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But similar ideologies doesn't necessarily mean similar political goals!

Wait, I guess that it does in this game. Carry on.

They've taken my free Tech Away! Oh, protecting my settlers with an explorer is gone too. That was kinda silly.

I hope they'll add some underwater features, that would be very cool.

Explorers in general are better now, though.

Im just glad that so far this is looking like a better base game than Civ 5 Was.

Soon as we get expansions, it will get even better.



Civ 5 was pretty bland until all of the expansions it got.

Yeah, it's a good game even without expansions, I can't wait to see what they'll add.

 Melissia wrote:
Yeah, it's a good game even without expansions, I can't wait to see what they'll add.

Ive been meaning to ask how it is, I racked about 200 hours up on CIV5. You think its worth buying then eh Mel?

 mattyrm wrote:

 Melissia wrote:
Yeah, it's a good game even without expansions, I can't wait to see what they'll add.

Ive been meaning to ask how it is, I racked about 200 hours up on CIV5. You think its worth buying then eh Mel?

I think so. So far I have 197 hours in Civ5 and 67 hours in Civ:BE. Still racking up the latter hours, though Iv'e slowed down as people keep inviting me to more multiplayer games heh.

 Melissia wrote:

 mattyrm wrote:

 Melissia wrote:
Yeah, it's a good game even without expansions, I can't wait to see what they'll add.

Ive been meaning to ask how it is, I racked about 200 hours up on CIV5. You think its worth buying then eh Mel?

I think so. So far I have 197 hours in Civ5 and 67 hours in Civ:BE. Still racking up the latter hours, though Iv'e slowed down as people keep inviting me to more multiplayer games heh.

Just bought it. If I do not enjoy it then I shall curse you until my last breath.

Which may be at some point this week judging by todays hangover.

Now now, I'm sure you'll outlive your liver by at least a month. The Royal Marines didn't train you to die THAT easily.

I am really enjoying this version of Civ. Probably the best since Civ2.

Although I am having some issues. Namely the fact that the AI seems to always get a victory condition, and more advanced units, before I do even on the lowest difficulty.

There is an insane difference in power level between units that are only one upgrade apart.


Anyone have any tips on how to maintain good health? It seems that once you have 4-6 cities that even with buildings that say they give +3 health your positive health doesn't change by much. Even working Biowells doesn't appear to be doing anything for me.

There's a specific route (up and to the right) on the tech web that should help you maintain health if you want to focus on health.

C:BE is 40% off on Steam right now, Featured deal for about a day and a half from when I’m posting.

Just a FYI for if there are other like me who were waiting for a sale to grab a copy.

 mattyrm wrote:

 Melissia wrote:
Yeah, it's a good game even without expansions, I can't wait to see what they'll add.

Ive been meaning to ask how it is, I racked about 200 hours up on CIV5. You think its worth buying then eh Mel?

If you enjoyed Civ 5 you will like BE, it's essentially the same game but with prettier graphics and a sci-fi skin. I got bored with it pretty fast though probably because I went straight from a mammoth game on Civ 5 to BE - probably a good idea to put a play on a game in-between for that reason!

And don't call me Shirley !

I wish they had made generic faction avatars or even randomized ones. Its annoying seeing the same faces each game, and the same name.

That is one thing I did not like with Civ games. There was always a set named ruler.

Well, great. The patch has apparently broken Beyond Earth for me.

I'm running a 200 series Nvidia card, and apparently anything 300 series or older is incompatible with the latest patch. I'm supposed to use beta software to revert it to the previous version.

...

 Grey Templar wrote:
Anyone have any tips on how to maintain good health? It seems that once you have 4-6 cities that even with buildings that say they give +3 health your positive health doesn't change by much. Even working Biowells doesn't appear to be doing anything for me.

I don't know on what difficulty you're playing and how well it'll work for you. Purity doctrine has some really nice buildings that increase your health (Gene Gardens), reselin in your control area will allow you to increase health level by building bionics laboratory. I find communal health to nicely counteract the increase of population in the cities, if you're not dedicating completely to a single virtue you can take a dip to other branches, profiteering or public security. Late game, soma distillery will give you nice health increase and trigger a quest where you'll decide for cultural or overall health increase.

