This is a fantastic idea! Rather than researching, new technologies could be discovered on a loosely historical timeframe. Settlements that engage more with the wider world (through successful fighting, trading, or spreading culture) would have a chance to access new technologies earlier! This would make each play through unique and based on the game world challenges, instead of a min/max sprint through a tech tree.
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@nuLoon I think it should also link to the environnement and activities of your tribe for exemple : next to a big lake/river with a lot of fisherman => Fishing and boat tech unlocked earlier, wild crop and gatherer => Farming tech unlocked earlier etcâŠ
This idea was present in Civ6 (with the inspiration process) and I think it is a good and realistic way to found new tech. Afterall why a mountain tribe will bother to build boat ?
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Yes! The tech system could be divided into environmental (simple technology and abilities) and inspirational (complex technology and processes).
This is great to hear! Iâve always hated tech trees. In real life (pre)history technology wasnât a case of âlevelling upâ, it was about learning and solving problems. (Or like you say copying somebody elseâs solution, most of the time!)
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@Uncasual Will all unlocked technologies be permanent, as part of the collective tribal knowledge share? It would be more interesting, more challenging, and more realistic if advanced technologies resided with individual mentors and apprentices. If for instance, your boat craftsman dies during a difficult migration or your settlement doesnât build any boats for 100 years, that technology could become âlostâ and need to be rediscovered! Villagers would ideally not be presented as mindless drones, but stewards of their individual craft, whose masteries would provide further yield boosts or production efficiencies.
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All is citizen centric in AC. Knowledge included 
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Love the thought of this, sounds very interesting for sure!
I really like the idea of knowledge. I feel it will be uniqueâŠ
I just hope it wonât be in the form of you got a new technology (from trade, raids, migrants, etcâŠ) and all of the sudden you can use itâŠI think there should be some kind of âexperienceâ system where if you âdiscoverâ new technology you would need some time to master it,
because lets say for example meâŠI know that farming exist and I am confident enough to say that I know how it worksâŠif I were to start farming right now I am sure my field would die a few times until I learn what to do exactlyâŠ
So I think it would be interesting if there was such âexperienceâ system through witch we could unlock buildings associated to that tech (such as granary from farming ) or lets say better yields from farms or proficiency, because from my perspective if there isnât someone who would explicitly teach you all the aspects of this new technology you wouldnât be able to use it properly.
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I think it would be nice to have some coincidence events in the game that increase knowledge.
Like some people see fish get trapped in dense reed so they start thinking about a simple funnel fish trap.
Or maybe they throw stones in the fire to heat water later on and suddenly see that something (like copper compounds) is melting. But that could only happen in windy area where the fire pit could potentially reach the needed temperatures.
And I liked the previously mentioned idea about the experience system. That at the beginning the farming skills a very bad but they increase with practice and failures which eventually leads to improved equipment or so.
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I never liked it in similar games that you have to gather or collect 1000 food and 1000 wood to advance in some new technologie.
That shouldnât be the case here.
I agree with what was said here, the tribe should advance through experience.
How could my tribe advance in fishing if I never fished before.
Or how to tame a cow (well or buffalo) if I never observed them before? How to trap them if I donât know hoiw they behave?
The question should then be, what happens if my expert trap builder or the best hunter dies or migrates and takes his/her knowledge along?
To me the answer should be that the advancement is (somewhat) lost. He/She cannot teach it to others, nor can he/she try to advance the way to trap them, or to more effective and less dangerously hunt them.
The next question should be, related to my 1000 food/wood example; when can your tribe advance?
Can you advance in anything if you are busy all day gathering and hunting, when you are starving or freezing?
Perhaps you get then more creative, or are just busy to survive?
Isnât it different when you are starting farming, and have, over the winter time more time to be creative?
This would be more in the way like the game âlife is feudal - forest villageâ behaves, where you build in winter and farm btw spring and automn. You simply have now manpower while farming.
I liked, even if complicated, the advancement / techtree in a completely different game - âHearts of iron 3â. This is a world war 2 startegic game.
Here, you research through scientists/companies (different for each nation), and this in the beginning very slow. Then, when your tanks and planes are actually fighting, you get practical expirence, which then influences the way you research (having light tanks doesnât help on researching heavy tanks, but can help on maneuver or tactics for bothâŠ).
Something in this line could be interesting to investigate.
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I like the idea of external impacts you cannot direcly influence, like the wind exemple.
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Youâre on the right track! We know that most technology advancements in Ancient Cities will come from external sources, such as through trading or raiding or outsiders joining your settlement. There might also be some skills gained by experience with local resources and by honing oneâs craft. Migration has been mentioned to have a significant cost, especially as your population grows. This probably means gathering enough resources to survive the journey to a new map. Permanent settlement would be possible after acquiring enough technology to be self- sustainable and defensible, while also increasing the difficulty. Weather and natural disasters will probably play into that greater threat, along with inter-tribal skirmishes.
