Civilization: Beyond Earth

[The Avatar 1,089]

Hey guys. I just found out about this upcoming game, and I had to make a new topic about it. The title is Civilization: Beyond Earth. It's being developed by Firaxis with many of the same people who worked on the original Alpha Centauri. Planned for release in Q3 2014, the game is meant to be a successor of sorts to Alpha Centauri, while expanding upon the ideas and engine of Civ V. Here's what co-lead designer David McDonough said about it: "The bones of the experience are very much recognisably Civ. The idea of the cities, city-base progression, leaders, the passage of time, tile-based, turn-based, building improvements, technologies. A lot of them are very familiar themes to the Civ player." The announce trailer was uploaded on April 12, and the official website has more information.

 

Images:

 

 

 

It seems to be very graphically-similar to Civ V, which I like.

 

I don't know about you, but I'm really excited for this game. Knowing Firaxis and the fact that it's a Civ game, I'm confident it will be great. I've never played its space-settling predecessor, but this makes me want to give it a try. What do you guys think?

[NielsC007 499]

I've really enjoyed Civ 5! I've got all the expansions and I've played for more than 200 hours. I got my moneys worth! I do like the direction this series is taking, after 5 games on Eath it's nice to see something different. In some way it makes think a bit of Starcraft, graphicly.

 

1 thing is sure though, I'm not going to pre-order game anymore, after what has happened recently with the disasterous launches of SC2013, Battlefield 4 and X-rebirth I lost my faith in there companies... A shame really...

[The Avatar 1,089]

New pics, from this informative interview:

 

 

 

These units looks pretty awesome, in my opinion.

[SpookyZalost 39]

haha yeah I'm really excited about this one, I never really got into civ much but Alpha centari has to be one of my top 5 favorite stratregy games, and what has me really excited is like alpha centauri before it, Beyond earth is in fact being released for linux as well as mac and windows!

[LexusInfernus 908]

So its almost gonna release and I can't wait to play it! 

[north country dude 207]

Thank you for sharing this awesome development. I have always enjoyed the Civilization series and this looks to be quite interesting, but I wonder why somebody didn't just make a game mod based on Civ 5, ...?

 

Ah, this is why:

 

Orbital Layer: Build and deploy advanced military, economic and scientific satellites that provide strategic offensive, defensive and support capabilities from orbit.

Unit Customization: Unlock different upgrades through the tech web and customize your units to reflect your play style.

 

 

here is the link I used: http://www.civilization.com/en/games/civilization-beyond-earth/

[LexusInfernus 908]

So I got it and I played a good few hours into it. 

 

Its great. While on the surface you might think its just Civ 5 in a new skin, I would respectfully disagree with such a view. The first few hundred turns play radically different, thanks to the aliens. You really get the feel that you are exploring a new world and you will be busy taming the aliens (or exterminating them, whatever suits you). They are not like those stupid barbarians from Civ 5. And the tech web is just awesome. It gives you so many more options in how you want to develop your civ and suit it to the situation youre in. 

 

I also love that you can build a ton of extra tile improvements. Personally that was always one of my favorite things to do in a civ game, take a land and turn it into a large agricultural field, or turn hills into mining sectors. Also, they have a much nicer effect on production, food, culture and science yields on your tiles. 

 

They also significantly improved espionage, allowing you to actively give your spies missions, rather than put them in a city and get a report once in a while or help them defend against enemy spies. And they have included little 'quests' although often its little more than getting a new building and allowing it to be upgraded in one of two ways. It still gives you a little say over what kind of civilization youre building, and helps with constructing your own narrative. 

 

But like any civ game, the vanilla version is not perfect. I get the feeling that the developers were a bit lazy in certain departments. I mean, there are only like 7 starting factions, which is seriously not enough, and those factions are bland. I mean seriously, would it have cost that much more time and money to give each faction like 1 unique unit? I mean sure, each faction can customize its start and some of the bonuses, but still, unique units and buildings give some character to these factions. Also, some of the diplomacy texts are literally copy pasted from Civ 5. 

 

Thankfully, the lack of factions can easily be rectified thanks to day 1 mod support. And given what they did with Civ 5, I also hope they can include more unique units into the game as well. Or just help diversify their looks. 

