Times & Ages

Game setup

Before each game you set the map, its size, the number of nations and city-states, the difficulty, the game length and which victory types apply.

• Random maps: Continents, Pangaea, Archipelago, Inland Sea and Fractal – every map number produces a different world.
• Earth maps: World, Europe, Mediterranean, Africa, Asia, North and South America and Oceania, generated from real coastlines, elevations and rivers. The world map is up to 320 × 181 tiles; nations, resources and natural wonders lie in their real locations.
• Difficulty: Chieftain, Prince, King or Emperor applies to you; every AI opponent gets its own strength.
• Game length: Superfast, Fast, Normal, Slow, Epic or Marathon – roughly 187 to 1,120 turns. The calendar always runs from 4000 BC to AD 2100.
• City-states: none up to 24. They have exactly one city; gifts of gold earn you influence, which drops by 1 every turn.

Cities, culture and growth

• A settler founds a new city – at least 3 tiles away from other cities.
• Every citizen works a tile and eats 2 food. The surplus fills the granary; once it's full, the city grows.
• A new city only uses the first ring of 3 × 3 tiles. From 10 culture the border grows to two tiles, making 21 tiles workable. Cottages grow into hamlets and then villages, pushing the border and catchment area out by one ring.
• Happiness and health limit growth. Temples, theatres, luxury goods, a state religion, aqueducts and fresh water help.
• Every city costs upkeep in gold – the further it is from the capital, the more it costs.
• Golden age: for 8 turns, +25% production, +25% gold and +2 culture in every city. It is triggered by a happy population, a Great Person or the Taj Mahal.

Research, units and combat

Trade is split into research and gold according to your research rate. In the technology tree you pick a goal, even a distant one – the prerequisites are researched in order. The six ages range from antiquity to the modern era.

• Movement: flat terrain costs one movement point, hills, forest and jungle two, roads a third; with railways, up to 12 steps per turn are possible.
• Defence: hills give +25%, forest +50%, fortifying +25%, plus city defences and unit bonuses. Before every attack, a preview shows your chance of winning.
• Experience: every level adds +10% strength. Great Generals give an army +20% strength.
• Armies and fleets move together; when attacking, ranged units and siege weapons fire first.
• Resources matter: late units need oil or aluminium, musketeers and cannons need saltpetre.

Diplomacy, government and religion

• Diplomacy: war, peace, open borders and trading resources, gold, gold per turn and technologies. Ongoing deals last 20 turns at normal game length.
• Defensive pact: if a third party attacks you, your ally automatically joins the war.
• Government: six forms of government from despotism to dictatorship and four economic systems from barter to a planned economy. Switching costs 1–2 turns of anarchy with no research and half gold.
• Religions: seven faiths with a holy city, missionaries and a state religion. Religion affects how other leaders feel about you.

Victory types

Multiplayer

• Hotseat: several players on one PC take their turns one after another.
• LAN play: one player hosts a lobby with chat, the others join via IP. Everyone moves at the same time; the turn ends when everyone is done. If someone loses their connection, the AI takes over their nation.
• Internet hotseat via Clanwirtschaft: the save game lives on the server, and everyone takes their turn when they have time. If you like, you'll get an email when it's your turn. Anyone who doesn't move for 7 days can be skipped – the AI then plays their nation.
• Hotseat by file: after your turn you save a .taazug file and send it to the next player – no server needed.

Controls

Unit orders: F fortify, S sentry, B found city, E explore, G form army, T ranged attack, Space skip. All keys can be freely remapped in the settings.

Ranking and statistics

• Completed games count if you were logged in to the game with your Clanwirtschaft account. Single player, hotseat, LAN and internet hotseat all count the same.
• There is no ELO rating: the ranking is sorted by wins, with ties broken by best score. You appear from your first completed game.
• Only statistics are transmitted – score, technologies, cities, battles, world wonders, Great People. Without an internet connection, the result is saved and reported the next time the program starts.
• Every game gets its own page with the final standings and score history of all nations.
• Your profile shows your win rate, wins by victory type, favourite nation and your achievements – 30 of them, from “Founding Father” to “Titan.”