Iron Age

Iron Age
Habitat	Ancient
Type	Civilization
Generator Stats
Base Cost	Ideas 10,400
Base Production	Ideas 5/sec
Requires	Zero Iron Alphabet
Chronology
Previous	Bronze Age
Next	Middle Ages

"The Age of Empires begins when iron replaces bronze."

The Iron Age is the fourth generator in the game that produces Ideas and the last generator of the Ancient Civilizations. In this age, humans began making tools and weapons from iron, and advanced in agriculture and art (including pottery and beadwork).

Description

"The ability to create tools and weapons made of iron—an abundant ore that's easily smelted—makes bronze obsolete. Elaborate craftsmanship, proto-urban societies, and nominally fortified cities begin to emerge."

Design

The Iron Age icon shows two fighting men with short swords.

Upgrades

The Iron Age has <number of upgrades> upgrades, increasing the generator efficiency with a <total multiplier>x multiplier.

Icon	Name	Description	Cost	Efficiency	Requires
	Military	A growing class of organized, professional warriors serves to defend their homeland and attack others. Advances in weaponry and martial arts allow military aristocracies to rise in power in Europe, Asia, and parts of Africa.	Ideas 12,830	10%	Iron Age
	Iron Tools	As with weapons, iron tools like sickles and plows spread to the working masses. To harden the malleable metal, blacksmiths cast it—they mix it into alloys such as steel—and then temper it in water.	Ideas 13,800	10%	Iron Age
	Government	Governments are systems organized to maintain a state—to make laws and run the affairs of a community, for example. They can take many forms, such as tyranny, monarchy, aristocracy (rule by elites), theocracy, and democracy.	Ideas 21,700	10%	Iron Age
	Government Mints	While the first currencies emerged on an ad-hoc basis, the minting of coins brought them under State control. By directly producing their own money, governments gained a dependable source of wealth and the ability to manipulate their currencies if required.	Ideas 24,150	25%	Government
	Algebra	Babylonians learn to solve math problems with an unknown number—the weight of a stone, for example. Egyptians add a second unknown, and algebra begins a long series of leaps toward becoming the base skill of all mathematics.	Ideas 24,700	50%	10 Iron Age Alphabet
	Gunpowder	One of the earliest known chemical explosives, gunpowder is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate (saltpetre). Saltpetre oxidizes and burns the two fuels, causing gas to rapidly expand and propel solids.	Ideas 29,520	10%	Iron Age
	Fire Arms	BOOM! Starting in 10th-century China, the invention of gunpowder will give rise to fireworks, blasting powder, and guns. Cast iron and brass firearms replace bamboo weapons that shoot bits of metal or arrows.	Ideas 29,800	10%	Gunpowder Crossbow
	Library	Royal, rich, and religious leaders have kept scholarly collections since the days of clay tablets. Romans set up some of the earliest public libraries, stocked with scrolls of knowledge and lore. But, how many people can read Latin? Or even read at all?	Ideas 91,500	20%	Iron Age Alphabet
	Astronomy	We look up to the sky for answers to questions on Earth. By studying celestial bodies, we are able to learn even more about the world we inhabit.	Ideas 126,700	100%	Iron Age Timekeeping
	Magnifying Lens	Used to make small objects look large, or to focus light—the magnifying lens forms the basis for us to see further and better.	Ideas 145,000	33%	Iron Age Glass
	Concrete	Concrete starts with cement, a kiln-fired, limestone mix crushed into powder. Add water and aggregate (stony rubble), and let it cure. After the water is absorbed, concrete hardens into a molded, solid form. It will be the number one building material for two millennia.	Ideas 1,25e8	30%	Iron Age Glass
	Aqueduct	Towns grow into cities, creating a thirst for accessible water. Concrete bridges and clay or metal pipes are engineered to traverse ravines and mountains. By gravity alone, aqueducts transport water for miles. A Roman system will stay in use for 2,000 years.	Ideas 2.46e8	50%	Iron Age Plumbing Concrete
	Crank	A handle turns a rotating shaft, easing laborious chores: spinning fibers and reeling the yarn, processing grain, bellowing a forge, raising buckets of well water, grinding stone. A hand-cranked drill can even bore a tidy hole in the skull for surgery	Ideas 2.00e12	30%	25 Iron Age Screw