[Snugies 91]

Going on metacritic and seeing the ratings for this game give me a very suspicious and conspiracy attitude to the gaming industry. On metacritic all the critics rank the game high as opposed to the players rankings where about half are negative. I've also noticed over the past year or so having a harder and harder time finding real critical game reviews on youtube or google. That's the only way I buy a game is seeing what the real critical reviews say. I can tell you I didn't buy watchdogs because it was developed by the same people who developed assassins creed and I felt ripped off from assassins creed.

 

As far as Civ BE I won't buy it. I think this is a marketing strategy to try to get into the Sci-fi market and I think its been rushed I think the design of the units look very rushed. So as a history buff I'm angry about the new Sci-fi route of the series and will not purchase it. And my conspiracy theories of youtube blocking critical reviews of the civ games has influenced my purchasing decision as well. If you can't take the heat you are not confident in your game if your not confident in your game then your game sucks.    

[LexusInfernus 908]

Haven't seen the TotalBiscuit or ProJared reviews of Civ BE? They are pretty critical, at least in summing up some of the flawed aspects of the game. 

[The Avatar 1,089]

So I got it and I played a good few hours into it. 

 

[snip]

 

I'm curious - is it as fun as previous Civ installments? If I enjoyed Civ V am I likely to enjoy Civ BE?

[LexusInfernus 908]

I'm curious - is it as fun as previous Civ installments? If I enjoyed Civ V am I likely to enjoy Civ BE?

 

Hmm I definitely think it is. If you have played Civ V you'll probably recognize a lot of things that work similar. Like a lot of the core gameplay is the same as in Civ 5, like the way you do battles, or how you get culture, money, happiness and science. At the same time, they did put in enough new things (IMO) to make it feel sufficiently different. It feels much more like you are really taming a new planet. The aliens are a great addition, especially early game and I like how they thematically fit a lot better than those stupid barbarians. And I really like how you can deal with them, either exterminate them or try to peacefully co-exist. It creates an interesting narrative for your own games. 

 

Also, the techweb is just great. I love how it literally lets you expand in your own way and it also makes the AI more fun, even at lower difficulties, since they are likely to develop in a different way then you do. And again, it also provides you with a unique narrative each time you play. 

 

And it definitely has more substance than the vanilla Civ V did. 

[Snugies 91]

I should give it more credit it is very hard to live up to the standards of CIV 5 and IV. Thanks for the references for the critical reviews. I think saying it has more substance than CIV 5 is a hard argument. Civ 5 does have a myriad of different civs with different strengths and weaknesses. But I do play this game differently than most other folks I play a standard map size will the max 22 civs. Max cities expansions is about 3 playing this way. I like it because right from the getgo civs are going at it.

 

I do think the possibilities for the CIV series are endless, as history has so much about it their is so many concepts available form history to apply to the CIV series. Further the games computational power is not spend so much on graphics, and I think that leaves more space for putting more concepts and complex behaviours into the game. I'm excited about the future of this series, and not just because my SimCity is not working right now.  

 

But I am worried they may be rushing through the classical era to quickly as the game slows down so much in the 20th century you know why isn't the classical era that slow? I enjoy reading classical history and the argument can be made more excitement was going on in the classical era than the modern era. I guess they feel that WW1 and WW2 only lasted about 5 years each but cost so much. Maybe the CIV developers felt that time speeds up in the modern era as the population increased. I guess people may argue the numbers just weren't large enough in classical times even though ceaser's genocide of the celtic gauls killed well over a million people in maybe 10 years time.   

[LexusInfernus 908]

I should give it more credit it is very hard to live up to the standards of CIV 5 and IV. Thanks for the references for the critical reviews. I think saying it has more substance than CIV 5 is a hard argument. Civ 5 does have a myriad of different civs with different strengths and weaknesses. But I do play this game differently than most other folks I play a standard map size will the max 22 civs. Max cities expansions is about 3 playing this way. I like it because right from the getgo civs are going at it.

 

I do think the possibilities for the CIV series are endless, as history has so much about it their is so many concepts available form history to apply to the CIV series. Further the games computational power is not spend so much on graphics, and I think that leaves more space for putting more concepts and complex behaviours into the game. I'm excited about the future of this series, and not just because my SimCity is not working right now.  

