Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth preview: boldly going

It's time to blast off into parts unknown in Civilization: Beyond Earth. Shacknews recently had a chance to go hands-on with the Civilization series' jump into the future.

Ozzie Mejia

May 20, 2014 8:00 AM

Even after the planet Earth expires following the Great Mistake, mankind will find a way to carry on, most likely by venturing into space and colonizing whole new worlds. The Civilization series moves into the future with this goal in mind in the upcoming Civilization: Beyond Earth. Shacknews recently had the opportunity to go where no man had gone before and attempt to make a thriving civilization in parts unknown. Just as in previous Civilization 5, Beyond Earth sticks close employs turn-based strategy and has players attempt to build along a field of hexagons. The object is to build a prosperous land that allows the human race to thrive by investing in futuristic sci-fi technology and engaging in relations (whether friendly or hostile) with the planet's aliens and fellow human colonies. Creating a peaceful, thriving civilization isn't easy. The unfamiliar world is rife with hazards. Much of it stems from the planet's terrain, which is filled with green mist, magma, and alien nests, all of which pose danger to careless explorers. Aliens will often prove hostile, showing themselves to be one of the wild cards on the path towards success. But depending on a colony's path, it is possible to live in peace with the planet's natives. Just like on our former world, diplomacy matters in Beyond Earth. Players must first consider how to deal with the native aliens by selecting an affinity system to specialize in. Selections include Purity, Supremacy, and Harmony. Those that elect to embrace Harmony will choose to attempt to live among the aliens and become part of their world. Supremacy players will favor a technological path that aims to dominate the aliens and their environment. Purity players will eschew anything alien, in favor of trying to make this new world as close to life on Earth as possible through science and research.

Beyond Earth's planet is filled with danger, including hostile aliens

Firaxis is setting aside Civilization's traditional tech tree in favor of a new tech web. The tech web acts as symbol that humanity's path is unknown and its future is uncertain. Beyond Earth's tech web can reflect any of these three affinities, with players allowed to pick one node that reflects either Harmony, Supremacy, or Purity. Players can go down their chosen path through tech web selections, but will also run into dynamic events that pop up over the course of the campaign. While running through my allotted 50 turns, I encountered instances in which trade routes popped up, exploration opportunities arose, and diplomatic leaders made their presences known. Some of these events were accompanied by choices, such as one instance that asked whether I wanted to build a scientific facility to focus on research or focus more on homeland defense. Quests will also pop up in order to give players direction, as well as move the overall narrative forward and push players towards necessary resources. These quests vary from opening old relics to the public to establishing a spy agency to conduct recon missions in unexplored areas. As noted in the game's original unveiling, players must create initial alliances at the start of their journey from among four human factions:

The Pan-Asian Cooperative: Led by Daoming Sochua, the Pan-Asian Cooperative specializes in culture, energy, and science, while downplaying military, diplomacy and religion. This faction is based on the People's Republic of China and bands together many former Asian nations like South Korea and Japan. The PAC emphasize in the technology, housing high-tech corporations and high-level research and development.
The Peoples' African Union: Led by Samatar Jama Barre, the People's African Union embraces diplomacy, growth, and health. Exercising the principles of self-reliance, the united African nations downplay production and religion. With ample mineral and biological resources, the African nations are now a haven for exploration beyond its borders.
Kavithan Protectorate: Led by the prophet Kavitha Thakur, the Protectorate believe in religion, growth, and culture. Having set aside any need for military, infrastructure, or science, the Protectorate houses one-sixth of planet's population within its borders and seeks to spread the word of their prophet across the entire world.
American Reclamation Corporation: Led by Suzanne Majorie Fielding, the ARC focuses on science, infrastructure, and production, concerning itself less with culture and religion. The ARC is the world's first and foremost megacorporation, comprising the third-largest economy in the world. Using their vast resources that includes gobs of capital, the ARC can fund just about any scientific endeavor.

