Any advice on avoiding dark ages

[grumble]

In a couple of games I lost recently the final straw was falling into a dark age and losing a couple of cities to revolts.

Anyone got any clever ideas for avoiding dark ages?

[grognardgary]

Kill barb huts once you are golden for the next era keep then empty There by leveling up your units at the beginning of the next era kill them for a quick burst of gold and era points.

[Evrach]

It depends of which dark age you want to avoid.

Avoiding the first dark age is mostly about exploration. Make sure you have enough scouts to find huts, encounter city states, continents, natural wonders before other civilizations, and of course clear barbarians. It's rarely the hardest golden age to get.
Second golden age can be a little tougher, but in single play it shouldn't be an issue. Just learn (or note) the few good ways to earn era score easily when you're short :
- build your first boat
- vassalize a CS
- levy a CS
- use a SR for the first time
- found a city in a desert/tundra/snow/near a volcano
- make a +3/+4 district for the first time

(the full list is here : https://civilization.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Historic_Moments_in_Civ6
You can watch it when you see you'll struggle to get your golden age to search if you see something you can achieve at time)

Also, according to the civ you're playing, you can plan your unic unit/building for a moment you struggle with era score.
Wonders are also a great way to earn easy era score. Some wonders are really cheap and, even if useless for their effect, can be worth to be built just for era score (Yes Templo Mayor on 1 tile lake, I speak of you XD ).

Third golden age can be the hardest to get, but... nodoby really cares. In fact, third age is the best one to be in dark age so you can benefit of the best dark doctrines before winning the game in fourth age during a big big heroic age. Just remember than most of the time, a dark is worse than a golden age BUT far better than a normal age. You never ever ever want to be in normal age.*

*Except when Mapuche is your neighbour. If Mapuche is your neighbour, just forget golden ages XD

[BlackSmokeDMax]

Along with the tips above... you can also use this mod to look for ways that you can get the needed points:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1699006932

As you play on, you'll realize more and more the things that get you points, so you'll have less need of it, but I still leave it installed just because it doesn't hurt to have it there for some method I don't normally use and/or forget about.

[grognardgary]

Originally posted by Evrach:

It depends of which dark age you want to avoid.

Avoiding the first dark age is mostly about exploration. Make sure you have enough scouts to find huts, encounter city states, continents, natural wonders before other civilizations, and of course clear barbarians. It's rarely the hardest golden age to get.
Second golden age can be a little tougher, but in single play it shouldn't be an issue. Just learn (or note) the few good ways to earn era score easily when you're short :
- build your first boat
- vassalize a CS
- levy a CS
- use a SR for the first time
- found a city in a desert/tundra/snow/near a volcano
- make a +3/+4 district for the first time

(the full list is here : https://civilization.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Historic_Moments_in_Civ6
You can watch it when you see you'll struggle to get your golden age to search if you see something you can achieve at time)

Also, according to the civ you're playing, you can plan your unic unit/building for a moment you struggle with era score.
Wonders are also a great way to earn easy era score. Some wonders are really cheap and, even if useless for their effect, can be worth to be built just for era score (Yes Templo Mayor on 1 tile lake, I speak of you XD ).

Third golden age can be the hardest to get, but... nodoby really cares. In fact, third age is the best one to be in dark age so you can benefit of the best dark doctrines before winning the game in fourth age during a big big heroic age. Just remember than most of the time, a dark is worse than a golden age BUT far better than a normal age. You never ever ever want to be in normal age.*

*Except when Mapuche is your neighbour. If Mapuche is your neighbour, just forget golden ages XD

Or make him part of your empire. Not easy given his scouts are as tough as your warriors and give a level or two can run rings around you.