Ideas to improve CivBE from what we now know

[Aeson]

Of course we dont' know everything, and perhaps some of these ideas will already be implemented, but where do you see shortcomings in the game as represented so far?

For me, the Affinity and victory condition link seems very narrow and easily expanded upon:

Domination:
- everyone can do it

Contact:
- everyone can do it

Back to Earth:
- Supremacy

Settlers to Planet:
- Purity

Meld with Planet:
- Harmony

This makes the factions much less versatile than they need to be. Better would be to make each victory condition fit for each Affinity. It wouldn't be very difficult either.

Domination/Contact:
no change

Back to Earth
- Supremacy as is
- Purity goes back to make Earth "super"
- Harmony goes back to introduce the new ecology

Settlers to Planet:
- Supremacy brings in new cyborg recruits
- Purity as is
- Harmony brings in new humans to evolve

Meld with Planet:
- Supremacy turns Planet into a giant organic computer
- Purity makes Planet into a super-Earth that's perfect for humans
- Harmony as is

[gdijedi7]

Maybe an expansion could include Purity and Supremacy civs fighting on Earth, as the Borg...I mean Supremacy civs try to assimilate the population and Purity civs try to rescue and evacuate them.

[Lorizael]

I think CivBE would be greatly improved by being released now. Or at the very least, it would be improved by having me as a beta tester.

More seriously, I agree that the victory conditions seem to lack a little certain something. Mostly, I just wish the Supremacy and Purity victory conditions weren't so similar. My suggestion is a totally different VC for Supremacy. You have to launch a satellite into space and upload your citizens into it. You can upload one city per turn, and once all of your cities are uploaded, you win. Of course, your satellite can be shot down (or whatever else destroys satellites), and as you upload your cities, you lose your physical footprint on the map, so it gets harder and harder to to do.

As for the rest of the game, I'd wish for more thematic-sounding virtues. We don't really know anything about the virtue system yet, but the four named virtues don't exactly lend themselves to imagining futuristic, transhuman societies. Perhaps the individual choices within each virtue will have interesting names/effects. We'll see.

[Nikolai]

[Aeson]

I think CivBE would be greatly improved by being released now. Or at the very least, it would be improved by having me as a beta tester.

[Lorizael]

You better be taking notes.

[Kolbeg]

Victory conditions are not something that I think of firstly when I think of essential additions/fixes that I feel should be in Beyond Earth. But I kind of agree when you put it forward the way you do. Yet I view the tree Affinity victories as practically the same victory condition, just with a little twist at the end. Sure they could/should tweak that feature to make it more interesting.

For me personally, I want a big emphasis on societies, politics, economics and values. This is what is gonna make or break the game for me. I want to be able/driven to take meaningful decisions about the evolution of my faction. As it stands this is very much depending on the Virtues system at the moment. Perhaps even the Affinities system, if there are any more decisions to be made in there after you initially pick what Affinity to pursue.

Regarding the Virtues system, it needs to be more than what we were given in the Social Policy system of Civ5. Despite its many different picks there are not many options and/or decisions to make. Mostly you just blindly finish one tree after the other, gaining minimal impacts on your civilization. More importantly its mostly impossible for you or your opponents to quickly recognize what route you have taken, there are just relatively meaningless pick you make behind the curtains. To be fair the Ideologies system was more interesting, YET inferior to the simple Social Engineering system in SMAC. Relatively few options to choose from BUT incredibly influential and game changing.

More is not always better, give me good, meaningful choices to make that dramatically influence my Faction. Not just 2 extra Nutrient in my capital city.

Secondly I´m still waiting for a Planetary Council system in order for the politics to be more international, and in order for different political entities, ideologies and affinities to battle it out, by setting laws, norms and standards. This gives further weight to you Social Affinities and virtues picks.

[onodera]

I am fine with having three separate VCs for the affinities, but I would like to see more universal VCs. Something economy-related, for example, although I am not sure if such a victory makes sense in the CivBE context.

[self biased]

did cornering the global energy market actually make sense in SMAC?

[Aeson]

I think it made sense from a gameplay perspective. That being ... it was a way to play the game differently, but still relatively balanced with the other victory conditions. I don't think it would directly translate into you conquering Planet, since other factions would still have control of energy supplies even if they withdrew from the Planet-wide energy markets.

[astragot]

More factions. A faction editor (extra leaderheads would be nice).
Movies for the wonders would be nice. Make sure I can terraform.