Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth

[Count Nerfedalot]

I'm trying to think of a "Sid Meier" branded game where the AI was NOT dumber than a fence post and where the UI didn't fail on so many counts of ease -of-use and actively preventing you from accessing the information you most need when forcing you to make a situational decision. Pirates maybe? SMAC was the best of the CIV lot , and I credit Brian Reynolds for that, and even its UI was pretty horrible.  Ah, maybe that civil war RTS where he was able to reasonably hide the sucky UI and AI behind hand waving about fog of war and the average ignorant alcoholic civil war General.

[lamaros]

I've not played this again since my first go around, but reading the civ fanatics forums highlights there are some other amusing issues with the game. Many of which will be fixed, I expect, in time. But it will still be an eye-straining, personality devoid, AI defeating system which adds little novelty for its complexity.

[calapine]

I only saw this now, and it's not that I am biased against young chronologically challenged people, but it made me cringe somewhat. This is the Dev team:



They probably weren't alive when Civ 1 was released. Doesn't that make you feel....old?

Which fits nicely with their quote of "We took to Alpha Centauri for inspiration, so we read about it in Wikipedia!"  


Which ties in with a nitpick I have about the banal writing in this game. Random quote by Elodie (the "French-culture leader")




I doubt the devs did the writing, but it would fit. It just sounds like what a teenager would think that an old, cultured person would sound like.

Oh well.  

[MrHat]

Heh.  That makes a bit of sense.

Although the civilopedia entries aren't half bad.

[lamaros]

If space wasn't such a niche audience (and Civ 5 wasn't also a bit of stuff up at launch) then I wouldn't hesitate to call this a cash grab. It's a half arsed mess.

I guess they probably didn't have to pay the devs much...

[calapine]

On a more positive note, the soundtrack is pretty good.

Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth - Official Soundtrack - Promethean

[Yoru]

Though the civilopedia entries aren't half bad.

Yeah, I expect they actually pulled some time on one of Firaxis' regular writing staff to do some of those, and then tossed the quotes and log entries at Timmy the Intern.

[calapine]

Played a bit more as well as reading up it on at Civfanatics, and there are so many issues with the game in term of balance and game-mechanics (the trade-route micro, oh god the trade-routes...) that while I want to play it seems just best to put the game aside, forget about it and come back after two mega-patches.

REXing is soo strong, trade route are so OP and several quest choices are so unbalanced it boggles the mind how they slipped though. It's just a mess really.  

[Maledict]

Stupidest bug yet. If you kill aliens with ranged units, it doesnt count towards making them angry.

So that's why some people (and reviews) are reporting fighting off alien hordes, whereas players like me find them easier than barbarians in Civ 5.

[Ingmar]

A couple complaints I have after a few runthroughs:

1) The maps are too roomy. I never really have to care about having enough room to grow. I've finished 3 games so far and never come into real conflict with another civ without picking the fight myself. I think the main culprit is that we have too much room to expand.

2a) Victories are mostly possible too early in the game. Most of them are achievable well before you've seen even half of the techs in the web.
2b) The computer doesn't seem to understand this and doesn't beeline for anything, making it too easy to beat on pretty much all difficulties based on what I've seen so far and reports from people who've tried the hardest level.

[lamaros]

I tried to give this another go and gave up after about 15 turns. It's just not a very good game, especially compared to Civ 5 BNW, for far too many reasons.

[Teleku]

A couple complaints I have after a few runthroughs:

1) The maps are too roomy. I never really have to care about having enough room to grow. I've finished 3 games so far and never come into real conflict with another civ without picking the fight myself. I think the main culprit is that we have too much room to expand.

2a) Victories are mostly possible too early in the game. Most of them are achievable well before you've seen even half of the techs in the web.
2b) The computer doesn't seem to understand this and doesn't beeline for anything, making it too easy to beat on pretty much all difficulties based on what I've seen so far and reports from people who've tried the hardest level.

1 and 2b I agree with from my playthrough, at middle difficulty.  2a I believe is by design, and not necessarily a bad thing, IMO.

[lamaros]

Of course it is. It's directly related to point 2b. Cherry picking techs is fine, but being able to cherry pick too early and win is an issue. Winning nearly every victory type on the hardest difficulty before turn 250 shouldn't be easy.

