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

S

Serandur

Member
Crap, I'm committed to go to a Halloween party tomorrow night. That right there could be my BE money and launch-night entertainment. What have I done...


Meh, I'll buy it anyway, play it at midnight tonight.
 
-tetsuo-

-tetsuo-

Unlimited Capacity
ComputerMKII said:
Who said only military shooters had to look good? Hell, even Civilization 5 looks better. When you see games that do an incredible job at 2D menus (e.g. Destiny, Path of Exile) I think Civilization Beyond Earth could look better.
Click to expand...

Destiny has 2D menus that show like 5 points of information and take up the entire screen.
 
-tetsuo-

-tetsuo-

Unlimited Capacity
Fragamemnon said:
One thing I didn't mention in the OP, but should be clear to anyone who's watched a LP of the game-the soundtrack (free with the game) is more or less INSANE.

http://www.civilization.com/en/news/2014-10-soundtrack-included-with-beyond-earth-purchase/

(Two tracks linked there, but I've heard more via youtube LPs and it's all top shelf stuff).

So if you're like me and turn off the music in your turn based games so you can listen to spotify, might want to rethink that for this one. Once it is unlocked you can get to the soundtrack via:

[drive]:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization Beyond Earth\assets\Sounds\Streamed\Music
Click to expand...

This is the music while you are playing?

15286312089_beb6e0ce84_o.png
15286312089_beb6e0ce84_o.png
15286312089_beb6e0ce84_o.png
 
N

Neuromancer

Member
My other concern with this game is not enough graphics. This is 2014, surely they could have put more graphics in this. I'm no game designer but I think it's shocking, this game has all of the graphics of a PC game from the mid 90's and that frankly is unacceptable.
 
C

Chariot

Member
Neuromancer said:
My other concern with this game is not enough graphics. This is 2014, surely they could have put more graphics in this. I'm no game designer but I think it's shocking, this game has all of the graphics of a PC game from the mid 90's and that frankly is unacceptable.
Click to expand...
Wat
 
O

orthodoxy1095

Banned
Neuromancer said:
My other concern with this game is not enough graphics. This is 2014, surely they could have put more graphics in this. I'm no game designer but I think it's shocking, this game has all of the graphics of a PC game from the mid 90's and that frankly is unacceptable.
Click to expand...
I'm hoping this is sarcasm. Otherwise, I want to see what 90's games you were playing.
 
S

Serandur

Member
Dr Dogg said:
I'll just pop these here unless someone make a PC Performance Thread.


A few more higher resolutions tested and CPU loads.
http://gamegpu.ru/rts-/-strategii/sid-meier-s-civilization-beyond-earth-test-gpu.html
Click to expand...

Neither my GPU (970) nor my CPU (3770K) are on either of those. Seriously, why do these charts never include Ivy Bridge? I know it's mostly SB's die shrink, but still... there are some minor architectural differences and with that SLI 980 setup, the potentially large PCI-E 3.0 difference. What gives?
 
L

LurkerPrime

Member
Neuromancer said:
My other concern with this game is not enough graphics. This is 2014, surely they could have put more graphics in this. I'm no game designer but I think it's shocking, this game has all of the graphics of a PC game from the mid 90's and that frankly is unacceptable.
Click to expand...

I share your concern, ComputerMkII. But somehow it will all work out.
 
W

Wallach

Member
From the IGN review:

What’s strange, and unusual for a Civilization game, is that ending a game is frustratingly abrupt. For the first time I can remember, there is no after-action report recapping your colony’s story whatsoever. You’re just dumped back to the main menu for another go. I once lost a game by one turn, and I wasn’t even told who beat me or how they’d done it until I went back and reloaded from an autosave for a super-slow instant replay. That’s weird and disappointing, because I love recounting my epic journey in other Civ games.
Click to expand...

That really sounds crappy for a Civ game. I hope he's mistaken somehow, this sounds like it would make the conclusion of each game kind of unsatisfying.
 
N

Nzyme32

Member
Wallach said:
From the IGN review:



That really sounds crappy for a Civ game. I hope he's mistaken somehow, this sounds like it would make the conclusion of each game kind of unsatisfying.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a bug to me. It would be rather disappointing and at odds with the conventions of most strategy games to just throw you out of the experience without a bit of closure and data to look through of the events of the game
 
S

Septy

Member
Wallach said:
From the IGN review:



That really sounds crappy for a Civ game. I hope he's mistaken somehow, this sounds like it would make the conclusion of each game kind of unsatisfying.
Click to expand...

Didn't they do that in Civ V too, or something similar anyway.

The detail that you got in SMAC or Civ 4 made the ending satisfying. It feels deflating to just get 1 picture and then it's back to the main menu.
 
R

Raticus79

Seek victory, not fairness
orthodoxy1095 said:
I'm hoping this is sarcasm. Otherwise, I want to see what 90's games you were playing.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's sarcasm.

I'd actually be fine with a 90's-ish mode though - the same mechanics but super low system requirements. Something I wished for at times when Civ V was struggling in multiplayer endgame, just kick it into low-fi mode when you don't really care about the graphics any more and just want to quickly manage your cities and units. Strategic view sort of worked for that, but I couldn't get used to the top-down perspective.
 
A

Architechnophile

Member
Wallach said:
From the IGN review:



That really sounds crappy for a Civ game. I hope he's mistaken somehow, this sounds like it would make the conclusion of each game kind of unsatisfying.
Click to expand...

It's correct, in my experience. I encountered the same scenario that IGN's reviewer did--losing suddenly, and not knowing exactly why until I reloaded. There's no after-action report.
 
W

Wallach

Member
Septy said:
Didn't they do that in Civ V too, or something similar anyway.

