Fertile Crescent

The Bronze Age is brief—and it will not wait for you.
Lead one of twenty-nine ancient peoples from a lone settler to a world-spanning empire in a real-time grand strategy game where history never pauses. Build cities, command armies, control trade and reshape your government—but beware: the reforms that make your realm stronger may also tear it apart.
Rule a people, not a colour on a map 
Choose a nation and inherit its distinct way of life and war. Sparta trains no archers. The Olmec field neither cavalry nor bowmen.
Found your first city where the soil can feed it and the terrain can defend it. Set citizens to work, send labourers to farm, mine and build roads, and survey the land for luxuries still hidden beneath the earth. Raise granaries, libraries, observatories and arsenals as new knowledge transforms what your people can build—and what they can become.
Reform the state—and survive what follows
Rise from a tribal confederation into a kingdom, republic, empire or democracy, unlocking the policies each form of government permits. But those who prospered under the old order will not simply disappear when you sign it away.
Clan chiefs recall their retainers and raise warbands within your borders. A governor seizes his province and walks away. A city invokes an ancient charter. Assemblies deadlock, unrest spreads and reforms stall in the streets.
Every crisis presents two answers—and neither is painless. Disperse the crowds or send mediators. Break the strike or bargain with the guilds. Rule with a heavy hand and enjoy a quiet realm, knowing that when the next transition comes, you may find yourself dangerously short of friends.
March, besiege—and know when to stop
Fight wars without ever stopping the clock. Combine soldiers into armies that are far harder to destroy, but no stronger on the attack, and decide whether concentration is worth the cost. Sever an enemy’s supply line and watch his forces starve in the field. Bring siege engines against fortified walls—or encircle them and wait.
Master navigation, cross the deep sea and carry entire armies to distant shores. Face barbarian hosts that gather against whichever settled power lies closest.
When a city falls, decide its fate: annex it, rule through a puppet, sack it or burn it from the map. Destroy an enemy capital and the empire does not vanish. The throne moves to whatever remains—and its people remember what you did.
Deal with neighbours who deal back
Send delegations, denounce rivals and declare your enemies openly. Forge defensive pacts and alliances capable of dragging entire blocs into wars they never intended to fight.
Undercut competitors in the luxury market or blockade their exports completely. Court the city-states caught between great powers—or conquer them before someone else does. Force defeated rivals to the negotiating table and decide what peace is worth, because wars do not end merely because one side has begun to lose.
Outlast the age
Claim victory in three ways:
Seize every rival’s original capital and dominate the world through conquest.

Reach the Measure of the World and surpass every other civilization through science.

Extend your influence into every surviving court while remaining at peace with them all.

Before history begins, shape the world that will contain it. Choose from twenty map scripts, including Pangaea, Archipelago, Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent; nine map sizes; and up to twenty-three rival civilizations. Independently configure difficulty, game pace, fog of war, barbarians, city-states, ancient ruins and starting treasuries.
Face the age alone—or contest it with as many as twenty-three other players through Steam.
The world will keep moving. The question is whether your civilization can move with it.