Nations are the main thing this experience simulates. You do not research a tech tree for them by spending a published currency. They discover technologies while they live, and their buildings and ships change with their age, land and culture.
What they do without you
The core description gives this loop:
- People spread across the round world.
- They farm and build towns.
- They discover writing, then gunpowder, then flight.
- They take up religions, trade, betray each other and go to war.
Those are milestones the developer named, not a full age list with dates or costs. Anything between them, such as a stone age or an industrial age, is not published as a separate label.
Past flight
The Beta 2.2 description said history keeps going past the Space Age, and that nations found colonies across the solar system. Beta 2.6 says you can explore other stars and galaxies and meet new peoples. The public text does not name those peoples. Do not treat a fan list of races as the roster.
Read War and the rival god for colonies, fleets and invasions, and the worlds pages for the places themselves.
Buildings and ships
Every building and ship is designed for the people, by their age, land and culture. A coastal nation and an inland nation should not be expected to build the same fleet. A nation that has only farming should not be expected to field the same weapons as a nation that has gunpowder or flight. The game does not publish a catalog of building names or ship classes.
You can still help build or help run a nation. That line is in the core description, so "the people build everything and the player never builds" is too strong. Beta 2.6 is more direct: you can build a home and start your own village. See Live in the world.
How to watch an age change
- Leave at least one nation alone through farming and the first town.
- Look at new buildings and ships when the nation reaches writing, gunpowder or flight. The art is part of the information.
- If two nations meet, expect trade, betrayal or war. You do not have to cause the meeting.
- If you want a different culture, shape the nation with your creed instead of replacing its buildings. See Creed, religion and prayers.
- Use mountains or a flood only when you want to change who can reach whom. See Terrain and disasters.
Done when
You can tell a farming town from a nation that has reached gunpowder or flight by what it builds, and you know Space Age colonies and later stars come from the 2.2 and 2.6 notes rather than from the original sentence about writing, gunpowder and flight.