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Civilization: Beyond Earth |OT| - The Future of Mankind

S

Schlocky

Member
publicpwnerer said:
This definitely feels like a B-Team made this. I'm finding the majority of the UI to be really aesthetically displeasing as well as inferior to Civ 5. It has these rough square borders that give off a very rushed / janky vibe.
Click to expand...

Yeah the UI is fucking atrocious, seems like shit was moved round on every screen just so it looks a bit different to Civ, no actual practical reason. and why is the 'exit' button on city screen and things like that so small?

I enjoyed my few hours with it last night, but it feels a lot more like a TC than I was expecting, I remember Alpha Centauri being very much its own thing.

Also, fuck that giant worm thing.
 
Lactose_Intolerant

Lactose_Intolerant

Member
Schlocky said:
Yeah the UI is fucking atrocious, seems like shit was moved round on every screen just so it looks a bit different to Civ, no actual practical reason. and why is the 'exit' button on city screen and things like that so small?

I enjoyed my few hours with it last night, but it feels a lot more like a TC than I was expecting, I remember Alpha Centauri being very much its own thing.
Click to expand...

Honestly, the exit button is randomly placed in a lot of the different screens.

I didn't even know where half the shit is because it is hidden away behind a small + symbol. They couldn't add more buttons?
 
A

AJLma

Member
Unless positive impressions start rolling in, I think I'll wait for expansions.

The reason I'd play a game like this as opposed to regular Civ is for variety and unpredictability. Reviews make this game seem kind of thin.
 
B

Bad7667

Member
cpp_is_king said:
For some reason it won't let me choose 1920x1080 as a resolution, even though I use it for all my other games, as well as my desktop resolution, and pretty much everything. Anyone else experienced this or know how to fix it?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I have the same problem. Really weird bug.
 
K

KnightHart

Member
I caved and bought the game. I came to this decision when buying a Wii U Pro Controller at Futureshop and went "... I have 2-3 weeks where I can work on a backlog until COD AW releases." and then bought Civ BE as soon as I got home.

Played 2 hours. This so far is a REALLY good Civ game. I miss this feeling, the same one I get everytime I play a new Civ game for the first game (specifically the vanilla games from Civ 3 to Civ 5) aka "What the fuck am I doing." That tech tree from the get go is seemingly overwhelming with choices even as a long time Civ player. But the potential is fantastic. Also the presentation is great. The music, the aesthetic of the game, the environments, the units, they all look and mesh really well together.

The only two things I dislike so far are mainly the Civs themselves and the UI. The 'civs' have almost no personality at all, unless they do have one and I'm just missing something here. A huge step back from the traditional Civ games where certain Civs acted in specific ways. Aka if you started next to Rome, Spain, Greece or the Huns you're gonna have a bad time (FUCK ISABELLA FUCK). In BE they all seem to act the same...?

I'm not a huge fan of the UI either. The UI in Civ 5 was pretty good, and was even better with mods. The UI in BE kinda makes me wish they just made it the Civ 5 UI but in a different colour with different logos and such.

That aside, I'm really interested in figuring out the game. There's a lot of really cool stuff in this game, and I want to keep playing.

Also like Civ 5, Civ BE blacks out my second monitor and I can't watch Extra Life streams while playing. What gives?
 
D

Dinosur

Member
I have a couple noob questions even though I've put a billion hours into Civ5.

How the hell do you un-fortify a unit if you can't find them? I have quests to set up excavation places and I fortified worthless used up dudes on the tiles but now I have no idea where they are. Even having Yield and Artifact displays on the mini-map doesn't show shit.

I almost wish making an excavation point would just use up the unit instead of having this whole one-and-done but still alive nonsense (like architects).

I'm playing one step above the default normal (middle of the difficulties) and it's goddamn insane how much better the AI is. My two cities haven't grown since like turn 10 and everyone else has 50 cities spanning 10x the size of my area all over the map.

And yeah, the UI is awful. It's like they forgot to move it outside the alpha stage.

edit: My biggest gripe is just a fallout from being in media blackout since the announcement. I thought the whole "beyond earth" stuff would be like planet-to-planet combat and exploration instead of oceans. Instead, I settle on a brand new planet and by Turn 8, there are four other civs within six tiles of me :huh
 
B

bjaelke

Member
Dinosur said:
I have a couple noob questions even though I've put a billion hours into Civ5.

How the hell do you un-fortify a unit if you can't find them? I have quests to set up excavation places and I fortified worthless used up dudes on the tiles but now I have no idea where they are. Even having Yield and Artifact displays on the mini-map doesn't show shit.

I almost wish making an excavation point would just use up the unit instead of having this whole one-and-done but still alive nonsense (like architects).
Click to expand...

