I bought Civilisation: Beyond Earth on Friday and it was
with great excitement that I started my first game. The prospect of living in
harmony with the planet and sending siege worms after my enemies in the
forefront of my mind. From the screenshots I had seen it looked enough like the
other Civilisation games that I felt comfortable enough to dive straight in. A
few hours later I emerged somewhat lost, on the verge of losing and feeling rather
great about it!
I have played the civilisation series since it’s first
iteration and had fallen in to a something of a pro-forma approach to the game.
I would pursue the technological victory and knew the must-have wonders and
techs from a relatively linear tech tree. In keeping at the front of the
technological curve I usually had enough of an advantage that my small
high-tech force could hold other civs at bay while I completed my spaceship.
After finishing that first (impulse) game I realised that I
needed to go back to basics and learn how this game worked. For starters could
no longer rely upon a linear tech-tree, neatly divided up in to ages. In
addition I have never heard of any of these future technologies or building (yes,
I admit it makes sense!) and therefore had very little idea of what I actually
needed in order to maximise my science output! This meant a greater reliance on
the in-game advisors who, while good at recommending techs, do not really
explain what their end goal is.
Errrr, help I’m lost!
I also had to get to grips with this idea of affinity (what
type of ideology would I follow on this new land) and I had decided that living
in harmony with the planet was for me. Therefore I pursued anything that had a
harmony symbol on it. While I did gain some great harmony perks, this left me vulnerable
later in the game as I had ignored other techs because they were labelled as supremacy
or purity. Little did I realise the use of the ‘a little of column A, a little
from column B’ approach. There is something to be said for explorers that can
build extra expeditions (gained at supremacy level 1) and also were not
attacked by aliens (purity level 1)!
The big benefit of the Harmony affinity is the lovely green hue your
buildings have.
Again with the move away from linear tech progression I
found myself having to re-learn unit progression. I could not rely on my
knowledge that machine-guns are (generally) better than cross bows. I need to
have a look at unit stats and factors in for the fact that some units upgrade
as you increase levels in your dominant affinity, meaning that your early game
combat units can become your late game power-houses.
I am still smiling now as I contemplate my approach to my
next game, knowing full well that I really need to read the manual/examine the
tech web. With all that said it’s just too much fun to get halfway through a
game, realise you have missed something critical and then spend the rest of it
trying to find a coping strategy.
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