Bronze Era

WIP Late Bronze Era ~ 1205 BC
New Discord : https://discord.gg/8kA6FDuPyD

This project is a full historical total conversion set during the collapse of the Late Bronze Age, one of the most mysterious and transformative periods in human history.

The mod’s primary goal is to recreate the Mediterranean world during the final decades of the Bronze Age and allow players to experience the destruction of the old world, the survival of collapsing civilizations, and the rise of the Iron Age that would eventually lead to Classical Antiquity.

The mod begins around the final years of the Bronze Age, during the era of:

* collapsing palace kingdoms;
* famine;
* mass migrations;
* economic breakdown;
* civil wars;
* and the devastating raids of the Sea Peoples.

The first 30 years of gameplay are designed to represent the true Bronze Age Collapse:

* ancient powers weaken;
* trade routes fail;
* coastal cities burn;
* migrations destabilize entire regions;
* empires disintegrate.

After this collapse phase, the world slowly transitions into:

* the reconstruction era;
* the spread of Iron Age cultures;
* the rise of new kingdoms and peoples;
* and eventually the foundations of Classical Antiquity around 230 BC.

The long-term evolution of the campaign aims to organically transform the ancient world from:

* Bronze Age palace civilizations
to:
* Iron Age kingdoms
to:
* the recognizable classical civilizations of antiquity.

The initial focus of the mod is the Bronze Age world itself.

Main playable regions:

* the Mediterranean;
* Greece and the Balkans;
* Anatolia;
* the Levant;
* Mesopotamia;
* Egypt;
* parts of Italy;
* and the North African coastline.

These are the major centers of Bronze Age civilization and the heart of the collapse.

The collapse is the central theme of the mod.

Historically, the Late Bronze Age Collapse remains poorly understood.
The exact causes are still debated, but the likely combination includes:

* famine;
* climate crisis;
* trade collapse;
* internal instability;
* migrations from western and northern Europe;
* and the destructive invasions and raids of the Sea Peoples.

The mod seeks to recreate the atmosphere of:

* uncertainty;
* fear;
* instability;
* migration;
* and the end of entire civilizations.

The player should feel that the old world is dying.

At game start, many of the great Bronze Age powers are already weakening:

* the Hittites;
* Mycenaean kingdoms;
* Levantine states;
* and many eastern Mediterranean powers.

Their administrations become unstable.
Their economies rely on fragile trade networks.
Their cities depend on bronze and imported resources.
Their authority weakens under famine and war.

The world is entering a dark age.

A major long-term mechanic of the mod is exploration and maritime colonization.

As the old Bronze Age world collapses and new Iron Age civilizations emerge, maritime powers gain the ability to:

* explore unknown coastlines;
* establish trading outposts;
* found colonies;
* expand naval influence;
* and create entirely new powers across the Mediterranean.

This system is especially important for:

* Phoenician civilizations;
* Greek civilizations;
* and later Mediterranean maritime cultures.

Players will be able to:

* send expeditions;
* establish ports;
* secure trade routes;
* and gradually colonize distant shores.

Over time, these colonies may evolve into major independent civilizations.

Possible examples include:

* Carthage;
* Massalia (Marseille);
* Greek colonies in southern Italy;
* Iberian coastal settlements;
* Black Sea colonies;
* and western Mediterranean trade networks.

The goal is to recreate the transformation of the Mediterranean from:

* a collapsing Bronze Age trade system
into:
* the interconnected colonial and maritime world of Classical Antiquity.

Regions outside the historical Bronze Age sphere are intentionally underdeveloped.

Large parts of:

* western Europe;
* Gaul;
* Germania;
* northern Europe;
* and other peripheral regions

will be represented as:

* tribal;
* decentralized;
* technologically primitive;
* sparsely urbanized;
* or politically fragmented.

Because little is known about many of these societies during the period, the mod uses:

* the oldest available maps;
* archaeological evidence;
* tribal distributions;
* and early historical traces

to populate these regions as plausibly as possible.

The mod is designed around:

* historical atmosphere;
* archaeological plausibility;
* long-term world evolution;
* and civilization transformation.

The goal is not perfect historical certainty.
Many parts of the Bronze Age remain mysterious.

Instead, the objective is to recreate:

* the feeling of the era;
* the collapse of ancient systems;
* and the birth of the ancient world that followed.

The campaign is intended to evolve dynamically over centuries.

Possible transformations include:

* collapse of palace economies;
* migration waves;
* emergence of tribal federations;
* spread of ironworking;
* colonization;
* rise of republics and empires;
* and eventually the appearance of recognizable classical powers.

The player should witness the transformation from:

* Mycenaean Greece
to:
* archaic Greece
to:
* the foundations of the classical Mediterranean.

Rome itself begins as a minor settlement and may eventually rise naturally during the campaign.

Once the Mediterranean and western Europe are completed, future development goals include:

* India;
* China;
* Korea;
* and Ethiopia.

These regions are planned as later major expansions to gradually transform the mod into a truly global ancient world simulation.

This mod is not simply about warfare.
It is about:

* collapse;
* migration;
* survival;
* reconstruction;
* exploration;
* colonization;
* and the birth of a new age.

The player begins in the final years of the Bronze Age and experiences the destruction of one world and the creation of another.