Trees of Technology

The idea is to mix area control/city building with tech trees. You’re basically building your civilization (advancing tech, making discoveries) while building its city or country.

As usual, I first give a short summary of the core idea and mechanism, then a full rulebook for that.

How’d that work?

The whole game is made of hexagonal tiles.
Those tiles show a certain technology at a certain stage. For example: Tools Wood => Tools Stone => Tools Bronze
There’s also a map, which has certain natural resources or special actions on it. (This is probably 2x2 papers big and randomly generated, but you only need one to play forever.)

Here’s the thing.

You may only place tiles next to each other if they’re the same or connected on the technology tree. (In other words, you can only place Tools Bronze next to a Tools Stone tile.)

Furthermore,

You may place as many tiles as you want, as long as they’re all connected. (In other words, you place one GROUP on your turn, not necessarily one tile.)

Each “city” (or “civilization”) begins with the cradle tile, which appears a lot. From that point on, you’ll regularly be playing a nice row/combo of technologies from your hand that succeed each other, claiming a stroke of the map and expanding your civilization.

For maximum interactivity, we’d use something like …

The rule still holds for civilizations from other players! You can build next to them if you share the technology, and you can build over them once connected.

The map helps overcome a lot of difficulties.

Some tiles have requirements (such as “water” or “stone”), which means you can only place them on that tile of the map.
But some tiles also have special actions (such as “you may place ANY technology here” or “you may take a leap of 2”)
(Maybe you’re only allowed to start a civilization in specific spots on the map? Nah, it’s probably not incentivized already to start them willy-nilly.)

The final, specific rules would be something like …

Setup

Print one board. Place it on the table.

Create a facedown, shuffled deck of tiles.

Place 5 tiles faceup next to the board: the market.
Deal each player 5 secret tiles to hold in their hand.

Finally, each player picks a color and receives the 5 civilization tiles for it.

Objective

The game ends as soon as nobody can take a turn anymore. (There are no more tiles to draw, and/or nobody can place anything from their hand.)

Score your civilizations. Highest score wins!

Gameplay

Take clockwise turns until done.

On your turn, either DRAW or PLACE.

Draw

Draw 2 tiles from the deck, or 1 tile from the market. (Whenever tiles are taken from the market, immediately refill to 5.)

Place

Use tiles from your hand to place a technology chain.

You may only place a tile if it’s next to one of the tiles it “requires”. (The previous step on the technology tree.)
You may play as many tiles as you want, as long as they’re all connected.
You may play on top of existing tiles, following the rules above.

The “cradle” tile is the only exception. It can only be placed in an empty location with no neighbors. When you do, you may place your colored TOKEN on it to claim the civilization.

If you play on top of a cradle tile, all its connected tiles are removed from the board. They become a PENALTY for the original owner. (They receive the tiles and place them facedown before them.)

Scoring

At the end of the game, each player scores their claimed civilizations.

Each tile is worth as many points as its technology tier.

There are some special technologies with special scoring/powers. Such “dangerous” technologies might be minus points, perhaps in certain conditions.

Any facedown tile before you (from civilizations that were defeated) is -1 point.

Certain locations on the map also score MINUS points if claimed by your civilization (or you’re adjacent to it) => thematically, this would be “destroying nature” or something

Tiles

Each tile should show …

A clear main illustration (perhaps colored by tier or branch?)
Its requirements (icons, either another tile or on the map)
Its tier in the technology tree.
- This is what allows you to “make a leap” => place ANY tier 5 next to a tier 3 or 4, for example.
- While doubling for scoring.
(A name for the technology?)

Yes, this means tiles need to be a little bigger. The requirements should surely be icons, no text.

The technology tree should be available as a separate paper as well, for reference.

Expansions / More ideas

@IDEA: Those icons on the map are just the same as icons on the tiles. So yes, there might be an actual technology on a certain tile. Or you might build Bronze Tools directly from bronze, no other tile necessary.

@IDEA: Most tiles are or => having one of their requirements is enough. But some tiles might be and: you need all the requirements listed (on the same or adjacent squares).

Leap Tile: this may be placed adjacent to anything within the same tier. (And thus, it can also be used as the requirement for any other technology that’s one tier higher.)

Spy Tile: ??

Trade Tile: if a civilization has the trade technology, it also scores the points of any civilization to which it’s connected.

Notes / Verdict

Should be a GREAT game. Very simple rules, very unique mechanics, nice tension for “when do I place my technologies or do I wait for a longer chain”.

We just need a strong technology tree, that has diversity in tiles and connections, but also makes intuitive sense.
We can even move the aggressive rules (hostile takeovers, placing on top of other players) to expansion/variant.

