Millennia News

Hello, everyone.

I am Ian Fischer of C Prompt Games, back for another chat about Millennia. This Developer Diary was originally intended to present additional detail about the Ages, but we felt like we had already covered that material in prior Diaries.

Instead, since the release date has been announced, I thought it might be fun to talk a little about this stage of the project, our general development approach, and what we have been working on since the demo.

(Also, being honest, I have been too busy to provide any kind of reasonable build notes for the last few updates, so I liked the idea that, for part of this, I could Dev Diary-ize the build notes and correct that problem….)


[h3]Landing the Plane[/h3]

From a theoretical standpoint, finishing a game is pretty straightforward. The typical practice is that you make a schedule with a chunk of time after everything is done and during this time you plan that nobody on the team has anything assigned to them to build. You then use that block of time to have everyone play their game, find and fix bugs, and polish everything as much as you can.

In practice, you almost never get that perfect chunk of time with nothing to do but test and polish. In fact, you can usually tell when the scheduled period of “nothing” has begun because it’s usually the day when you glance at your inbox and see something like this:


But, even though the scheduled chunk of nothing-assigned polish time is often filled with unexpected chaos, there are different flavors of chaos. I don’t want to curse us – we are not done yet – but Millennia has thus far (happily) enjoyed the mild variety in this phase leading up to release.

Compared to earlier phases of development, life for the team is more focused. We know what is going to be in the launch version of the game and we know when it will need to be done, so perspective shifts from more open-ended discussion about new systems or features to increased attention to completion. In the earlier stages, we spent more time in “hey, I had this idea” conversations and those often ended up with someone putting something in the game later that day. Now, those ideas go into our backlog for later so we can remain focused on tying things off.

While it’s always fun to be in a wide-open creative mode, there’s a lot of enjoyment in the current stage too. There are numerous small issues to address, so if you’re the kind of person that likes crossing things off of your list, you get to do a lot of that. And the list dominates too – unlike early stages of development, everyone is now working on specific items on the punchlist.

Another change in this stage is that the game is no longer a secret. Millennia has been shown to players (in this case played by some) and feedback is coming in. Seeing people having fun playing the early builds and the demo of Millennia is really exciting. It is fuel for the team. I think we were the seventh most-played demo at Next Fest and when we started getting notes that began with things like “so, I’ve played 40 hours of the demo and here’s what I think”, we were all happy.


[h3]C Prompt’s Approach[/h3]

Feedback from the demo players is the latest round of feed but not the first. We make fairly extensive use of external playtesters and have had people playing and giving us feed all through the development of Millennia.

C Prompt is rooted in iterative development approaches. In our experience, the best way to make games is to build the minimum needed to get a skeleton of your idea shambling around, then start the loop of playtest -> feedback -> changes -> playtest.

That means we play our games a lot, from very early stages (the earliest testing of Millennia was more or less a green plane filled with red or white cubes labeled things like “GRAPES” and “HOPLITE”). There are a lot of advantages that come from this approach, but it also introduces a few challenges. For example, the act of looking at and changing a game daily alters your perspective of it. After 1000 hours, it takes considerable effort to see your game with the same perspective you had when you started or from the point of view of a new player.

In the same way, teams can develop a shared perspective on things over a period of time, playing and iterating on the game together.

We have always enjoyed being pretty close with players and found it useful for keeping our perspective on our work. Things have certainly changed over the years, but this is something that has always felt like The Way to us. Back on Age of Kings, at a time when you couldn’t put up a build for people to download, we were burning CDs of the game and freaking mailing them to our beta players.

You find some good things that should have been obvious to you by doing this (in early external tests, we found a bug with building Improvements that was immediately obvious to players but had been invisible to us because we all happened to place our Improvements in the same manner) and you get different feedback than what comes out of internal playtest.

Once the game has become public and more people have been able to play through something like the demo or a larger open beta, the amount of feedback you get increases and conversations between players, which are also valuable to development. Part of our plan for the block of time before release is designed with this in mind – we know early players are going to find things we want to polish or fix, so we plan for that when we lay out our schedules.


[h3]From then to Now[/h3]

So, with the above in mind, with the idea that C Prompt’s focus is now on getting things tied off for a good initial release and that some of our tasks are being informed by beta and demo players, I thought what I would do is grab all of the change notes on our internal system from the point where we made the demo build up to the point where I started writing this.

