There are three Affinities in the game, and these represent a points system based on how you choose to steer your society’s technological development. It’s a rich additional feature, and one that’s required to excel in the advanced difficulties of the game, though I found playing on easier modes meant that if you weren’t altogether sure of how best to play the new mechanic when starting out, it wouldn’t appreciably hurt your experience.Īlso new to the game are Affinities, and these are core to the Civilization: Beyond Earth experience.
Orbital units have a timed life just like real satellites, they work for a set number of cycles and then they burn up harmlessly in the atmosphere. That orbital layer is a new map level, which exists above the surface terrain, where players can deploy satellites and units to give an area of tiles (and units within) specific gameplay bonuses, including faster healing, better resource collection, protection from the native planetary hazards and more. Players also go through a brief bonus selection when starting a new game, which will give them different landing conditions and first-turn bonuses when starting out.
Sponsors include Arc, which excels in covert operations Brazilia, which offers 10% bonus to melee combat Franco-Iberia, which has a tech focus Kavithan Protectorate, which is good at expanding via colonization Pan Asian Cooperative, which can quickly develop the land and build wonders African Union, an agricultural powerhouse Polystralia, which benefits from better trade and Slavic Federation, which is strong in the newly added orbital layer element of the game. The colonizers hail from a wide range of backgrounds, and instead of being divided by nation as they were in previous Civilization games, they’re sponsored by different organizations, and the goals of those organizations inform their faction traits. Instead, it’s a thoughtful extension of the Civilization series into a future era, with meaningful changes to mechanics that make sense in the context of the story.Īs for that story, the premise is basically that Earth has collectively put together a large expeditionary force, drawn from the people of various nations, to seek out and colonize new worlds.
The civilization building and management simulation keeps a lot of what has worked about the series, and adds substantial new gameplay elements – this is no warmed-over expansion with some sci-fi facepaint, nor is it even just a sequel to the excellent Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri. The Civilization series has repeatedly roped me in for disappearances that span hours and even days, and the newest instalment, Civilization: Beyond Earth continues that storied tradition.
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