Age of Empires but make it Solarpunk

My favorite strategy game re-imagined

While reviewing my journal recently, I uncovered this plan for a solarpunk version of Age of Empires, a civilization-building strategy game I used to play a lot when I was younger. I know nothing about game development, but I spent so many hours on this particular computer game, and when I discovered solarpunk as an aesthetic I knew I wanted to re-imagine this game in a more sustainable way.

Below are the basics, and some new ideas I’ve been thinking through:

• Objectives

  • Build or maintain a population or ecosystem.

  • Establish partnerships with other players.

  • Complete offensive or defensive campaigns.

• Parameters

  • Every Normal game is timed. If your target population survives long enough, you win the game. Sometimes other objectives must be completed, such as regenerating an ecosystem or establishing relations with other players. If these are completed within the time limit, you win the game.

  • If you lose your population or target ecosystem at any point, you lose the game. If the Climate is destabilized, you lose the game. If Quality of Life drops too low for too long, you lose the game. Conquest of other players is also an automatic loss.

• Gameplay & Modes

  • Sandbox: You can choose to toggle off timing. This makes the game a Sandbox, wherein normal parameters do not apply, and you can basically build or destroy however you like. There is no winning or losing a Sandbox. It continues until you choose to delete the file.

  • Normal: You can choose to start from scratch, beginning in the Dark Age with few people and resources like most Normal games in AoE. Advancing through the ages is possible but not necessary. This means you could choose to stay in the “Dark Age” and literally just vibe and explore the map with your crew of 5 Villagers. As long as parameters are met, you’ll win the game. No eternal growth incentive. You could also choose to expand your population, research technologies, and build cities. This gameplay requires careful attention to resource management, unlike AoE where inefficient exploitation of natural resources is the only limiting factor to growth.

• Quality of Life

  • The purpose of growing a population, researching technologies, and building more buildings is not growth for the sake of growth. It's for the quality of life of your people. More people generally means better quality of life — unless the resource balance is disrupted. That's why you always continue researching for effective resource management as you grow.

  • Once you've reached a certain population, you must build a Forum or an Assembly. This is a decision-making organ for your population. If you don't, Quality of Life will rapidly decrease and you will spontaneously lose control of your units. This condition is called “Revolt.” This means units will be selectable, but will not respond to any commands you give them. They may also spontaneously attack other units or buildings. This process can be negated by selecting a Villager who hasn’t Revolted, and having them build a Forum or Assembly. If all Villagers are in Revolt, your units will stop what they’re doing, build their own Assembly, and announce that henceforth they will make their own decisions. Then you lose the game.

  • So what improves Quality of Life? Number of social buildings, such as Houses, Town Centers, Forums/Assemblies, and Galleries (public buildings to display art, play sports, and enjoy performances). Number of economic buildings, such as Mills, Docks, Mining and Lumber camps, and Markets, relative to the number of units working them. Researching technology also improves QoL. The state of the Climate affects QoL as well. If resources are depleted for too long, or if supply oscillates wildly, QoL lowers.

  • Quality of Life is indicated by a green status bar at the top of the screen, similar to the red status bar showing advancement through the ages. It will turn yellow after decreasing by a certain amount, and red when units begin to Revolt.

• Climate & Resources

  • Climate includes natural resources present on the map, as well as a Temperature indicator. If Temperature in most areas increases past a certain point, a pop-up appears that reads “Warning: Too Many Storms.” In Arctic areas, if Temperature decreases past a certain point, a pop-up appears that reads “Warning: Frost Bite.” These warnings signal impending loss of the game.

  • Resources include Food, Wood, Gold, Stone, and Water. Food, Wood, and Water in the game are not static. They can and must be tended as well as harvested. When resources are low, especially if population is high, Quality of Life decreases. If any resource is fully depleted for too long, you lose the game.

  • Food can be acquired by planting Farms, harvesting from Bushes, hunting Wild Animals (like Boar), or keeping Tame Animals (like Sheep). Farms are planted as usual, but require Water instead of Wood. This reverses the relationship between Farms and Forests, wherein the faster you cut down Forests the quicker you can plant Farms. In fact, Forests automatically stabilize the Temperature. Cutting them down usually raises the Temperature, unless you’re in Arctic areas, in which case it lowers the Temperature.

  • Water can be harvested from Wells and rivers. Villagers can build a Well near their Town Center or a Forest to collect Water. They can also harvest Water from rivers directly, or by building a Dock. Research at Docks can increase speed and capacity of Water harvesting.

  • Wood is harvested as usual, but Lumberjacks can also plant Forests. Doing so stabilizes the Temperature, increases nearby Water resources, and attracts wildlife. Gold and Stone deposits are finite as usual.

• Combat Mode

  • What if someone wants to get violent? The ability to militarize will still be an option. “Conquest” is an automatic loss, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be any fighting.

  • Sometimes a player will choose to enter Combat Mode. This is something you have to research. It takes resources and time, just like advancing to a different age, complete with a red progress bar at the top of the screen. In a multi-player game, a player can choose to do this at random and sabotage the group effort at survival. Other players might respond by entering "Combat Mode" as well, training their Villagers to fight, researching military technology, etc. To convert a Villager into a Military Unit, build a Military Building (Barracks, Archery, Stable, Seige Workshop), and garrison a certain number of Villagers inside to turn them into those building’s military units. In Combat Mode, Villagers can also be created at Houses as well as Town Centers.

  • You don't have to enter Combat Mode in order to fight. Just like in regular AoE, Villagers can simply attack other units. However, if you want to have a fighting chance, it might be helpful to research things like "Guerilla Tactics," and you might want technology like "Chemistry" and armor from the Blacksmith just like in the game. You must enter Combat Mode in order to research technologies, but fighting experience itself (measured in number of units involved and time spent fighting) can unlock tactics that can be researched at Town Centers or Castles without entering Combat Mode.

  • You can revert out of Combat Mode. This automatically restores all Military Units to Villagers, and unlocks their advanced capabilities. It also gives you a buyback of Gold and Wood from recycled equipment. So if you switched into Combat Mode to defend against a militarized player, or if you successfully conquered an enemy in a campaign, you don't have to sacrifice all your soldiers, you can just retrain them. Military Units that revert back to Villagers retain their former skill levels at their previous jobs (just like Villagers retain their jobs and resources after being un-garrisoned).

That’s all for now. I’d love to hear in the comments what strategy games you’ve explored, and whether anyone else shares my love for Age of Empires!

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