	Crossbow	A bow mounted on a stable base is deadlier in range, power, and precision than a handheld bow and arrow. A trigger holds the bowstring in extreme tension and then releases it, propelling a bolt at a snappy speed. Crossbows alter warfare tactics and armor.	Ideas 3.00e14	100%	50 Iron Age Crank
	Catapult	Like an oversized crossbow, this siege weapon ramps up the tension and then lets ballistics fly—stones, bolts, or arrows. In Greece and Rome, catapults and siege towers tip the advantage from high fortress defenders to the attackers below.	Ideas 1.20e15	200%	100 Iron Age Crank
	Parthenon	A treasure and a treasury, the ornate centerpiece of the great Acropolis is also a tribute to Athena, namesake of Athens. The Greeks take marble sculpture to new heights, with detailed battle scenes and stone goddesses draped in seemingly transparent robes.	Ideas 8.00e16	1200000%	Iron Age Glitch: 1.00e7
	Sanitation	We have not yet discovered germs, but we begin to understand that unclean living conditions can make us sick. Keeping water free from waste is a first step toward reducing the spread of infectious diseases. Many other effective health and sanitation measures are centuries away.	Ideas 5.00e20	1000%	Aqueduct Parthenon
	Astronomical Calendar	Charting the cyclical dance of worlds beyond Earth reaches a new height in Greece. The Antikythera, a hand-cranked machine with 30 gears, can pinpoint stars and planets, predict eclipses and phases, track solar and lunar calendar dates, and more.	Ideas 4.00e22	1500%	Timekeeping Astronomy Parthenon
	Iron Sword	Iron bends more easily than bronze, but its abundance and ease of forging puts swords in the hands of the masses. Large armies stage military campaigns across vast territories. The political make-up of continents undergoes rapid changes.	Ideas 9.00e24	2500%	Military Parthenon
	Great Library	What if we collect all the world's knowledge in one place? A copy of everything written? This quest gives rise to the Library of Alexandria, Egypt, with half a million papyrus scrolls, all handscribed. Sadly, not a shred, not even a building stone, will endure.	Ideas 1.20e26	6000000%	Library Augmentations Console 50 Artifact in Augmentations Console
	Nazca Lines	In Peru, Nazca artists draw 300 giant figures, animals, plants, and symbols in the desert. It's easy! Just drag a tool to remove rust-colored sand and expose paler grains below. About 1,300 kilometers of lines in the sand form the collection, best viewed from above.	Ideas 2.00e27	1e7%	Iron Age Cartography Augmentations Console 50 Artifact in Augmentations Console
	Great Wall	Over a period of 2,000 years, from the Qin state to the Ming Dynasty, a barrier rises and will eventually stretch thousands of miles along China's north border. Studded with lookout towers and bastions, one Great Wall unites diverse groups in defense.	Ideas 4.20e28	8e7%	Military Augmentations Console 50 Artifact in Augmentations Console
	Colossus of Rhodes	Towering high over Rhodes, a busy Greek port, the bronze sun god Helios stands for victory and free trade. Despite his powerful stature, the wealthy island suffers repeated attacks. At just 57 years old, Helios tumbles in an earthquake and vanishes with time.	Ideas 8.00e28	7000000%	Nail Darwinium 75 Artifact in Augmentations Console

Achievements

Icon	Name	Description	Requires
	Coin Collection	Coinage made of bronze, silver and gold first appears around 100 BCE in Britain, towards the end of the Iron Age.	25 Iron Age
	Here Comes the Cavalry	It is theorized that the Persian Empire may have been the first civilization to have an armored cavalry, outfitting both their horses and riders in steel armor.	50 Iron Age
	Bogged Down	Preserved mummies dating back to the Iron Age have been found in many bogs throughout Northern Europe. It is thought that these "bog bodies" may have been human sacrifices.	100 Iron Age
	Wattle and Daub	Many Iron Age tribes lived in hill forts: settlements of round earthen huts with thatched roofs that were surrounded by a protective wall.	150 Iron Age
	Metal From the Sky	Evidence has been found that the Ancient Egyptians forged items using meteoric iron, which they may have seen as a gift from celestial gods.	250 Iron Age