• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

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

Man, wonders are pretty disappointing.

I remember old Civilization's, Wonders build right into your city view. Civ 5 puts on some cg cutscene.

Civ Beyond Earth is some panning of a pretty shitty blueprint drawing. Pretty unrewarding for a lot of hard work for the wonder.
 

Lanrutcon

Member
Instead of going through my experience and listing all the dumb shit they need to fix in this game, I'll give a single example which pretty much sums up the game: force fields. There's a building that keeps aliens away (range: 2 hexes) flawlessly. Once you've built it, you get the option to expand the range by 1 or turn it mobile, causing aliens to not be able to attack your trade vehicles. I had several issues with this.

So you build this building, and then realise that it works completely independently of your actual city borders: it has a static radius around the 1 hex your city occupies. Why is that? Why can't you build small ones around your territory to keep the aliens out? I can spread all other kinds of shit but not the tech that flawlessly keeps the aliens away? Seems pretty fucking stupid. Well, maybe it needs lots of power and has to be near a super power source...wait wait. That's the point where my scientists tell me they've mobilised the technology. Great. Excellent. Let's mount that shit on some tanks and go hunting! ...no, no such luck. The game assumes I'd want the shields mounted on my trade craft. Why the fuck? What's the logic there? If it can be fitted onto a stupid little caravan truck, then fitting it to a tank should be a snap. You're telling me we get the tech to render the enemy completely useless...and then I get no choice in the matter as it gets utilised to protect a bunch of cargo vehicles instead of the military ones holding back the tide of alien death. What.

That's the game, in a nutshell. I played until I realised my military aircraft were taking counter attack damage from strafing melee dog aliens and then I decided that maybe this game was not for me.
 

--R

Banned
Been playing the demo for a while and there are some things that makes me hate a bit this game.

Miasma: I hope there's an option to disable it or, at least, make it brighter. It's hard to say in which place there's miasma.

UI: My god, this is one of the worst UI I've ever seen. The Civ V was pretty good, what happened with this one? Ugh.

Aliens: I don't know if it''s because of the demo or something, but since turn 14 I've been surrounded by 2 siege worms and 2 beetles. Is this normal in the full game?

Apart from this, I like the game, it feels familiar but it's fun. Not worth 50€ for me right now, so I'll wait until Steam cut it to 50%.
 

Chaos17

Member
Diplomacy is still not yet devellopped.
you can have 10 favor with someone and he won't become your friend.

I"ve nothing to do when I'm playing nice guy, just waiting that the technology finish, then choose again a new tech. I wish, there would be some democracy 3 ideas been implanted to manage your cities instead of just buildings.

Aliens: I don't know if it''s because of the demo or something, but since turn 14 I've been surrounded by 2 siege worms and 2 beetles. Is this normal in the full game?
Yup, that's normal and pretty random depending of your party.
The wrost is when your allies tell you to not kill them when you're surrended by them, lol.
I also didn't see anything to directly domestic them on the map even if I had some unlocked techs. I've just the option to shoot them >.>"
 
Been playing the demo for a while and there are some things that makes me hate a bit this game.

Miasma: I hope there's an option to disable it or, at least, make it brighter. It's hard to say in which place there's miasma.

UI: My god, this is one of the worst UI I've ever seen. The Civ V was pretty good, what happened with this one? Ugh.

Aliens: I don't know if it''s because of the demo or something, but since turn 14 I've been surrounded by 2 siege worms and 2 beetles. Is this normal in the full game?

Apart from this, I like the game, it feels familiar but it's fun. Not worth 50€ for me right now, so I'll wait until Steam cut it to 50%.

Aliens aren't very aggressive, and there's a tech that you can build a fence to scare off aliens and even make your explorers "invisible" to aliens. Of course, you can choose harmony and live with aliens I think.
 

Loofy

Member
Might be obvious but is there any way I can just scroll or view through my units(not just the ones waiting for a turn). Its hard for me to find my military or workers even on my 27" monitor.
And how is everyone keeping their health up? I have every single health modifying building built yet Im at around -20 health for most of the game.
Man, wonders are pretty disappointing.

I remember old Civilization's, Wonders build right into your city view. Civ 5 puts on some cg cutscene.

Civ Beyond Earth is some panning of a pretty shitty blueprint drawing. Pretty unrewarding for a lot of hard work for the wonder.
Its pretty ridiculous how little effort they put into this game. The loading screen also looks really cheap.
 

