Middle Ages

Middle Ages
Habitat	Ancient
Type	Civilization
Generator Stats
Base Cost	Ideas 34,500
Base Production	Ideas 20/sec
Requires	Government Military
Chronology
Previous	Iron Age
Next	Age of Exploration

The Middle Ages is the fifth generator that produces Ideas in the game and the first generator of the Pre-Industrial Civilizations. The Middle Ages took place from the 5th century to 1500 AD.

Description

"In Europe, the Middle Ages span from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the fall of Constantinople 10 centuries later. It's a period of mass migration, population decline, and political instability. But, what's happening elsewhere?"

Design

The Middle Ages icon is a large red leather-bound book.

Upgrades

The Middle Ages have 21 upgrades, increasing the generator efficiency with a 3.8604e+30x multiplier.

Icon	Name	Description	Cost	Efficiency	Requires
	Illuminated Manuscripts	The art of hand-crafting picture books with fancy calligraphy, guilded pages, and colorful inks falls largely into the patient hands of religious scholars. The vellum and parchment tomes will preserve scripture, history, and lore for centuries.	Ideas 68,900	25%	Middle Ages Iron Tools Library
	Fireworks	Explosions aren't just for war and demolition: using gunpowder and colored chemicals, we can create amazing pyrotechnic displays for our own entertainment.	Ideas 69,000	10%	Middle Ages Gunpowder
	Movable Type	Small blocks with Chinese or Korean characters in relief can be arranged in a box, coated with ink, and pressed onto multiple pages in a row. Simply reuse the blocks to form the next page, and the next. The age of publishing begins.	Ideas 89,000	30%	Illuminated Manuscripts
	Organized Religion	Our early myths and legends have become rules used to define our world. From shamans to priests, the structures of religion have become a dominant and powerful presence in society.	Ideas 89,000	20%	Middle Ages
	Paper Money	When carrying around coins becomes too heavy, paper money comes in to fill our wallets more comfortably.	Ideas 91,000	20%	Middle Ages Government Mints
	Feudalism	A powerful upper class owns the land, and peasants farm it. In Europe, feudalism requires serfs to pay homage and pledge fealty to nobles or a monarch. In Japan, a ruling warrior class of shoguns controls daimyó—feudal magnates who own most of the land.	Ideas 115,000	25%	Middle Ages
	Fire Lance	This proto-gun is a bamboo tube strapped to a spear and filled with gunpowder to make a projectile fly. It lacks accuracy and range but creates chaos and fear—a wall of fire, smoke, and noise. China uses its new weapon against Mongols, who adopt the technology.	Ideas 115,450	10%	Middle Ages Fire Arms
	Telescope	The invention of curved lenses leads to telescopes that make distant objects appear close. Sailors can spot land, ships, and storms from afar. Planets and the moon appear as imperfect orbs, while unknown celestial bodies come into focus.	Ideas 135,000	10%	Middle Ages Astronomy Magnifying Lens
	Glasses	Glasses are curved ground lenses mounted in a frame over a person's eyes. They are used for vision correction. No more squinting!	Ideas 175,500	25%	Telescope
	University	Theology schools run by religious orders expand into universities for the study of philosophy, law, medicine, and liberal arts. With robust libraries, they preserve and share knowledge from ancient Greece, Rome, Islam, and other cultures.	Ideas 8.2e8	50%	50 Middle Ages Illuminated Manuscripts
	Castle	In an age of political strife and rapidly advancing weaponry, heavily fortified stone castles replace wooden keeps on earthen mounds They also reflect a growing concentration of wealth, becoming less austere and more ornate over the centuries.	Ideas 9e17	1,500%	Military Feudalism Rapa Nui
	Rapa Nui	On a western Polynesian outpost, also called Easter Island, Rapa Nui carve Maoi out of volcanic stone. The larger-than-life statues embody the spirit of ancestors, with giant heads, torsos, and coral eyes—but no legs. Hundreds of Maoi ring the shoreline, gazing inward.	Ideas 2.2e18	999,900%	Middle Ages Glitch: 1.00e7
