Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth

Rhyme said:
I keep picking the artists that give +2 culture and +1 health per city... and the option that cities expand borders twice as fast. Works pretty well.
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So there are artisans too eh? Are there fewer of them?

Maybe it's just me, but it felt like there were just too many options to place citizens in special buildings in Civ5. I never had enough citizens to spare. Even removing one or two seemed to have too much of a detrimental effect on my city.

Although I probably just suck at the game lol
 
chockomonkey said:
So there are artisans too eh? Are there fewer of them?

Maybe it's just me, but it felt like there were just too many options to place citizens in special buildings in Civ5. I never had enough citizens to spare. Even removing one or two seemed to have too much of a detrimental effect on my city.

Although I probably just suck at the game lol
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seem harder to build up lots of citizens in one city over 470+ turns, i mostly specialize it growth.
 
Rhyme said:
Is there a way to automate trade routes? I'm so sick of having to re-tell them where to go every few turns....

Seems like every turn that's all I do is coordinate trade routes.
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I actually like that you have to redo your trade routes. This allows for you to adapt to either support newer cities or change your focus (trading internally vs trading externally).
 
I'm really digging this game so far! However, I'm having a problem trying to get it to place nice with my new laptop.

I travel a lot for work and got a nice X1 Carbon with a Core i7 CPU. It doesn't have enough horsepower to play at the full resolution of my monitor (1440) but it does seem to play smooth at 1080p.

However, if I have the game set to full screen and 1080p, I get black boxes around everything, it is literally only displaying the 1080 pixels in the middle of the screen.

Shouldn't it still stretch to occupy the full screen in viewing area?
 
Smitty2k1 said:
I'm really digging this game so far! However, I'm having a problem trying to get it to place nice with my new laptop.

I travel a lot for work and got a nice X1 Carbon with a Core i7 CPU. It doesn't have enough horsepower to play at the full resolution of my monitor (1440) but it does seem to play smooth at 1080p.

However, if I have the game set to full screen and 1080p, I get black boxes around everything, it is literally only displaying the 1080 pixels in the middle of the screen.

Shouldn't it still stretch to occupy the full screen in viewing area?
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Do you have set to full screen in the options? Perhaps you should try setting the resolution to 1600x900 instead of 1080p on this laptop.
 
ebduncan said:
Do you have set to full screen in the options? Perhaps you should try setting the resolution to 1600x900 instead of 1080p on this laptop.
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Yes, it is full screen - not windowed. However, the monitor is not 'stretching' this reduced resolution to fill the screen, and instead just displays the selected resolution 1:1 in game. Reducing it does work.. why would that be?
 
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I now understand how the day 1 buyers of Civ V felt. I thought they were exaggerating but holy shit it was all true. I am fucking done buying these games early. I'll wait till they're 80% off during some steam sale for the GOTY edition. What a fucking letdown, can't even release a patch to make their fucking game work in the first 3 weeks of release.
 
Smitty2k1 said:
I'm really digging this game so far! However, I'm having a problem trying to get it to place nice with my new laptop.

I travel a lot for work and got a nice X1 Carbon with a Core i7 CPU. It doesn't have enough horsepower to play at the full resolution of my monitor (1440) but it does seem to play smooth at 1080p.

However, if I have the game set to full screen and 1080p, I get black boxes around everything, it is literally only displaying the 1080 pixels in the middle of the screen.

Shouldn't it still stretch to occupy the full screen in viewing area?
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Did you try adjusting aspect ratio settings in the Intel Graphics control panel?

Otherwise it's likely an issue with the game (and engine itself) and you'll have to petition the developers to address it. Civilization 5 had this same issue (and still has as far as I know) if running in DX11 mode but not DX9 mode. Beyond Earth is likely carrying over the same issue being DX11.
 
Anyone found a good youtube strategy guide for the game?

I'm trying to figure the alien AI out, and from what I can tell they have a hive mind. If any humans attack them, they get aggressive, kind of like the city states would band together if you go too hardcore on them, but unlike city states the attacks seem to matter more if the unit you are killing is near a nest.

It seems that if the unit is no where near a nest, they don't seem to give a crap.

I also can't figure out if the water creatures are part of the land creatures hive, or if they are independent. I killed a couple sea monster, and ya that seemed to really piss them off.

Right now I'm playing supremacy, with the goal to run my empire like space robot Hitler and exterminate all enemies and native life. I needz mein Lebensraum.

big-boss-of-the-day-wolfenstein-3-ds-mecha-hitler-20100108090106653-000.jpg
 
NickJames said:
I now understand how the day 1 buyers of Civ V felt. I thought they were exaggerating but holy shit it was all true. I am fucking done buying these games early. I'll wait till they're 80% off during some steam sale for the GOTY edition. What a fucking letdown, can't even release a patch to make their fucking game work in the first 3 weeks of release.
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It's pretty goddamn ridiculous, glad I bought the gave via Amazon as they refunded my purchase without issue. As long as Firaxis is attached to the Civ series, I'm fucking done.

