Date played: October 24th
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 10/10
I must carry the hopes and dreams of humanity onto a new world. Civilization Beyond Earth is here.
I have been playing this series for over 20 years. When I was about 10 years old, me and my friend sat in the dark of the night behind an old DOS computer, trying to decipher how to play this game with a very limited understanding of English. To met, a settler was simply a weird looking pod thing that made cities. An ironclad was a brand of warship. A worker was a thing that made water flow near my cities. Civilization has been a part of my life ever since.
I learned how to really play in Civ II with it's detailed isometric graphics. I fought pollution in Civ III. I held off Gandhi and his nukes in Civ IV. I built powerful religions in Civ V. Now, I conquer space in Beyond Earth.
There are some MAJOR changes here that I still haven't wrapped my head around, even after hours of play. The most significant so far has been the intimidating tech web. Instead of progressing through different technological ages, Beyond Earth offers complete freedom in the way tech is researched. I think it's a good idea, but until I understand the systems, buildings and units better, I will make many mistakes.
Another big change comes with the ideologies. Depending on how I develop science and complete small quests, I build affinity towards one of three affinities. Harmony, Supremacy and Purity. These allow for different victory types and different unit upgrades. One of the best changes in the game is that units are now automatically upgraded. This may seem minor, but it was a pain to manage individual upgrades and obsolete units in previous games.
The orbital layer is another new addition that adds a lot to the game. Basically, nations can launch satellites with various uses, including the ability to clear poisonous miasma from tiles. I still have a lot to learn from these mechanics, but I like what I see so far.
I built a 3 city empire. I decided to focus on trade and quickly established a strong trading network. Along the way, I fought many types of aliens which are kind of like Barbarians from previous games, except that they seem to be a bit more passive, depending on the situation.
I quickly ran into a problem. I was swimming in energy (the new currency) but had nothing to spend it on! My science was falling behind and my culture wasn't that great. Since I had nothing to build, I started building military units and went on alien raids, exterminating as many of them as I could. Explorers can set up expeditions on special tiles that grant great rewards, so I tried to find some of these during battle.
I'm not quite sure how I will win. I could try for a domination victory and destroy everyone, but that's a long and difficult process. I still don't quite understand the other victory conditions, so I will explore my options a bit, but next time, I need to build a more balanced empire I think.
Platform: PC
Session fun rating: 10/10
I must carry the hopes and dreams of humanity onto a new world. Civilization Beyond Earth is here.
I have been playing this series for over 20 years. When I was about 10 years old, me and my friend sat in the dark of the night behind an old DOS computer, trying to decipher how to play this game with a very limited understanding of English. To met, a settler was simply a weird looking pod thing that made cities. An ironclad was a brand of warship. A worker was a thing that made water flow near my cities. Civilization has been a part of my life ever since.
I learned how to really play in Civ II with it's detailed isometric graphics. I fought pollution in Civ III. I held off Gandhi and his nukes in Civ IV. I built powerful religions in Civ V. Now, I conquer space in Beyond Earth.
Another big change comes with the ideologies. Depending on how I develop science and complete small quests, I build affinity towards one of three affinities. Harmony, Supremacy and Purity. These allow for different victory types and different unit upgrades. One of the best changes in the game is that units are now automatically upgraded. This may seem minor, but it was a pain to manage individual upgrades and obsolete units in previous games.
The orbital layer is another new addition that adds a lot to the game. Basically, nations can launch satellites with various uses, including the ability to clear poisonous miasma from tiles. I still have a lot to learn from these mechanics, but I like what I see so far.
I built a 3 city empire. I decided to focus on trade and quickly established a strong trading network. Along the way, I fought many types of aliens which are kind of like Barbarians from previous games, except that they seem to be a bit more passive, depending on the situation.
I quickly ran into a problem. I was swimming in energy (the new currency) but had nothing to spend it on! My science was falling behind and my culture wasn't that great. Since I had nothing to build, I started building military units and went on alien raids, exterminating as many of them as I could. Explorers can set up expeditions on special tiles that grant great rewards, so I tried to find some of these during battle.
I'm not quite sure how I will win. I could try for a domination victory and destroy everyone, but that's a long and difficult process. I still don't quite understand the other victory conditions, so I will explore my options a bit, but next time, I need to build a more balanced empire I think.
