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OS X Civilisation: Beyond Earth

ErikGrim

ErikGrim

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jun 20, 2003
6,463
5,084
Brisbane, Australia
Got my pre-order steam code for Civ:BE from Aspyr today. Put it in Steam, but says invalid platform. Is it out or not? Order clearly states Mac version.

Thread now about the game, experiences and bugs.
 
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cerote

cerote

macrumors 6502a
Mar 2, 2009
843
269
I didn't pre-order it but it is on steam now and on sale as 30% off. Guess I will buy it up now that it is on Mac
 
lizardofwoz

lizardofwoz

macrumors regular
Aug 9, 2012
195
131
Australia
I downloaded and installed this version of Civ V.

SAVE YOUR MONEY!

I played several hours of the 'new' game. It ran smoothly on my late 2012 iMac 27 (Fusion). It is my belief that this is a con.

They have taken Civ V and changed the scenery. There are the 'alien' barbarians; the ancient ruins; the discoverable 'wonders'; your meetings with other leaders; the same workers and soldiers, doing much the same tasks. In short... Civ V with all the names changed to project a New Planet image.

VERY disappointing, and not nearly as well done as Civ V. :(

Beyond Earth? My ***
 
cerote

cerote

macrumors 6502a
Mar 2, 2009
843
269
And Civ V was basically Civ IV with some tweaks. I got hundreds of hours put into each to the Civs over the years/decades. Civ V was talked down upon too when it released. I get it some of the comments on this one but it will take some time getting used to the new wording and style of game play and DLC/Patches will make it better also like all the past ones.
 
Janichsan

Janichsan

macrumors 68040
Oct 23, 2006
3,037
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cerote said:
And Civ V was basically Civ IV with some tweaks.
Click to expand...
Not really. The difference between Civ IV and V was significant, with meaningful changes to core mechanics and far beyond a simple re-skin.

If you want to know what many people were expecting, play BE's alleged spiritual predecessor, Alpha Centauri. While sharing some elements with its contemporary incarnation of Civilization, it's still a very different and distinct game.

While not having played BE myself, I get the impression that it's far closer to Civ than AC was.
 
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Solomani

Solomani

macrumors 601
Sep 25, 2012
4,785
10,477
Slapfish, North Carolina
Janichsan said:
Not really. The difference between Civ IV and V was significant, with meaningful changes to core mechanics and far beyond a simple re-skin.
Click to expand...

True. I've been playing and loving Civ V in recent months. It's a very different beast, so many differences compared to earlier Civ games. The only time it starts to look "the same" as all other Civ games is towards the end, when you are micro-managing 50 different armies scattered across the globe, fighting a three-front war and nuking this and nuking that, and generally getting frustrated with unpredictable allies (e.g. you have been their loyal ally for centuries, and then overnight they denounce you because your annihilated a nation that was their ancient arch-enemy!)

But the game mechanics introduced in Civ 5 has won me over…. things like Religion, Politics, and of course Victory Conditions.
 
ErikGrim

ErikGrim

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Original poster
Jun 20, 2003
6,463
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Brisbane, Australia
The attitude of people who really don't get how the Civ series work continues to confound me. NO Civ (save for maybe Civ II) was perfect out of the gate. They have always started off bare-boned, with changes that annoys and confound a set of veteran players. Yet over time, with expansions and updates, each iteration mature into timeless classics you can sink more time into than possibly any other game you play combined.

Civ V was reviled at launch, yet is now in its current (and much evolved form) considered by most not clouded by nostalgia, the pinnacle of the Civ games.

Civ BE will follow this trajectory. Except this time around it's main complaints are centered around how NOT different it is to Civ V. If I can sink in half as many hours as I've sunk into Civ V as it continues along the same path I'll be happy man.
 
ErikGrim

ErikGrim

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jun 20, 2003
6,463
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Brisbane, Australia
Wow. A prolonged playing session in 5K native with non-scaled UI makes everything seem comically big once you return to "Best for display" (regular retina. I would not want to ever play this game with a faked non-retina resolution though, it looks too good with it (and yes, full framerate even late game).


