Progress: Evolution of Technology

Progress: Evolution of Technology is a card game about researching technologies and building a civilization. Each player guides his nation from the earliest signs of human development and learn various technologies, moving progressively to the Middle Ages and the Renaissance until the fist sparks of the Industrial Revolution.

Progress: Evolution of Technology focuses on a single aspect of civilization building, researching technologies that help a society advance.

The technologies are divided into three ages:

• ancient (10000 BCE to 500 CE) – from the invention of the wheel or the development of agriculture
• medieval (500 – 1450 CE) – from the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and beginning of the migrations
• renaissance or early modern (1450 – 1740 CE) – from the invention of the printing press and the formalization of science

They are also divided into three paths or areas:

• culture – focuses on arts and the development of human behavior and values and contains technologies like Burial, Musical Instruments, Opera, Newspapers or Sociology
• engineering – covers the most practical discoveries and advancements in human history, such as Masonry, Cast Iron, Paper, the Steam Engine or the Railroad
• science – focuses on rather abstract developments of humanity, like Mathematics, Astronomy, Cartography, Thermodynamics or Biology

The game play is streamlined, each player take a set number of actions per turn with the ultimate goal in mind, researching technologies to develop his nation and win. The main actions a player may take are:

• research a technology by paying a cost (resulting in discarding one or more cards) or having one or two prerequisite technologies. Each technlogy comes with a specific benefit, thus enhancing the game play or making a step towards victory
• developing a technology in time which translates in setting a tech card aside and letting scientists develop it over 4-5 turns
• draw cards from a common draw deck

Researching a specific technology brings one or more of the following advantages to that player:

• direct victory points which count towards the total needed for victory
• one or two steps up on the three tracks (population, army and prestige) on which players are competing for dominance
• game play enhancement like having more actions, drawing more cards, discounts for technologies, moving to the next age, etc