Sad enough they have to send some shill (SamBC) onto the Steam community forums to defend the reasoning as why there was no hot-fix for the resolution issues and why everyone who pre-ordered should just sit around with their thumbs up their asses while they "work" the issues and deploy a patch...
 
mtbush said:
It's pretty goddamn ridiculous, glad I bought the gave via Amazon as they refunded my purchase without issue. As long as Firaxis is attached to the Civ series, I'm fucking done.

Sad enough they have to send some shill (SamBC) onto the Steam community forums to defend the reasoning as why there was no hot-fix for the resolution issues and why everyone who pre-ordered should just sit around with their thumbs up their asses while they "work" the issues and deploy a patch...
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Fucking hate that guy. "Oh hey guys lets ignore all the blatant issues with the game and focus on the positive." no, STFU I am angry and want to express my issues with this piece of shit. I spent money on this so I am entitled to my fucking opinion.
 
mtbush said:
As long as Firaxis is attached to the Civ series, I'm fucking done.
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Yeah, how awful that the company Sid Meier founded is responsible for making games with his name attached to them. :rolleyes:

If you think Civ is bad with Meier in charge, I can't imagine what you'd be expecting to get if he called it quits.
 
CEpeep said:
Yeah, how awful that the company Sid Meier founded is responsible for making games with his name attached to them. :rolleyes:

If you think Civ is bad with Meier in charge, I can't imagine what you'd be expecting to get if he called it quits.
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Firaxis is a shell of it's former self; Meier is nothing more than a speaking-head that's more concerned about releasing shitty iOS and console-centric games. If you can't imagine what Civ would look like with Meier "in charge" then look no further than Civ: BE

I think it's pretty damn funny that a developer like Amplitude with <50 employees can release an far superior game in Endless Legend then what Firaxis produced with double the manpower.
 
What we need is competition in the form of not-so-abstract grand strategy. A paradox-like title where you start from scratch in a sandbox world (like Civ) but have complex mechanics like a paradox game, and with a fully rendered/graphical world like Civ, without the extreme graphical abstraction of paradox titles. Distant Worlds is closest, but that is basically a budget title (even though it is not priced as such), so its graphics/audio/interface are terrible and with little variation in the units.

There was still hope before Civ:BE I think, but now it is clear all hope is lost for Civ to rise to the occasion again in the genre. We need a new, true contender.
 
NickJames said:
Fucking hate that guy. "Oh hey guys lets ignore all the blatant issues with the game and focus on the positive." no, STFU I am angry and want to express my issues with this piece of shit. I spent money on this so I am entitled to my fucking opinion.
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Agreed, what a tool. You can even bring up the resolution issue without fear of being of your response being deleted or being perma-banned from the Civ community all-together. Why Firaxis condones such Gestapo-like behavior by an ad-hoc moderator is a horrible PR move and only further damages their reputation. Here's one of SamBC's latest gems:

"The resolution issue is off-limits until the patch is out or there is new information. Given how often this has been reminded, there will be no further tolerance of this being ignored."
 
mtbush said:
Agreed, what a tool. You can even bring up the resolution issue without fear of being of your response being deleted or being perma-banned from the Civ community all-together. Why Firaxis condones such Gestapo-like behavior by an ad-hoc moderator is a horrible PR move and only further damages their reputation. Here's one of SamBC's latest gems:

"The resolution issue is off-limits until the patch is out or there is new information. Given how often this has been reminded, there will be no further tolerance of this being ignored."
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I am surprised that Reddit or 4chan or SA or one of those hasn't called on their members to flood the forum with complaints about the resolution issue. Seems like that there are far more willing forum posters than there are hours in a miserable moderator's life.
 
I honestly don't know why you are all hating so much. I've been having a blast playing CIV:BE every night in a hotel room for the last few weeks since I've been traveling for work.
 
Smitty2k1 said:
I honestly don't know why you are all hating so much. I've been having a blast playing CIV:BE every night in a hotel room for the last few weeks since I've been traveling for work.
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Would you not be having a blast if you just loaded up Civ5 + expansions + one or more minor (since Fireaxis blocks serious modding) player mods? This is a relatively minor mod (compared to the mods made for Civ4 by fans working for free) of Civ5 at a full-release price point.
 