That looks like this:


That’s maybe a little difficult to read. :)

I went through those and did my best to make most of what is in there make some kind of sense to someone not on the team. (I also made some notes in there on any of the changes I remembered being called out by beta or demo players, just because people have said they like knowing about those things).

[h3]It’s a wall of text but, and you can find it all on the forums by clicking here[/h3]

Thanks!

We hope you enjoyed this Developer Diary. If you are a beta or demo player, thanks, we appreciate the feedback – we’re excited about getting the release build of Millennia into your hands. If you’re excited too, please consider wishlisting or Pre-Purchasing Millennia!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1268590/Millennia/

Hello there from Community Ambassador Firefly. Today we're releasing the first of five tutorials on Millennia to help you get to grips with the game and it's mechanics. So lets join JumboPixel and learn about the basics of Millennia!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

If you like that you've seen then you can Pre-Purchase Below.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1268590/Millennia/

Hello there! Your friendly neighborhood Community Manager, Katten here, this time to introduce you to our CONFIRMED release date for Millennia! So, it's time to stock up on refreshments, order the pizza, and mark your calendars for March 26, 2024!

Now, I am sure you are all super excited to see what has changed about the game, or for you newcomers, what the game is all about. Check out this amazing trailer below;
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
With this, Pre-Purchase is now live, with the Base game available for $39.99 and the Premium Edition for $59.99. The Premium Edition includes two skins for early game units as an instant unlock and our two planned upcoming expansions: Ancient Worlds & Atomic Ambitions! Now, don't those two sound like an "Explosive new start"? I now pass the microphone to the Co-Founder of C Prompt Games & Lead Designer of Millennia, Ian Fischer!

[h3]Developer Diary | Ages Part Two[/h3]
Hello, everyone.

This is Ian Fischer from C Prompt Games and today I am taking a break from the post-demo push at C Prompt to present a new Developer Diary for Millennia.

A quick aside on that – the demo went really well for us and we received a lot of feedback and bug reports. We have watched tons of players streaming the game and read comments in forums from all over. What we have not done is post a lot of responses. I apologize for that; we do wish we could engage more and we have been able to be more active in the past. But – right now – we are deep in development and focused on using all the time we have to make the game. We appreciate all of the feed and bugs. Thank you, and please know that we are reading / watching.

Ok, this Developer Diary is part two on Ages. In the first one, we presented an overview of the basic structure of the Ages system and talked about the mainline, historical Ages. Here, we will build on that and cover Variant, Crisis, and Victory Ages.

[h3]A Note on Age Gameplay[/h3]
We have already covered mechanics and vision for the Ages in a few places so I won’t go into great detail here, but I did want to point out a few things about these Ages.

To begin with, Variant and Crisis Ages are not “good” and “bad.” I know that, at first glance, the general structure of one Historical, one Crisis, and one Variant might make it seem that way (especially with one titled “Crisis”), but that isn’t the case. There is no requirement that there be three Ages, one of each type, at every Age advancement possibility, that’s just how the initial set of Ages happened to unfold.

Variant and Crisis Ages also aren’t designed to be “rewards for doing good” and “penalties for doing bad.” Rather, Variant and Crisis Ages are based on the idea of being different. They can be better or worse for individual Nations depending on their position in the game, but you do not get a Variant Age if you’re doing really well and a Crisis Age if you’re getting stomped.

Instead of player performance, what triggers a Variant or Crisis Age is focus – actions (or inactions) in the world. Doing more or less than the “typical” amount of something. For example, when going from Age two to three, if you do more than the typical amount of exploring early you can bring about the Age of Heroes and if you do more than the typical amount of fighting you can bring about the Age of Blood (and if you’re more down the middle, you’ll move to Iron).

This is history changing in response to decisions, not the game trying to reward or punish.

Similarly, Victory Ages are also not arranged with any kind of performance-based “if you do well, you can get this one” structure (they do tend to have entry requirements but these are more a question of where you have focused than how well you have done)and also surface in response to how history develops in the game.

The Age structure overall gives Millennia a way to provide deeper, more focused experiences but this is especially true with the Victory Ages. Since the Victory Age contains the rules that will be used to win, everyone can know and be focused on what is important. There is a shared win condition, which cuts down on “surprise, you lost” endgames.


[h3]Variant, Crisis, and Victory Ages[/h3]
As with the earlier Developer Diary, the following is a tour of the Variant, Crisis, and Victory Ages in Millennia, with some brief notes on each.

