Ages

Ages are levels of player progression.

The Spawning Age
In the first age, players will have just spawned for the first time. They will not have any resources and will be given the option to visit the tutorial to learn how to play. They must search for basic resources like Wood, Stone, and Food to begin the next age.

The Stone Age
In the stone age, players have access to basic stone Tools and typically do not settle down to plant crops. Players will use Rafts and sometimes Sailboats to find a more suitable or quiet island to settle. Players may gather in groups or remain isolated, and may congregate around resource deposits. Whether this is friendly or not depends on the community, which will develop as the game progresses.

The Bronze Age
In the Bronze age, players will have gathered Copper and Tin with their stone pickaxe and will be using them to make bronze tools/armor. Players will need a Furnace and Anvil to work the metals, meaning they will have to find a place to set up camp, or perhaps a village. More than likely, players will have a nearby stable crop source. Players will begin the search for Iron and Aluminum. Basic T1 Machines may be available, but only for more advanced players or villages.

The Iron Age
In the iron age, players will have gathered tier 2 resources such as iron and aluminum. Players will likely upgrade their anvil to an iron anvil and gather Coal in preparation for the creation of Steel. At this point, players have access to T2 to T3 basic machinery and will probably have set up a home base. Farming is well underway and may even now be supplemented with the farming machine. Players will likely be searching for Clay to make a Blast Furnace and will be grinding coal into Carbon to create steel in it.

The Steel Age
In the steel age, players will have built the prerequisite machines to create steel and will have made steel tools/weapons/armor. As steel is the most readily-available "top tier" material, this could be considered the final age. The only materials better only spawn in 1 location worldwide, which means...

The Age of Exploration
Now that the players have a stable food source, steel tools and armor, and probably a large boat to travel with, they will begin to leave their (isolated? allied?) villages in search of the rarest minerals in the game: Stahlrot, Vertiron, and Obsidian.

Only players with steel-level tools and smelteries may use these minerals, and each may diversify their collection to provide the maximum benefit, or may set up a strong fortress around a source of a rare mineral, using it to trade for great material wealth.
 * Obsidian armor provides the most armor rating in the game, a total of 20 extra maximum health, and its shields have the highest shield rating.
 * Stahlrot swords and arrowheads deal more damage than any other of their types in the game.
 * Vertiron tools mine faster than any other of their types in the game.

The Age of Machines
Now that the players have everything they want and more, the lucky few who made it to the top will have the freedom to build enormous structures free of worry, fully automate resource production to have basically unlimited resources, and have complex machine networks testing out my MachineLib framework. At this point, the players can be considered to have "beaten" Home, though there will be future updates adding more advanced end-game items for them to discover.

Also, secrets. Lots of secrets.