Smitty2k1 said:
I honestly don't know why you are all hating so much. I've been having a blast playing CIV:BE every night in a hotel room for the last few weeks since I've been traveling for work.
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Because the game sucks once you realize that the only real strategy is to mindlessly spam cities and trade routes. Then you have to manage 50 trade routes with a shitty UI for it. The game is absolute junk to play right now.

Some other flaws compared to Civ5:
All the civs play exactly the same. Their abilities don't matter.
Every game has two victory condition: Science or domination. No more cultural or
Trade stations are city states whos only use is a trade route.
Virtues are boring compared to policies.
AI is worse, it doesn't know how to play.

I got scammed into paying for a beta that was built on everything civ 5 had and turned out worse than civ5 at launch.

Look at this shit:
End game wonders:
Quantum Computer wonder (end game)
1050 Production
Effects
+5 Science

Laboratory (regular early game building)
80 production
Maintenance
1
Effects
+2 Science
(+1 bonus after quest)

Daedalus Ladder wonder (end game)
Cost
1550 Production
Effects
+2 Food
+3 Health

Yeah, that's why I'm pissed. The game is so not finished there are placeholder wonders .
 
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How do you even spam cities in BE? I run into health issues if expanding too fast or just having too large an empire.

Are you playing on a low difficulty level or something?

Also, civilizations are different now, because you're not really playing a civilization per se. You're picking a sponsor and more or less picking your own leader traits during startup, and they certainly do matter.

Regarding the victory conditions, they depend on how you specialize with regard to philosophical choices. If you're only getting two victory conditions, its because you're always playing the game the same.

Specializing in affinity creates great differences in play style between the three major choices, and that inevitably creates conflict.

The quests are also more significant in the game in my experience, and provide considerable bonuses, and explorers aren't just an early game tool to be quickly discarded but have value throughout.

The tech web is also no longer so linear, so it can make significant differences in how you shape your colony, rather than just merely delaying some techs over others for the sake of nearby resources.

But it does certainly still feel like Civ 5.

It does seem like culture doesn't matter as much though and could use a boost, and the AI colonies seem to be of little importance in the early game.
 
You get hit with a reduction in science and income though. Or science and something else, I forget. Played a few times after released (was tricked into pre-ordering!) and haven't touched the game since.
 
The penalty is small enough and trade routes are powerful enough that you are better off spamming cities while ignoring health.
 
Jospeh said:
The penalty is small enough and trade routes are powerful enough that you are better off spamming cities while ignoring health.
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I don't think so:

1)Shaky (-1 Health or lower): -10% science, -10% Culture, lose synergy bonus
2) Troubled (-10 Health or lower): Same as above plus -10% production, +100% intrigue for opponent spies in your city
3) Panicked (-20 Health or lower): Same as above plus -50% growth, -50% outpost growth

Not to mention the disparity to positive health:
1) Prosperous (+10 Health or higher): +10% Production in Cities, -50% intrigue in your Cities from hostile Covert Ops
2) Utopian (+20 Health or higher): Same as above plus +10% Science, +10% Culture

So the difference between a panicked and prosperous health city is tremendous.

I think if you're not getting a challenge from the AI, you just need to adjust the difficulty level to match your skill, or play online.
 
Ducman69 said:
So the difference between a panicked and prosperous health city is tremendous.
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Not as tremendous as trade routes. If you go down the prosperity tree you can pretty much spam cities almost non stop. You can take care of health with a clinic or some health buildings if it makes you feel better.

Ducman69 said:
I think if you're not getting a challenge from the AI, you just need to adjust the difficulty level to match your skill, or play online.
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Honestly, if you are getting a challenge from the AI you should learn the game better. The AI provides no challenge on any difficulty level in its current state.
 
Ducman69 said:
I don't think so:

1)Shaky (-1 Health or lower): -10% science, -10% Culture, lose synergy bonus
2) Troubled (-10 Health or lower): Same as above plus -10% production, +100% intrigue for opponent spies in your city
3) Panicked (-20 Health or lower): Same as above plus -50% growth, -50% outpost growth

Not to mention the disparity to positive health:
1) Prosperous (+10 Health or higher): +10% Production in Cities, -50% intrigue in your Cities from hostile Covert Ops
2) Utopian (+20 Health or higher): Same as above plus +10% Science, +10% Culture

So the difference between a panicked and prosperous health city is tremendous.

I think if you're not getting a challenge from the AI, you just need to adjust the difficulty level to match your skill, or play online.
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On the highest difficulty setting I can rush about seven coastal cities, focusing culture on prosperity, teching to rangers before switching to genetics for +health buildings, then spamming cities in waves going between +20 to -20 (never lower) health. The penalties are minor if you're above -20. Even if you go below that your slow growing cities can still feed your production city with overpowered trade routes to pump out units/building for a domination victory.

