8 Civs. Is that enough? More to come?

[awesome]

I find your choice of stereotypes exactly reversed from the reality I live in, where Americans work longer hours and are more productive than almost any other workers in the world, and it is the Chinese who are becoming famous for their skulldiggery in the realms of industrial, digital and corporate spy craft. So that being the case, my sense of the disconnect from the past in BE remains intact.

no, see, you're going on stereotypes, too. you're right that we hear all the time that americans work longer hours than anybody else and europeans from country x take y vacations every year and that the chinese use lead paint on the toys they ship to us, but there are plenty of countries in the world that work more hours than we do (each of the blue words is a different link).
and how often do you hear people complaining about the government spying on us? and remember how our spy drones were a huge thing a few years ago?

of course, my own research shows that i'm wrong about china, but i can still understand why they'd get a production bonus.

 

[CaptainPatch]

Well, as an exercise, how many "civs" could be added to BE?

It would take an entity with the control of resources that a Major nation would have, or else a multinational corporation. I doubt, for example that Bill Gates on his own (net worth $85 billion) could afford to build and launch a Colony ship. Exxon (net worth @$500 billion annually) possibly could. But do keep in mind that these well-funded sponsors MUST continue to "take care of business" while building the project, so only a fraction of available resources would actually be available. ("Disposable income" sort of.) In current nation terms that would be:http://www.aneki.com/richest.html
USA, China, India, Japan, Germany, Russia, Brazil, UK, France, and Italy. (In that order.)

Current corporations exceeding $250 billion annually:http://www.celebritynetworth.com/list/top-50-companies/
Exxon, Walmart, Chevron, and that's it.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

no, see, you're going on stereotypes, too. you're right that we hear all the time that americans work longer hours than anybody else and europeans from country x take y vacations every year and that the chinese use lead paint on the toys they ship to us, but there are plenty of countries in the world that work more hours than we do (each of the blue words is a different link).
and how often do you hear people complaining about the government spying on us? and remember how our spy drones were a huge thing a few years ago?

of course, my own research shows that i'm wrong about china, but i can still understand why they'd get a production bonus.

Of course they are stereotypes that was the point.

Chinese stereotypes
hard work (PAC)
collective
spying
population

American stereotypes
individualistic
money
military
production
tech
possibly culture (Hollywood)
spy (only recently)

French stereotypes
culture (FI is close.. but it has some techness as well)

Russian stereotypes
military
spy
space (SF)
production

African stereotypes
cultural/religion
military
nature/pop food (PAU)

Indian stereotypes
population
culture/religion
..KP seems unique

Australian stereotypes
deadly area/survivalist
criminals
simplistic/uncivilized

Indonesian/polynesian stereotypes.. not too many
culture/religion
maritime/trade..(Polystralia)


Brasilian/Latin American stereotypes
culture
nature
military (coups).. Brasilia here


So really KP is the only one not reasonably connected to a stereotype

 

[awesome]

Of course they are stereotypes that was the point.

and that was my point.

 

[gunnergoz]

National/cultural stereotypes are subjective, often misleading, and so relative that they are of little utility in the real world - and thus we should try to avoid their use IRL fact-based problem solving.

But in the Civilization gaming world, national/cultural stereotypes have been very consciously exploited by earlier Civ design teams as a tool to set the stage and persona of the historical character the player will represent in leading his game's simulated historical civilization.

In designing BE, the Firaxis team went the opposite route in an effort to allow players to create their side's mythology as the game progresses. Instead of handing the gamer a choice of existing historical identities and national/cultural stereotypes to choose from, the designers threw out convention and handed players a tool kit with which to craft their own unique game character and side.

They want to encourage the BE player to see the game's factions (i.e. Sponsors) as something new and fresh, without historical baggage like the stereotypes of earlier Civ faction traditions.

This is why we are told that there was a complete collapse of existing earth governments, nation states and economies following the "Great Mistake," and that new governing and economic entities took their place. This is also why individual sponsor personalities are so clearly exposed: as a framework upon which the player can role-play the character (if he/she wishes) and write an original story for the interplanetary colonization in BE.