--R

Banned
Aliens aren't very aggressive, and there's a tech that you can build a fence to scare off aliens and even make your explorers "invisible" to aliens. Of course, you can choose harmony and live with aliens I think.

Yeah, I was researching that before 2 drones, a siege worm and 3 beetles invaded me and destroyed everything. I couldn't chose harmony because I was being attacked since, I don't know, turn 5 maybe, by a Sea Dragon.
 
sick of this half-assed diplomacy but at least the game is fun.

so far it seems like your affinity should be determined by your spawn to an extent. just played a game well i had virtually no floatstone, firaxite, or xenomass on my entire continent and i ended up going for the contact vic
 

RP912

Banned
From the post so far it looks like this game is in need of patches and expansion packs :/. No wonder why I pulled the trigger of cancelling my preorder. I love the series but it seems like they rushed this game.
 
having trouble keeping my Health up, any tips?

You really need the early buildings in the first 100 turns to keep health from dropping below -10 , make them a priority in your cities alongside science. After the first 100 turns you need to start working your way to an affinity building like Gene Garden (which is honestly worth getting tier 2 purity in a wide empire for ASAP) or have virtues to help close the gap. Once you get Biowells you can start to use those improvements to help deal with health issues and allow you to start working petroleum and (if you spec industry) manufacturing tiles.

I've got a game going right now and have six cities on turn 70 and my health has been more or less 0 the entire time. You just must do whatever it takes to ensure (early on) that city health output and city size are roughly equal.
 

Kyougar

Member
Hi Guys,

Anyone know whats up with the random loading screens in Multiplayer? Sometimes you do 30 to 40 turns without a loading screen and then it happens every 10 turns.
What does he even do when the loading screen pop ups? I had a youtube video in the background and the sound stutters when the loading screen comes. Does it save or synch your game? Should it even be there?
 

Gaz_RB

Member
Hi Guys,

Anyone know whats up with the random loading screens in Multiplayer? Sometimes you do 30 to 40 turns without a loading screen and then it happens every 10 turns.
What does he even do when the loading screen pop ups? I had a youtube video in the background and the sound stutters when the loading screen comes. Does it save or synch your game? Should it even be there?

Happens to me sometimes too... No idea why.
 

Realyn

Member
Yeah, I was researching that before 2 drones, a siege worm and 3 beetles invaded me and destroyed everything. I couldn't chose harmony because I was being attacked since, I don't know, turn 5 maybe, by a Sea Dragon.

Sorry, but I have to call bullshit here. Aliens don't enter your city circle just to attack something. They don't even kill workers in the second circle. Turn 5? Just no. I'm happy to help, but there's no need for hyperbole.
 

SRG01

Member
You really need the early buildings in the first 100 turns to keep health from dropping below -10 , make them a priority in your cities alongside science. After the first 100 turns you need to start working your way to an affinity building like Gene Garden (which is honestly worth getting tier 2 purity in a wide empire for ASAP) or have virtues to help close the gap. Once you get Biowells you can start to use those improvements to help deal with health issues and allow you to start working petroleum and (if you spec industry) manufacturing tiles.

I've got a game going right now and have six cities on turn 70 and my health has been more or less 0 the entire time. You just must do whatever it takes to ensure (early on) that city health output and city size are roughly equal.

Honestly, the early game would be 100% better if there was a limit growth button somewhere.
 

--R

Banned
Sorry, but I have to call bullshit here. Aliens don't enter your city circle just to attack something. They don't even kill workers in the second circle. Turn 5? Just no. I'm happy to help, but there's no need for hyperbole.

That's why I put maybe. It started to attack me very early. It entered in my territory (I was in a little peninsula) and started to attack my soldier at the coast so I killed it with the city's missiles in 2-3 turns. Then every alien nest started to spawn beetles and the siege worms came.
 
Enjoying the game but the UI could use some definite work for sure. Some of the UI decisions are huge head scratchers. Why does the Map Options menu appear in a place that obscures the mouse over tile information? Why doesn't the UI tell you what just finished building? Why are some of the useful menus behind a "More Information" button with a tiny little + sign as a click target? What happened to the flyout menu of all your units and cities? The UI side of me can't stand some of the menus in this game.

