This'll be a long discussion, but let me begin by saying that the vanilla tech rates are ridiculously wrong and most people will probably agree with me on that. Two things I wanna bring up; China and its neighbours advance too slowly and don't start out with an advantage as they should. Japan was pretty much ahead of Europe throughout the middle ages, let alone China. Europe only started catching up when they invented gunpowder, and even then they would only have a military tech advantage. (I realise China invented gunpowder first, but they didn't utilise it like the Europeans did).
Secondly, somebody brought this up a while back and it's basically that India should have the same rates of technology advancement as Europe, not sure I agree with that but it's certainly open for debate.
Third and most important thing is Native American civilisation and how it's presented in the game. Let's talk about that.
Historian sources claim that North American natives had large cities and were quite civilised, and that they only started living nomadic lives when the plague hit.
There is also evidence to support that the Incas were close to discovering gunpowder themselves before the Europeans arrived.
Another oddball or borderline case would be the Chumash culture from the neighbourhood of modern day Santa Barbara and Goleta, CA. They supported population densities similar to large European cites of the time though they didn't have the level of civic infrastructure or (it seems) task specialization that you would usually associate with a "city".
Here's something I found yesterday:
"Cahokia was the largest and most influential urban settlement in the Mississippian culture which developed advanced societies across much of what is now the Southeastern United States, beginning more than 500 years before European contact. Cahokia's population at its peak in the 1200s was as large as, or larger than, any European city of that time, and its ancient population would not be surpassed by any city in the United States until about the year 1800. Today, Cahokia Mounds is considered the largest and most complex archaeological site north of the great Pre-Columbian cities in Mexico."
Yet this is nowhere to be found in the game, not even a hint.
"Between AD 900 and 1150, Chaco Canyon was a major center of culture for the Ancient Pueblo Peoples. Chacoans quarried sandstone blocks and hauled timber from great distances, assembling fifteen major complexes which remained the largest buildings in North America until the 19th century. Evidence of archaeoastronomy at Chaco has been proposed, with the "Sun Dagger" petroglyph at Fajada Butte a popular example. Many Chacoan buildings may have been aligned to capture the solar and lunar cycles, requiring generations of astronomical observations and centuries of skilfully coordinated construction"
Still think they were mindless barbarians?
So here's the current tech rates I'm using, I can assure you that they're far from accurate but it's what I'm rolling with for now.
Western - StrtLvl 3 Modifier 0
Eastern - StrtLvl 3 Modifier 0.10 (110%) <-- equal at the start but slows down eventually.
Ottoman - StrtLvl 4 Modifier 0.10 (110%)
Muslim - StrtLvl 5 Modifier 0.15 (115%) <-- muslim countries are usually large and 15% more expensive tech won't slow them down for the first 200-300 years in the game.
Indian - StrtLvl 4 Modifier 0.15 (115%)
Chinese - StrtLvl 6 Modifier 0.10 (110%) <-- for balance reasons 120% or above would be necessary. perhaps even toning down start level to 5.
Nomad - StrtLvl 4 Modifier 0.30 (130%) <-- power +1
Sub-Saharan - StrtLvl 3 Modifier 0.30 (130%) <-- Both mali and songhay empires were quite advanced, and let's not forget Ethiopia.
North American - StrtLvl 2 Modifier 0.40 (140%)
Mesoamerican - StrtLvl 3 Modifier 0.35 (135%)
South American - StrtLvl 3 Modifier 0.35 (135%)
More info will be added.
Secondly, somebody brought this up a while back and it's basically that India should have the same rates of technology advancement as Europe, not sure I agree with that but it's certainly open for debate.
Third and most important thing is Native American civilisation and how it's presented in the game. Let's talk about that.
Historian sources claim that North American natives had large cities and were quite civilised, and that they only started living nomadic lives when the plague hit.
There is also evidence to support that the Incas were close to discovering gunpowder themselves before the Europeans arrived.
Another oddball or borderline case would be the Chumash culture from the neighbourhood of modern day Santa Barbara and Goleta, CA. They supported population densities similar to large European cites of the time though they didn't have the level of civic infrastructure or (it seems) task specialization that you would usually associate with a "city".
Here's something I found yesterday:
"Cahokia was the largest and most influential urban settlement in the Mississippian culture which developed advanced societies across much of what is now the Southeastern United States, beginning more than 500 years before European contact. Cahokia's population at its peak in the 1200s was as large as, or larger than, any European city of that time, and its ancient population would not be surpassed by any city in the United States until about the year 1800. Today, Cahokia Mounds is considered the largest and most complex archaeological site north of the great Pre-Columbian cities in Mexico."
Yet this is nowhere to be found in the game, not even a hint.
"Between AD 900 and 1150, Chaco Canyon was a major center of culture for the Ancient Pueblo Peoples. Chacoans quarried sandstone blocks and hauled timber from great distances, assembling fifteen major complexes which remained the largest buildings in North America until the 19th century. Evidence of archaeoastronomy at Chaco has been proposed, with the "Sun Dagger" petroglyph at Fajada Butte a popular example. Many Chacoan buildings may have been aligned to capture the solar and lunar cycles, requiring generations of astronomical observations and centuries of skilfully coordinated construction"
Still think they were mindless barbarians?
So here's the current tech rates I'm using, I can assure you that they're far from accurate but it's what I'm rolling with for now.
Western - StrtLvl 3 Modifier 0
Eastern - StrtLvl 3 Modifier 0.10 (110%) <-- equal at the start but slows down eventually.
Ottoman - StrtLvl 4 Modifier 0.10 (110%)
Muslim - StrtLvl 5 Modifier 0.15 (115%) <-- muslim countries are usually large and 15% more expensive tech won't slow them down for the first 200-300 years in the game.
Indian - StrtLvl 4 Modifier 0.15 (115%)
Chinese - StrtLvl 6 Modifier 0.10 (110%) <-- for balance reasons 120% or above would be necessary. perhaps even toning down start level to 5.
Nomad - StrtLvl 4 Modifier 0.30 (130%) <-- power +1
Sub-Saharan - StrtLvl 3 Modifier 0.30 (130%) <-- Both mali and songhay empires were quite advanced, and let's not forget Ethiopia.
North American - StrtLvl 2 Modifier 0.40 (140%)
Mesoamerican - StrtLvl 3 Modifier 0.35 (135%)
South American - StrtLvl 3 Modifier 0.35 (135%)
More info will be added.
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