The idea is to _mix_ area control/city building with _tech trees_. You're basically building your civilization (advancing tech, making discoveries) _while_ building its city or country. As usual, I first give a short summary of the core idea and mechanism, then a full rulebook for that. How'd that work? * The whole game is made of **hexagonal tiles**. * Those tiles show a certain _technology_ at a certain _stage_. For example: Tools Wood => Tools Stone => Tools Bronze * There's also a map, which has certain natural resources or special actions on it. (This is probably 2x2 papers big and randomly generated, but you only need _one_ to play forever.) Here's the thing. > **You may only place tiles next to each other if they're the _same_ or _connected_ on the technology tree.** (In other words, you can only place Tools Bronze _next to_ a Tools Stone tile.) Furthermore, > You may place as many tiles as you want, as long as they're all _connected_. (In other words, you place one GROUP on your turn, not necessarily one tile.) Each "city" (or "civilization") begins with the cradle tile, which appears a lot. From that point on, you'll regularly be playing a nice row/combo of technologies from your hand that succeed each other, claiming a stroke of the map and expanding your civilization. For maximum interactivity, we'd use something like ... > The rule still holds for civilizations from other players! You can build next to them if you share the technology, and you can build _over_ them once connected. The map helps overcome a lot of difficulties. * Some tiles have _requirements_ (such as "water" or "stone"), which means you can only place them on that tile of the map. * But some tiles also have special _actions_ (such as "you may place ANY technology here" or "you may take a leap of 2") * (Maybe you're only allowed to start a civilization in specific spots on the map? Nah, it's probably not incentivized already to start them willy-nilly.) The final, specific rules would be something like ... ## Setup Print one board. Place it on the table. Create a facedown, shuffled deck of tiles. * Place 5 tiles faceup next to the board: the market. * Deal each player 5 secret tiles to hold in their hand. Finally, each player picks a color and receives the 5 civilization tiles for it. ## Objective The game ends as soon as nobody can take a turn anymore. (There are no more tiles to draw, and/or nobody can place anything from their hand.) Score your civilizations. Highest score wins! ## Gameplay Take clockwise turns until done. On your turn, either **DRAW** or **PLACE**. ### Draw Draw 2 tiles from the deck, or 1 tile from the market. (Whenever tiles are taken from the market, immediately refill to 5.) ### Place Use tiles from your hand to place a technology chain. * You may only place a tile if it's next to one of the tiles it "requires". (The previous step on the technology tree.) * You may play as many tiles as you want, as long as they're all connected. * You may play _on top of_ existing tiles, following the rules above. The "cradle" tile is the only exception. It can only be placed in an empty location with no neighbors. When you do, you _may_ place your colored TOKEN on it to claim the civilization. If you play on top of a cradle tile, all its connected tiles are removed from the board. They become a PENALTY for the original owner. (They receive the tiles and place them facedown before them.) ## Scoring At the end of the game, each player scores their claimed civilizations. > Each tile is worth as many points as its **technology tier**. There are some special technologies with special scoring/powers. Such "dangerous" technologies might be minus points, perhaps in certain conditions. Any facedown tile before you (from civilizations that were defeated) is -1 point. Certain locations on the map also score MINUS points if claimed by your civilization (or you're adjacent to it) => thematically, this would be "destroying nature" or something ## Tiles Each tile should show ... * A clear main illustration (perhaps colored by tier or branch?) * Its requirements (icons, either another tile or on the map) * Its **tier** in the technology tree. * This is what allows you to "make a leap" => place ANY tier 5 next to a tier 3 or 4, for example. * While doubling for scoring. * (A name for the technology?) Yes, this means tiles need to be a little bigger. The requirements should surely be **icons**, no text. The technology tree should be available as a separate paper as well, for reference. ## Expansions / More ideas **@IDEA:** Those icons on the map are just the same as icons on the tiles. So yes, there might be an actual _technology_ on a certain tile. Or you might build Bronze Tools directly from bronze, no other tile necessary. **@IDEA:** Most tiles are **or** => having one of their requirements is enough. But some tiles might be **and**: you need _all_ the requirements listed (on the same or adjacent squares). **Leap Tile:** this may be placed adjacent to _anything_ within the same tier. (And thus, it can also be used as the requirement for any other technology that's one tier higher.) **Spy Tile**: ?? **Trade Tile:** if a civilization has the trade technology, it also scores the points of any civilization to which it's connected. ## Notes / Verdict Should be a GREAT game. Very simple rules, very unique mechanics, nice tension for "when do I place my technologies or do I wait for a longer chain". * We just need a strong technology tree, that has diversity in tiles and connections, but also makes intuitive sense. * We can even move the aggressive rules (hostile takeovers, placing on top of other players) to expansion/variant.