Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth

[Kelthaz]

Firaxis is planning to announce a new AAA game tomorrow, but the fine folks over at Neogaf dug up some screenshots in the cache of a French gaming website for the game a little early. Yes, the title kinda gives it away, but it's a (spiritual?) sequel to Alpha Centauri.

Go here for the screenshots.

 

[TheGodBen]

They just released a trailer and some info:

Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth will propel the development of human civilization beyond the traditional timeline of a Civilization game, by exploring humanity’s future on an alien world. For the first time, players will lead factions divided by contrasting cultures and evolve their new civilizations to reflect their chosen destiny. Players will experience an array of new gameplay possibilities, including nonlinear technological progression, deeper customization of chosen factions, and an entire alien world that will change the very identity of each faction based on their choices.

• Seed the Adventure: Players will establish a cultural identity, select a leader and sponsor an expedition by assembling the spacecraft, cargo and colonists through a series of choices that directly impact starting conditions when arriving on the new alien planet.

• Alien World: Exploring the benefits and dangers of a new planet filled with dangerous terrain, mystical resources and hostile lifeforms unlike those of Earth, players will build outposts, unearth ancient alien relics, tame new forms of life, develop flourishing cities and establish trade routes to create prosperity for their people.

• New Technology Web: Reflecting forward progress in an uncertain future, technology advancement will occur through a series of nonlinear choices that affect the development of mankind. The tech web is organized around three broad themes, each with a distinct victory condition.

• New Quest System: Quests are infused with fiction about the planet, and will help guide players through a series of side missions that will aid in the collection of resources, upgrading units, and advancing through the game.

• New Orbital Layer: Players will build and deploy advanced military, economic and scientific satellites that provide strategic offensive, defensive and support capabilities from orbit.

Considering EA owns the rights to Alpha Centauri, this is probably the closest we're going to get to a sequel to that game. This is suddenly my most anticipated title for the year.

 

[archeryguy1701]

Considering EA owns the rights to Alpha Centauri, this is probably the closest we're going to get to a sequel to that game. This is suddenly my most anticipated title for the year.

Jake Solomon, one of the big developers for Firaxis, just said on his Twitter account, "Our next game at Firaxis is Civilization: Beyond Earth. Inspired by Alpha Centauri, it's finally time to go back."

I'm excited. I enjoyed Civ V, but Alpha Centauri always had a special place for me (besides being my first turn-based strategy), because it always felt like it was much more in depth than other strategy games. It seems like Beyond Earth is going to be going in a unique, interesting direction.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I'm really excited. I think this will be a blast.

That being said, it also has to do its own thing. SMAC is one of the best games of all time, so this game needs to be judged on its own merits, not on how well it acts as an unofficial sequel.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Double post for this:
Interview with the design team duo

Some very cool stuff there about their influences, approaches, goals, etc. I'm definitely intrigued at what they can bring to the table. As an aside, I notice Ed Beech's name isn't really getting mentioned. Since he's more of a history guy, I wonder if there's still a Civ Historic team that can keep working on Civ5 (or start on Civ6). He could also be heading back to board games or just stay on as a programmer, of course.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Very cool. Alpha Centauri has deserved to be revisited, and I've always been curious what they could do with a more advanced engine.

I like the idea of other planets, and this makes me wonder if we'll see a Federation-like council, similar to SMAC's planetary council, but on a wider scale. It certainly shows a lot of promise. For multiplayer, they could make additional planets available at the start, and players randomly being distributed across them, eventually with invasions or alliances happening between factions. I'm intrigued.

 

[Melakon]

I thought the description and working title sounded a lot like Alpha Centauri. I still have it on this machine.

 

[USS Triumphant]

This looks pretty sweet, and I'll definitely get it and probably play heck out of it, BUT, I wish they would give us the game I think a lot of us would *really* like: One where you start with a Settler and a Warrior in 4000BC and play your civilizations *all the way out* through Civ and on to the conclusion of a game like this one.

 

[Anwar]

So is this a game that can be bought in stores, or will it be a digital exclusive?

 

[Jono]

It's coming out in a couple of months? That's a pretty quick turnaround from announcement to release. Looking forward to it.

 

[Rincewiend]

It's using the Civ 5 engine, just like the Colonization game used the Civ 4 engine...
So they can put it ourt relatively quickly...

 

[TheGodBen]

As an aside, I notice Ed Beech's name isn't really getting mentioned. Since he's more of a history guy, I wonder if there's still a Civ Historic team that can keep working on Civ5 (or start on Civ6).

Considering how well his two expansions to Civ5 were received, I'm hoping he'll be the lead designer on Civ6. If I were to guess, I'd imagine that production on Civ6 began after the release of BNW, with the intention of releasing it in late 2015 or 2016 (which is the 25th anniversary of the series). Beyond Earth reminds me of Civ4: Colonization in being a remake (of sorts) of a classic strategy game built on the current Civ engine, released in the gap before the true sequel is released.