Age of Heroes (Variant)
Currently the first possible Variant Age, the Age of Heroes takes inspiration from ancient Greek epics like the Odyssey. You get to develop powerful Hero-Leaders in this Age and send them out to complete Quests, which provide valuable rewards unique to the Age. In addition to allowing for some interesting Quest-focused strategies and Hero-Leader strategies, this Variant is also just fun for players who enjoy early exploration gameplay, as the Quests system refreshes that set of things out there for you to discover.

Age of Blood (Crisis)
Thematically, this Crisis Age imagines a history where warfare was even more widespread than it actually was. From a gameplay perspective, it supports the playstyle of someone who wants less “build up” in their “build up and fight.” Warfare in the early portion of a strategy game can be difficult to justify given the value of keeping your focus on your early expansion, but Blood seeks to make it easier to consider by removing some of the costs. For example, this Age turns off war Unrest, so you don’t have to worry about Unrest growing and hurting your advance. Also, since everyone is and can only be at war during this Age, you don’t have to deal with any diplomatic declarations or concerns about who the enemy might be.

Age of Monuments (Variant)
The Monuments Variant Age explores an alternate history where building ancient megastructures, like the pyramids, became a greater focus for all Nations. This Age presents a number of unique construction options (the monuments) as well as a number of construction-related bonuses that can be valuable long after having moved beyond this Age. This Variant also makes possible the construction of Super Monuments, large undertakings that can provide great boosts to a Region when completed.


Age of Plague (Crisis)
Going back to the notes on Age gameplay, above, the Age of Plague can come about if you “overheat” your expansion. A heavy focus on growing population can produce more workers and rapidly expand an economy, but higher populations also bring about additional Needs. In this case, the Sanitation Need. So, if you focus heavily on population growth but do not also focus on also meeting the Sanitation Need that comes with that, you might drift into the Age of Plague. This presents some new challenges for your booming population, primarily in addressing the outbreaks.


Age of Discovery (Variant)
Discovery explores an alternate history where the drive to cross the oceans and explore is supercharged. The ability to cross deep water and to conduct Expeditions are part of the standard Age progression but Discovery introduces superior naval and scout options and also presents more valuable Expeditions via the Cities of Gold. On any maps with multiple land masses surrounded by deep water, moving into the Age of Discovery can be an “open the floodgates” event.

Age of Intolerance (Crisis)
Once the ability to create or adopt a State Religion is introduced, Intolerance can come about if a Nation fails to meet the Faith Need of its population. This Crisis is something of an amplification of Millennia’s baseline Religion model. Nations with the same Religion normally have a diplomatic bonus and those of differing Religions normally start with a penalty, but during Intolerance, these modifiers are far stronger. Similarly, bonuses and penalties for having your population following your religion are also multiplied. The end result tends to be more pronounced expansion of Religion and conflict during the Age but both this and the content unique to the Age can have a lot of impact in the future, particularly for the importance of Religion (and the tools you have to influence it) in later Ages.

Age of Conquest (Victory)
Conquest presents an alternate history involving early global domination that doesn’t come to an end – an Empire of Cyrus, Alexander, or Genghis that keeps going. This is the first possible Victory Age and, as it comes before the final Age of the game, it is what we call an “offramp Victory Age”. The general intent here is that, if you’re running away with the game, you have a way to win without having to continue hitting “Next Turn” long after you know you’ve won. At the same time, it’s also somewhat of a gamble – you need to be pretty dominant to be able to trigger Conquest and once you do, you’ll be at war with everyone. If you don’t win your fight against the world here, your losses might land you in a less-than-dominant position when the next Age begins.

Age of Heresy (Crisis)
Culture is a valuable resource in the game, both to gain access to Culture Powers and also to support expansion. Your population has a general need for Culture too, and if you don’t provide it, or don’t provide enough of it, they might go looking for it on their own. The Heresy Crisis explores this alternate history, one where cultists are growing in numbers and power, pursuing unknown objectives.


Age of Alchemy (Variant)
This Variant Age lets you explore an alternate history where elements of alchemy are more than pseudoscience. Arcana is introduced in this Age as a Good as are Alchemists, Improvements to make use of the new resources and Goods lines. Signature to the idea of alchemy, this Age treats Gold as a prominent Good and allows a number of ways to obtain it and also to convert it into a wide variety of resources. Many of the Ages involve additions or changes to the economic model but this more extensive in Alchemy.


