as a good deterrent against a high pop player. See a player advancing an age ahead of you? Unsanitize everything that a cough will spread a virus like a nuclear bomb then that top player is blind sided lmao. I'm sure this is AI's strat if you're leading although I'm playing against 7 GMs but the lead took age of Kings with 3 unsanitation throughout. Age of plague never triggered.

Regarding OP, Age of Aether was a wonder for me because I was complaining about some of my landlocked region but the game provided me a solution in a neat way through this age. Mountains are now free for all. My sealocked region remains sealocked however.

Age of Ecology on the other hand was a letdown to resolve sea locked regions. They could create artificial islands ("ecology") but I discovered you can only do so on a claimed territory. In order to create Atlantis, you have to first waste exploration points to claim a territory then waste engineering points to raise an island on that claimed territory. You can say goodbye to creating this utopia if your claim territory is used up. A sealocked reagion should extend its powers on the nearest deepwater.

[Thamalandis]

You can use the "deep state" national spirit of political science. They get another land claim ability which starts at low cost.

Both colonialism and political science allow you to blob more if you wish to. For a third one use spice merchants, they can turn merchants to settlers.

If you really want to have a lot of options, use all 3.

[Ricochet]

When you're in age of Ecology, you are already locked into the national spirit you chose on a prior age and even going back. I don't wish to blob more but to resolve my sealocked region with the tools I was given or chose with an expectation that those regions are dead end. I chose space agency and Mound Builders then. If given the knowledge you told me, I still won't choose them since they are still getting 200% boost I just had to do a bit of juggling but those regions have lower than my average production to compensate.

[Gorgeous_Joe]

Yeah, it really does depend on the map, your play-style and how you are trying to achieve victory, If I haven't got no mountains I avoid Ether but even in the age of rocketry I like to spawn the aliens for fun

[archonsod]

Originally posted by Thamalandis:

Age of Plague... is just bad aside of better town defenses and until the next tech level, farms that produce food without labor. Which is "meh".

Better town defences and the ability to operate farms without population aren't to be sniffed at. You also get an upgrade to the city guard with better stats, including unrest suppression, plus the ability for your envoys to trigger plague outbreaks in opponent's cities (same as the outbreaks you get during the Age of Plague - penalty to the improvement's income, pop reduction every few turns until it's dealt with via improvement points or a plague doctor and exploration XP and doesn't require going to war with the target). IIRC there's also a unique sanity boosting building, which comes in handy for growing large cities later in the game without covering half their territory in trash heaps.

Originally posted by Ricochet:

I'm playing against 7 GMs but the lead took age of Kings with 3 unsanitation throughout. Age of plague never triggered.

The crisis points are per player, so even if you're locked into a crisis age it'll only happen if you're the one to pick the next era, if another player beats you to the punch you'll get whatever they choose instead, assuming of course they aren't also locked in to a crisis era.

[parent child bowl]

Originally posted by archonsod:

The crisis points are per player, so even if you're locked into a crisis age it'll only happen if you're the one to pick the next era, if another player beats you to the punch you'll get whatever they choose instead, assuming of course they aren't also locked in to a crisis era.

To add to this, there currently is a bug (at least I think it is) that allows you to enter an unlocked Variant Age instead. Only the "normal" ages get locked out by Crisis Ages.

[Thamalandis]

Not if you fulfill the crisis age first. Then it locks all non-unlocked ages + the standard one.

[Dead Goat]

Bruh i had age of aether... steampunk changed a lot.

Also to point out you can still pull out a variant age even if a crisis age is locked in

[Afrodwarf]

I think I tend to agree just because the variant ages feel kind of one-and-done. A Steampunk alternate Age is really cool! But nothing after it will ever use Aether, and while I haven't taken it that far yet I'm sure that Steam Fighters and Landships will upgrade to exactly the same later units as Biplane Fighters and Early Tanks.

I think what Variant Ages are missing is some kind of ongoing effects, even small ones. Keeping the Age of Aether example, it doesn't have to lead only to follow-on Variant Ages that all have steampunk equivalents to standard ones, but maybe later Air units are slightly different if you came through Age of Aether instead of Revolution or something.

[Thamalandis]

Outbranching ages with special future ages ... of which right now only Age of Heresy has a "special" follow up age would be a thing for expansions and DLCs if it has enough success... or mods if this game ever becomes more mod friendly.