8 Civs. Is that enough? More to come?

[George is Angry]

Title is the question. Are 8 Civs enough? Civ 5 launched with over 20, and by the end had a bunch more including additional DLC's, etc. How on earth is 8 Civs going to compare? I know for me personally, I usually play Civ 5 with 22 Civs on Epic or Marathon length to have a fully immersive and quasi-historical experience. I can't see how BE will be able to compete with that.

Other than that, though, I am very excited.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

Title is the question. Are 8 Civs enough? Civ 5 launched with over 20, and by the end had a bunch more including additional DLC's, etc. How on earth is 8 Civs going to compare? I know for me personally, I usually play Civ 5 with 22 Civs on Epic or Marathon length to have a fully immersive and quasi-historical experience. I can't see how BE will be able to compete with that.

Other than that, though, I am very excited.

Historical Civ Games have the necessity of including historical civs which increases the number

In Civ BE the only reason to Add a sponsor is if there is an interesting idea for a UA

I would imagine that if they have expansion packs, they will add sponsors...
However, I really hope the Don't ever have more than ~16 civs... more civs decreases the simplicity of the game, and decreases the importance of the other civs.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

The aliens and miasma act as a legitimate adversary during the early game. They don't want a heavily populated map because it detracts from the atmosphere of isolation.

 

[Sprenk]

Same thing happened when the game many people compare BE to, Alpha Centauri (SMAC), came out. There were only 8 or so factions, so playing on a huge map could get pretty lonely!

I bet adding factions will be high on the developer's list. And likely they will come in the form of DLC's.

 

[Lucius_]

With the seeding start, it creates a lot of combinations for each civ to be different every time. However, a lot of that won't make a huge difference. Starting with a worker vs a soldier only affects the first few turns. However the colonists decision will affect the entire game. I think replayability is not a concern but seeing tge same 7 leaders every game might get old.

I agree that we need more added. I'd hope for another 8 in the first expansion if they don't do civ DLCs.

 

[GeoModder]

In Civ BE the only reason to Add a sponsor is if there is an interesting idea for a UA

Firaxis could always include a second (or third, fourth,...) governor for some of the sponsors. After all, quite some sponsors are supposed to have launched multiple Seeding expeditions.

 

[DarkestOnion]

There are not 8 Civs, there are 8 Sponsor Choices. It is important to note that Civ:BE will require a transition to a different perspective than Civilization 5. That being said, each game's Seeding Choices combined with Affinity Choices, and with Technology Choices will construct a very unique Colony in each game imho. As to Huge Maps with 22 Colonies, I have never seen the appeal of creating a Huge Map that makes Late Game Turn Times a nightmare.

 

[Epic Eric]

I don't think the problem is having only 8 factions playing at a time. On bigger map sizes, sure, more than 8 would be a good idea, and I make Sprenk's words mine. On smaller maps, 8 might be fine, especially for balancing certain aspects such as the Promised Land VC.

My only concern is if these 8 factions being the same everytime gives enough replayability. IMO, a great aspect of Civ 5 was that you didn't know who you were going to face until you met them throughout the game, which provided lots of diversity and different situations. With only the same 8 factions everytime, that's a completely different story. At least they've said that leaders act differently in every playthrough, so I hope that playing against the same factions everytime doesn't get boring too soon (at least before they add more factions).

 

[SupremacyKing]

My only concern is if these 8 factions being the same every time gives enough replayability.

The factions won't be the same each time you play. That is the beauty of the seeding start where you pick your colonist, cargo and space ship. This will create a lot of diversity in each faction. In one game, you may encounter ARC that picked scientists (science bonus), another game you might face ARC that picked engineers (production bonus) and maybe the free soldier. Plus affinities will add another layer. In one game, you might face a Supremacy ARC, in another game you might face a Harmony ARC. So, there is lots of replayability there.

 

[Teodosio]

There will be the obvious alien civs in the first expansion!

