CIVILIZATION BEYOND EARTH EXPANSIONS SERIES

The ocean provides a fully replayable map, new gameplay mechanics and strategic possibilities for players to reign supreme on their new world.ĭynamic Leader Traits: Players and AI Leaders alike unlock new Traits through gameplay and activate different combinations to respond to the changing world. Alien beasts with unique abilities inhabit the water and challenge the player in new ways.

Rising Tide extends Beyond Earth to new frontiers on the planet’s surface and beneath its seas, adding even more choices and diplomatic options as you continue to build “just one more turn” toward a new vision for the future of humanity.Ĭolonize the Ocean: Build floating settlements and access natural resources hidden beneath the seas of the alien planet. Now, many decades after their first landfall on a new planet, the proud survivors of the first expeditions beyond Earth look up to see the skies darkened by a new breed of pioneers.īeyond Earth extended the Civilization franchise from its historical setting into the possible futures of science fiction. These newcomers were grounded not in the idealism of their predecessors, but on opportunism, resilience, ruthlessness, and above all a commitment to their own survival. From this tumultuous time, two new factions arose. Those left behind fell into a violent struggle over the quickly-diminishing resources on their barren home world. Īfter the first wave of great colony ships departed Earth, the jubilation of humanity was short-lived. The Rising Tide Add-On turns Civilization – Beyond Earth an even better game. If I had known that buying the original could have lead to this, I may have done so twice. Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth Rising Tide is a well-developed, superbly balanced, and refined evolution of the original. Rising Tide… is very nearly a masterpiece While the new seafaring options are excellent, the real gem of Rising Tide is the revamped diplomacy system and the new associated diplomatic currency. “Beyond Earth is a more nuanced experience throughout, and managing deals and personality traits in pursuit of perks creates more involved playthroughs.

CIVILIZATION BEYOND EARTH EXPANSIONS SERIES

It’s the expansion it needed to do first, both in terms of building on the game if you are in the mood for more, and showing that the series has the right course in mind.Of all the things Civilization: Beyond Earth's first expansion accomplishes, the greatest is this: it sorts through centuries of war, politics, and future technology, to reveal the personalities behind it all.” It does however move it closer to what it should have been, with its understanding of some of the big problems helping to at least soften the blow of their lingering disappointment first time around. Rising Tide doesn’t turn Beyond Earth into a whole new game. It’s also now much easier to read them, and see when you’re clashing with someone or they’re likely to bail on a deal. Combined, all this opens up a much more interesting diplomatic metagame of mutual favours and reasons to side with specific leaders, without ruling out making deals with assorted devils if the need arises. You can have up to four in play, and swap them out, as well as spend DC to purchase units and buildings outright. Everyone also now has Traits that offer direct upgrades, and advantages that others can buy into using the new Diplomatic Capital resource-a stipend each turn in exchange for a boost. Each faction now has a Fear and Respect bar, the first based on your strength and the latter based on how your actions mesh with their philosophies, such as worrying about your peoples’ health. They’re still one of the least important fundamental changes Rising Tide makes. They’re fun to play with, both in their new mechanic of acquiring territory by moving around the ocean, and a rare example of something feeling like future tech instead of just modern military equipment with a chrome finish. It’s a more appropriate name than it might sound, and not really referring to its new aquatic cities. This is essentially Rising Tide’s approach across the board: big changes, important changes, but not necessarily dramatic changes that completely overhaul what came before. Why wouldn’t you combine technology and aliens? It’s just slightly morbid common sense. This opens up new options, but more than that, it feels endlessly more appropriate. Rising Tide allows for Hybrid Affinities, mixing and matching them. I personally loathed this system, not for the core mechanical idea, but because it philosophically felt less like charting a future for humanity than signing it up to one of three dogmatic space cults, complete with silly space robes. In the original Beyond Earth, these had your society developing down one of three paths-Purity, Supremacy or Harmony. For me, one of the changes I most appreciate is the reworking of Affinities.

Civilization beyond earth expansions