Age of Aether (Variant)
The Aether Variant Age is inspired by predictions about the future made in the late 1800s. This supposes things like a continuation of steam power and skies above cities filled with flying vehicles. Aether unlocks a number of unique additions that come from this space, including Steam Fighter aircraft, Land Ships, and Improvements operated by automata workers. At the center of all of this is a new resource, Aether, which is (among other things) a different early source of Power.


Age of Ignorance (Crisis)
The Ignorance Crisis is themed after a backlash to industrial and technological advancement. If you focus heavily on Knowledge (which comes to require Education) without providing Education, you can trigger the Age of Ignorance. This Crisis has somewhat different structure than other Ages, with a small number of very expensive Technologies.


Age of Harmony (Victory)
The Harmony Victory Age provides an opportunity for a Religion-focused offramp. If a Nation has managed to get a high percentage of the world population to follow their Religion, the Harmony Victory can trigger and present an opportunity to achieve victory by converting a large majority of the population to one State Religion. Content unlocked in this Age can be valuable even if the a player does not manage to achieve victory – along with additional tools for spreading Religion, Secularism is weakened and delayed by Harmony and can thus help a Nation with a Religion strategy later in the game.

Age of Utopia (Variant)
Utopia is inspired by, as the name says, visions of a Utopian future. Mechanically, Utopia has ties to the Innovation system and a number of rewards surface through Innovation events during this Age. There are a number of unique unlocks that support the Utopia concept but the ability to build underwater cities is probably the most symbolic content of this Age (and the most meaningful change that comes from it, from a strategic perspective).

Age of Dystopia (Crisis)
Something of the mirror of Utopia, Dystopia is inspired by common fears for the future (acid rain, global warming, overpopulation) and is associated with the Chaos system. Mechanically, this Crisis comes about primarily by allowing Chaos levels to grow and stay high and also makes itself felt through unique Chaos events. Riots from an unhappy populace are common during Dystopia and finding ways to deal with them (especially ways that do not add more Chaos to your pile) is an important part of navigating this Age.

Age Generals (Victory)
In a rough sense, the Age of Generals is a Millennia’s equivalent of a World War 2. Like Conquest, it is triggered on having substantially more power than other Nations, but Generals also has a Factional component, so it need not be only one Nation trying to defeat the others. Positioned where it is in the timeline, Generals also features a number of unique unlocks that represent industrialization and military development as a result of the war (which, like many of the other Ages, can have utility later, even if you do not win in a Generals attempt).

Age of Ecology (Variant)
This variant explores an alternate history where human development is more focused on a “mastery over the environment”. As that suggests, there are a number of unique unlocks here that can be provide alternate ways to get Power or to meet population Needs later in the game. Terraforming is also unlocked by Ecology, so if a power called “Flatten Mountain” seems like it could be useful, try a detour through this Age. Investment in Social Fabric is necessary to get into this Age and Ecology offers good opportunities to increase Social Fabric further, making Ecology a good option if you’re planning for a Transcendence Victory.

Age of Visitors (Crisis)
You don’t want me to ruin this one for you, do you? Look, if you send messages into space, be careful, because you don’t always know who is on the other end of that telephone. This Crisis Age lets you find out, as they show up and start doing unkind things to you and your fellow humans.

Age of Archangel (Victory)
One of the final Victory Ages, Archangel is a future where space has been weaponized and orbital lasers, the Archangels, can make an appearance on the battlefield. Technically, the victory condition for this Age is simply having far more population than the other Nations, so you could win without ever firing an Archangel, simply by managing your Regional growth really well. However, you can also increase your relative population by erasing another Nation’s population, so we both know that the lasers are coming out. Archangel is a strong Victory Age option for Nations that have a large population spread out across a high number of Regions.

Age of Transcendence (Victory)
A generally more peaceful way to achieve victory, Transcendence is based on your Social Fabric scales, which you must maximize to win. Much of the content in this Age scales in value based on how well you have built your Nation – the number of Allies you have, the number of Landmarks you’ve discovered, the number of Regions you have with no Unrest – making this a good option for Nations that have invested more in diplomacy and quality of life.

Age of Departure (Victory)
Victory in Departure is achieved by building a Colony Ship and getting off this rock. As the Colony Ship is a very expensive to complete project, Nations with high overall production will likely seek out this Age, which itself offers an array of options for building up substantial Production lines. However, you need to be able to defend your industry too – Nations with less production likely aren’t going to sit around patiently waiting for all of your unprotected factories to finish winning….