This looks pretty sweet, and I'll definitely get it and probably play heck out of it, BUT, I wish they would give us the game I think a lot of us would *really* like: One where you start with a Settler and a Warrior in 4000BC and play your civilizations *all the way out* through Civ and on to the conclusion of a game like this one.

Civ2: Test of Time did that, but it wasn't great. There were six human civs on Earth and one alien civ on Alpha Centauri, and an extended tech tree. But the alien civ tended to stagnate on its own, and transporting units between the two worlds was a hassle. I don't remember ever actually completing an extended game.

The Call to Power games also tried extending things into the future, but tended to be a bit gimmicky and unbalanced.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Fuck. Yes.

I never thought I would see this day.

This has shot immediately to the top of my "must buy" list.

 

[Ro_Laren]

I am curious about the Civilization and Ages of Empire game series'. I've never played either, but am interested in playing a strategy game. Are these games kinda like Farmville on Facebook in that if you don't play for a number of days then you can be in trouble? If you ever played Farmville back in the day, IIRC, crops could get ruined if you didn't go on every day to water them. Can things like that happen on Civilization or AOE? Or can your town / civilization / army be attacked while you take a week long camping vacation??? Lol!

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I am curious about the Civilization and Ages of Empire game series'. I've never played either, but am interested in playing a strategy game. Are these games kinda like Farmville on Facebook in that if you don't play for a number of days then you can be in trouble? If you ever played Farmville back in the day, IIRC, crops could get ruined if you didn't go on every day to water them. Can things like that happen on Civilization or AOE? Or can your town / civilization / army be attacked while you take a week long camping vacation??? Lol!

No, these games don't play when you are away. Civilization is turn-based (as in you take turns) and you can stop and start any time you want without any ill effects.

Age of Empires is real-time strategy, which means you play at the same time as your opponent(s) and there are no turns. But, like Civ, it is not running when the game is off.

Both series are fun though you should be prepared for a bit of a learning curve. Civilization V is a good place to start. I believe it has a pretty gentle tutorial.

 

[EmoBorg]

Looking forward to it. I loved playing Alpha Centauri when i was young. I am going to buy this.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Looking forward to it. I loved playing Alpha Centauri when i was young. I am going to buy this.

I am also waiting for games that will be the modern successors of Master of Orion and Imperialism game series.

There are plenty of games that pick up the Master of Orion mantle if that's what you want. Since MOO3, there has been:

* Galactic Civilizations series
* Space Empires V
* Sword of the Stars series
* Sins of a Solar Empire series
* Shattered Suns
* Distant Worlds
* Star Ruler
* Legends of Pegasus (but this is terrible)
* Star Lords (still in development)

Out of that list, my favorites would be Sins and Distant Worlds. Distant Worlds is pretty much someone's idea of a Paradox grand strategy game but set in space. If that sort of thing appeals to you, get it!

 

[Allyn Gibson]

This looks pretty sweet, and I'll definitely get it and probably play heck out of it, BUT, I wish they would give us the game I think a lot of us would *really* like: One where you start with a Settler and a Warrior in 4000BC and play your civilizations *all the way out* through Civ and on to the conclusion of a game like this one.

Civ2: Test of Time did that, but it wasn't great. There were six human civs on Earth and one alien civ on Alpha Centauri, and an extended tech tree. But the alien civ tended to stagnate on its own, and transporting units between the two worlds was a hassle. I don't remember ever actually completing an extended game.

Ah, Test of Time. It was a bit of a mess, wasn't it? It was incompatible with save and scenario files created for previous Civ II releases.

Hmm, now I feel like digging out my old Civ II discs.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Civ2: Test of Time did that, but it wasn't great. There were six human civs on Earth and one alien civ on Alpha Centauri, and an extended tech tree. But the alien civ tended to stagnate on its own, and transporting units between the two worlds was a hassle. I don't remember ever actually completing an extended game.

The Call to Power games also tried extending things into the future, but tended to be a bit gimmicky and unbalanced.

I think you run into the SPORE problem of trying to do too much with too little. That being said, I think it could be grafted onto Civ5 in a decent way. All you have to do is make the advanced setup options for CivBE things you build for the spaceship in Civ5. Then you can have it so the winner of the space race goes first and all the others are the latecomers.

Balance might be tricky. I could imagine a really easy BE game where you crush everyone on Earth before you launch your rocket so they never follow you. And, no matter what, this is a secondary feature at best. I'd rather a good game first.

 

[Spider]

Perfect. A new Civ game after I'm retired. This time I won't have to take vacation time from work to stay at home with it. LOL