or Why spend your precious game time researching pottery when you can defend an empire?

There are no shortage of civilization building games out there. Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea, however, is MORE than just another Civilization BUILDING game – it is a Civilization SURVIVAL game – and one with an elegantly built-in, if subtle, TECH TREE.

The Civilization building part is easy. Much like other games you build a Civilization by creating cities and spreading camps and settlements across the map. These help you gain more disks that allow you to create even more cities and take over more territory. Now comes the hard part: holding on to the civilization you have created, and holding on to it in the face of opposing civilizations (any or all of which can be played either by other gamers or the Solitaire Rules for NPCs- Non-Player Civilizations). These civilizations will put you to the test by hurling cards at you that include everything from natural disasters to civil wars and massive invasions. They will also try to bring you down by more direct methods – war (or, as the game calls it, “Competition” – which represents a clash of civilizations through cultural, religious, commercial, political and, of course, military conflict.

To help confront, survive, and triumph over these challenges, your empire has a “tech tree” – but not the kind you find in other games which require you to spend turn after turn grubbing for resources or waiting until some poor soul figures out how to make a pot out of clay.

Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea has its tech-tree built in so you do not have to spend your time and energy on researching pottery, medicine, the wheel, etc. Ancient Civilizations has those built-in. In a game spanning 3,000 years, every civilization is going to eventually progress up the “tech-tree,” as they did historically. Nobody who gained a tech jump had it for long – and certainly not for the centuries that each turn represents.

Your “tech tree” in Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea is three-fold:

-1.  Your Civilization Bonus. Each Civilization has unique bonuses. 

-2  Wonders. There are 7 Wonders, and their bonuses are like “techs” that you build and use.

-3. Cities/Talents/Cards. One-third of the cards help you. Another third can either be used to help you in Competition or discarded to mitigate losses. The final third can either be used to inflict pain on your enemies or discarded to mitigate losses. The more cities you have, the more cards you draw. The more talents (money) you earn, the more cards you draw.  The more cards you have, the more advanced is your civilization, and your technology – as you have more and better options to rule your empire.

The 110 cards in Ancient Civilizations are fairly evenly grouped into three basic categories:

If all 7 Wonders are built, these add:

• Disks  25  (and Remove 5 foes)
• Talents 10
• Cards  10

As gamers we have been seduced into thinking that all Civilizations grow and grow forever; that they always move forward. They do not. They rise, they stumble – and they fall. ALL Civilizations FALL. Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea is all about delaying that fall – and seeing which Civilization holds on the longest, weathers the storm best, – and leaves a lasting legacy that  stands the test of time.

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