This is the problem with multiplayer in general.  The games all devolve into a race for military techs and conquest.

Sherlock Holmes mode!

lets look at the facts:

With ages:

1. You can't bee line for weapons.

2. Makes the game looonger.

3. Its new so it must be good...right?

4. Encourages more strategy in strategy games. (that sounds really stupid when I say it out loud.)

5. Only 1-2 are real reasons and there really isn't anything this adds more than it takes away.

Without ages:

1. The game can play freely like before.

2. Some people might not like the irritating inconvenience of researching techs they don't want to research. Or waiting for a popup of a useless tech.

3. Not having to suffer from the minority of players trying to research harpoons and PI to fast and thinking they are galactic lords.

4. Number three is a lie to start. No one ever was able to play a purely military game with PI and weapons running around like Dread Lords ignoring everything that make this game strategic!

5. To loosely quote our founding father Benjamin Franklin "Any gaming community that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security in the tech tree will deserve  neither and lose both.”

DARCA.  

1. To Which weapons do you refer. I can research each of the basic weapon systems in the first age and their first upgrade.

2. For military conquest victory this is true. Not sure about the other victory conditions.

3. I'm not seeing how this could be a fact. Rebuttal for the other side "It's old so it's been tried and tested and therefore always better." I wouldn't include this in the fact list from Sherlock Holmes method.

4. I guess this is a boon.

5. What does it take away from the game?

I think the age requirement was to help prevent cross dependencies on their tech trees. Because to do Planetary invasion, I really think that the ability to colonize is an important tech. Also some logistics would be important here as well. Not to mention some zero G construction to help build these large transport ships for military use. Some life-support would be nice to include on these ships as well. Should have the basics of diplomacy to demonstrate that these people should just surrender before you. By my count that would be roughly about half of the first age before you get to the planetary invasion.

1. The game plays more like we played in Gal Civ 2.

2. This can be said of any research tree requirement.

3. ... 4. I was able to play the first by bee-lining to PI and win the game rather quickly in Gal Civ 2. Play a tiny map for yourself. Larger maps this may be true, but tiny maps not so much. Thus, 4. itself would be saying that it wouldn't matter if the age requirement was there or not.

5. What liberty are we giving up? I still have the complete freedom to MOD the game to my liking. Removal of the moddability of the tech tree would yield to loss of freedom.

Conclusion... I don't support either side, but I would like to see some more deeper arguments against the ages at the moment. Otherwise I don't think the devs will change it.

If it bugs you, then mod it and see what happens.  Should be a piece of cake, tech trees are just XML data, right?  There'll be a tag on each tech which tells you which age it belongs to, just change all of them to the same one.  Search and replace FTW.

Oh yeah, make sure to backup your tech trees before trying this at home. 

I now dub you Parrotman! Can I please please please please please call you Parrotman! Jk*

you know MODDING is nice and I like it ALOT. But as testers we are supposed to help with the actual game. And alot of people have openly said they don't like it and others indifferent to it. So it sounds like a open and shut case to me.

DARCA.

The problem I have with this type of speculation is that we have NO idea what is being added or removed for features or functions. Unless it references an issue one of us is having (like a note earlier today that stated the Devs are making any AI moves instant that are covered by FoW), the information given to us on upcoming changes is non-existent.

We know that some things are changing, some removed completely or incorporated into another function/ability, but no indications of what, when, how, or why.

As an Investor (which is what this Founder's program really is, just with future Xpacs and DLC's instead of monetary return), I would expect a bit more transparency with the test group to know where to focus our efforts and what to ignore.

./endrant

Im not strongly in favor of the ages themselves but feel that there should be some impediment to beelining for specific techs

i just imagine these cavemen sitting around a fire communicating in monosyllables and then picking up a disintigration rifle to defend themselves with complete understanding of the weapon. 

...

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Anywho... I guess I might be swayed a bit better on this if there were some restriction on survey rewards being equal to the level of your current tech ability, or even along the lines of your current research path.

(Adding to that, being pounced by "lost" combat ships gets old fairly quickly, especially when you are still trying to reinvent the wheel. It might be better to change that back to a GC2 style +(insert ability/tech here) on the next upgrade of the discovering ship. But I digress...)

It feels like they are trying to implement some sort of armistice during the first "age" (as mentioned) to prevent Zerg attacks. But, as the DE start with weapons, and the a fore mentioned lost combat ships... what's the point?

As the game matures and they release more of the system, it will likely (we hope) balance out better than it is now.

I've basically stayed out of this thread because I don't have any definitive opinion yet. It's too early for me to make a decision because the game is so incomplete, and I haven't played it long enough with the way it is to feel strongly one way or the other. Once we get into the Beta stage where most things are in and I have a few games under my belt with it then I'll feel more able to throw in my .02 on the matter. The jury is still out.

Obviously it can be modded out, but the point of these alpha discussions is to see what works and what doesn't work and what should be in the finished game.

Quoting DARCA1213,

reply 46

I swear Parrotman says he impartial, but with so many people openly against it already he comes across as defending it! (super orgasmic enthusiasm laugh)

it might not be fair for us to move on before we know if the starports are still vulnerable...

Now who's obsessive?

I may appear to be defending it because in order to find a good argument you need somebody on the other field to battle. I tend to take an opposite viewpoint just to see if the opposition has a good argument. Maybe I was opposed to something and realize that I was mistaken, by taking the other viewpoint I learn from both sides and come to a better compromised solution. You'd be surprised how many times I support a side that I do not favor just to learn more. Currently I neither support nor dis-support that side, take it as in D&D neutral, given the balance of arguments I should be on the defending side

Cross tech requirements are nice, but given the current UI it becomes difficult to show the player the cross tree requirement. With the age requirement you are basically enforcing this without showing the arrows. The amount you have to research might be exactly the amount to unlock the other techs given the cross tree requirements.