Even with the Beyond Balance mod the game is very easy. Still fun... but I've found myself closing the game and switching to Civ V + mods.

Edit: I started a game on Apollo (hardest setting) without the Beyond Balance mod to show you how easy it is to become dominant in less than 100 turns.

Health (Purple): http://i.imgur.com/DuVBaOu.png
Cities (Purple): http://i.imgur.com/3bFbDSm.png

Turn 88 and I have 8 cities (I usually get 7 but I got lucky with resources) with the ability to pump out a colonist on the leading edge of my empire in 3 turns. I'm currently at 3 health and still have plenty of health buildings I can construct very quickly (I just completed the trade depot and trade vessel spam). I did no planning when it came to placing my cities. I just moved the minimum spacing away without sitting on a resource while keeping to the coast so I can use trade vessels instead of trade convoys. When I'm done encircling the peninsula I'd fill in the middle... It doesn't matter how many tiles the city fills as the entire point of their existence is for trade routes and whatever resource is near.

If I get attacked I can build 8 gunners in 2 turns as well as instant building 1 gunner every 4 turns (with my current income, which will go up dramatically as I work more tiles). I build roads between my cities to facilitate troop movement as I started next to the aggressive Slavs.

Beyond Balance (mod) limits trade routes to one per city... and I still play on Apollo without issue. So it's not just trade routes that are flawed in this game.

Edit 2: Turn 150 and my military is 10-20x stronger than anyone else on the map, I own the most land, producing the most science/culture/gold... smooth sailing from here. This was a challenge how? I didn't even have to think or plan... they can fix these issues easily but it's really as if NO ONE tested the damn game before release.

Health @ Turn 154 (Purple): http://i.imgur.com/Zcd5dqb.png
Science @ Turn 154 (Purple): http://i.imgur.com/jcWPdvu.png

As you can see there are no drawbacks.
 
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on its own the game is ok, but I was expecting the next SMAC, i was expecting the successor for is in my opinion the best 4X game ever, and so with that in mind, my perception of the game is that it's just awful.
 
melteye said:
On the highest difficulty setting I can rush about seven coastal cities, focusing culture on prosperity, teching to rangers before switching to genetics for +health buildings, then spamming cities in waves going between +20 to -20 (never lower) health. The penalties are minor if you're above -20. Even if you go below that your slow growing cities can still feed your production city with overpowered trade routes to pump out units/building for a domination victory.

Even with the Beyond Balance mod the game is very easy. Still fun... but I've found myself closing the game and switching to Civ V + mods.

Edit: I started a game on Apollo (hardest setting) without the Beyond Balance mod to show you how easy it is to become dominant in less than 100 turns.

Health (Purple): http://i.imgur.com/DuVBaOu.png
Cities (Purple): http://i.imgur.com/3bFbDSm.png

Turn 88 and I have 8 cities (I usually get 7 but I got lucky with resources) with the ability to pump out a colonist on the leading edge of my empire in 3 turns. I'm currently at 3 health and still have plenty of health buildings I can construct very quickly (I just completed the trade depot and trade vessel spam). I did no planning when it came to placing my cities. I just moved the minimum spacing away without sitting on a resource while keeping to the coast so I can use trade vessels instead of trade convoys. When I'm done encircling the peninsula I'd fill in the middle... It doesn't matter how many tiles the city fills as the entire point of their existence is for trade routes and whatever resource is near.

If I get attacked I can build 8 gunners in 2 turns as well as instant building 1 gunner every 4 turns (with my current income, which will go up dramatically as I work more tiles). I build roads between my cities to facilitate troop movement as I started next to the aggressive Slavs.

Beyond Balance (mod) limits trade routes to one per city... and I still play on Apollo without issue. So it's not just trade routes that are flawed in this game.

Edit 2: Turn 150 and my military is 10-20x stronger than anyone else on the map, I own the most land, producing the most science/culture/gold... smooth sailing from here. This was a challenge how? I didn't even have to think or plan... they can fix these issues easily but it's really as if NO ONE tested the damn game before release.

Health @ Turn 154 (Purple): http://i.imgur.com/Zcd5dqb.png
Science @ Turn 154 (Purple): http://i.imgur.com/jcWPdvu.png

As you can see there are no drawbacks.
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Once you get the hang of it its not hard game at all, neither was civ 5 though.
 
ebduncan said:
Once you get the hang of it its not hard game at all, neither was civ 5 though.
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Then I got the hang of it the moment I started the game... on the hardest setting... even though I was never that great at Civ 5.
 
Been playing a surprising amount of BE lately, timing for the expansion is just about perfect for me, cool.
 
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