Epoch explorer

Epoch 240

The formal 2026 Crucible study spans 240 archived research epochs across four projects and an Epilogue. Each epoch that avoided extinction events lasted either 40,000 or 80,000 pulses. A pulse can be thought of like a year for conceptual purposes, but is not directly comparable. The 40k epochs started with varying numbers of tribes from 1 to 22, each with 20 agents. A typical epoch would see over 4.5 billion interactions between agents, 8.32 million births and 8.26 million deaths.

Select epoch

DATABASE_LINK: ONLINE

Project Phase / set Epoch

Epilogue Final Climate-Reservoir Projection Epoch range 231–240

Selected phase Epilogue Final Climate-Reservoir Projection Epoch range 231–240

Population arc

Founder population240

Peak population1,550,764

Pulse 31,000

Final population26

Pulse 80,000

Life cycle totals

Successful births5,705,015

Total deaths5,705,469

Failed births621,435

Deaths include old age, starvation, and hazard mortality.

Tribe survival

Founding tribes12

Surviving tribes2

Survivor population26

The Obsidian Phalanx Refuge G3 (15) | Ares (11)

Epoch heat maps

REGIONAL_SURFACE

LOADING_MAP_CACHE

Foraging Agrarian Industrial Technological

Band key 1–1010–5050–100100–500500–1k1k–2k2k–5k5k–10k10k+

Population by regime

Total population —

Foraging —

Agrarian —

Industrial —

Technological —

Active land by regime

— regions

Foraging—

Agrarian—

Industrial—

Technological—

Urban / rural split

Population share —

Rural — Urban —

Inhabited land share —

Rural — Urban —

Urban means 1,000 or more agents in a region at the selected pulse.

Settlement footprint

Inhabited regions—

Empty active regions—

Largest region—

Average inhabited region—

Population tab lower graphs

Pulse-linked system traces

These graphs share the heat-map pulse. Drag the map slider, press play, or click a graph to inspect the same pulse across the population surface and the lower trend views.

Visible window LOADING_SERIES

PULSE_00000

Selected pulse—

Visible range—

Population—

Energy—

Complexity—

Gini—

Historical event rail —

Competition trajectory

Tribal population trajectories

Top lines use full tribe colors; smaller/extinct tribes fade automatically.

Macro trends

Total population vs total energy

Population on the left axis; energy on the right axis.

Complexity trends

Global complexity

Organization, regime pressure, and system complexity over the selected pulse range.

Wealth disparity

Systemic Gini coefficient

0 means equal distribution; 1 means maximum concentration.

LOADING_BEHAVIOUR

Quiet Cooperative Exploitative Scarcity / defect Xeno contact Same-tribe Civic integration

Regional behavioural pressure uses archived regional context and same-pulse PD/contact metrics.

Dominant behavioural pressure

Dominant map state—

Active behaviour regions—

Contact regions—

Largest active region—

PD outcome mix

Mutual cooperation—

Mutual defection—

Exploitation—

PD decisions—

Contact identity

Same tribe—

Xeno—

Civic contact—

Civic override—

Trust structure

Kin trust—

Social trust—

Xeno trust—

Civic strength—

Outcome linkage

Population—

Gini—

Risk rate—

Risk events—

Behavioural Psychology lower graphs

Pulse-linked behaviour traces

These graphs use the same pulse as the heat map. They show PD outcomes, contact identity, trust structure, and the link between behaviour, inequality, and starvation-risk pressure.

Visible window REGIONAL_PROXY + GLOBAL_PD

PULSE_00000

Historical event rail —

PD outcome trends

Cooperation, defection, exploitation

Tracks the aggregate Prisoner's Dilemma outcome mix by pulse.

Contact identity mix

Same-tribe, xeno, civic contact

Shows who agents are interacting with as tribe, region, and civic identity compete.

Trust structure

Kin, social, xeno, civic trust

Shows whether behaviour is closing inward, opening outward, or forming civic identity.

Behaviour vs outcome

Cooperation, exploitation, Gini, risk

Compares behavioural pressure with inequality and interaction-linked starvation risk.

LOADING_LIFE_DEATH

👶Population increase ☠Population loss / death pressure ☠Hazard deaths ☠Starvation deaths ☠Old-age deaths

Life flow uses regional population direction of change. Death cause uses archived regional death-window fields.

Life / death balance

Births—

Deaths—

Net biological change—

Replacement ratio—

Cause of death

Hazard deaths—

Starvation deaths—

Old-age deaths—

Dominant cause—

Infant / failed-birth pressure

Failed births—

Infant deaths—

Failed-birth rate—

Successful-birth share—

Age and continuity

Mean age—

Avg generation—

Living population—

Continuity signal—

Regional flow

Growth regions—

Death-pressure regions—

Inhabited regions—

Max mortality / 1k—

Life and Death lower graphs

Birth, death, replacement, and mortality traces

These graphs share the heat-map pulse. Drag the map slider, use the sticky scrubber, or click a graph to inspect the same pulse across the Life and Death surface.

Visible window REGIONAL_DEATHS + TRIBE_BIRTHS

PULSE_00000

Births / 1k living—

Growth rate—

Replacement ratio—

Dominant death cause—

Historical event rail —

Births vs deaths

Successful births and total deaths

Shows biological replacement pressure across the selected pulse window.

Death causes

Hazard, starvation, and old-age deaths

Separates environmental shocks, food-system failure, and ordinary aging.

Failed births / infant mortality

Failed births and infant deaths

Shows reproductive friction before or shortly after birth.

Replacement and growth

Births per 1,000, growth rate, replacement ratio

Compares reproductive pressure with population growth and birth/death replacement.

LOADING_THERMODYNAMICS

Energy reserve Higher EROI Stress / low quality Capacity pressure Climate / waste pressure Low / empty

Energy reserve shows regional agent energy plus environmental pool. Net change is not exact consumption.

Energy stock

Total agent energy—

Environmental pool—

Energy per capita—

Top region energy—

Active energy regions—

Energy quality

Avg EROI factor—

Low-EROI regions—

Avg system stress—

Capacity pressure—

Waste and climate

Climate heat—

Climate damage—

Climate chaos—

Reservoir forcing—

Thermodynamic consequences

Fertility modifier—

Hazard floor—

Failed-birth floor—

Subsistence rescues—

Thermodynamics lower graphs

Energy, quality, waste, and consequences

These graphs use an independent lower pulse. They show energy stock, energy quality, waste/climate pressure, and the biological consequences of thermodynamic stress.

Visible window STOCKS + PRESSURE

PULSE_00000

Historical event rail —

Energy stock and population

Population, agent energy, environmental pool

Shows whether population is rising with, or outrunning, available energy stock.

Energy quality and pressure

EROI, stress, and remaining pool

Shows when energy becomes costly, constrained, or structurally stressful.

Waste and climate feedback

Heat, damage, chaos, emissions, reservoir forcing

Shows energy use returning as climate and reservoir pressure.

Thermodynamic consequences

Fertility, hazard floors, rescues, and deaths

Connects thermodynamic pressure back to biological viability.

Epoch summary

DASHBOARD_DATA

Metric	Value
Selected project	Epilogue
Selected phase / set	Final Climate-Reservoir Projection
Current regime	Agrarian
Maximum regime reached	Technological
Peak population pulse	31000
Final archived pulse	80000
Final winner / dominant survivor	The Obsidian Phalanx Refuge G3 (15) \| Ares (11)