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Civilization: Beyond Earth |OT| - The Future of Mankind
- Thread starter Fragamemnon
- Start date
DrForester
Kills Photobucket
Played my first game. It's OK, but it certainly feels like a Civ 5 expansion than a new game.
When you have your explorer selected, it will tell you how many Excavation modules it has. Send him back to the capital to get more.
Everything in the game is unfulfilling. Where is my graph and map at the end of the game?
I've played a few games, really enjoying it!
the only issue for me seems to be .. the aliens.
They keep just swarming around my cities and killing me
from like 60+ turns in.
and i dont normally like to build an army in these games but it seems i might need to in this or i'll be done in for by little green men.
it's a pity there isn't a "solo" single player mode. Something like Starcraft 2's single player campaign, but still good fun.
the only issue for me seems to be .. the aliens.
They keep just swarming around my cities and killing me
from like 60+ turns in.and i dont normally like to build an army in these games
but it seems i might need to in this or i'll be done in for by little green men.it's a pity there isn't a "solo" single player mode. Something like Starcraft 2's single player campaign, but still good fun.
I've played a few games, really enjoying it!
the only issue for me seems to be .. the aliens.
They keep just swarming around my cities and killing me
and i dont normally like to build an army in these games
it's a pity there isn't a "solo" single player mode. Something like Starcraft 2's single player campaign, but still good fun.
Just focus a little on harmony and build the shield then expand it? You'll have a radius of 3 where they won't encroach.
Finished my first game, contact victory on normal difficulty. There's some neat ideas in Beyond Earth with affinity, the orbital layer, tech web choices, espionage and quests. The planet itself is serviceable, aliens are a handful to deal with though I'm not sure that design choice makes things any more fun. Admittedly didn't pursue many planet friendly techs throughout my run.
Felt rushed towards reaching a win condition, still had hidden areas on the map and no sea/air presence when I won with another faction at 80% of their goal. It was difficult to get a sense of time passing or where I was at in the flow of the overall game, aside from my cities suddenly changing color at some point.
Found a lot of the diplomacy interaction to be sterile and old fashioned, it's been a stagnant part of the series for a while but stands out more when straight up lifted from Civ V. Enjoyed the flavor text for technologies, relics, quests and wonders, though wonders themselves aren't all that powerful for the effort required. And even if there's good Sci-Fi going on taking a text wall only approach for the main quest makes the overall story less exciting than it should be. The endgame and ending payoff also felt a little undercooked.
Have mixed feelings overall but I'll come back to it for sure. Also my victory achievements never unlocked, not cool.
Felt rushed towards reaching a win condition, still had hidden areas on the map and no sea/air presence when I won with another faction at 80% of their goal. It was difficult to get a sense of time passing or where I was at in the flow of the overall game, aside from my cities suddenly changing color at some point.
Found a lot of the diplomacy interaction to be sterile and old fashioned, it's been a stagnant part of the series for a while but stands out more when straight up lifted from Civ V. Enjoyed the flavor text for technologies, relics, quests and wonders, though wonders themselves aren't all that powerful for the effort required. And even if there's good Sci-Fi going on taking a text wall only approach for the main quest makes the overall story less exciting than it should be. The endgame and ending payoff also felt a little undercooked.
Have mixed feelings overall but I'll come back to it for sure. Also my victory achievements never unlocked, not cool.
TheLostBigBoss
Banned
I've been reading this thread, and something came to me.
Why didn't they just make BE an expansion to Civ V? It seems like this would have solved many complaints about lack of fresh content and it feeling like a reskin of Civ V. It already uses the same engine and it seems like not much was reworked besides the new tech tree, which could have easily been saved for Civ VI if it was gonna cause too much conflict with the base game.
Who knows, maybe it started out as an expansion and it got morphed into a full game to beta test the new tech web, which we all know is going to be featured more fully in Civ VI.
Why didn't they just make BE an expansion to Civ V? It seems like this would have solved many complaints about lack of fresh content and it feeling like a reskin of Civ V. It already uses the same engine and it seems like not much was reworked besides the new tech tree, which could have easily been saved for Civ VI if it was gonna cause too much conflict with the base game.
Who knows, maybe it started out as an expansion and it got morphed into a full game to beta test the new tech web, which we all know is going to be featured more fully in Civ VI.
Poodlestrike
Banned
There's a little number right above the name of your city; select that to rebase your jets.
I dont see how making it an expansion would have solved the two complaints you mentioned, people who feel the content isnt fresh and its a reskin would make the same complaints about the expansion.