The player's colony will be represented by any of the selected factions above. The colony will also receive a special starting bonus, depending on which sponsor is chosen, sending them on the road towards one of the three affinities. Other colony leaders will introduce themselves over the course of the game and players will have to choose how to engage them. They can either establish friendly relations, open their borders, exchange resources, or go to war. Each of the affinities will also feature their own end-game conditions to victory. For example, Harmony players must awaken the planet's central intelligence, thus completing their path to ultimate enlightenment. Purity players, meanwhile, can complete a task called "Promised Land," which sees Purity colonies liberating the remaining population on Earth and finding homes for them on their new planet. The opposite approach is "Emancipation," which sees Supremacy colonies returning to Earth and enslaving the remaining population under the banner of a new order. Players define what it means to be human and those definitions change, depending on which affinities they adopt over the course of their campaign. Sid Meier's Civlization: Beyond Earth is early in development, but the game is targeting a fall release for PC.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?

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Shacknews

 reply
May 20, 2014 8:00 AM

Ozzie Mejia posted a new article, Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth preview: boldly going.

It's time to blast off into parts unknown in Civilization: Beyond Earth. Shacknews recently had a chance to go hands-on with the Civilization series' jump into the future.
- Deathlove
  
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  May 20, 2014 8:31 AM
  
  GIVE IT TO ME NOW.
- [deleted] 512828367
  
   reply
  May 20, 2014 8:36 AM
  
  [deleted]
- Rauol Duke
  
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  May 20, 2014 8:36 AM
  
  Hhhhhhhhhnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggg.... Goddamn I want this game.
  - CrustaR
    
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    May 20, 2014 8:39 AM
    
    Welcome...to Beyond Earf.
- feek
  
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  May 20, 2014 8:40 AM
  
  are firaxis afraid of ea suing them for making a spiritual sequel? i was just reading the article at rps, and the pr always insist it's not a sequel to SMAC, and it's a different thing, etc. but then i read what they say about the game and it sounds like SMAC.
  - daggot
    
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    May 20, 2014 9:12 AM
    
    Oh, it's totally a spiritual successor. But, they're just being very careful about the marketing and pr side of things to avoid any potential lawsuits. I'm okay with that. We're smart enough to know what it REALLY is.
- MercFox1
  
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  May 20, 2014 8:40 AM
  
  You got some messed up grammar in first sentence of paragraph 2.
- Arcanum
  
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  May 20, 2014 8:45 AM
  
  Yesyesyesyesyesyes!
- dirge23
  
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  May 20, 2014 9:01 AM
  
  on my FACE PLEASE
- Rehevkor
  
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  May 20, 2014 9:02 AM
  
  Your turns. GIVE ME THEM.
- [deleted] 1750374658
  
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  May 20, 2014 9:04 AM
  
  [deleted]
  - [deleted] 1750374658
    
     reply
    May 20, 2014 9:05 AM
    
    [deleted]
    - daggot
      
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      May 20, 2014 9:11 AM
      
      It's not. From the official site:
      
      The game will also be coming to MAC and Linux via Aspyr Media.
      - daggot
        
         reply
        May 20, 2014 9:13 AM
        
        Also, this was covered in the original Shack article too.
        
        [deleted] 1750374658
        
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        May 20, 2014 10:06 AM
        
        [deleted]
- pyros
  
   reply
  May 20, 2014 9:05 AM
  
  Give it to me baby. Uh-huh, uh-huh! And all the Meier fans say I'm pretty fly compared to Civ five.
- Clay
  
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  May 20, 2014 9:15 AM
  
  when is this coming out? i want it now
  - sposh
    
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    May 20, 2014 9:52 AM
    
    It says Fall of 2014
- rtricoche
  
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  May 20, 2014 9:47 AM
  
  I cant hardly wait!
  - rtricoche
    
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    May 20, 2014 9:47 AM
    
    For Alpha Centuri
- Volatus32x
  
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  May 20, 2014 10:04 AM
  
  I will buy the fuck out of this.
- devpaul
  
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  May 20, 2014 11:07 AM
  
  this + 34" screen = i'll be ready.
- thetangent
  
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  May 20, 2014 1:11 PM
  
  I'm throwing my money at my monitor but nothing is happening. What am I doing wrong?
- alexthegreat2
  
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  May 20, 2014 4:41 PM
  
  I love the idea of it, but I am not optimistic about the execution.
- xenophobe
  
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  May 20, 2014 8:26 PM
  
  Well, it it really just Civ5 in space? I'm not surethat is enough to make me buy it.