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[Misterstone]

Those of us who played adv mode before the Z-level update remember all the fun ruins and the like that used to exist in the world map.

What I proposes is that history begins with a "pre-history" phase that lasts say five hundred years.  At this point, people do not hunt megabeasts, they only worship them.  Human, goblin and kobold sites are dominated by huge pagan temple-like structures (like the ruins from adventure mode in early versions of this game) dedicated to a powerful megabeast.  Then, at some point in history, all of these megabeasts run amok and destroy their own cultic areas (they are not threatened at this point, because no one fights back), leaving behind ruins with weird artwork that hints at the megabeast that used to live be worshipped there.  All history from these civilizations is erased, more or less.  These ruined pre-history cultures supply the world with fun places to explore and loot in adventure mode, and perhaps might contain a sleeping or otherwise dormant megabeast guarding a huge pile of loot.

Then the world is re-seeded with more stable, non-beast-worshipping people who build the regular towns, retreats, fortresses, caves, etc. that we recognize now.  From this point on, history is recorded, and the older destroyed sites are either forgotten or remembered in vague legend.

The point being, I miss those wacky old undead infested pyramids, and would love to see them return in some form that meshes well with the current world-gen system!

[Willfor]

See, if that goes in, people are going to want to be able to play in it anyway. Skip the middle man and ask for a possible start up time where people worship megabeasts, and over time rebel against them. We already know how good the RNG is at making worlds where legendary creatures have become fairy tales, all this would take is making the start a little more mythic, and the inclusion of ruins.

Plus it wouldn't stick people with 500 years of prehistory that was so programmed to end in a certain way that it is unchangeable.

[Misterstone]

Good points.  OK then, so don't actually have the game procedurally generate all 500 years, but somehow simulate a period of pre-historical time that takes place before the procedural history business, and scatters ruins (linked to mega-beasts) about.

[Willfor]

That might work better actually, since it would give us some vague hints at what went on before the 10 founding couples of each civilisation emerged.

[SirPenguin]

If anything, I really like the idea of a 'prehistory', resulting in the world genning, but more or less without telling you what's going on. The prehistory would build small towns, have civs, etc., then the game will say, "the sentient races have begun recording their own history", and everything resumes as normal. Makes a little bit more sense than all these places suddenly appearing/being settled in year 1.

[Moron]

I have thought about something similar to this; the 'Age of Myths' seems very mysterious and impressive until you remember that it only lasted 12 years and was less than 50 years ago!

My idea was that maybe in the early period of world creation, time should be measured in centuries or millennia rather than years, with civilized races being generated as civilizations rather than keeping track of individuals, with maybe only megabeasts and a few very famous heroes or founders being named individually.

Then in the Legends pages we would get things like 'sometime in the third millennium, Fiery Dragon-Face burned the city of Wobbledcakes and killed hundreds of humans' rather than getting the exact date and names.

This would reflect events from 'ancient times' being lost in myth and legend rather than being precise historical events.

[umiman]

Yes yes. Agreed with everything Moron said.

[Puzzlemaker]

Yes yes. Agreed with everything Moron said.

*snrt*

[Mephansteras]

A longer age of myths would be nice.

I'm ok with the current system, though. I'd rather have megabeasts last longer so that the age of myth goes on longer, rather then arbitrarily trying to lengthen everything that goes on then.

[Draco18s]

Civs need to expand more slowly and not reproduce so quickly for the first....200 years of world gen or so.  This would allow the Age of Myth to actually last for something that might actually BE an age.