Consolidated Link Thread: a one-stop shop to links and discussion!

[self biased]

Be sure to visit Apolyton's new wiki for all the latest info on CivBE. Or, if you see info that isn't there, add it!

First official trailer:

Preliminary information *** Discussion Thread

Sid Meier's Civilization®: Beyond Earth™ is a new science-fiction-themed entry into the award-winning Civilization series. Set in the future, global events have destabilized the world leading to a collapse of modern society, a new world order and an uncertain future for humanity. As the human race struggles to recover, the re-developed nations focus their resources on deep space travel to chart a new beginning for mankind.

As part of an expedition sent to find a home beyond Earth, you will write the next chapter for humanity as you lead your people into a new frontier and create a new civilization in space. Explore and colonize an alien planet, research new technologies, amass mighty armies, build incredible Wonders and shape the face of your new world. As you embark on your journey you must make critical decisions. From your choice of sponsor and the make-up of your colony, to the ultimate path you choose for your civilization, every decision opens up new possibilities.

FEATURES

Seed the Adventure: Establish your cultural identity by choosing one of eight different expedition sponsors, each with its own leader and unique gameplay benefits. Assemble your spacecraft, cargo & colonists through a series of choices that directly seed the starting conditions when arriving at the new planet.

Colonize an Alien World: Explore the dangers and benefits of a new planet filled with dangerous terrain, mystical resources, and hostile life forms unlike those of Earth. Build outposts, unearth ancient alien relics, tame new forms of life, develop flourishing cities and establish trade routes to create prosperity for your people.

Technology Web: To reflect progress forward into an uncertain future, technology advancement occurs through a series of nonlinear choices that affect the development of mankind. The technology web is organized around three broad themes, each with a distinct victory condition.

Quest System: Quests are injected with fiction about the planet, and help to guide you through a series of side-missions that will aid in resource collection, unit upgrades, and advancement through the game.

Orbital Layer: Build and deploy advanced military, economic and scientific units that provide strategic offensive, defensive and support capabilities from orbit.

Unit Customization: Unlock different upgrades through the tech web and customize your units to reflect your play style.

Multiplayer: Up to 8 players can compete for dominance of a new alien world.

Mod support: Robust mod support allows you to customize and extend your game experience.

Time.com Article *** Discussion Thread
Gamespot: Beyond Earth Takes Civilization to the Stars *** Discussion Thread
Gamespot: The Alpha Centauri Connection *** Discussion Thread
Gamespot: Discussing Humanity's Future with Sid Meier *** Discussion Thread
Gamespot: PAX EAST discussion panel *** Discussion Thread
PC Games N preview *** Discussion Thread
PC Gamer Developer Interview *** Discussion Thread

Screenshots and concept art thread

I'll update this thread as more articles appear.

[Aeson]

You can use [video]http://youtu.be/qtYWqE55s24[/video] tags to embed.

[self biased]

indeed. post edited.

[Buster Crabbe's Uncle]

You're doing a good job, self.

[self biased]

well, i figured it was high time i did something moderator-ish around here. though i'm wondering if it's better to leave each article as its own thread or merge things as is appropriate. i'm just a simple unfrozen caveman; these moderation tools frighten and confuse me.

[Buster Crabbe's Uncle]

I'll tell you true: the biggest part of moderating is the janitor stuff. Somebody's gotta do it.

People moderation is tougher, but the lightest touch you can, combined with a firm resolve about what's going too far -and the wisdom to know the difference- will take you far. You usually want to err on the side of slow-to-action and consulting the rest of the staff until you gain experience and confidence; making people in here feel as liked and respected as you can manage is recommended, too. However, if unvarnished trolling happens, stomp w/o mercy - it would do 'poly's reputation a world of good.

Also, definitely for now, just as well leave story threads separate - easier to find items that way.

...

This is way OT, so feel free to burn upon reading...

[Aeson]

It's good to have a central place to find the important stuff quickly

[Buster Crabbe's Uncle]

So index + individual news threads = step three.]

IMAO.

[Lorizael]

A new interview with the developers is up at Destructoid, but it is entirely without crunch.

http://www.destructoid.com/firaxis-designers-speak-on-civilization-beyond-earth-273489.phtml

[Lorizael]

Anybody speak German?

[Adagio]

I didn't notice anything in the videos we haven't heard before

[Lorizael]

Then I'm very sorry for having wasted 27 minutes and 55 seconds of your life.

[Lorizael]

Ars Technica just published an interview with Will Miller. Nothing really new, but they do talk about the SF influences, which is interesting. And there's a little more discussion of just what the victory conditions are like.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/04/interview-civilization-beyond-earths-designer-takes-humanitys-story-to-space/

That's not the only homage to existing science fiction players will find in the game either. "One of the ways to win the game is called Contact, which you'll probably recognize from the [Carl Sagan] book or the movie of the same name," Miller said. "You research a signal that you find either by exploring alien ruins you find on the planet or receive from outer space via radio telescope or finding it in the mantissa of a transcendental number, and you build this giant thing and then you contact the aliens. So I think science fiction fans are going to find a lot of these little and more overt nods to their favorites. This is really a love letter to the genre."

The connections to common sci-fi themes extend to the gameplay, which is centered on three different "affinity" paths players can take toward story-based victories that are more than just "make this number bigger than everybody else's," as Miller put it. "The Harmony [affinity] victory is an homage to Alpha Centauri. You discover the planet is sentient, like Solaris or something. Then you build these machines that interface with it, and you win the game by awakening interfacing with the planet. But to do that, you have to build these big structures and protect them and turn them on and devote resources that you would otherwise be devoting to your cities. There's a give and take there; you're vulnerable when you decide to shoot for those victories."

"The Purity and Supremacy [affinity] victories are sort of two ends of the same coin," he continued. "In the game, about halfway through... you re-establish contact from Earth. You kind of left it in a nebulous space; you're not really sure what happened. About that time, you've also researched the technology to build a warp gate. So for the Purity player, you build a warp gate and bring settlers from Earth to the new world, and you have to protect them, settle a certain number of them, find space for them. There's a territorial problem you have to work out, which obviously causes conflict. That's one of your real-life conflicts today—that's the Israeli/Palestinian conflict right there.

"The flipside of that is what we call the Emancipation victory. That's the Supremacy victory where you build the warp gate to send troops through it to conquer Earth. So you have to sacrifice a huge chunk of your army to feed the warp gate while you're protecting yourself and protecting it."

So, it looks like every victory but the conquer everybody victory has the same basic mechanic: build a big thing on the map, protect the big thing, do something to the big thing. I like that this victory condition is different from any other civ game, but I wish there were a little more variety to it. And perhaps there is. Perhaps you have to follow very different paths to build that big thing, and perhaps you're doing very different things to the big thing once it's built.

One notion I'm optimistic about, however, is that you're slowly building to this victory condition throughout the game. You're looking for clues of a sentient race, you're making contact with Earth, etc. If those are all goals you reach--maybe through the quest system--during the course of the game, then it could be a very fun twist on the way victory usually comes about in Civ. We shall see.

[Lorizael]

Also, what I think is a new video from PAX East:

[Aeson]

A small part towards the end was on a recap before, but most of it I hadn't seen.