	Forge	At the heart of a medieval town is the blacksmith, crafting weapons for hunting or war and tools for farming, cooking, and building. A master trains apprentices, but only the best open their own forges. The very best craft ironwork for churches and castles.	Ideas 1.1e20	2,000%	Middle Ages Rapa Nui
	Observatory	Islamic centers for observing the night sky enter a Golden Age. Meanwhile, in 906 CE, Maya astronomers build El Caracol, a viewing tower with 20 windows for tracking the Sun and stars. The planet Venus, seen as the Sun's twin, merits three windows of its own.	Ideas 3.3e22	2,500%	Astronomy Rapa Nui
	Mechanical Clock	From tracking days and months, time pieces now click the hours. In monasteries, where monks time their prayers, water clocks and candle clocks are replaced by geared machines driven by weights or springs. In the 15th century, a minute hand is added.	Ideas 5e23	3,000%	Astronomical Calendar
	Herbalism	The first medicines were created using plants from our own backyards. Many medications today still use ingredients that are found in the natural world.	Ideas 7e23	200%	Age of Exploration Machu Picchu
	Water Mill	To grind grain on a large scale, natural energy beats animal power. Water mills are the most common choice, with giant wheels to capture an endless supply of hydropower. Beyond millstones, they now run machines for sawing, tanning, forging, and cloth making.	Ideas 6e24	1,600%	Crank
	Wind Mill	Like water mills, windmills capture the power of a natural energy source with every spin but they don't need to be near rivers. Their ingenuity is refining the design and locale to maxmize a flighty power source.	Ideas 3.3e25	2,400%	Water Mill
	Oxford University	When English scholars are banned from the University of Paris in 1167, Oxford flourishes as a leading center of higher learning. Theology, liberal arts, law and medicine anchor the fields of study. Colleges for science, languages, and economics follow.	Ideas 4e27	4.2e7%	University Augmentations Console 100 Artifact in Augmentations Console
	The Silk Road	Ancient Chinese routes and Persia's Royal Road expand into a network connecting Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. Paper, silk, gunpowder, and spices flow west. Livestock, leather, tools, metals, and more flow east. Ideas, beliefs, and knowledge flow freely.	Ideas 2e28	3.3e7%	Paper Money Darwinium 85 Artifact in Augmentations Console
	Himeji Castle	A capstone of the Edo Period in Japan, this feudal complex centers on a steep, six-tiered keep. Three moats, a wall, watch towers, fireproof plaster cladding, booby traps, maze-like narrow passages with samurai poised above... Himeji Castle never falls.	Ideas 6e28	5.2e7%	Castle Augmentations Console 100 Artifact in Augmentations Console

Achievements

Icon	Name	Description	Requires
	Middling at Best	The Middle Ages actually refers to a very long period of history—from about 400 to 1485 AD. Historians generally separate the era into the Early, High, and Late periods.	25 Middle Ages
	Norman Notions	The Norman Conquest of Britain in 1066 introduced many important components of life in the Middle Ages, including the feudal system and stone castles.	50 Middle Ages
	Please Sir, Can I Have Some Moor?	For the better part of six centuries, the Iberian peninsula (modern day Spain and Portugal) was ruled by the Moors, a diverse group that included North Africans, Arabians, and European-born Muslims.	100 Middle Ages
	I'll Toast to That	Beer and ale were the most commonly drunk beverages in the Middle Ages. Water was often contaminated by bacteria and unsafe to drink, while fermented beverages were less likely to cause sickness.	150 Middle Ages
	Happy as a Pig in Clay	The phrase "piggy bank" comes from an old English word, "pygg," which referred to a type of clay used to make jars that would be used to hold coins.	250 Middle Ages