"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 craftmanship, 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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
File:Iron Age Military.png | 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. | 7,830 | 10% | Iron Age |
File:Iron Age Iron Tools.png | 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. | 13,800 | 10% | Iron Age |
File:Iron Age Government.png | Government | Goverenments 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. | 16,700 | 10% | Iron Age |
File:Iron Age Gunpowder.png | 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. | 19,520 | 10% | Iron Age |
File:Iron Age Algebra.png | 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. | 20,700 | 50% | 10 Iron Age Alphabet |
File:Iron Age Government Mints.png | 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. | 24,150 | 25% | Government |
File:Iron Age Firearms.png | Firearms | 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. | 29,800 | 10% | Gunpowder Crossbow |
File:Iron Age Magnifying Lens.png | 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. | 69,000 | 33% | Iron Age Glass |
File:Iron Age Library.png | 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? | 91,500 | 20% | 10 Iron Age Alphabet |
File:Iron Age Astronomy.png | 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. | 126,700 | 100% | 10 Iron Age Timekeeping |
File:Iron Age Concrete.png | 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. | 1.25e8 | 30% | 25 Iron Age Glass |
File:Iron Age Aqueduct.png | 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. | 2.46e8 | 50% | 50 Iron Age Plumbing Concrete |
File:Iron Age Crank.png | 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 | 2.00e12 | 30% | 25 Iron Age Screw |
File:Iron Age Crossbow.png | 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. | 3.00e14 | 100% | 50 Iron Age Crank |
File:Iron Age Catapult.png | 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. | 1.20e15 | 200% | 100 Iron Age Crank |
File:Parthenon view.png | 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. | 8.00e16 | 1200000% | Iron Age 1.00e7 (unlock) |
File:Iron Age Sanitation.png | 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. | 5.00e20 | 1000% | Aqueduct Parthenon |
File:Iron Age Astronomical Calendar.png | 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. | 4.00e22 | 1500% | Timekeeping Astronomy Parthenon |
File:Iron Age Iron Sword.png | 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. | 9.00e24 | 2500% | Military Parthenon |
File:Great Library view.png | 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. | 1.20e26 | 6000000% | Library 50 Artifact in Augmentations Console |
File:Nazca Lines view.png | 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. | 2.00e27 | 1e7% | Iron Age Cartography 50 Artifact in Augmentations Console |
File:Great Wall view.png | 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. | 4.20e28 | 8e7% | Military 50 Artifact in Augmentations Console |
File:Colossus of Rhodes view.png | 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. | 8.00e28 | 7000000% | Nail 75 Artifact in Augmentations Console |
Achievements[]
Icon | Name | Description | Requires |
---|---|---|---|
File:Achievement Coin Collection.png | 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 |
File:Achievement Here Comes the Cavalry.png | 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 |
File:Achievement Bogged Down.png | 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 |
File:Achievement Wattle and Daub.png | 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 |
File:Achievement Metal From the Sky.png | 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 |
Civilization | |
---|---|
Ancient Civilizations | Stone Age • Neolithic • Bronze Age • Iron Age |
Pre-Industrial Civilizations | Middle Ages • Age of Discovery • Scientific Revolution |
Technological Civilizations | Industrial Revolution • Atomic Age • Information Age • Emergent Age • Singularity |
Colonization of Mars | Rover • Human Expedition • Martian Settlement • Martian Factory • Martian City |