Age of Singularity (Victory)
In the end stages of Millennia, there are some technologies that allow Nations to really build up their Knowledge economy. Everyone likes Knowledge, it’s fun to unlock new Technologies. But, there are risks with this. If you go too much, too fast in a rush to get as much Knowledge as possible, the obvious will happen. The “obvious” being that the computers wake up and decide to eradicate humanity. So, as far as “victory” Ages are concerned, this one might seem a little un-victorious in that it produces a powerful, angry, enemy-to-all AI that starts rampaging across the planet. However, the victory condition here is “survive that” and if you have better defenses than the other Nations, it might be the way to go.

[h3]Thanks![/h3]
We hope you have enjoyed this second Developer Diary on Millennia’s Ages. If you like what you have seen (or what you have played in the demo), please consider wishlisting Millennia.

Better yet, Millennia is now available for Pre-Purchase!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1268590/Millennia/

Hello everyone, we ran another community Q&A over on our discord server during Steam NextFest and when the Millennia demo was released.

You did not disappoint and we were overwhelmed with questions, so much so that we couldn't answer them all but the ones we have we've given in depth responses to and don't forget to join our discord server where we'll have giveaways (one on now!) and other activities in the future. :)



[h3]Game Mechanics[/h3]

Will the game have some kind of space race?

Yes, in the Age of Rocketry (and other Age VIII variants) we have a “Space Race” system that comes online once you’ve built a Space Center. There’s a random chance to succeed at each stage of the Space Race, and you can increase your chances by building buildings or spending more resources on each stage, or decrease your chances by taking on side-missions that give bonuses when you complete the Space Race stage. You’ll build satellites, send manned missions, and end with a person on the moon! The first Nation to complete each stage gets a reward and a boost to their Faction score (if they’re in one), especially the first Nation to land a person on the moon (see more about factions below).

Can we rename heroes and can we reshape and change their stories to be different from how they were in real life mythologies and legends?

You can rename your army stacks, but not individual units. When you get a Hero, you can send them on any Quest they meet the requirements for, so if you want to try to tell their story, or any variant of that, you can try your best! - CPG Ben

What kind of system is there behind deciding what kind of innovation events you get? I noticed they are often related to your National Spirit. Are there other things that affect it?

Innovation has two tiers of cards: Generic cards that are always available, but are shuffled to the bottom of your Innovation “deck,” and Age & National Spirit cards that depend on your current Age, and whatever National Spirits you’ve taken so far, which are shuffled and placed above the generic cards. Basically, If you draw “too many” innovation events you’ll run out of the “unique” and “cool” events, and start drawing cards that are more generic (but still helpful). - CPG Ben

[h3]Governments[/h3]

How many different governments are in the game?

Including the starting Tribal Government, there are 10 Governments. One of which is hidden behind a non-historical Age. - CPG Ben

Will there be governments locked behind alternate ages?

Yes (see above) – CPG Ben

[h3]Units[/h3]

Are units from non-playable factions (barbarians, rebels, aliens, …) included in the number of 250 units mentioned in the combat dev diary? Are civilian units included in the number of 250 units mentioned in the combat dev diary?

I’m not sure if 250 is rounding up or down, but in either case, the number of “normal” units vastly outnumber the number of “non-playable” units, and similarly the number of “combatant” units vastly outnumber the number of “non-combatant” units. I also want to mention that many of the “non-playable” units can be earned through National Sprits, Innovations, and Variant Ages. - CPG Ben

What happens to the Heroes when the Age of Heroes ends? Do they disappear, or are they quickly outclassed?

Heroes will stick around until you Retire them, which is similar to disbanding/destroying them, When Retired you’ll earn some Warfare Points based on how much Combat XP the Hero has (which is also earned through completing Quests). This is true for any Leader type unit, they’re removed from their Upgrade Line for their short-term Leader Tactics advantage, then can be retired once they’ve served their purpose and are outclassed by later Age units & leaders. - CPG Ben

[h3]Victory[/h3]

A playstyle I really enjoyed in other strategy games is collecting great works, building national parks and building a strong culture-focused faction to win. Are there similar elements to this in Millennia?

For players who want a different route, you can play a more peaceful long-game. Building into Culture and Diplomacy can be a potent peaceful combo, gaining resource bonuses based on how many allies you can have (as well as abilities to defend yourself based on your allies with certain builds like moving into the Political Science National Spirit), and using culture powers to further evolve and protect your nation.