Gameplay-wise I am really enjoying it. Claims that it's just a reskinned Civ V is completely unfounded in one way, and justified in another. Once you settle in in the alien environment it feels familiar, but in a good way. At the default difficulty there's room for exploration, and it certainly feels like the "pioneer-stage" of earlier Civs have been stretched for the better. Barbarians and Aliens are not analogues at all: they won't attack you unless you attack them, leaving room for a peaceful co-existence with your new neighbours.

It just feels like BE leaves more room for exploration and peaceful co-existence than previous Civs. I am happily on my 120th-ish turn with hardly any military units, expanding and exploring. Just the way I mostly prefer to play Civ when I am not going for a hardline military wipeout.

It's a very zen experience so far, and for my default play style it is working out perfectly on my first play. When I feel like a more direct challenge, I'll see how the game treats me. But so far I am very pleased with the depth and challenge it can provide for a casual play through.

It honestly has the feel of what you'd expect from a continued play of a traditional Civ science win. And that's something I have wanted from the series since Civ II.
 
Mackilroy

Mackilroy

macrumors 68040
Jun 29, 2006
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584
I too first thought Beyond Earth was mostly a reskinned Civ V, but as I keep playing, it does have its own unique identity. And it'll get better.
 
ErikGrim

ErikGrim

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jun 20, 2003
6,463
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Brisbane, Australia
Mackilroy said:
I too first thought Beyond Earth was mostly a reskinned Civ V, but as I keep playing, it does have its own unique identity. And it'll get better.
Click to expand...

And the first patch is already on its way:

We’d like to thank all our fans for the feedback and reports they have been posting and sending in. The team has been working hard on bug fixing and balancing, and as you’ll see in the change list below, we’re close to locking down this patch. We’ll share more specifics for the gameplay changes shortly while the build is making its way through the approval process.

-Firaxis Games


[GAMEPLAY]
• Implementing additional bug fixes for quests.
• Implementing modified quest rewards based on game speed and which turn they were received in.
• Revisiting difficulty level scaling. Increasing difficulty when playing on Apollo.
• Implementing balance pass on Health system (penalties, bonuses).
• Adjusting certain Virtues for balance.
• Implementing overall unit balance pass (strength, production and strategic resource cost, affinity level requirements, location on tech web).
• Implementing leader/sponsor trait balance pass (Kozlov, Barre, Rejinaldo, and Elodie), as well as some seeded start option adjustments.
• Implementing Covert Ops updates and exploit fixes.
• Implementing Trade Route balance and adjustments, including simpler UI.
• Implementing gameplay bug fixes as reported in the community (Quests, etc.).
• Implementing general AI improvements.
• Adjusting Affinity reward ramping when earning Affinity from Quests.
• Adjusting Station distribution, and arrival timing.
• Improving AI, including energy management, tactical management, tech and victory approaches, etc.

[ENGINE]
• Fixing a memory leak that could potentially crash the game (mostly affected MP)
• Correcting screen resolution problems, particularly related to the 144hz refresh rate full-screen (or lack of full-screen) issue.
• Investigating a start-up problem where the game shuts down with an error immediately following the opening movie.
• Investigating crash issues submitted by users, and through Steam crash reporting.
• Adding an in-game option to disable depth of field effect for players that prefer the game without this.

[UI]
• Ongoing updates to in-game text, tool-tips, etc.
• Correcting an issue where actions could be missing from embarked workers (like repairing a pillaged water improvement)
• Adding "Completed" section to city production menu so players know what they just finished.
• Adding advanced touch controls, gesture support, pen support.
• Adding color icons to the tech web (categorized) with an option to disable.
• Better inform players of approaching AI victory, and updated victory/defeat screen with additional information.

[ACHIEVEMENTS]
• Achievements not firing if Max Turns was set in previous games. Also investigating some other possible causes.

[MODDING]
• Fixing quest mod support.
• Fixing 2D leader fall-back image support for all graphics quality settings.

[MULTIPLAYER]
• Fixing an issue that led to disconnects in cases of content mismatch.
• Fixing an issue that was causing available/researched technologies after a re-sync.
• Correcting multiple desyncs.
• Ongoing multiplayer improvements.
• Increasing geographic range of server browser distance filter.
Click to expand...
 
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