Beyond Earth Affinities in Starships
2K has posted a blog detailing how affinities from Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth will be represented and expanded on in Sid Meier's Starships. Each affinity has been treated to a sleek visual update to represent the time difference between the games, but there's more to it than that:
These differences in Affinity in Starships are more than just cosmetic. Affinities also have gameplay advantages in Starships for the player. Supremacy begins the game with a Wonder, representing the achievements of their advanced technology, a powerful bonus that applies from the start, and which can guide the development of the entire fleet and its tactical approach. Purity gains double rewards from each mission, through the skillful work of the flee…
From Beyond Earth to Starships: Leader Affinity Evolved
SId Meier's Starships takes place many years after the conclusion of your game of Civilization: Beyond Earth . Over this period of time, each Sponsor's leader and the Affinities - Harmony, Supremacy and Purity - guiding their progression have evolved dramatically. This not only plays out in the look of each leader, but also in the way your fleet operates in Sid Meier's companion game, Starships.
To help illustrate the hard work put in by the game artists as well as help paint a picture for how these two games are tied together in the same universe, the Beyond Earth and Starships teams synced up to produce a piece on the Civilization.com blog. Give it a read!
http://www.civilization.com/en/news/2015-01-from-beyond-earth-to-starships-leader-a…
Starships livestreams - first two episodes
Firaxis has started the weekly livestreams again, after a break around the New Year! Last autumn we saw several livestreams about Beyond Earth, and the newest streams are -- surprise, surprise -- about Sid Meier's Starships. The first one is a lot like the demo they gave at PAX South, but the second one features a much more interesting fight, as well as a short question and answer section at the end. Check them out below!
The next livestream is supposed to take place on Thursday, 12 February 2015, at 7 pm UTC. You will be able to watch it at http://www.twitch.tv/firaxisgames.
Graphs about this wiki
Using the database dump of this wiki, a little application to parse it, LibreOffice and Photoshop I created a couple of graphs about the development of this wiki:
The file count seems to match very accurately to what Special:Statistics is saying. The number of articles in my graph (~6250) is higher than what this wiki reports (currently ), but that's probably because of how MediaWiki counts articles, i.e. it has some heuristic to exclude short articles or unreachable pages. Redirects should not be included in my number, but I admit I also need to test my software and study the MediaWiki XML logic some more. The reason the data series values don't all start from zero is that a few articles and their histories have been imported from Wikipedi…
Live Starships demo from PAX South
If you weren't able to make it to the inaugural PAX South last weekend then you missed the Firaxis Megapanel, which included a live Starships demo from creator Sid Meier himself! We were sad you didn't make it, but we guess we can forgive you.
We filmed the panel, which spoke a bit about the connections to Beyond Earth with co-lead designers David McDonough and Will Miller prior to Sid jumping into the live demo. Sid Meier's Starships is set in the same universe as Beyond Earth and takes place hundreds of years after Beyond Earth's endgame.
So feel free to watch the video embedded in this post. If you want to jump directly to gameplay, just click the annotation near the beginning of the video.
Sid Meier's Starships will be available Spring…
Polygon article on Starships, from PAX South
The Polygon site just published an article with some new information on the upcoming Sid Meier's Starships game, based on the information Sid Meier himself revealed at the PAX South event on Saturday. Some interesting points:
- The game focuses on RPG-like progression of the systems of the starships
- The Affinities from Beyond Earth make a return
- It's turn-based and takes place on a hex-based maps, but the maps are dynamic and will change in the course of the game!
- Read the full article here
Sid Meier talks Starships team and freedom of having smaller group
Today, GameSpot posted another interview with Sid Meier about his upcoming game, Starships. The focus of this interview is team size and how having a smaller group working on the game affords Sid and his team freedoms not available to larger teams working on bigger projects.