Bottom right you should have a plus (+) sign next to the orbital view tab. Click it and select Military Overview which will bring up a list of all your units. To go to a specific unit's location you have to select the unit on the list and click their portrait in the bottom left.

8y9sOPg.jpg
 
R

Raticus79

Seek victory, not fairness
Guess we know they don't give their dev/QA staff high framerate monitors to play with, heh. Might as well give them dual monitors too so they realize what the big deal with borderless windowed mode is :p
 
K

kinoki

Illness is the doctor to whom we pay most heed; to kindness, to knowledge, we make promise only; pain we obey.
Couldn't launch it this morning. It told me I had to install a service. I clicked OK and Steam hung itself. Will give it a new try tonight when I get home.
 
D

Dinosur

Member
bjaelke said:
Bottom right you should have a plus (+) sign next to the orbital view tab. Click it and select Military Overview which will bring up a list of all your units. To go to a specific unit's location you have to select the unit on the list and click their portrait in the bottom left.
Click to expand...

Thanks much.

It's still kind of broken because you can't see dig sites unless an Explorer is right on top of an excavation site. I just do not understand why that function doesn't work like the archeologists in Civ5. The shovel tile icon never shows up unless you have a unit standing right next to it.
 
H

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
The UI needs a lot of polish cause things just aren't clear as they can be.

But I like the flavor of this game much more than Civ 5.

ALIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENS
 
N

nbthedude

Member
Lactose_Intolerant said:
Honestly, the exit button is randomly placed in a lot of the different screens.

I didn't even know where half the shit is because it is hidden away behind a small + symbol. They couldn't add more buttons?
Click to expand...

Schlocky said:
Yeah the UI is fucking atrocious, seems like shit was moved round on every screen just so it looks a bit different to Civ, no actual practical reason. and why is the 'exit' button on city screen and things like that so small?

I enjoyed my few hours with it last night, but it feels a lot more like a TC than I was expecting, I remember Alpha Centauri being very much its own thing.

Also, fuck that giant worm thing.
Click to expand...

AJLma said:
Unless positive impressions start rolling in, I think I'll wait for expansions.

The reason I'd play a game like this as opposed to regular Civ is for variety and unpredictability. Reviews make this game seem kind of thin.
Click to expand...

I had it preordered on GMG but got cold feet last week and requested a refund. I figured I still have Evil Within to finish and Lords of the Fallen on Tuesday. Seems like maybe I made a solid choice. I'll still pick it up down the road cheaper. Maybe after a substantial expansion or two.


I want bartering with aliens! You hear me, Sid?
 
S

Shaldome

Member
Dinosur said:
Thanks much.

It's still kind of broken because you can't see dig sites unless an Explorer is right on top of an excavation site. I just do not understand why that function doesn't work like the archeologists in Civ5. The shovel tile icon never shows up unless you have a unit standing right next to it.
Click to expand...

The icons for the artefacts/dig sites can be turned on when you click the eye at the mini map. Same place where you turn on tile yields. If the dig site is for a quest you might also have a locate button at the quest itself. Although I had a quest where this was not the case.
 
F

Fragamemnon

Member
The ICS in this game is actually hilarious. I'm living it up like it's SMAC all over again in that regard, even though the nature of the ICS is very different.
 
L

LTWheels

Member
I've been playing a lot of Endless Legend recently. Going to Beyond Earth, the UI is a noticeable step down and not as initiative. Same for diplomacy as well.
 
H

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Shengar said:
Which affinities you choose for first playthrough?
Click to expand...

I played a quick multiplayer game to wet my feet and I went Harmony.

Probably going to stick with it because I can SPREAD MIASMA.
 
D

Dinosur

Member
How do these favors work? I have like three of them now but I can't find any amount of menu clicking to turn them in. I'm assuming they're like Research Agreements but a little more powerful.
 
Rentahamster

Rentahamster

Rodent Whores
This is a lot different than Civ5

But the good ol' worker plunder then make them give me gold for peace strategy still works :p
 
D

Dinosur

Member
Rentahamster said:
This is a lot different than Civ5
Click to expand...

100% disagree. After playing for four hours, this is completely Civ5 with miasma, ridiculous initial AI city placement, and resources you can't harvest. On one hand I'm super stoked that I get to play a new Civ game for fifty billion hours, but on the other holy crap this is just Civ5 with miasma.

The tech tree is obviously the biggest change which will take a couple plays to figure out what the fuck you're actually suppose to do. Hell, I was still researching labs within the first ~50 turns and some AI was already plane bombing me. =/
 
W

White Man

Member
Raticus79 said:
Guess we know they don't give their dev/QA staff high framerate monitors to play with, heh. Might as well give them dual monitors too so they realize what the big deal with borderless windowed mode is :p
Click to expand...

