> It's hard when there's a whole tech level grind that also has to tick along in the background, fueling the sense of growth & achievement & pushing players ahead.
I have a real problem with how tech levels are implemented in Civilization, at least in the variants I'm familiar with: There's just a few ways to progress, and advances are always better. Technology is not fitted to the environment, like how wheels don't make a lot of sense on roads which are rocky and often stairstepped up steep slopes; nope, the whole concept of "Inventing Wheel" not being a necessary step to further advancement is lost on the game, even if it's empirically possible to build advanced civilized societies without them. It's like it's insulted by wheel-less-ness, and never understands that facts don't care about its feelings.
Further, there's no trade-offs: Iron swords are better than bronze, and never you mind that common iron is worse than bronze; unless you have truly outstanding Damascus steel, you're using sponge iron at best. Of course, sponge iron doesn't require tin, so if you're cash-strapped or just lost a tin-producing province, well, Iron Age ahoy!
https://www.e-education.psu.edu/matse81/node/2129
I wouldn't care about this stuff if it weren't for the pernicious effect of these games on peoples' de facto history education. They think that if it works that way in Civilization, it must have worked that way in reality, and it's hard to remove a bad education.
I have a real problem with how tech levels are implemented in Civilization, at least in the variants I'm familiar with: There's just a few ways to progress, and advances are always better. Technology is not fitted to the environment, like how wheels don't make a lot of sense on roads which are rocky and often stairstepped up steep slopes; nope, the whole concept of "Inventing Wheel" not being a necessary step to further advancement is lost on the game, even if it's empirically possible to build advanced civilized societies without them. It's like it's insulted by wheel-less-ness, and never understands that facts don't care about its feelings.
Further, there's no trade-offs: Iron swords are better than bronze, and never you mind that common iron is worse than bronze; unless you have truly outstanding Damascus steel, you're using sponge iron at best. Of course, sponge iron doesn't require tin, so if you're cash-strapped or just lost a tin-producing province, well, Iron Age ahoy!
https://www.e-education.psu.edu/matse81/node/2129
I wouldn't care about this stuff if it weren't for the pernicious effect of these games on peoples' de facto history education. They think that if it works that way in Civilization, it must have worked that way in reality, and it's hard to remove a bad education.