Check out the interview: http://www.gamespot.com/articles/sid-meier-opens-up-on-new-team-structure-lots-more/1100-6424761/
An interview with Sid Meier on Starships
Today, the folks at Gamespot posted an interview with legendary game designer Sid Meier. The interview goes into the development of Starships and how Sid wanted to get back to "a method of making games that really focused on game design, that allowed us to spend most of our time designing and maybe a little less of our time on all the other stuff needed to make games."
Read the full interview here: http://www.gamespot.com/articles/sid-meier-s-starships-going-beyond-beyond-earth/1100-6424735/
Sid Meier's Starships announced today
We announced a new game today! Sid Meier's Starships, a tactical strategy game set in the Beyond Earth universe, is coming this Spring to iPad, Steam and the Mac App Store.
For more information, check out the announcement here: http://www.gamespot.com/articles/firaxis-reveals-new-interstellar-strategy-game-sid/1100-6424728/
Beyond Earth free to play weekend on Steam
Just as the title says, you can play Beyond Earth this weekend on Steam, free of charge. You can access the Windows PC, Mac and Linux versions through Steam.
If you're considering a purchase, know the game is also 40% off this weekend only!
http://store.steampowered.com/app/65980
Hotfix for Nvidia card issue now available
We’re releasing a hotfix for Civilization: Beyond Earth that affects players using certain kinds of older NVidia video cards. Players experiencing stability issues since the release of the previous patch should see more reliable performance.
You may need to verify your local file cache or restart your Steam client to force the download.
Happy New Year 2015!
Happy New Year 2015 everyone! Let's take a look back at the highlights of 2014:
- We got selected as the official Civilization wikia!
- Firaxicon!
- Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth was released!
- Civilization Revolution 2 was released!
- We established a presence on Twitter and Facebook!
- We got a bunch of new dedicated editors!
Elsewhere in the universe, outside of this wikia, but continuing with the scifi theme of Beyond Earth:
- The Philae lander landed on a comet
- The movie Interstellar was released
- NASA detected Kepler-186f, the first Earth-like exoplanet in the habitable zone of another star
- Google's driverless car made a lot of progress
- The Curiosity rover found organic molecules from Mars
What were your highlights of 2014? Share in the comments!
…
Things the game still needs to have done
Domination setting should give you victory when you eliminated all of the enemy cities. To have them no longer listed in the diplomacy menu, showing all their cities are gone now, but they still in the game because they have worker units moving about the ocean somewhere, is ridiculous. Impossible to find them all.
Ability to select what worker units on automation can and can not do.
And all the other things I mentioned elsewhere already. Bah. Raining too hard now, so got to turn off my computer, since lightning kills computers when you live atop a hill.
Wilhelm II of............ Question of Week
Can you take this?
- Q:Wilhelm II of..........?
- A:........????
If you can. I will take only correct answer only
How to Win as Purity
What does leaving Earth mean for the future of humanity? Civilization: Beyond Earth's Affinity system adds yet another layer of depth to the Civilization equation by rewarding players for playing with a specific overarching philosophy that attempts to answer the above question in mind. Players gain affinity points by researching technologies and making quest decisions that align with the direction they believe humanity should take as a species that's transcended Earth. That said, beyond the philosophical considerations, there are also a number of strategic aspects associated with the pursuit of a given Affinity for Civ players to think about.
is one of the three affinities in Civilization: Beyond Earth. The Purity affinity desires to preserv…
How to Win as Supremacy
What does leaving Earth mean for the future of humanity? Civilization: Beyond Earth's Affinity system adds yet another layer of depth to the Civilization equation by rewarding players for playing with a specific overarching philosophy that attempts to answer the above question in mind. Players gain affinity points by researching technologies and making quest decisions that align with the direction they believe humanity should take as a species that's transcended Earth. That said, beyond the philosophical considerations, there are also a number of strategic aspects associated with the pursuit of a given Affinity for Civ players to think about.
is one of the three affinities in Civilization: Beyond Earth. They focus on improving technology and …
Beyond Earth is 40% off on Steam right now
The 2014 Steam Holiday Sale is on. You can grab Beyond Earth for 40% off, for a limited time only, so be sure to tell your friends (both real and imaginary), your family, your teachers, your enemies and anybody else who will listen to you!