For purely natural takes, the Naturalists National Spirit gains many long-term benefits to foraging rather than building, and the Age of Ecology allows you to terraform nature to your liking. In later ages, the Social Fabric system is introduced, allowing you to build up passive improvements to your nation that can eventually lead to one of a few ages with great restrictions on war, such as the Age of Utopia or the Victory Age of Transcendence (which can be won by maxing out all of your Social Fabric tracks). Speaking to this specific question, the Age of Transcendence actually lets you build National Parks for landmarks for large regional bonuses. - CPG Hudson

If a victory age begins, is it still possible for the game to advance beyond that age? For example if the guy who started the age is defeated and nobody else has met a victory condition

For the most part, yes. Victory Ages present an alternate history in which one nation threatens some sort of dominance over the world. However, that threat isn't a promise. If any nation researches and enters the next Age before the victory condition is met, then the victory condition is no longer available and history continues into the next standard age.

The exception comes in the form of Final Ages. Final Ages are Victory Ages with no escape except victory or defeat. They only end via the victory condition being met or when there is only one nation left standing—whichever comes first. Due to their inescapable design, Final Ages primarily appear at the end of the game in Age X.

[h3]Diplomacy[/h3]

Could you tell us more about factions?

We’ve talked about Governments in the past (and some of you got to play it in the Steam Next Fest demo we did recently). When nations select their final government in Age VIII, they also join a Faction, shared by all nations that take the same Age VIII Government. For example, if you choose a Communist government, then you automatically join the Communist Faction with all the other Communist nations.

Once you join a faction, you gain a new regional need for Ideology. Ideology also accumulates over time for your Faction, when your Faction generates enough Ideology, all members unlock extra bonuses, such as buffs, special units, or powers.

So while nations do not need to be allied or even at peace with other members of their Faction, players might not want to target faction members first. After all, every member nation destroyed means less Ideology generated for your Faction. At least until all Faction rewards are unlocked… - CPG Hudson

[h3]Religion[/h3]

Could you tell us more about how religion will work and spread?
AND
How major is religion as a mechanic in Millennia? Do different religions offer unique bonuses or are they more aesthetic based?
AND
How will religion be modeled in Millennia? The Theologian video mentioned something called Faith, but it doesn't seem to be a Domain and hasn't been mentioned elsewhere, so I'm not sure what it is.

There’s a lot to Religion in Millennia, so pardon the lengthy answer…

Religion is first introduced in Age IV as an optional mechanic (at least at first). Players can use a Culture Power to found a new religion, or—if another nation’s religion already has gained influence in one of your capital regions—players can choose to adopt the religion instead using an Arts Domain Power.

The regional capital where the religion was founded becomes the Religious Birthplace; if another nation takes control of a religious birthplace, that religion becomes theirs to control. The Crusaders National Spirit is especially built for taking over Religious Birthplaces, for example.

To the point, each population in each region can follow a different religion, and for each population that follows your religion, in any nation’s regions, you gain extra Culture. Once you have a Religion, your region has a new regional need for Faith and you have access to buildings and powers to generate Faith. The more you meet your Faith need, the faster nearby populations convert, spreading your Religion to other regions. Regions with more than one religious following can cause Unrest in that region, but in the end, the religion with the most Faith, and with clever usage of Arts Domain Powers, will garner the most religious followers and Culture bonus.

Once Age VII dawns, a new wrinkle is introduced. Secularism begins to form and grow in power, blocking the formation of new religions and acting as a natural pressure against religious complacency. To prevent populations from leaving your religion to become secular, you must keep improving your Faith output to match.

Play Religion well, and you might be able to achieve a religious victory in the Victory Age of Harmony. Fail to meet your Faith Need, and you may fall into the Crisis Age of Intolerance. - CPG Hudson

I noticed that in a few screenshots we can choose between monotheism and polytheism. Once we choose one will there be events that help us decide on religion?
When you found a religion, you choose the name of the religion, the name of its religious buildings (temples, churches, etc.), and an icon for the religion from a list of options. Monotheism and Polytheism are some of the default options. There is no starting difference between religions. However, certain National Spirits, Governments, and Buildings can affect how your religion and Faith grows and spreads. - CPG Hudson

[h3]National Spirits[/h3]

After public feedback, you renamed the National Spirit "Spartans" to "Warriors", for which we thank you! But for some reason it's unique unit is still called the Spartan, making the name change feel a bit pointless. What was the reasoning behind that?