That's why its my opinion that connecting old national/cultural stereotypes with the BE factions is a process that's occurring in the eye of the beholder and not in the mind (or intent) of the game's designers.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

I disagree. I think they did avoid Some easy stereotypes, but went with others (PAC, SF, and FI are highly stereotypical....others less so. Particularly if you start with ability first and then determine the faction)

 

[m15a]

The colonies can appear to fit stereotypes without them being designed that way (consciously or not). It's like a psychic - they seem to read your mind by saying things that are generally true about anyone. i guess the way to test the BE colonies would be to randomize the benefits and see if they still seem stereotypical.

 

[Haig]

Queen Elizabeth II owns 1/6th of earth's surface. Like all of you Canadians are basically there because she let's you.

We need House of Windsor into the game, Space British Empire.

edit: yeah I'm serious, I think a faction of British Commonwealth or Earth's noble families and royalties would be cool.

 

[Minor Annoyance]

All this talk of what factions should be in the game just ends up with something that already exists today or in history being replicated in space. Anything that is just "Space _______" is lame.

 

[Cole98]

Canadian Union
An alliance formed from Western Canada, leader would be Simon Matthews a Noble Peace Prize recipient
UA: Power of Diplomacy, Other Factions have a +5 Relation boost with CU

 

[Alkyon]

All this talk of what factions should be in the game just ends up with something that already exists today or in history being replicated in space. Anything that is just "Space _______" is lame.

Counterpoint: Space Zulu. "Fly 50 lightyears in a day and fight a battle"

 

[CaptainPatch]

Counterpoint: Space Zulu. "Fly 50 lightyears in a day and fight a battle"

Jones-593: "Well, it's daft that is, then! I don't see no sense in (flying) to fight a battle."

 

[awesome]

All this talk of what factions should be in the game just ends up with something that already exists today or in history being replicated in space. Anything that is just "Space _______" is lame.

that's pretty much what the factions are going to be, though, either in the game or if it were to happen in real life.

 

[Civ'ed]

Jones-593: "Well, it's daft that is, then! I don't see no sense in (flying) to fight a battle."

You're making the British Empire sound like it's gone for Supremacy.

 

[klaskeren]

the bonuses for the different civs like 10% growth, 10% combat bonus, 1 tech very some time, they are very straight up and boring compared to civ v, this is what seems most disappointing to me about BE

 

[gunnergoz]

What is boring for one person may be a chance to use imagination for another. The factions in BE don't come with a lot of historical baggage, unlike those in traditional historical Civ games. The designers seem to do that on purpose, wanting the players to create their own narrative. Consequently, the faction bonuses do seem sort of "bland" but one has to take into account the other Seeding Bonuses that we will be choosing from - together they help define your faction, but you have to create the rationale for it in your own mind.

It reminds me a bit of Legendary Heroes, where you can create factions and leaders and you provide your own descriptive text and history to round them out. In BE we are being given the tools and the individual Sponsor bonus is only one element in the tool kit.

When I take these various tools to create a faction personality and combine them with what I know already of the BE world lore, it lets me feel like I'm a character in a play, except this time I'm not playing a known historical character, but rather one of my own making.

 

[Civ24]

8 civ sound good for mp. Huge map are not fun for me. And this 8 players civ must come with medium size map for sure in mp.

 

[Human Crouton]

the bonuses for the different civs like 10% growth, 10% combat bonus, 1 tech very some time, they are very straight up and boring compared to civ v, this is what seems most disappointing to me about BE

Same here. It looks like you can just play every faction the same way.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

Same here. It looks like you can just play every faction the same way.

Assuming you take the same Colonists and the same Ship and the Same cargo you can

That won't be Optimal, (FI should focus more on Culture, KP and Polystralia should expand more, PAU should strive more for health, ARC should be more offensive with spies, SF should launch more Orbitals, PAC should focus more on Wonders and rapid pop growth, and Brasillia should focus more on melee units instead of ranged)

But you CAN play them all the same... of course following the best strategy will probably mean taking Different Colonists with each faction... which changes the game more

And of course different colonists have different strategies which may lead to different ships/cargo being taken as well.


You Can play them the same, but that would be silly, you can play them Similarly...buts that's because you have multiple ways to play each one.

 

[gunnergoz]

Despite all the videos and interviews out there, it seems elusive for some to grasp that BE is actually a "roll your own" faction game, and not just Civ V in a spacesuit. I guess they will have to learn by playing the game, assuming they even buy it.