The detail that you got in SMAC or Civ 4 made the ending satisfying. It feels deflating to just get 1 picture and then it's back to the main menu.
Click to expand...

Not sure, I haven't really played Civ since Beyond the Sword. I kept waiting on a sale after Civ V launched and then never really had the presence of mind to remember to go back and actually buy the darn game.
 
S

Shaldome

Member
RulkezX said:
I'm guessing you're in the US ?

I'm in the UK and have come to the conclusion they won't send it until it's out tomorrow.
Click to expand...

I also got my key from GMG yesterday and I am from Germany, so there is still hope that you will get yours before it unlocks.
 
Q

Qvoth

Member
someone's streaming it on twitch right now

edit: funny how the official stream has less viewers than this quill18 guy lol
 
D

Dr Dogg

Member
Just got in and out of excitement/desperation clicked Play and got told to hop it and comeback latter but not before this popped up.
QhfRC6u.png
Click to expand...
Mantle support day one is a bit of a surprise. Great to see thought (which is weird seeing as I'm Team Green through and through).
 
D

Dinosur

Member
Took tomorrow off and have it preloaded on the desktop and laptop if it's ever nice enough to sit outside this weekend.

A trip to the beer store after work and I shall be ready.
 
T

Technosteve

Banned
Eh fuck it i preordered it, my Alpha Centauri nostalgia googles are on and I'm going to figure out how to mod this game so I can have my leaders with personalities again.

Can I micromange my cities and mange my social economic traits in this game?
 
P

publicpwnerer

Member
Technosteve said:
Eh fuck it i preordered it, my Alpha Centauri nostalgia googles are on and I'm going to figure out how to mod this game so I can have my leaders with personalities again.

Can I micromange my cities and mange my social economic traits in this game?
Click to expand...

  1. production queue is back - still cant automate a city (unless puppeted)
  2. a lot of customization when setting up a game
  3. lack of diverse units (about 9), offset by the new upgrade system which is pretty cool. basically you can evolve your basic unit types (automatically upgrading all units built) based on your affinity and choices (different evolution/perks). not as advanced as the Alpha Centauri unit customisation though.
  4. new orbital layer (above flying) - can contain satellites that have a sphere of influence, things like lasers or benefits to cities - satellites have limited lifespan
  5. trading system is practically identical to civ 5
  6. city states are replaced by stations which are effectively trading hubs
  7. covert ops (espionage) give some interesting options
  8. research web - every technology has sub technologies and your'e actually researching from the inside out in a circle, as opposed to a left to right approach - Research Web[1]
  9. questing system (random?) which progress a story, including choices and rewards
  10. factions aren't as fleshed out as in Alpha Centauri, you don't really know who these factions are
  11. diplomacy introduces favors which you can trade for technologies and other things.
  12. religion is gone
  13. doesn't evolve the game as much as it could have
  14. plays a lot like civ 5
  15. sci-fi setting is cool if you enjoy it, but obviously drops the historical setting
  16. locked at 60 fps, apparently no performance issues (do consider that TB's machine is very powerful)
  17. conclusion: good game - not different enough for a full price purchase unless you really like the setting. lack of personality compared to Alpha Centauri. will probably be better with the first expansion.
Click to expand...

This is a copypaste of TotalBiscuits "WTF is" impression summary...courtesy of reddit.

WTF is...Civilization: Beyond Earth video.
 
E

exmachina64

Banned
robotrock said:
Is this game coming in one of those fancy old styled PC boxes?
Click to expand...

I remember the car ride home after I purchased SMAC all those years ago. That box definitely exuded 90s sci-fi and it was wonderful.

But to answer your question, yes, there's a physical Steamworks release.
 
T

Technosteve

Banned
I'm kinda glad that i didn't play civ 5 even tho i bought it and fired it up to see the improved combat and then went straight back to playing Alpha Centauri.
 
E

exmachina64

Banned
Remember in the recent AMA when they said the early post-release period would be focused on balancing and tweaking the game based on feedback?

Architechnophile said:
It's correct, in my experience. I encountered the same scenario that IGN's reviewer did--losing suddenly, and not knowing exactly why until I reloaded. There's no after-action report.
Click to expand...

Look! An opportunity to tweet the devs and say you want something changed!

Edit:

Wallach said:
From the IGN review:



That really sounds crappy for a Civ game. I hope he's mistaken somehow, this sounds like it would make the conclusion of each game kind of unsatisfying.
Click to expand...

When I first saw this, I thought you were talking about the bit of story detailing what happens in the aftermath of the endgame from SMAC.
 
L

LurkerPrime

Member
The turn-by-turn AAR is a lot of fun, especially when it shows the map. If it isn't in the game, I hope they add it later.

Technosteve said:
Eh fuck it i preordered it, my Alpha Centauri nostalgia googles are on and I'm going to figure out how to mod this game so I can have my leaders with personalities again.

Can I micromange my cities and mange my social economic traits in this game?
Click to expand...

I imagine there's standard population control... and, unless I'm terribly mistaken, virtues replace social policies.
 
K

KnightHart

Member
My mouse is hovering over the BUY NOW option in GMG. God damn it. GOD DAMN IT.

From TB's WTF is it really does look like Civ BE is better than Civ 5 Vanilla, but still lacking in comparison to Civ 5 with its two expansions.

When Civ BE was announced I really got the impression this is to Civ 5 what Civ Colonization was to Civ 4 back then. Truth be told I think I bought Civ Colonization and played one game and it ended there, and I just went back to Civ 4 and played more mods. The space hype is REAL, but maybe I'll wait it out on this one... Maybe. Also wasn't there a space mod for Civ 4 Beyond the Sword that was included with that expansion?
 
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