Beyond Earth Community Choice Awards
Calling all exo-planetary colonists! Now that we've all had a few months to delve into Beyond Earth's alien landscapes, we think it's high time to reflect on our favorite aspects of the game. What's your favorite Affinity? How about your favorite Alien? The choice is yours. To vote, click on the image you're wanting to vote for, and once you do you'll see the latest numbers for each item - have fun!
UPDATE: Your votes have been counted and the winners have been chosen. Thank you for all of your votes!
Civilization: Beyond Earth Fall Update Now Live
We’re happy to report the first major patch for Civilization: Beyond Earth is now available. This patch, a collaborative effort between Firaxis Games and all of you who took the time to provide feedback since launch, will automatically download the next time you start up your Steam client. If the patch is not downloading, try restarting Steam.
Players affected by the 144hz monitor issue should find that is no longer the case. Another issue preventing achievements from unlocking has also been fixed. And, in addition to fixing these and other issues, Firaxis has also addressed a number of gameplay balance requests from the community – like optimizing trade route yields and doing away with one particular Covert Ops exploit. This is a substanti…
Mod Month on the Civilization Wikia
We're just getting started. Stay tuned for more on the wonderful world of Civilization: Beyond Earth Mods!
Have a recommendation for mod of the week? Drop me a line on my talk page!
Beyond Earth Now Available for Mac
Mac gamers, rejoice! Civilization: Beyond Earth has finally landed on OSX. Players can access the game via Steam (where it is now available for a reduced price) and the App Store.
If you already purchased the game on Steam, the game will now download onto Mac platforms without any foreseeable issue.
Buy Beyond Earth for OSX on Steam!
Buy Beyond Earth for OSX on the App Store!
Save Money on Beyond Earth During the Holidays
Good news for anyone who hasn't picked up Civilization: Beyond Earth yet -- the game is currently $34.99 on Steam, which is a steal for a game that came out only a month ago.
The deal ends tomorrow, so if you're interested, you need to act quickly.
If you miss that deal, check out GameStop on Black Friday. They'll be offering the game for $39.99.
Steam Exploration Sale
Deals, ahoy! Steam's latest sale, dubbed the Steam Exploration Sale, is in full effect until December 2 at 10am PT. A plethora of deals are available to peruse but, for the discerning Civilization fan and denizen of this fine Internet Webspace, there are discounts extended across the entire Civilization series. So if Beyond Earth is your first foray into the lauded Civilization series, now's a good time to take a trip back in time (Delorean not included) and sample previous Civilization games.
Head on over to Steam for Massive Dealz or consult the screenshot included in this post for an at-a-glance look at what's on offer.
Beyond Earth patch is almost ready
Firaxis Games is almost ready to issue the first patch for Civilization: Beyond Earth. Here is an update the developer has passed along today:
We’d like to thank all our fans for the feedback and reports they have been posting and sending in. The team has been working hard on bug fixing and balancing, and as you’ll see in the change list below, we’re close to locking down this patch. We’ll share more specifics for the gameplay changes shortly while the build is making its way through the approval process.
[GAMEPLAY]
• Implementing additional bug fixes for quests.
• Implementing modified quest rewards based on game speed and which turn they were received in.
• Revisiting difficulty level scaling. Increasing difficulty when playin…
Civilization: Beyond Earth launches on Mac tomorrow, 11/26
Macstronauts,
Tomorrow is the day! Civilization: Beyond Earth launches on Mac on November 26! More info is available over on the Aspyr GameAgent blog here: http://blog.gameagent.com/civilization-beyond-earth-mac-linux-dev-update-5/
If you pre-ordered the Mac version through GameAgent, you'll receive an email tonight with your Steam key. And remember: Beyond Earth supports Steamplay, so if you already purchased the PC version then you'll automatically have access to the Mac version tomorrow and, when it launches, the Linux version. Enjoy!