I don't know how other two doctrines do it. Purity is in my view been the easiest to maintain good health across the colonies, even though it's easily to get sidetracked as you ponder on investing into butter or cannons. Not building oil platforms, when just founding out the new city also helps. In general in addition of finding a good piece of land you need to take into account that newly founded colony will bring you negative health until it can learn to function on its own. Purchasing health buildings rather than production buildings is one way to have healthier population. Even though I sometimes get the feeling the effect of them is noticeable only after two or three turns.

Repetition of dialogues and faces gets annoying after a while. Particularly, since there are only 8 rather identical factions in the game.

Yeah, figured everything out.

A city can't produce more health than it has citizens. So buying buildings doesn't help unless they are below the population.

Mhm, you need global health to raise health beyond the population, which is given by things other than buildings (I think a few wonders might do it?)

So, from what I have gathered without playing it, would the description of "Civ V in space" be about accurate? As someone who still owns and plays the original Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (Civ II in space) this may interest me.

I just wish Civ V wasn't so simplified compared to Civ IV... the hex based tiles are a welcome improvement though.

Visually, yes.

As far as gameplay goes, in some areas it is the same and in others its different.

Some major differences:

1) Technology is a web rather than a tree. You start in the center and work out. Each node on the web has a primary technology which lets you move beyond that node, and there are 1-2 technologies which are also at that node and need to be researched in order.

2) Units upgrade differently depending on how you develop your affinity. The first 2 levels of upgrades are the same for basic units, but the last 3 depend on how your affinity looks. Soldiers(basic melee unit) turn into Marines. Marines can then turn down one of 3 pathways, gaining new abilities depending on which. Each Affinity has an associated strategic resource too. Harmony utilizes Xenomass, Purity utilizes Floatstone, and Supremacy focuses on Firaxite.

3) Alien lifeforms behave very differently than Barbarians have previously. They're not automatically hostile and can even become friendly. Early on, Alien units are quite powerful. But mid and late game they become quite weak.

4) Workers and Settlers function the same as in Civ 5, although when you found a city it spends multiple turns as an outpost until you can do anything with it. During that time it needs to be protected. Workers also know a bunch of tile improvements from the start. You can build roads, mines, farms, generators, paddocks, and plantations right away. Technology unlocks only a couple extra improvements, and it also improves old ones.

The same unit with a different affinity can have very different abilities.

Also, upgraded units are a major upgrade over their basic types. Even a single level difference can mean you are vastly outgunned.

There are no WMDs in this game. No nuking large clusters of units, although some units can gain splash damage on their ranged attack.


This game isn't in space per say. Its on an alien planet, but no space ships. You do get to deploy satellites. You can have a orbital laser/siege satellite. There are satellites which increase production or energy. There is even a satellite that can randomly spawn new resources on the tiles below it.

But.. I think such changes are minor when you look at it in context of changes within the Civ series since it began.

While I've enjoyed playing BE, it could almost be a fan made mod of Civ 5 - it's essentially the same game with 'in space', refined from the original and with some different unit animations tacked on, a few of the mechanics changed.

I think if you consider the environment in which it is set, they could have done so much more with the game. It's fun, functional, but completely lacking in imagination or the desire to do anything even slightly risky.

Sure, but I'm looking forward to DLC and Mods. Looks like it could be an excellent starting point.

I don't feel that any fan-made mod would have been this polished...

 Grey Templar wrote:
There are no WMDs in this game. No nuking large clusters of units, although some units can gain splash damage on their ranged attack.

The ludicrously powerful "this tile and everything within 3 tiles of it becomes a crater" Planet Buster missiles were one of my favorite part of Alpha Centauri.

So... I know this is a little thing, but is it possible to change the name of a newly founded outpost? Or do I have to wait until it becomes a full city, as it seems?

You have to wait unfortunately.

 Grey Templar wrote:
You have to wait unfortunately.

Huh. That's a shame.

It also bugs me a bit that when renaming a faction, you run up against a character limit that pretty much all of the factions break. This confuses me.

That's a problem all the civ games have had, afaik....

 Melissia wrote:
That's a problem all the civ games have had, afaik....

Yeah, you're right. I guess I just never noticed it before. I mean, I've always known there was a character limit, I just never noticed that the default Civs broke it so often.

I wish they'd not put such a glaring limitation, myself, for a similar reason.