 

But I am worried they may be rushing through the classical era to quickly as the game slows down so much in the 20th century you know why isn't the classical era that slow? I enjoy reading classical history and the argument can be made more excitement was going on in the classical era than the modern era. I guess they feel that WW1 and WW2 only lasted about 5 years each but cost so much. Maybe the CIV developers felt that time speeds up in the modern era as the population increased. I guess people may argue the numbers just weren't large enough in classical times even though ceaser's genocide of the celtic gauls killed well over a million people in maybe 10 years time.   

Well yes, and like me and a lot of reviewers have said, Civ BE could definitely use more than the standard factions they have right now. But then again, the vanilla Civ V also didnt have that many factions (although I admit still more than Civ BE) and a lot of them were only included afterwards through DLC or the Gods and Kings and BNW expansions. I suspect Firaxis is taking the same route with BE. And if you can't wait for DLC or expansions, you can also rely on the modding community. They have already added several new factions. 

 

The thing with the weaknesses is that its not an entirely valid comparison. In Civ V your civ comes with certain bonuses, while in BE, you only get one bonus for each Civ, but all your other starting bonuses you can select yourself. Basically you get customizable civs, rather than pre made ones. But again, I agree with you here that they could have made the civs more interesting and unique by giving them more than just that one bonus. I do hope thats something they change in an expansion pack. 

 

As for why the classical era is faster than the modern era is basically because historically speaking, technological progress follows an exponential curve rather than a straight curve. But an exponential curve doesn't work for gameplay purposes (imagine it, extremely slow early game turning into an extremely fast late game) so they fixed it by keeping the amount of turns for each next scientific invention roughly the same while changing the difference in years between each turn (starts at what? 100 years for each turn until it finally turns into 1 year each turn?). If you want a more interesting early game, I recommend you play on a slower speed. It increases the time spend in especially ancient and classical era significantly. 

 

But ehm, lets keep this discussion centered on Civ BE. There is another thread for Civ V discussion. 

[BLANKBLANK 4,414]

Is CIV:BE a more prettier version of Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri?

[LexusInfernus 908]

Is CIV:BE a more prettier version of Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri?

No, it doesn't play like Alpha Centauri and the developers never meant it to be a sequal to Alpha Centauri. If you go into this game to expect Alpha Centauri with modern graphics you're in for a disappointment. 

[Ocram's Razr 964]

I like Civilization Beyond Earth so far. I have been playing it this weekend as part of the Steam free trial weekend. I might buy it since it is offered at a 40% discount but I should probably wait for a steeper discount.

--Ocram

[CharlieX 0]

is it multiplayers?

playing against other human players on earth?

 

I don't play much games, but I think multiplayers games are much more challenging than playing on your own against the computer AI. it's just me. I have heard of the Civilization series but have not played any of them. I would like a game like SimCity incorporated in Simcountry.

 

just really bugs me that things are not to scale?

why are the humans almost as big as the buildings, and so on?

[Ocram's Razr 964]

One can play the game against AI or against human players. I tried it out this weekend and lost 2 games as Space Asia and almost won one game as Space Russia but ran out of time. As Space Russia, I tried to stay out of politics and avoid settling near other civilizations but Space Brazil wanted some land near to my geothermal powerhouse city and declared war because our territorial borders were too close (even though it was his fault). I successfully defended that city against his forces once (after going back a little over 20 turns before he declared war and building up an army around that city) but he attacked that same city about 100 turns later (this was on Epic speed so it was a bit slower than Standard speed but still faster than Marathon) and after he stole my city it was almost 1pm and my free trial was about to end so I exited the game (after making sure that I could go back to the autosaves after I purchase the game). I will wait for a discount of at least 50% but I hope I can get a 75% discount. Right now it is offered at a 40% discount.

--Ocram

[LexusInfernus 908]

I will honestly only play as Space Asia. Their bonus is just to damn useful compared to all the others. 