 

[Karl0413]

Title is the question. Are 8 Civs enough? Civ 5 launched with over 20, and by the end had a bunch more including additional DLC's, etc. How on earth is 8 Civs going to compare? I know for me personally, I usually play Civ 5 with 22 Civs on Epic or Marathon length to have a fully immersive and quasi-historical experience. I can't see how BE will be able to compete with that.

Other than that, though, I am very excited.

Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri launched with only seven civs and many people loved them.

There will be the obvious alien civs in the first expansion!

And we will call it Alien Crossfire.

 

[MagusAscendant]

Eight is a little limiting, especially on larger map sizes but I'm sure new sponsors/additional leaders with new UA's for existing sponsors will be added soon. It is unfortunate they could not have pushed back release to the December holidays and worked on the game a little more.

 

[frozen]

I think they should probably have added a few extra leaders for the factions because each faction can be a little different depending on the starting bonuses.

Replayability will probably be ok though. MP doesn't need ai to begin with and in SP each faction will need to chose an ideology early on and act based on that choice. Add some aliens and things will definitely be unique every time you play.

My greatest worry is that the ai will probably screw up as much as it did in civ 5. I am especially worried about supremacy. Cooperation shouldn't be a problem for the ai but somehow I think it probably will be because of silly things such as neglecting formation while on the move, not being able to move and fire, etc, etc. Given its history, Firaxis is probably trying to spend as little time and resources as possible on the ai, while at the same time adding to the tasks that it will have to do.

 

[s0nny80y]

When the weather gets cold, this is the next best thing to an open fireplace.

 

[Epic Eric]

The factions won't be the same each time you play. That is the beauty of the seeding start where you pick your colonist, cargo and space ship. This will create a lot of diversity in each faction. In one game, you may encounter ARC that picked scientists (science bonus), another game you might face ARC that picked engineers (production bonus) and maybe the free soldier. Plus affinities will add another layer. In one game, you might face a Supremacy ARC, in another game you might face a Harmony ARC. So, there is lots of replayability there.

Yeah, that's what I'm hoping for. It sounds like a unique experience everytime, but I'm not sure if that translates from the paper to reality.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

There will be the obvious alien civs in the first expansion!

Please, don't even joke

 

[Gradac]

There are not 8 Civs, there are 8 Sponsor Choices. It is important to note that Civ:BE will require a transition to a different perspective than Civilization 5. That being said, each game's Seeding Choices combined with Affinity Choices, and with Technology Choices will construct a very unique Colony in each game imho. As to Huge Maps with 22 Colonies, I have never seen the appeal of creating a Huge Map that makes Late Game Turn Times a nightmare.

I agree with your statement. It is made on CivV engine however it is separate game, and from different perspective. And yes, I never had desire to play with more than 10 civilizations in CivV and spent third part of the game in waiting in frustration for turns to end.

However, I really hope the Don't ever have more than ~16 civs... more civs decreases the simplicity of the game, and decreases the importance of the other civs.

This.
Further more I would not like if they have more then 12 sponsors at the end. With choosing other options prior the adventure it would make it more versatile than regular civ in CivV. I assume that may be also upgraded with some extra options.
As Karl mentioned, Alfa Centauri had 7 (Gem. The less you have, more precious )

 

[Teodosio]

There will be the obvious alien civs in the first expansion!

Please, don't even joke

Oh come on, I am willing to bet that the first expansion will be about alien factions. Does anyone actually believe this won't be the case?

 

[KrikkitTwo]

Oh come on, I am willing to bet that the first expansion will be about alien factions. Does anyone actually believe this won't be the case?

I would hope not... I would find it interesting if they had stone age alien "tribes".. sort of like stations but you could incorporate them into your population...
Purity could try to make them more Human
Supremacy could try to augment them as well
Harmony could try to incorporate them into their society..and vice versa.

 

[JokerJace]

Maybe we should merge?
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=13234498#post13234498