Win a Logitech G710+ Keyboard from Firaxis and 2K
Want to win a Civilization: Beyond Earth branded Logitech G710+ keyboard? All you have to do is LIKE the official Civilization Facebook page and leave a comment on this post telling them how many hours you've spent playing Beyond Earth!
A winner will randomly chosen on Wednesday, November 26, 2014, so get posting!
Help out with Mod Month
Are you interested in modding Civilization: Beyond Earth? We can use your help! Wikia is gearing up for December's Mod Month spectacular, and we're looking for all-star users to help us get things moving. If you have any interest in mods -- either playing or building them -- leave a comment or a message on my talk page!
Very Hard setting still rather easy to beat
I thought I'd try the Very Hard setting, having beaten every difficulty level before it easily enough. The only one left after says Impossible Hard, so I assumed maybe it was impossible. Anyway, the AI doesn't expand too quickly. Maybe the negative health thing bothers them, so the AI avoids doing that. Even if your health is in the red, you are still better off by having more bases everywhere.
I learned that using covert operators to Recruit Defectors, gives you not just one new unit, but several at once. So good way to build up your army.
I was once again able to get spy headquarters far sooner than any AI. I'm surprised that even when I had agents in headquarters to increase the chances of success, and with no one having any counter…
Modding Beyond Earth (part 2)
A little over a week ago Pete Murray from Firaxis taught us how to create a simple mod for Beyond Earth. Last Thursday there was another livestream on modding. This time Pete created a new Wonder called Entropy Nullifier, which converts into strategic resources. He then proceeded to upload his mod to Steam Workshop for everyone to download. You can watch the newest livestream right here:
Beyond Earth prepares for planetfall on Mac and Linux
Aspyr Media, which is handling the Mac and Linux versions of Civlization: Beyond Earth, has posted a new development diary outlning some very exciting news for those who have been waiting for the Mac and Linux versions of Beyond Earth. Here's the gist of it:
- The Mac version of Beyond Earth is very close to launch, and has been submitted for approval to the appropriate parties. This includes both the Steam version and the Mac App Store version. Happy day!
- The Linux version of Beyond Earth is close behind and should arrive mere weeks after the Mac installment. Even happier day!
You can read the full Aspyr dev update over on the GameAgent blog here .
Mac and Linux Versions of BE Coming Soon!
Aspyr, the dev team behind the Mac and Linux versions of Civilization: Beyond Earth announced today that they're nearly finished with both the Mac and Linux versions of the game.
Here's what they had to say about the Mac version.
This past week we made even more significant progress than we’ve made in the past, and that means we’re super close to a release date for the Mac version. In fact, Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth for Mac (both Steam and Mac App Store versions) has been submitted for approval to all parties!
Assuming all goes well, our Mac users could be colonizing new planets by next week.
And Linux:
Don’t worry, Linux users, we haven’t forgotten about you. In addition to the all-important performance improvements, we’ve also be…
The Dr, Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of Planets
Stephen Kane, a Professor of Astrophysics at San Francisco State University, has passed along another blog post in his series analyzing the real-world implications of humanity settling new worlds, as presented in Civilization: Beyond Earth. This latest post's topic is all about what type of planet humanity would find to be ideal in fostering settlement.
Read Professor Kane's post here: http://www.civilization.com/en/news/2014-11-the-dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde-of-planets/
In addition to this post, Professor Kane also discussed the plurality of worlds - the abundance of planetary types that are likely out there in the cold reaches of space. Before mankind finds a new home, we'd likely have to sift through a daunting array of inhabitable planetary …
Finnish review reflects Beyond Earth upon European colonization
Helsingin Sanomat is the largest daily subscription newspaper in Finland and the Nordic countries. They very rarely review any video games, but this Saturday they published a review of Civilization: Beyond Earth. The following is my translation of the review, originally written by Juhana Petterson. His text is pictured below but also available online.
The ghost of colonialism haunts in the newest version of the classic world-building game.