Not to mention that often mishaps or misfortunes have opened up completely new fields of knowledge 
I think that you have to generate some inovation points over time or if someboby new came to the colonie. Or you meet or clans or something like that. Not only search some materials and push the research button.
On my opinion you donât have to see the research tree or something similar.
Maybe there is a possibility to generate always a new tree based on a pool of techs an encounter how trigger them.
I had a concept for a similar game. There was the idea of ââa backward-looking development path from the target.
Example: Objective 1 is neolitkum. What conditions must be met in order to achieve this goal? How or by what (X) and who (Y) can this happen? What is the condition that XY happens?
It is therefore always necessary for at least one NPC to meet the prerequisites and a developmental stage is reached in order to make the next progress a reality. Buildings are secondary, sometimes means to the purpose, but never the triggering element. Also âresearch pointsâ, ie, the larger the city, the more research points are unrealistic. A small group of people with large amounts of collective knowledge is superior to a backward total population of a country. Innovation does not arise by size, but by curiosity and logic.
Curiosity and logic are therefore the two basic prerequisites that an NPC must have. These features also determine its value within the community. The value increases when it triggers several developments, etc. Keyword: Formation of an intellectual elite.
Ich hatte mal ein Konzept fĂŒr ein Ă€hnliches Spiel. Dort war die Idee, eines vom Ziel aus rĂŒckwĂ€rts gerichteten Entwicklungs-Pfades.
Beispiel: Ziel 1 ist das Neolitkum. Welche Bedingungen mĂŒssen unbedingt erfĂŒllt sein, um dieses Ziel zu erreichen? Wie oder durch was (X) und wen (Y) kann das geschehen? Was ist Voraussetzung, dass XY passiert?
Es ist also immer erforderlich, dass mindestens ein NPC die Voraussetzungen mitbringt und eine Entwicklungsvorstufe erreicht ist, um den nĂ€chsten Fortschritt Wirklichkeit werden zu lassen. GebĂ€ude sind dabei sekundĂ€r, manchmal Mittel zum Zweck aber nie das auslösende Element. Auch âForschungspunkteâ, also, je gröĂer die Stadt, desto mehr Forschungspunkte sind unrealistisch. Eine kleine Gruppe Menschen mit groĂer Menge kollektivem Wissen ist einer rĂŒckstĂ€ndigen Gesamtbevölkerung eines Landes ĂŒberlegen. Innovation entsteht ja nicht durch GröĂe, sondern durch Neugier und Logik.
Neugier und Logik sind also die beiden Grund-Voraussetzungen, die ein NPC haben muĂ. Diese WesenszĂŒge bestimmen auch seinen Wert innerhalb der Gemeischaft. Der Wert nimmt zu, wenn er mehrere Entwicklungen auslöst usw. Stichwort: Bildung einer geistigen Elite.
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Are there going to be massive losses of knowledge as well?
For instance, when invaders destroy everything alien to thier way of life or against thier beliefs?
I gather that citizen-centric already includes hoarded knowledge dying off when the person does.
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⊠in which the time of the âmigration of the peoplesâ (Völkerwanderung 300-700 n.Chr.) should be played. We call it the beginning of the âdark middle ageâ. At this time, this situation happened in Northern Europe. It is interesting that not everything was lost at the same time. Question: Why was something lost at all? Had Roman culture become useless? No longer desirable?
For âbarbariansâ not, o.k., but for the Romans? What was the role of religions, especially Christianity? At this time, there were also several possible interpretations of the âtrue Christianityâ, and it was completely open whether and which would prevail. Was ignorance massively produced?
Could be something like this:
You have an important empire that keep roads safe and commerce running. Cities, even small cities receive funds to build their forums, aqueduct, theatres⊠If you break the empire and roads are no longer safe then mayor commerce is lost. Without commerce people need to return to a subsistence lifestyle, such big structures cannot be built anymore, cannot even be maintained, and local knowledge is eventually lost. It is all about commerce. Ancient religions were not a well of wisdom either, but at least did not propagate the idea of conformity like Christianity does. Not sure if the adoption of Christianity was a cause or a consequence thought.
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We were thinking on this when designing our tech system.
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I would find it exciting if there were many options. The player could then test different game strings. Maybe even re-writing the story known to us today � Probably only at the local level, but then the order of the worlds could look somewhat different. Or a Christianity completely missing � What would have happened in his place? Has it been mere coincidence or did mentality play a role?
Presumably, there are only relatively few decisions by a few individuals that have led the fate and the development of entire peoples into other channels.
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