The premise of National Spirits is that these represent traits that any nation could have picked up, and allow you to customize your nation by picking any one of these. Having "generic" names for the NS helps players feel comfortable doing that, plus we had a lot of "generic" names and Spartans (and a few others) stood out as being too specific. The actual Unit "Spartan" on the other hand is something we wanted to include to allow players to enjoy playing with real historical units and themes, so like with the Shogunate NS, you get the Samurai. We might have called these "Warriors" or something equally generic, but having Samurai & Spartans is cool. - CPG Ben

[h3]Research[/h3]

Have there been any thoughts about having certain buffs for nations that spec in to one area that get thrown into an era not suited for them?

Starting buffs for nations are intended to be small bonuses that nudge a nation in a particular direction during the early ages of the game (Stone, Bronze, etc.). These buffs are not powerful enough to have any real synergy with certain ages over others. – CPG Jack

Certain National Spirits can indeed combo well with the different ages (Raiders can easily pull players into Age of Blood for instance). However, players can choose any national spirit and still perform well during any age. For example players may choose Naturalists aiming for a peaceful playthrough but end up in the Age of Blood due to another nation surging ahead in research. Players can leverage forest tiles within their territory for defensive bonuses, move through all forest tiles faster for better unit maneuverability, and leverage the culture gain from forest tiles to raise more armies.

With 8 techs per age from age 7 onward, will there be more than 3 techs required to advance to the next age in the later ages?

Yes at the halfway point of the game upon entering the 6th age players will need to research 4 technologies to advance. – CPG Jack

[h3]Ages[/h3]

If you qualify for multiple variant ages, do you get to choose which one to advance or will you be locked into one?

If the player is the tech leader and they qualify for multiple variant ages then they can choose which variant age to advance to. The player who enters any age first is rewarded an additional 10 Innovation points.

If the player qualifies for a crisis age, then they will be locked in and cannot choose a different age.

As soon as any nation advances from one age to the next this locks the timeline for all nations within the game. So if the player qualifies for Age of Plague they are locked in, but in an effort to avoid the crisis the player could continue to stay within Age of Iron and wait for another nation to take the tech lead and enter into Age of Kings. This would set the timeline and overrule the possibility of going into Age of Plague. – CPG Jack

How do alternate ages influence the game after they’ve passed. Are there any lingering effects, cosmetic or otherwise, that derive from alternate / crisis age?

Alternate ages can greatly influence the course of a single game. Age of Monuments, for example, has a focus on building special tile improvements. These tile improvements can last the entire game providing unique yields and add to a player’s domain XP pool. – CPG Jack

What incentive do I have to be the first person to advance to the next age?

Players have a natural incentive in the form of having a high knowledge and tech advantage against other factions. Some ages also have special mechanics involving the player that sets the next age. – CPG Jack

[h3]Tile Improvements[/h3]

Will there be mid/late game benefits to keeping land without improvements such as having national parks or nature reserves? If so, would they affect pollution or age prerequisites for Age of Ecology?

After using Naturalists within the early ages there will not be much advantage to keeping unimproved tiles. We want players to engage with the deep economy systems that stem from building improvements and goods chains. Concepts such as fossil fuels, pollution, and green energy are represented within the later ages through the tile improvement system. – CPG Jack

I saw in the videos that the number of improvements by age 3 became very large. Will there be ways to keep track of What improvements to build and such?

There is! On every region there is a small hammer and wrench icon that represents the Build Helper menu (located just below what the region is actively producing). This user interface can be sorted by the desired resources such as Food, Sanitation, Power, Production, Improvement Points, Culture, and more. The build helper will display a list of goods, improvements, and capital buildings the player might want to build.

Players can also see what improvements they have built within their region on the Workers tab within the Region menu. This is where the player can organize which improvements a region’s workers work as well. – CPG Jack

[h3]Economy[/h3]

Are there any goods that require two different inputs to create? Afaik all the goods we have seen so far just require one input good to one output good

There are no good which require two distinct inputs to create. There are some goods, such as flour, which take more than one possible input good (in this case, wheat, rice, or maize). – CPG David

How much does adding a town, after the start of the game, increase resources by? Towns might be a powerful development early on; I think.

Towns are very important for territorial development in Millennia. The math is a little opaque, but they greatly enhance a region’s propensity to expand. This is especially true early on before the player has a chance to build an influence building in a region. They also quickly increase the region level of a given region, which unlocks more and higher quality buildings. Another thing towns to that a lot of players tend to miss, is to increase the effective output of nearby improvements vis specialization. The effect of which strengthens as the game progresses. – CPG David

Do Rivers offer any bonus/benefit gamewise?