[Ocram's Razr 964]

Worker speed bonus is nice but the thing with wonders is you have to have a wonder-focusrd research plan. I usually go for a Purity/Supremacy point research plan so I lost when playing as Space Asia. As Space Russia, I send out my explorer and get those solar collector satellites then build my own satellites when I have researched their technology. Surprisingly, I built more wonders as Space Russia than Space Asia (because of research bolstered by the Lasercom Satellite, production and health boosting virtues from the Holomatrix Satellite, and Mag-Rails connecting my capital to my landlocked cities--with free maintenance thanks to supremacy points). Ironically, I started out going solely Purity until I discovered +7 firaxite, +9 firaxite, and a couple +3 firaxite sources and no floatstone nearby. I ended up trading xenomass and titanium for floatstone though I found an island with 2 +3 floatstone sources I was about to settle. The city I built near the +9 firaxite source was also near a +8 xenomass source (that had an alien nest I had to clear before building a xenomass well). I had to get to level 3 or 4 harmony to take advantage of them so I stole technology from harmony civs and stole science from others (so I could do more research). I was able to get the energy and science boosts to xenomass wells by building the special city buildings that required level 3 harmony. I will certainly buy this game when it is offered at a 75% discount and will seriously consider it at 50% discount.

--Ocram

[LexusInfernus 908]

Worker speed bonus is nice but the thing with wonders is you have to have a wonder-focusrd research plan. I usually go for a Purity/Supremacy point research plan so I lost when playing as Space Asia. As Space Russia, I send out my explorer and get those solar collector satellites then build my own satellites when I have researched their technology. Surprisingly, I built more wonders as Space Russia than Space Asia (because of research bolstered by the Lasercom Satellite, production and health boosting virtues from the Holomatrix Satellite, and Mag-Rails connecting my capital to my landlocked cities--with free maintenance thanks to supremacy points). Ironically, I started out going solely Purity until I discovered +7 firaxite, +9 firaxite, and a couple +3 firaxite sources and no floatstone nearby. I ended up trading xenomass and titanium for floatstone though I found an island with 2 +3 floatstone sources I was about to settle. The city I built near the +9 firaxite source was also near a +8 xenomass source (that had an alien nest I had to clear before building a xenomass well). I had to get to level 3 or 4 harmony to take advantage of them so I stole technology from harmony civs and stole science from others (so I could do more research). I was able to get the energy and science boosts to xenomass wells by building the special city buildings that required level 3 harmony. I will certainly buy this game when it is offered at a 75% discount and will seriously consider it at 50% discount.

--Ocram

Yeah but the problem is that the affinity direction you go in is not exclusive. If you play long enough, its possible to max out all of them (although I think like one of them has 1 or 2 points more). I go for purity but early game put some points into supremacy so I get that sweet sweet maintenance free mag rails bonus. 

 

But youre right, you do need a wonder focused approach to make optimal use of the PAC bonus, which I tend to do. I have to admit though, I always play on easy, so the chances of me losing are non existent anyways

[SpookyZalost 39]

honestly I actually like alpha centauri better, glad I got it working in linux, makes me so happy .

but there's another similar game that came out which is more alpha centauri like than this one.
Pandora: first contact.
it's also got a unit customization system much more in depth and closer to alpha centauri than Civ: BE.

but all 3 have their charms, I reccomend any of them really...
also, Pandora: FC has a linux ver so that kinda got bonus points from me lol.

[Ocram's Razr 964]

Rising Tide is out and I must say that Pan-Asian Cooperative is my favorite sponsor now! Just make sure you expand fast enough and research technologies that unlock wonders as your first priority and you can easily be the ONLY sponsor that has wonders (by grabbing ALL of them)! Dr. Sochua can easily win with this strategy (buy a colonist, have a spare trade route spot, found outpost, create trade route, build wonder first and trade depot 2nd). Hutama is great for playing as well but allying with him (and getting his trade agreements) is just as good as playing as him. Elodie, however is the clear loser. Even in the best circumstances, Arshia putting production into culture will get virtues faster than Elodie. Al Falah lends itself best to Engineers, Franco-Iberia has always worked best with artists. Before rising tide, PAC worked best with engineers but now Scientists works best (since wonders are always 1 turn to build in new cities). You can always win Rising Tide if you play as PAC, follow the PAC strategy, and ally with Hutama. If you want virtues, you might want to cooperate with Elodie (or ally with her if and ONLY if Hutama is already allied with her). Eventually, you can build manufacturies on every hill around your Promethean city and Terrascapes on every snow and desert tile (still avoid snow unless you can get at least 10 units of strategic resources) with plenty of money to spare.