I do have a question for you guys. I have a Miasmata Repulsor sitting above a city with a garrisoned Marine. How do I select the Repulsor? Clicking repeadedly on the city doesn't work. Nor does clicking the city tile from the Orbital View screen - doing that just selects the garrisoned Marine. I know I can go to the Millitary Overview screen and select it from there, but that seems like a crazy way to do it!

Edit: OH figured it out! The icon on the Orbital Screen was behind the city label, just had to zoom all the way in. That seems odd o_0.
 
Three questions most likely already answered:

1) Can you custom your own civ
2) Are the planets customizable like in Civ? The demo is just that, a demo. But do these options come into play further on?
3) Can you make custom units like in AC, and if so, is this tied to a tech or is it a starting skill?

Of course, you can choose harmony and live with aliens I think.

And what? Have sex with them?
 
Just finished the game with a Contact victory. Agreed that it's super unsatisfying. No ending cutscene or stats page or anything :( Still, the game is fun. I think it's a little more "bare" than Civ V was at launch, but the potential is greater in systems like Virtues, Affinities, and the Tech Web. Flesh it all out a bit, make it prettier, diversify the factions (and give them more personality), and I think it's a real winner. Right now it's fun, but nothing special.
 
why can't i just destroy a town? I don't want to send my units in to capture it. I just want to sit outside of your range and gun you down
 

Shaldome

Member
Three questions most likely already answered:

1) Can you custom your own civ
2) Are the planets customizable like in Civ? The demo is just that, a demo. But do these options come into play further on?
3) Can you make custom units like in AC, and if so, is this tied to a tech or is it a starting skill?

You have the same options as in Civ 5:



No custom units like in AC. You can choose how to upgrade your existing units after you reach certain affinity levels. Like better intercept or more damage to ground units for your air unit. Later upgrades differ for the different affinity s. Supremacy gets flanking bonuses where purity gets more mobility (if I recall the purity ones correct)
 
why can't i just destroy a town? I don't want to send my units in to capture it. I just want to sit outside of your range and gun you down

I wasted a huge amount of time and resources surrounding and attacking a town with gunboats and it all ended up being for nothing because of that rule. Very annoying.
 
Game really punishes early game conquest, with the minus happiness if you take over a city.

The game makes it tough to do early expansion in general; outposts are extremely vulnerable, aliens are significantly more numerous and dangerous than barbarians, and health is a lot tougher to manage than happiness (at least early on). Frankly, I kind of like it.
 
I just finished my first standard paced game. I enjoyed the bit of narrative they added to the game. And I liked the many small choices they give for your buildings extra benefits. At first I wasn't convinced it wasn't just a cleverly disguised reskin, but I after earning affinity points I came to see the game really does its own thing. And the tech web certainly has a lot more choice and variety than any civ game before it. You don't research everything, that is just a waste of resources. And you can go for some really late tech early if you feel like it.

After playing a full game, I definitely think this is a worthy civ game. There is actually a lot of small differences that I feel like actually paid off.

Tomorrow I'll probably start a harder difficulty campaign and approach it from an entirely different angle.

The game makes it tough to do early expansion in general; outposts are extremely vulnerable, aliens are significantly more numerous and dangerous than barbarians, and health is a lot tougher to manage than happiness (at least early on). Frankly, I kind of like it.

I agree that health is harder to mange early on but it is also much less punishing if you're negative health early on as well.

I also like the outpost taking a while to convert to a city. I always felt like new cities popping up instantly is just unreal.
 

Uthred

Member
Instead of going through my experience and listing all the dumb shit they need to fix in this game, I'll give a single example which pretty much sums up the game: force fields. There's a building that keeps aliens away (range: 2 hexes) flawlessly. Once you've built it, you get the option to expand the range by 1 or turn it mobile, causing aliens to not be able to attack your trade vehicles. I had several issues with this.

So you build this building, and then realise that it works completely independently of your actual city borders: it has a static radius around the 1 hex your city occupies. Why is that? Why can't you build small ones around your territory to keep the aliens out? I can spread all other kinds of shit but not the tech that flawlessly keeps the aliens away? Seems pretty fucking stupid. Well, maybe it needs lots of power and has to be near a super power source...wait wait. That's the point where my scientists tell me they've mobilised the technology. Great. Excellent. Let's mount that shit on some tanks and go hunting! ...no, no such luck. The game assumes I'd want the shields mounted on my trade craft. Why the fuck? What's the logic there? If it can be fitted onto a stupid little caravan truck, then fitting it to a tank should be a snap. You're telling me we get the tech to render the enemy completely useless...and then I get no choice in the matter as it gets utilised to protect a bunch of cargo vehicles instead of the military ones holding back the tide of alien death. What.