Yes! Some improvements get a production bonus near rivers, such as farms and plantations. They also provide combat defense bonuses that the player can use to their advantage. Plus who doesn't love the little bridges. – CPG David

[h3]Minor Nations & Vassals[/h3]

What is the difference between outpost and vassal cities, when would you want to use one over the other?

Vassals are Regions you don’t manage, they send you a tribute of resources each turn based on their prosperity and population. They require a settler or an envoy to make, and take time to get up to speed. You’re unable to move them and they cannot gather Goods for you directly, but require little management and can be grown to be quite a useful asset. I’d go into more detail, but I’ll leave that to some other answers.

Outposts, meanwhile, are more mobile and have multiple uses. If there is a Good that you want but is far from your borders, you can send a Pioneer to that location to build an Outpost. Outposts have special improvements that can only be placed in their borders, such as Trade Posts, that collect Goods and send them back to your region. This lets you gather without having to set up a settlement there. Change your mind or see trouble coming? Pack up camp and turn the Outpost back into a Pioneer to move locations. Outposts can also be specialized to generate unique goods or be able to defend itself, and their unique Improvements can be quite potent due to the extra setup. Outposts also create roads to nearby settlements. This can help you cut through rougher terrain if you send a forward Pioneer to set up an outpost first, or you can place it near an enemy border to help you enter their region faster.

Getting a bit more clever with it, Outposts are useful in war since they count as your territory, and thus heal units stationed there. Placing one as a forward base when attacking another nation can help one wave of units recover while others attack. Outposts also temporarily claim territory. So they can be placed near an enemy’s borders to prevent their border from expanding until they come and take your outpost. A sure-fire way to start hostilities, but useful if you want to slow or prevent a nation’s spread toward you. Finally, if you have an open town slot in a region adjacent to an outpost, you can use the “Absorb Outpost” Culture Power to turn it into a Level 2 Town, including claiming all the territory they had. Territory can be extremely useful for growing your nation, so instantly gaining 6 territory hexes and a town can be a huge boon. – CPG Hudson

How does vassal prosperity work? Is 300% prosperity 300% yields?

Vassalized Territories start with a baseline Prosperity of 100%. This, multiplied by their Population, determines how big of a tribute they send to you each turn—a portion of the resources they would otherwise be working on. This tribute starts out small, but as the vassal grows, these numbers can be quite large as a vassal’s population and prosperity grows. Prosperity can be increased further by sending Merchant Units to trade with vassals, using certain Arts Domain Powers, or through certain National Spirit Ideals.

Prosperity is initially capped at 300% per Vassal. However, periodically throughout the game, there are technologies and Ideals that increase the Prosperity cap. With a solid wide setup, your vassals can passively send you sizable tributes by mid-late game without putting as much of a drain on your resources and requiring turn-by-turn management like full Capital Regions might. – CPG Hudson

Why does the income you get from Vassals depend on a combination of Prosperity and Population, instead of giving a percentage (based on Prosperity) of the actual yields the region produces?

Vassalized Territories are, foremost, regions of their own. You don’t directly manage them, but they do manage themselves. That means that they forage for resources, grow over time, and eventually even build their own improvements. While Prosperity is a simplified metric for many of the more complex systems of Millennia, Population affects their income/tribute in basically the same way it does in your Regions. So as a Vassal grows, it can naturally work and produce more resources.

More mechanically, Prosperity can only be improved by the player, while Population mostly comes over time. This encourages holding Vassals for extended periods, rather than building and forgetting entirely. You see, Vassals are often easy targets in war. They’re often less defend and usually held by “wide” nations—a nation with many smaller regions rather than fewer, bigger regions (known as “tall”). A long-held vassal is more valuable than a new one, and you can’t just make another vassal and get to that point immediately again. There are technically some Ideals and Powers in the mid and late game that can help you increase a vassal’s population, but you can’t re-build a fallen, vassalized Rome in a day. – CPG Hudson

Hello everyone!

On behalf of the whole Millennia team we'd like to thank everyone who tried out the game and made us one of the most played demos of Steam NextFest!

We're very happy to tell you that by popular demand we're extending the Demo again a whole week till 19th February 17:00 CET!

Enjoy one more week of Heroic Quests, Bloodly Conquests and also the chance to enter our giveaway which we're extending till the 19th as well.



For a chance to win a Fancy Paradox Mug simply enjoy the demo and post a screenshot of your nation at turn sixty on our discord in the giveaway section.