Basileus777
Member
Why make it an expansion when you can make more money selling it as a full game? Though there's nothing wrong with this concept/premise being a full game, even I wish wish it were more polished.
TheLostBigBoss
Banned
No? The two expansion to Civ V while enhanced gameplay still kept the base game, which it seems what BE is doing. Nobody would complain about an expansion playing like the base game, that would be insane.
Now you can obviously still complain about other design choices, but to bitch about an expansion following the formula of the game it's expanding on is kinda silly.
TheLostBigBoss
Banned
I'm not question the logic of making more money, I'm questioning the logic of releasing a game so close to the core of another game at full price with glaring issues that show it probably had a limited budget to start with.
But, maybe I'm being too harsh. I have yet to play the game, I've just been reading impressions and some lets plays.
It just feels weird how a bunch of Earth survivors go to a new planet and fight over the planet. Why not work together? Civ games make sense in that they represented history of human civilization. I really hope Neo France and Neo Russia don't fight over dumb stuff in a few thousand years when we're tilling a new planet.
Slackbladder
Member
I'm finding the game more of a challange than CivV which i now find easy to play. That alone is a good thng. Visually it is better too. I like the sound effects, the less intrusive UI and the music is exceptional.
Yes the AI and diplomacy still bugs me. Generally they always act like arseholes and you really, really have to fight the urge to go to war with them all the time.
There is a nasty bug when you upgrade units. In the top left you have a model showing the unit. Well it never goes away. When you upgrade another unit the first one is still there. And upgrade another one there's two there and so on until it becomes a mess. I'm sure it'll be fixed and it's only mildly annoying.
I'm enjoying the game a lot.
Yes the AI and diplomacy still bugs me. Generally they always act like arseholes and you really, really have to fight the urge to go to war with them all the time.
There is a nasty bug when you upgrade units. In the top left you have a model showing the unit. Well it never goes away. When you upgrade another unit the first one is still there. And upgrade another one there's two there and so on until it becomes a mess. I'm sure it'll be fixed and it's only mildly annoying.
I'm enjoying the game a lot.
Lactose_Intolerant
Member
Poodlestrike
Banned
Honestly, it makes sense to me. These guys weren't sent by "Earth," they don't represent the collective will of mankind. They're sent by their sponsors, to carve out a chunk of the planet in the name of those sponsors. Of course they're going to be bringing some baggage along with them.
Also, there's other planets, apparently. At least going off of one of the quest texts.
This bugs the hell out of me. It's not like they're desperate for screen space, the whole affair is super minimalist anyway. Whose idea was it to put freaking trade routes under the "oh yeah, and then there's this stuff" tab?
DeadlyParasite
Member
*Shrug* I'm enjoying the game quite a bit. Lost my first game but I learned pretty much all I need to succeed in a second game.
Could some things be improved? Probably. I like the technology tree and virtue system, as well as the ability to tailor your units as you develop.
I'm really curious to see what they could do with an expansion like Brave New World.
Could some things be improved? Probably. I like the technology tree and virtue system, as well as the ability to tailor your units as you develop.
I'm really curious to see what they could do with an expansion like Brave New World.
It would be weird to have expansions, for expansions.
I hate how little info there seems to be about other factions. I wouldn't have minded if the info was locked until you spied on them or even traded for it. That would have been a perfect opportunity to make espionage more intriguing.
Is there a way to make a shortcut launch the mantle version? When I try to launch the mantle executable in the steamapps folder I just get an error saying can not connect to steam. I have to open from my library every time.
Is there a way to make a shortcut launch the mantle version? When I try to launch the mantle executable in the steamapps folder I just get an error saying can not connect to steam. I have to open from my library every time.
MisterCrow
Member
Not only that but the button is smaller than the other buttons. That just makes no sense at all. Why would they make that harder to click?
Skel1ingt0n
I can't *believe* these lazy developers keep making file sizes so damn large. Btw, how does technology work?
Now 300 turns into my very first Civ game.
I'm lost as hell.
I'm depleting energy at ~30 a turn. Only way I'm surviving is because I keep siphoning energy with spies... I guess.
I have generators everywhere.
I have an aircraft carrier floating around... but no planes so it can't attack.
I'm -10 health for like 50 turns. I've built a bunch of clinics... what else can I do?
And even if I figure those out... I don't know the "point" behind anything I'm doing. Should I be building an army? Should I start a war? Or should I literally just be clicking "next turn" over and over and over again, and again?
I'm lost as hell.
I'm depleting energy at ~30 a turn. Only way I'm surviving is because I keep siphoning energy with spies... I guess.
