Remember this game? You know, that one Civ game that no-one seems to remember ever existed, even though it had a phenomenal trailer, pleasing aesthetics, a great soundtrack(in my opinion) and a promising cast of leaders and nations, with many people likening it to Alpha Centauri(which I personally have never played, though from the sounds of things, it was a pretty good game.)
I have been playing it recently with the Rising Tide expansion, since I got it in a Humble Bundle and I have come to some conclusions.
[ul][li]Balance is all over the goddamn place. I always find myself steam-rolling the AI, just because I decided to do nothing but amass gold and purchase an army with it, with no drawbacks to this strategy. If Firaxis had spent more time managing the nightmarish amount of buildings they added to this game, they would have had, perhaps not good gameplay per say, but at least have made it seem more understandable and interesting.[/li][li]The Tech web is...quite simply cancerous. I never have any idea what technologies I should choose, because of how overwhelming it is, and I tend to find myself without a basic unit for the entirety of the game(I once spent right up until the end game without fighter planes.)[/li][li]The diplomacy system with Rising Tide is intriguing, even if experimental and lackluster. It provides an interesting concept that perhaps could have been implemented into a future Civ game and expanded upon. Trading powerful bonuses for "political capital" is a system I am a big fan of, and makes the game feel like a lot more of a power-struggle. Problem is, AI gets very angry at every little thing you do, or nonsensically ecstatic with you just for having a good production output. This could be better, I must say.[/li][li]Late-game is awful. It is a pure slog to pull through, and could have been so much better. This is the point in the game were 3/4 of all the civilisations are conquered by me, yet the last few are on aquatic cities on the other side of the world, and I have no navy. There are certain units, like Armour units which can upgrade to levitate on water and fight as normal, but they are useless against modestly powerful ships.[/li][li]The AI is below average. Some of their actions make sense, such as their surprisingly intelligent military manoeuvres; understanding how unit synergy works, making me attack their units with defensive bonuses, hiding artillery at the back of their lines etc. etc. They even seem to have a vague understanding of unit upgrades(looking at you, Civilisation VI) and how the affinity system works. This would be effective had the AI understood how the Tech Web works, which is where it all collapses. On Medium difficulty, the AI falls behind and stops growing at about the 300 score mark, no matter what sponsor they are playing as. I don't know why this is, but my theory is because of the Tech Web and how it works, the AI has difficulty with their prioritisation, and they start getting techs all over the place which they don't really need, like a tech that only really benefits aquatic cities, even though they are on land. They are very keen on building defensive buildings, but they neglect their civil buildings in the process. I think that the AI is very close to being a challenging opponent, it's just that, unfortunately, they are hampered by the game's own design. I believe that that Tech Web was hands-down game-breaking[/li] [/ul]
Those are the few things I noticed about 30 hours game time.
So. Do you think that Beyond Earth could have been a decent, if not great game?
Do you think that Firaxis should have abandoned it?
These are the questions I would like answered.
Discuss.
I have been playing it recently with the Rising Tide expansion, since I got it in a Humble Bundle and I have come to some conclusions.
[ul][li]Balance is all over the goddamn place. I always find myself steam-rolling the AI, just because I decided to do nothing but amass gold and purchase an army with it, with no drawbacks to this strategy. If Firaxis had spent more time managing the nightmarish amount of buildings they added to this game, they would have had, perhaps not good gameplay per say, but at least have made it seem more understandable and interesting.[/li][li]The Tech web is...quite simply cancerous. I never have any idea what technologies I should choose, because of how overwhelming it is, and I tend to find myself without a basic unit for the entirety of the game(I once spent right up until the end game without fighter planes.)[/li][li]The diplomacy system with Rising Tide is intriguing, even if experimental and lackluster. It provides an interesting concept that perhaps could have been implemented into a future Civ game and expanded upon. Trading powerful bonuses for "political capital" is a system I am a big fan of, and makes the game feel like a lot more of a power-struggle. Problem is, AI gets very angry at every little thing you do, or nonsensically ecstatic with you just for having a good production output. This could be better, I must say.[/li][li]Late-game is awful. It is a pure slog to pull through, and could have been so much better. This is the point in the game were 3/4 of all the civilisations are conquered by me, yet the last few are on aquatic cities on the other side of the world, and I have no navy. There are certain units, like Armour units which can upgrade to levitate on water and fight as normal, but they are useless against modestly powerful ships.[/li][li]The AI is below average. Some of their actions make sense, such as their surprisingly intelligent military manoeuvres; understanding how unit synergy works, making me attack their units with defensive bonuses, hiding artillery at the back of their lines etc. etc. They even seem to have a vague understanding of unit upgrades(looking at you, Civilisation VI) and how the affinity system works. This would be effective had the AI understood how the Tech Web works, which is where it all collapses. On Medium difficulty, the AI falls behind and stops growing at about the 300 score mark, no matter what sponsor they are playing as. I don't know why this is, but my theory is because of the Tech Web and how it works, the AI has difficulty with their prioritisation, and they start getting techs all over the place which they don't really need, like a tech that only really benefits aquatic cities, even though they are on land. They are very keen on building defensive buildings, but they neglect their civil buildings in the process. I think that the AI is very close to being a challenging opponent, it's just that, unfortunately, they are hampered by the game's own design. I believe that that Tech Web was hands-down game-breaking[/li] [/ul]
Those are the few things I noticed about 30 hours game time.
So. Do you think that Beyond Earth could have been a decent, if not great game?
Do you think that Firaxis should have abandoned it?
These are the questions I would like answered.
Discuss.