Episode 297: Civolution

Alright, listen up, Future Gods and Goddesses. I know it’s 9 AM on a Tuesday, and the coffee hasn't kicked in, but forget that sociology lecture. We’re here to talk about your real future: passing the most crucial exam in the cosmos— the Civolution.

In this game, you are not just a player; you are a local deity, closely bound to your civilization, competing against others to lead your people to success. This entire competition is framed as an exam conducted by the Technical Academy of Creation. Your goal is straightforward: amass the most Success Points over four eras to ascend to the next level of creation.

How do you ascend in Civolution? By mastering your Console—your civilization’s command center. The game is played over four eras, but everything important happens in the Action Phase (Phase 4).

On your turn in Civolution, you must activate one of your modules by spending exactly two Activation Dice. These dice must match the required values printed on the module itself. This is where your mastery comes in: If you don't have the right values, you can spend Idea Markers to increase or decrease the value of a die, giving you control over which action you take. When you run out of dice, you perform a Reset to retrieve them and continue evolving.

These module actions are how your Civolution civilization progresses:

1. Population & Expansion: You’ll use the Migration module to move your strong tribes across the continent, developing new territories. You'll use Procreation to grow your population.

2. Infrastructure & Economy: Modules like Production and Transport let you gather Raw Materials from the continent and bring them to your storage for use. The Building module allows you to erect critical structures like Farms, Settlements, and Statues.

3. Knowledge & Progress: The Research, Invention, and Mutation modules allow you to install specialized Research Cards and Goal Chips into your Stage Partition (the vertical slots on your console). This partition tracks your technological and cultural progress and is vital for end-game scoring. Installing cards lets you advance on the 5 Progress Tracks—like Technology, Culture, and Prestige.

Each era in Civolution is unpredictable! Before the Action Phase, you reveal an Event Card which dictates how the weather might shift (Hot or Cold) and what global event might occur later in the era.

Finally, the victory condition in Civolution: Success points are gained throughout the game. At the end of each era, a random category is scored. But the real test is the Final Scoring after the fourth era. You are scored on 9 Scoring Categories—including Evolution, Prosperity, Population, and Expansion—along with the specific chips and cards you successfully installed in your Console's Stage Partition.

Master the modules, control the dice, adapt to chaotic conditions, and prove you can lead your civilization to glory. Pass this exam, and you earn your place among the cosmos in Civolution from Stefan Feld.