Ages terminology in Age of Empires Online

[Cheapstake]

They renamed the ages as following: Copper Age, Bronze Age, Silver Age, and Golden Age. Why not call the third age Iron Age?! It would be so much historically correct! It most ancient civilizations, Iron Age followed the Bronze Age as they started making all their weapons out of that superior metal.

[desilva]

I was surprised when they used "Silver" for the third age. I am just glad I am not on the team making this game, because I would try and get as many things historically accurate I might make people mad xD. The thing I loved about the AOE/AOM games was they gave lots of "current" historical information while also they could have some fictional stuff and these games only increased my love of the Ancient and Medieval worlds, I could spend days on end talking about Ancient and Medieval stuff and love every second of it (even if my audience might not xD).

[RyanInt]

I think AOEO staying close to its roots with historical facts we currently know and with the flexibility of myth/legend/lore to keep what started all those years ago going strong today, tomorrow and for future years/generations to come. Other than that and a few other things, I love this game and I thank everyone who has worked and was involved on this game, please keep up the good work and I and many others give our regards.

[AZUL]

I believe they named the Ages similar to what Hesoid did. Although what we see as the Golden Age was for Hesoid the worst age. Hesoid uses a symbolic way of expressing the ages by what was and is still perceived as the value and quality of the metals. The only different age is the Heroic Age because it was a time some tried to redeem humanity, it was neither an improvement of the Bronze Age nor Better than the Iron Age, but it occurred between the two.

[Jessalyn]

Those terms are modern Archaeological and Anthropology terms, they are not historical terms. Hesiod’s Ages are historical. People are often taught about Bronze Age, Iron Age etc, but the reality is that those periods actually occurred at different times for different people. When was the Bronze Age for Mongolia or Britain? When did Iron Age occur? Hesiod’s Ages describe the actually stages of human development. His ages also appear in the Bible and various other literature pre 300AD

[Squibbit]

I know that Copper, Bronze and Iron Age are historical/archaeological terms. Of course they applied to different civilizations at different times, but so do the civilizations in AoEO. The Egyptian campaign takes place earlier in time than the Greek campaign etc. Hesiod’s five ages are mythological terms, though, and definitely wouldn't fit into the game.

[Wyvern]

in the Golden Age people lived a long life, grew very old. Scientist’s today claim that humans are designed to live 150 in optimal conditions. Just because the majority die before 75 in most countries today doesn't mean it was always like that. In fact I suspect they lived up to 200 yrs old during Hesoid Golden Age (Which is probably in the new Stone Age in modern terms).

[ApplePowerPC]

Even then, Hesiod's Ages were based more on Greek mythology than on history. The Golden Age was the age was a different race of men lived peacefully, without worries under the rule of Kronos, the Titan Lord. And the men of the Bronze Age self-destructed in numerous bloody wars and ceased to exist. As for Copper, Bronze, Iron, and Golden, the three first are the terms historians use to describe the advancement of a civilization, its war technology and lifestyle. They named the age according to the dominant material they used the most.

[MacIntel]

This way, the Ages can be used for all civilizations! It could be Greeks, Egyptians, Celts, Persians, Romans, and Chinese or even Norse, they all went through the Copper Age, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age, only at different moments. And that makes sense. In a PvP, you would see "Enemy has reached the Bronze Age!", and say, "his civilization is more advanced than mine!”