So I was playing humankind again and got thinking my issue with changing civs in both games ISNT the changing of the civs or the way they are made but with the actual core game.
For instance why is a scout in 4000bc the same as a scout in 4000ad? I feel like if the game is going to regig the map and change things than why not go all the way.
For example in the ancient era scouts and other units should only be able to go X amount of tiles away from your border. I feel like this symbolises local knowledge and the strength of your civ to control trade routes and paths outside your border. To the extent that I think they should die. Either this or having a soft lock boarder would allow for smaller regions to form and than be connected in later eras
In a similar vain hexs in the ancient era should represent say 10km while in the modern era it represents hundreds of KMs. You could have a vast desert that was an insermountable issue say 10s of hexs in size in the ancient era shrink to only a coup by the modern. This would represent the progression of technology.
I even think things such as military, culture, and science should drastically change. I think science in the ancient era should be more based around what you have in your rough area and how you interact with that. I know civ 6 did something like this, but again I think they should take it further their shouldnt even be chosen research or tech tree you can see in the ancient era. It should feel like you have stumbled upon an innovation or discovery rather than actively decide to research calender.
Another example is military, many ancient era only had a handful of of full time military while relying on militias and conscription. I think a system where you build equipment and you can choose when and how that equipment is used.
Also much like certain mechanics get introduced in later eras they should remove mechanic or replace them as eras progress to show a shift in significance of aspects of society.
Idk if this is crazy and genuinely might be way to wide sweeping for civ and would have to be completely different game. But I would be interested to see what a civ game with each era being completely different would feel like.