Ages and progression
A civilization earns XP for the work it actually does — finishing buildings, completing research, gathering at scale, winning fights — and each age gates the buildings, units and technologies available to you. Advancing is optional: a tall Stone Age city is a legitimate way to play, it is just a narrow one.
XP thresholds
| # | Age | XP required |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stone Age | 0 |
| 2 | Bronze Age | 1,200 |
| 3 | Iron Age | 6,000 |
| 4 | Classical Age | 20,000 |
| 5 | Medieval Age | 60,000 |
| 6 | Renaissance Age | 150,000 |
| 7 | Industrial Age | 400,000 |
| 8 | Modern Age | 1,000,000 |
| 9 | Information Age | 2,500,000 |
| 10 | Future Age | 6,000,000 |
How XP accumulates
Every building carries an XP value awarded on completion, research grants XP per block, and skills level separately from the actions that use them — arborists from felling, miners from stone and ore, hunters and fishers from their own nodes. Because skills gain from real work rather than a menu, the fastest path through the early ages is usually breadth: keep builders, gatherers and scholars all busy instead of stacking one profession.
See how the neighbours scale in NPC civilizations.