Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth

I wonder if we'll get an Xcom homage or two in the game; maybe a sectoid cameo or something minor like that.

To tide myself over until Beyond Earth comes out, I've decided to check out Alpha Centauri.

Unfortunately, GOG won't accept my debit card, so I have to wait a few days for PayPal to transfer the cash from my bank account. And the Origin version I already purchased doesn't have the Alien Crossfire expansion, nor is there a way to buy it there.

Considering that the only Civ game I've played before is Civ V (I own III, IV, and IV's expansions; don't you just love Steam sales?), is there anything I should be aware of before I start playing Alpha Centauri?

edited 8th Jun '14 9:45:01 AM by TrashJack

Well, the most important thing it that it's old and shows its age. Not unplayable or anything, but there's a bit of culture shock coming from Civ V I guess. Also, you can't choose your research for some reason, only general research paths. I actually completely forgot that until I replayed it. Units take support from the city that built them, which lowers the city's production rather than money.

You can choose your research, but you have to toggle the "Blind Research" setting when starting a game.

Just to let you guys know they started giving out more information about the faction leaders:

http://www.gamereactor.eu/news/199534/Civilization%3A+Beyond+Earth+info+overload/?rs=rss

And I started work on a characters page for the game.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/CivilizationBeyondEarth

I am a bit concerned that these faction leaders may end up too bland and serious. One of Alpha Centauri's appeals was that the faction leaders were fun and pretty wacky, and Civ V gives their leaders a lot of personality as well. Maybe these actually are really entertaining and compelling characters but its something i'm worried about.

EDIT: I also really dislike that its the future but we're still dividing our factions up by ethnicities and geographies? And they have powers that basically conform to regional stereotypes? Alpha Centauri proved we didn't have to do that, so this feels like a step backwards in that respect.

edited 9th Jun '14 12:00:46 PM by mrshine

Not entirely; Kavitha represents a global religion, and the ARC is a mega-corp, and effectively multinational in nature.

Are those all the leaders you can choose from, or are there more on the way? I thought I remembered reading something about an Australian faction, and a Polynesian/Indonesian leader as well...

http://well-of-souls.com/civ/civbe_overview.html#civilizations It looks as though there are 8 civs, corresponding to 6 continents + the Indian subcontinent, and Europe is divided into east and west.

Well, they do seem to be trying to create unique personalities for the leaders:

http://www.civilization.com/us/news/civilization-beyond-earth-leader-interview-suzanne-fielding/

From what I've heard, they've basically retracted their steps, in terms of the design mentality, that lead to Alpha Centauri, including reading a metric ton of science fiction novels for inspiration. Whether or not lighting will strike twice is yet to be seen, but I'm fairly optimistic about this game.

Honestly, the Purity stuff is the coolest looking IMHO, even though I'm personally more partial to the supremacy ideology.

edited 10th Jun '14 9:03:42 AM by Archereon

The description for the Indian leader mentions that "she focused her vast resources on repairing the damage done by her predecessors to the people of the Indian subcontinent".

JUST WHAT DID YOU DO THIS TIME GANDHI

If I know that untrustworthy little bastard, he probably Manhattan Project-ed all over the place.

You mean besides the poverty and pollution? Seriously, if Gandhi going nuclear becomes canon in BE history, I will facepalm.

edited 10th Jun '14 1:25:05 PM by Fighteer

Yeah, that would be taking the joke a little too far. Though I suppose a nuclear war with Pakistan could also be a possibility.

EDIT: It turns out, they're referring to that incident with the Bollywood love-triangle with the crazy robot.

edited 10th Jun '14 1:31:01 PM by Rotpar

I was pretty sure they were referring to the Pakistan thing. Making a joke out of it seems unlikely, rather they're extrapolating about what the aftereffects of WW3 might look like.

New hands on info:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/conferences/e32014/11475-Civilization-Beyond-Earth-Hands-On-Sci-Fi-Skinned-Strategy-Update

Pay special attention to this part:

It was time to found my first city, so I calmly built a settler and made my way south. Once at my location, I pressed "B" to give the age-old command to found city. But here's the catch, the city (or outpost as it's called in Beyond Earth) didn't get founded immediately. Each turn, a new hex joined the city's working radius until it finally was founded 6 turns in. This delayed founding of settlements can be used to my advantage in war, as an incomplete outpost isn't yet owned by its faction. That means you can attack them with impunity! File that one for future backstabbings.

Six turns to wipe another player's new city off the map with no repercussions? Evil Laugh.

Oh, god. I typically don't send much protection with my settlers. This will take some adjustment.

Yeah, when they said they were increasing the number of ways you could wage proxy war or screw with the other players without declaring war they weren't kidding. I foresee myself building fast kill teams of tanks, self-propelled artillery and mechanized infantry and keeping them near the other guys borders.

edited 10th Jun '14 5:43:39 PM by ManchuCandidate

I might actually start building my road networks in advance now. This is going to change things a LOT. Also like the charter system for independent cities they talked about, that's fun.

Sorry for doublepost, but IGN has a video preview up, for those who prefer their previews in video form.

The more I see of this game, the more I want it.

So does Firaxis just really hate ICS'ing, then? If you have to babysit your outpost for a fair amount of time (especially in the early game, where every move counts) then it doesn't seem like rapid expansion is going to be a viable option here.

Remember you land first and other civs show up later. You will have a few turns to yourself to get set up before having to contend with another civ. And they will be in the same boat as you.

You still have the various alien monsters running around, though.