[Sky]

I'm glad the AI doesn't beeline for easy wins, as I do not. I don't even come close to min-maxing in games, so this isn't a big deal at all for me. I tend to pick my tech for RP reasons (I'm playing as the not-Soviets, teching accordingly), only wavering from that when I have an immediate need (to exploit a resource or snag a unit).

Though the trade routes do get a bit naggy, it has yet to bother me. Maybe putting in a checkbox for 'continue this route until disrupted' or something would be cool. I have to watch several routes that go through hostile waters; but all my domestic routes stay pretty static. I do like that they are units and the routes need to be protected.

I'd say I probably have enjoyed this one thus far more than any civ launch since Civ 2 or SMAC.

Sorry I'm not on the hater train.

[lamaros]

We are talking about the hardest difficulty. That doesn't mean you can't do whatever you want on the other ones. But the hardest difficulty needs to have a challenge to the better players, or it is pointless...

[lamaros]

It's dying pretty quickly.

http://steamgraph.net/index.php?action=graph&appid=65980q8930&from=1412690246

[Sky]

While I see what you're going for, Mr Bias; it's not unsurprising for this kind of title. Civ fans snap it up at launch, everyone else waits for a sale.

[IainC]

While I see what you're going for, Mr Bias; it's not unsurprising for this kind of title. Civ fans snap it up at launch, everyone else waits for a sale.

That's not a sales graph, it's a time played graph. So, Civ fans snapped it up at launch, played it a bunch then overwhelmingly went back to Civ V.

[Sky]

So, Civ fans snapped it up at launch, played it a bunch then overwhelmingly went back to Civ V.

Which is again, pretty typical. I've already put in as much time with this as with Civ 4 or 5 at launch.

[naum]

It's dying pretty quickly.

http://steamgraph.net/index.php?action=graph&appid=65980q8930&from=1412690246

Plugged in a few more strategy titles.

But Football Manager 2015 has eclipsed Civ V.

Civ: Beyond Earth has almost fell below Europa Universalis IV.

Dominions 4 is not an available option from the pulldown game menu.

Will probably eventually buy this title, next year, after patches and/or expansions flesh out balance and gameplay issues, which are endemic to Civ games the last few iterations.

Civ V came out, in what? 2010? Yet, I just passed the 100 hour mark recently and it took BNW + patches to make it an enjoyable experience for me. Started playing this again and it whetted my Civ craving.

[brellium]

It's dying pretty quickly.

http://steamgraph.net/index.php?action=graph&appid=65980q8930&from=1412690246

Plugged in a few more strategy titles.

But Football Manager 2015 has eclipsed Civ V.

Civ: Beyond Earth has almost fell below Europa Universalis IV.

Dominions 4 is not an available option from the pulldown game menu.

Will probably eventually buy this title, next year, after patches and/or expansions flesh out balance and gameplay issues, which are endemic to Civ games the last few iterations.

Civ V came out, in what? 2010? Yet, I just passed the 100 hour mark recently and it took BNW + patches to make it an enjoyable experience for me. Started playing this again and it whetted my Civ craving.

They're outperforming CKII, which has the ability to put out 1.99$ texture packs that outsell everything on steam.

[Typhon]

I really wanted to like it, I just don't.  Hoping for an expansion to make it right.

[Wasted]

The more I play this the more I hate it.  It's just so bland, the tech is boring, the units are boring, even the alien world is boring.  I don't feel any joy in building up my empire and the diplomacy is horrible.  It would take a lot to save this game.

[Maledict]

Yeah, they really fucked this up - and I enjoyed vanilla civ 5.

AI is totally worthless, the planet is boring, the storyline is alpha-centauri "light", the aliens toothless, the colour scheme eye-poppingly bad and the trade system so stupidly overpowered you cannot but wonder how it got out of the door. The fact that every faction is so stupifyingly dull is the icing on the cake.

[Ingmar]

Waiting for a patch before I play any more of this I think. I can't get the motivation to finish the last 150 turns or so of my Apollo game; too boring. I think the game is salvageable but it's going to be several patches, maybe an expansion from now I think.

If it matters for comparison purposes, I thought Civ V at release was already good.

[Pennilenko]

I got this for free with my graphics card and i feel like they really should have paid me to take it.