That's the game, in a nutshell. I played until I realised my military aircraft were taking counter attack damage from strafing melee dog aliens and then I decided that maybe this game was not for me.

This seems like an amazingly minor thing to get so hung up on, its not like the mainline games make sense if you examine them for real world verisimilitude. Also, if you want to rationalise it, its not a forcefield, its explicitly ultrasonics which presumably keep the aliens from wandering in (or in the case of your trader vehicle coming near) but isnt enough to keep them at bay when youre shooting at them which is why they dont mount it on tanks. Or maybe ultrasonics mess up the electric systems of automated weapons. Or maybe it is what it is an acceptable veneer for the raw game mechanics behind it. Just like people dont get hung up on Ghandi nuking Oda Nobunaga.
 
The ultrasonic fields are meant to give you a non-lethal way to deal with the aliens, not give you immunity to them while you slaughter them with no risk to your military units.
 

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
I seem to be missing something extremely basic. Everything you build costs production. I make a certain amount per turn.

But where do I go to see the total amount I have stockpiled? Why isn't this on the main screen?
 

ctothej

Member
Do specialists have some other purpose besides their +2 yield? Without great person points they seem completely useless. By the time you get them your tile yields are way superior. Is there something I'm missing?
 

Shaldome

Member
Okay help me a little bit further. A Soldier unit costs 50, yeah? Then where is that 50 coming from, exactly?

I appreciate the patience, as this is my first Civilization, ever.

Your cites have a certain amount of production each turn. You can see it in the city screen. Divide 50 for the unit by the amount your city produces and you have the numer of turns it takes to produce that unit.
 

Blizzard

Banned
That's the game, in a nutshell. I played until I realised my military aircraft were taking counter attack damage from strafing melee dog aliens and then I decided that maybe this game was not for me.
Your post was funny and it sounds understandably frustrating, but hasn't this always been true to an extent in Civilization games? You'll have some awesome helicopter, but then some superpowered tribal spear warriors will poke it to death.
 

v4skunk84

Banned
I seem to be missing something extremely basic. Everything you build costs production. I make a certain amount per turn.

But where do I go to see the total amount I have stockpiled? Why isn't this on the main screen?
Production is like science. The more you have the quicker that city will produce units etc.. I have no idea yet how to find out the full stats though.
 

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
Your cites have a certain amount of production each turn. You can see it in the city screen. Divide 50 for the unit by the amount your city produces and you have the numer of turns it takes to produce that unit.

Production is like science. The more you have the quicker that city will produce units etc.. I have no idea yet how to find out the full stats though.

Oooooh. Oh man, you guys have helped me greatly.

It's like I'm learning to swim in a shark tank.
 

Uthred

Member
Two things I'd like to see added sharpish is more flavour text in the tool tips (even if its optional) and a complete turn log, I just gained two levels in an affinity and I've no idea why
 
Another example of how half assed this game feels, what about the intro to each game? I remember it being a lot nicer in Civ 5. You dont even get a voice over in this game. Just a black screen with a couple lines of text which aren't even interesting at all.
 

Seth C

Member
Diplomacy is still not yet devellopped.
you can have 10 favor with someone and he won't become your friend.

I"ve nothing to do when I'm playing nice guy, just waiting that the technology finish, then choose again a new tech. I wish, there would be some democracy 3 ideas been implanted to manage your cities instead of just buildings.


Yup, that's normal and pretty random depending of your party.
The wrost is when your allies tell you to not kill them when you're surrended by them, lol.
I also didn't see anything to directly domestic them on the map even if I had some unlocked techs. I've just the option to shoot them >.>"

And who could forget...

"Hey, don't kill the aliens!"
*sends aircraft to eradicate aliens on their next turn*

Yup, I'm officially done with this game. It's awful. Like some shitty re-skin of Civ5 by amateurs.
 
20% off during Steam pre-order
25% off on release

I guess I should've waited and saved a few $

Yup, I'm officially done with this game.
I kinda feel the same. Maybe it's because I've 2000+ Civ5 hours under my belt and I'm growing tired of the formula, but after a couple of BE games I have little desire to play a third.
 
Top Bottom