Faith into mankind's technological progression has always been at the core of the Civilization games. Technological progression is a tree where everyone must start at the root: without wheel, animal husbandry, or mathematics it's impossible to become the ruler of the world.
In the new Civilization game Beyond Eart…
Mod of the Week: InfoAddict
Each week, over on the Civilization blog , we highlight a mod for Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth. These mods, which are created by the Civilization community and entirely independent of us at Firaxis Games and 2K, change numerous things, both great and small, within the game. Since Beyond Earth launched on October 24, we've been amazed by the hundreds (!) of mods that have already been created by the community. Hundreds.
This week we chose to go with InfoAddict . This mod provides pages of supplementary data to pore over, including graphs analyzing your faction's growth data, match rankings, growth scores, crop yields and countless other specifics. If you're looking to drill down as deep as possible on game data, then this mod is for …
BE Modding Livestream Happening at 11AM PST (UTC -8:00)
Interested in learning how to mod Civilization: Beyond Earth? Check out 2K's Twitch channel for an introductory primer!
Livestream on modding on Thursday
Firaxis Games is hosting an online livestream tomorrow on Thursday, November 13. The topic of the livestream is very exciting: modding Beyond Earth! The address is http://www.twitch.tv/firaxisgames/ and the stream starts at 7:00 pm UTC. Be there or be square!
Update (2014-11-16): The video has now been posted to YouTube! You can watch it right here:
How to Win as Harmony
What does leaving Earth mean for the future of humanity? Civilization: Beyond Earth's Affinity system adds yet another layer of depth to the Civilization equation by rewarding players for playing with a specific overarching philosophy that attempts to answer the above question in mind. Players gain affinity points by researching technologies and making quest decisions that align with the direction they believe humanity should take as a species that's transcended Earth. That said, beyond the philosophical considerations, there are also a number of strategic aspects associated with the pursuit of a given Affinity for Civ players to think about.
Philosophically, the Harmony affinity centers on the belief that humanity is and always will be an …
Extracting images from Beyond Earth
For the purposes of this wiki a lot of images have had to be extracted from the game's data files. Not all images are needed, of course, but every once in a while some need for new ones arise. Here's a little tutorial on how to do that.
First, I will assume you are using Windows. That should be a reasonable assumption, as the game is only out for Windows for now. Users of other operating systems will have to adapt these instructions to their own needs.
- 1 Prerequirements
- 2 Case 1: No DDS-unpacking needed; cropping required
- 3 Case 2: DDS-unpacking needed
- 4 Conclusion and final tips
Let's begin by downloading some essential programs. Download and install the following:
- Dragon UnPACKer -- for unpacking the game's data files
- DDS Unpacker -- for unpacking t…
It's Harmony Month on the Civilization Wikia
To celebrate the first full month of Civilization: Beyond Earth's availability, we're delving deep into the Harmony Affinity with a look at how the affinity works, the bonuses associated with it, and some high quality concept art of Harmony units. Check out the goods below!
Things that could be improved in Civlization: Beyond Earth
The option to play how I want to play it, turning off aspects I don't want in the game, such as spies.
Elimination of vague things the AI leaders say at times.
If I catch and kill a spy, and contact them about it, then they shouldn't call me first thing next turn to complain about me killing their spy and commenting on how hard expensive they are to train.
On some tiles, miasma is hard to see. Maybe most people have a bigger monitor than me with higher definition, I don't know.
There should be a way to name the leader and my cities as I see fit. Giving them foreign names I can't pronounce or remember, makes it hard to keep track of which is which.
Don't ever show the Next Turn thing, until every single unit that has a move left has moved. I …
The official Civilization Wikia has 1.6 million views this week
Civilization: Beyond Earth has been out a week now, and this Wikia reports that this week it has 1.6 million views, 1,332 edits, and 45 new "Photos". They aren't photographs, they are screenshots and game graphics, but whatever. Thank you all for editing, and I hope work continues on the articles for this great game. It starts off slow, but once you understand what's going on, and get into it, it really does become an enjoyable game. Dream Focus 03:03, November 2, 2014 (UTC)
Social Profile Imagery
Want some cool icons and header art for your Facebook, Twitter and/or Wikia profiles? I whipped up these images and posted them into two different Imgur galleries. Enjoy!