[Khaldun]

I've given it a really good try. And it sort of engages me and then I think, "Oh, who cares" at a certain point in each game I've started.

I think it's because:

a) factions just totally lack personality
b) aliens are meh
c) the Wonders seem absolutely totally dull, the game barely gives a shit that one got built, they have no unique or interesting effects really
d) the maps generally don't create tension or drama that way Civ normally does
e) the equivalent of city-states barely matter; most of the time I find they're dead by turn 100 from aliens
f) the really interesting units are often barely in play before the game ends
g) there's just no bells and whistles here at all, and the writing such as it is feels like what some adolescents put together ten minutes before the final build was due
h) there's not enough visual and narrative distance between the different pathways to victory

This is going to take a bigger patch/expansion than what Civ V eventually got to be the game it could be.

[Spiff]

To top it off, if you do happen to finish a game you get probably the least satisfying end for a CIV game yet (and that's saying something). The absolute bare minimum, most dull, made in MS Paint looking box saying 'you win WOOOooooo'.
No demographics, or even a small run-through of your 'meaningful' choices compared to the AI, not even an end-score.

It's not my biggest gripe with the game, but it brings home how half-assed the whole thing feels.

[Khaldun]

Yes, the end stuff is just ridiculously cheap. What, it was too hard even to write a textual description of the different victories?

[Ingmar]

Pretty sure there actually is a description, it's just in the "victories" summary screen IIRC so you can't actually read it unless you "One More Turn..." it. 

[lamaros]

While I see what you're going for, Mr Bias; it's not unsurprising for this kind of title. Civ fans snap it up at launch, everyone else waits for a sale.

http://steamgraph.net/index.php?action=graph&appid=65980q8930&from=0

Civ BE has pretty much failed. Given how heavily it launched it has probably burnt up a bit of the goodwill that the Civ 5 expansions and XCOM built up for Firaxis too.

[Khaldun]

Pretty much for me, yeah. This just screams "we let the interns work on this one in their spare time and thought we'd coast off the good feelings that we'd created with other releases". Which would be one thing if it was just some game, but it's another if you're not only messing with your most storied franchise BUT ALSO messing with very, very fond memories of Alpha Centauri.

Even one or two improvements in a key area would make this a lot more palatable. Factions that were closer to Alpha Centauri's in terms of having distinctive character, goals, etc.   Aliens that were more interesting. Maps that created more interesting situations. Events that really shook things up in interesting ways. Better Wonders. Anything.

[Paelos]

The great part of Alpha Centauri was that it wasn't afraid to be dark. And that you could design your own units. That was so huge, and it's been completely lost in the succeeding games. Everything I've read there makes me think they are afraid of any controversy or much innovation. It's like they are taking some parts of Alpha Centauri, not calling it that, and then slapping Civ elements into it.

Sounds like this pretty much went that way. They tried to invoke AC, slapped some shitty Civ 5 elements in it, and let the interns do the coding.

[Tannhauser]

I've given it a really good try. And it sort of engages me and then I think, "Oh, who cares" at a certain point in each game I've started.

I think it's because:

a) factions just totally lack personality
b) aliens are meh
c) the Wonders seem absolutely totally dull, the game barely gives a shit that one got built, they have no unique or interesting effects really
d) the maps generally don't create tension or drama that way Civ normally does
e) the equivalent of city-states barely matter; most of the time I find they're dead by turn 100 from aliens
f) the really interesting units are often barely in play before the game ends
g) there's just no bells and whistles here at all, and the writing such as it is feels like what some adolescents put together ten minutes before the final build was due
h) there's not enough visual and narrative distance between the different pathways to victory

This is going to take a bigger patch/expansion than what Civ V eventually got to be the game it could be.

Sums up my feelings as well.  I've won the two games I played but the game is dull and the wonders are hilariously impotent.  For instance the New Terran Myth.  A mid-game 'wonder' that for 750 hammers gives you 4 culture.  Four.  FOUR.

This game isn't very good.  It's in better shape than Civ V was at release, but this is the gaming disappointment of the year for me.

[Ingmar]

First patch is out: http://www.civilization.com/en/news/2014-12--civilization-beyond-earth-fall-update-now-live/


Some important changes, nothing done about the bland flavor but I am not sure that ever gets fixed, at least not in a regular patch.