I have generators everywhere.
I have an aircraft carrier floating around... but no planes so it can't attack.
I'm -10 health for like 50 turns. I've built a bunch of clinics... what else can I do?
And even if I figure those out... I don't know the "point" behind anything I'm doing. Should I be building an army? Should I start a war? Or should I literally just be clicking "next turn" over and over and over again, and again?
Lactose_Intolerant
Member
I think you get a quest on the first turn that shows all the victory conditions
I would love to read a postmortem on the UI design in this game.
They had a perfectly functioning UI in Civ5, and this game is using the same engine. How they could actually remove functionality and make a UI worse than Civ5 is a real head scratcher.
My guess is they threw the UI together at the last minute.
They had a perfectly functioning UI in Civ5, and this game is using the same engine. How they could actually remove functionality and make a UI worse than Civ5 is a real head scratcher.
My guess is they threw the UI together at the last minute.
Launch energy collector satellites, build Thorium reactors, TRADE ROUTES, etc. Also, some improvements have upkeep.
If you're at negative health, you want to move outward on the tree towards the health buildings. A lot of the Xeno stuff will help.
Also, culture is really important in this game. It's the only way to get meaningful bonuses and help propel you into the mid-game.
Yeah. Explorers have a fixed number of Expedition modules which have to be replenished at one of your citites. It's worth noting your Explorer doesn't have to actually park up in the city, you can just send it "through" the city's tile and it gets replenished.
Lanrutcon
Member
In isolation, I agree it's a minor thing (even though you explanation doesn't explain their implementation appropriately). The problem is that it's representative of a trend: the game teases you with cool tech, then only lets you apply it in silly ways. It would take a far, far larger post than the one I wrote to try and explain. The short version is that after about 4 or 5 hours with the game is that, despite the setting and potential for cool futuristic shit, they phoned it in and gave us a safe Civ 5 reskin.
marvelharvey
Member
Oh, I just found the Reply-Graph! Instead of being displayed automatically upon game completion, it's hidden under Other>View Replays from the front menu. There's still no Replay-Map to view, but it's something.
Neuromancer
Member
How do I build boats and things to transport my dudes to other islands?
I love the game but holy shit that tech tree is inscrutable.
I love the game but holy shit that tech tree is inscrutable.
Neuromancer
Member
Good question. In Alpha Centauri I believe the different factions arose from disagreements on the ship to the new planet but in this game they start off already assed up at one another. Why not pick different planets?
Research planetary surveyor(?) the third leaf in the center tech group.
Exploration is awful with all the aliens and miasma. Is there a better unit for exploration than the explorer? I feel like its not really a unit to send out to reveal the map. Too squishy and valuable unlike the scout in Civ V.
Neuromancer
Member
OK thanks.
I see in steam workshop there are already multiple mods for making the explorers tougher.
I really dislike how after you steal a tech you don't get any feedback whatshowever. In Civ V if you steal a tech you can choose which tech to steal and you get information about what that tech does. Here? Nope, the message to the right tells you what tech you stole if you hover over it and then you have to look it up for yourself what it does. Why did Firaxis even change this? It's obnoxious as fuck.
EDIT: Also, the Transcendence victory is one of the most underwhelming things ever. If you go for Harmony pretty much everyone will love you (hell, even after I mercilessly slaughtered ARC, everyone still wanted to be my best friend), so winning the game is just a matter of waiting. Research the necessary techs, build the wonder, wait 20 turns, win. Pretty anticlimactic.
EDIT: Also, the Transcendence victory is one of the most underwhelming things ever. If you go for Harmony pretty much everyone will love you (hell, even after I mercilessly slaughtered ARC, everyone still wanted to be my best friend), so winning the game is just a matter of waiting. Research the necessary techs, build the wonder, wait 20 turns, win. Pretty anticlimactic.
What I find is that I miss the variety and personalities of the leaders from Civ V. I think it would go a long way with the current setup if there was a male and female option per sponsor as well as a aggressive or peaceful personality for each.
Napalm_Frank
Member
From a quick glance at the thread maybe it's a good idea to wait for expansion before jumping from CiV5 to this. :/
To be honest while I'm a pretty big civ nut the whole space theme isn't for me at all so I really don't know about this game...
To be honest while I'm a pretty big civ nut the whole space theme isn't for me at all so I really don't know about this game...
The leaf thing is not perfectly understandable. The leaves are just two seperate branches, but for some reason Firaxis decided to put them underneath each other which makes things confusing.
The fact that the +-icon hides all the actually useful stuff boggles my mind though. That's just really stupid UI placement.