Sponsors: http://imgur.com/a/4Wz56
Affinity: http://imgur.com/a/0iqil
Greetings
Hello,
My name is David Hinkle and I'm the Firaxis Games Community Manager at 2K. Nice to meet you!
Wikia is home to some of the most passionate fans on all of the internet, and I'm thrilled to be able to contribute to this community. It's been amazing watching this corner of the internet grow leading up to, and after, the launch of Civlization: Beyond Earth!
So, again, hello and thank you all for your hard work in maintaining this excellent Wikia. I hope it's get even bigger and more thorough - because not only could I use all the help I can get in my voyage Beyond Earth, hopefully so can the internet-at-large. One ... more ... turn ...
-Dave
http://www.civilization.com
http://www.facebook.com/civ
http://www.facebook.com/xcom
@civgame
@xcom
…
Beyond Earth, But Not Beyond Expectations
This seems as good a place as anywhere to express my opinion - I don't think Beyond Earth quite lived up to my expectations of it.
This isn't to say that I haven't enjoyed my playtime - it's still a Firaxis game, which means that it's solid, play is enjoyable, and the game is relatively well-balanced. And pretty. But there are still a few bones of contention I have.
- Gameworld details. The designers may have been trying for "vague and mysterious", a la Mitchell and Webb's "Event", but I want to hear about the Great Mistake. What was it, exactly? Who was involved? How did the sponsors come to be? The civilopedia, in addition to having a somewhat obtuse interface (more on that later) is startlingly bare of the kind of rich detail that _m…
civ 5 and beyond earth transition primer
at its very core beyond earth is, no denying it, a hyperredressed civ v. this post is just a repository of my personal observations to make the transition between the two games easier by mapping the corresponding similarities. sometimes it's just terminology change, sometimes it's a bit more complicated.
very much halfassed a WIP and i don't even know if i'll finish this. 2 victories in between realworld stuff and i'm still learning things. some choices are rather debatable, i'm open to feedback, but let me reiterate: this is a personal observation piece and not meant to be taken as completely accurate.
refs: this wiki's lists of _____.
- 1 concepts
- 2 units
- 3 buildings
- 4 resources/improvements
Beyond Earth Data and Images
Hello everyone, as a resource to editors I have uploaded a few hundred images and data files for use by all contributors, so have at them! --Becer (talk) 21:42, October 25, 2014 (UTC)
Launch Week Day 5: Beyond Earth Makes Landfall
The wait is finally over -- Civilization: Beyond Earth has made landfall. It's been a long time coming, but the wait has been worth it.
- Those who still haven't purchased the game can head here to pick it up.
- Familiarize yourself with all of the pre-game choices available at the BE's outset with the official Starter Guide — and keep an eye out for our fan-powered Super Walkthrough, coming later today.
- Check out the below links for additional information on Beyond Earth. Remember to stay tuned to the Civilization Wikia -- your official source for all things Beyond Earth.
- Overview
- Sponsors
- Tech Web
- Buildings
- Units
- Wonders
- Resources
- Aliens
- Terrain
- Concepts
Launch Week Day 4 - The Moment You've Been Waiting for is Almost Here
We are mere hours away from making first contact with Civilization: Beyond Earth. Make sure you preorder and preload the game if you want to have access to the exclusive Exoplanet map-pack.
- Take the Affinity Quiz to figure out which of the game's three affinities you align with. Let us know how you fare in the comments here, too.
- At 7PM PDT, Firaxis will be conducting another round of Civilization: Beyond Earth livestreaming. Check it out here.
- Get a head start and familiarize yourself with all of the pre-game choices available at the BE's outset with the official Starter Guide — and keep an eye out for our fan-powered Super Walkthrough, coming tomorrow.
- Press reviews for the game are starting to trickle in — and things are looking good.
- Destr…