No borderless windowed mode is keeping me from playing it right now. Is it difficult to implement or something?
 
S

SuperStiltzkin

Member
Count me in as someone who finds the UI to be incredibly unintuitive. Such a step down from Civ V which conveyed the information so well while still retaining a sense of personality. Beyond Earth feels so sterile in comparison. And I found a lot of descriptions to be incredibly vague. Like, an upgrade for a marine would be "+40% when not next to a friendly unit." +40% what? Combat strength, ranged attack, hp? The world map is also really small and tucked away in the corner.

I feel like the combination of the UI, the way the terrain looks, and the general color palette of it all makes it such a chore to look at and figure out what means what. I can't wait for someone to release a mod where they just overhaul the HUD with the Civ V HUD.
 
O

Ont

Member
I managed to get 40+ turns in last night. Loved the game, I was getting those Alpha Centauri vibes.
 
G

GrandHarrier

Member
Initial thoughts:

Seems par for the course for a Firaxis game; the sparkle of a diamond beneath an unpolished exterior.

I like being able to customize my start to a small degree, the fact that it's easier and in many ways required to focus on trade in some way either in faction or out, as well as being able to get sea and air power rather quickly. The minor differences in the factions can be a little off putting at first but there are some subtle differences (or seems like it) and when you consider it's more about whom sponsored them as opposed to groups of lock step ideologues it makes a little more sense that they'd be diverse groups of global people. The tech web and affinities seem really interesting at first glance. I do think that the variety of military units seems lacking. A large reason for this is that you don't have the progression of Warrior -> Spearman -> Swordsman, etc and instead your units get upgraded with tech changes automatically. One minor nitpick: Carriers can only hold one air unit until ranked ten in an affinity and that just seems weak. Maybe there is a balance reason for this but I feel they should bump it up to two.

Some of the charm of Alpha Centauri is missing but I feel not irreversibly so.
 
O

Objectively Bad Opinion

Member
White Man said:
No borderless windowed mode is keeping me from playing it right now. Is it difficult to implement or something?
Click to expand...

No, it's very simple. It's actually really easy to hack onto the game after the fact even. Just center the window, put it above the taskbar, and remove the window decorations using whatever API calls the window manager on Windows has for that.

That's all it is, is a centered window without decorations.

There are actually programs that do this: http://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Glossary:Borderless_fullscreen_windowed#Borderless_Gaming
 
S

Spookie

Member
How do you manage to fuck up allowing me to set the game to a 1080p resolution. How did that get through Q&A?

Wonderful. I have 6 hours before work and I can't play the game I just bought.
 
U

Unknown One

Member
Spookie said:
How do you manage to fuck up allowing me to set the game to a 1080p resolution. How did that get through Q&A?

Wonderful. I have 6 hours before work and I can't play the game I just bought.
Click to expand...

I expect this out of a Japanese company, but man am I disappointed. Oh well, I can wait for a patch if it's not long.
 
D

Danj

Member
Just got my physical copy in the post, TeamViewered to my home PC and stuck the code in Steam and it's already installing :3 so it'll be all ready for me when I get home from work in about six and a half hours.
 
K

KingSnake

The Birthday Skeleton
Spookie said:
How do you manage to fuck up allowing me to set the game to a 1080p resolution. How did that get through Q&A?

Wonderful. I have 6 hours before work and I can't play the game I just bought.
Click to expand...

Maybe they don't have 144hz monitors for the Q&A team.
 
G

Gothos

Member
Enjoy i while you can guys, the boredom sinks in really fast in this one. I give you 20-25 hours :) It's just reskinned Civ5 with worse UI, BORING factions and the new tech tree that doesn't really impact gameplay. Money grab by Firaxis.
 
K

kafiend

Member
Objectively Bad Opinion said:
No, it's very simple. It's actually really easy to hack onto the game after the fact even. Just center the window, put it above the taskbar, and remove the window decorations using whatever API calls the window manager on Windows has for that.

That's all it is, is a centered window without decorations.

There are actually programs that do this: http://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Glossary:Borderless_fullscreen_windowed#Borderless_Gaming
Click to expand...

If anyone gets this to work properly let us know in here. I tried it and where you could click on a button had shifted away from the graphic, making it unusable really.

KingSnake said:
Maybe they don't have 144hz monitors for the Q&A team.
Click to expand...

I use a 60hz TV and cannot set the correct resolution. The game insists on displaying at 24hz as well.
 
B

Bregor

Member
Fragamemnon said:
Actual ICS. You just keep going and going.
Click to expand...

Yeah but in my mind ICS really mostly only applies when you fit the cities so close together that they have massive overlap of workable territory. And do practically no upgrading of cities, just focusing on building new settlers. The classic example of ICS is covering the map with cities on two tiles apart from each other.
 
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