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Just as human history has been filled with the so-called Golden Ages, it has had its fair share of Dark Ages as well. While the pop culture understanding of Dark Ages is still stuck in the scientific past - which is to say, they’ve tended to be more isolated occurrences within the confines of specific societies than wide-ranging doomsday scenarios -Civilization 7rocks them in this more accurate style.
You’ll earn Dark Age possibilities via specific gameplay routes, and while these can provide tangible benefits, they come with a degree of setback as well. Read on to learn more!
What Are Dark Ages In Civilization 7?
In Civ 7,Dark Ages are not all-encompassing for a particular era. This is a departure from Civilization 6. It really would not work so well, sinceCivilization 7 truncates eras into thirds, albeit by increasing their relevance, length, and impact dramatically.
Golden Ages and Dark Ages are instead linked to Legacy Cards, which are the selectable cards you’ll earn based upon how manyLegacy Pointsyou racked upduring the prior age when heading into the next.
Thus, there areAntiquity and Exploration Legacy Cards -none exist for the Modern Age, since at least as of this writing,the Modern Age is when the game concludes.
Golden Age Legacy Cards are obtained forcompleting all milestones on a given Legacy Path. This meansCultural,Economic,Military,andScientific.Although you can complete multiple Legacy Paths, you can only select one of these powerful cards when choosing your lineup.
Dark Age Legacy Cardswork as opposites. In order to obtain them,you mustfailto complete any milestones on a given Legacy Path. Therefore, you either need to specifically work to evade one, or else you’ll encounter them if your playstyle is entirely separate from one or more paths.
How Useful Are Dark Ages In Civilization 7?
Dark Age Legacy Cards can besituationallyuseful. Remember that you’realways going to be facing a downside with these. Does the benefit outweigh the dilemma? Truly, it depends on what you’re aiming for in your current file.
Below, we’ve listedevery Dark Age Legacy Card, as well as oursubjective analysis as to whether they’re worth selecting.
No. TheHappiness impact is simply too much to deal with
when you may end up facing anExploration Age Crisisthat hinges upon maintaining
Economic
Yes. This can be surprisingly robust if you intend tosettle Distant Landsin search of
Treasure Fleet resourcesand/orconquest. Mind you, this comes with the caveat that
you need to fulfill an intention to do heaps of warfare, or else you’d be better off devoting
Military
No. No, no, no. If you’re going for amilitary-minded Exploration Age, you’re
farbetter off progressing from a strong-arming Antiquity Age and selecting a civ like Mongolia.
Getting rid of all your settlements just to have a dozen or so units of two specific types doesn’t
strike us as a Legacy Card so much as a challenge run.
Science
Maybe. The tech boosts, whiledecently substantial, come at quite a high cost. Still, if your
civ is especially scientifically middling -Himiko, High Shamanbeing a sterling example -the
boostsmaybe worth the hit just to ensure you don’t fall entirely behind when your Science
Cultural
Yes. As always, this is situational, butif your goal is to amass as many Artifacts as possible
as swiftly as you can, to rush to aCultural Victory, the Influence knockdown isn’t a big
Maybe, as the quarter hit to Culture shouldn’t matter allthatmuch if you want anEconomic Victory.
You only need to progress so far down the Civics Tree, after all. Still, jumping from failing every
Exploration Age Economic Legacy Path milestone to aiming for them all does seem counterintuitive.
Yes. Honestly, the increased Production for military units shouldn’t be much of an issue if yourGold
output in the Modern Age is high enough to simply purchase most of them, andit’s easier to have
a sky-high Gold-per-turn in the Modern Age than in prior eras. If you’re simply playingdefensively,
it will be nice to shore up those defenses with more powerful Commanders. If you’re playingoffensively,
you’ll gain a nice edge over the competition heading into the home stretch.
