An update from Firaxis Games regarding Beyond Earth feedback

[Vo01985]

Good. I've stopped playing completely. Hope the update will be more enjoyable.

 

[CraigMak]

I hope "ongoing multiplayer improvements" includes AI that will actually initiate a conversation with a player.

I'm just hoping that it means multiplayer will actually work.....

 

[Lord Tirian]

That's a huge list! Glad Firaxis is listening and (much like with Civ5) committed to improving the game!

 

[KrikkitTwo]

Interesting omissions from the list (things they are putting off til later/don't see as problems)
No talk of
-balancing building quests
-worker/explorer miasma warnings
-alien aggression settings
-wonder balance
-diplomacy ?in AI?

 

[Liex]

Interesting omissions from the list (things they are putting off til later/don't see as problems)
No talk of
-balancing building quests
-worker/explorer miasma warnings
-alien aggression settings

-Wonders

 

[Lucius_]

Interesting omissions from the list (things they are putting off til later/don't see as problems)
No talk of
-balancing building quests
-worker/explorer miasma warnings
-alien aggression settings

Not only these and Wonders, but also no mention of Diplomacy, or lack thereof. I think BE is the first Civ game where I almost never contact another leader, nor do I ever accept their "deals". Maybe I'm missing out on something, but I just don't see anything in these trades for me.

 

[cicero225]

Not only these and Wonders, but also no mention of Diplomacy, or lack thereof. I think BE is the first Civ game where I almost never contact another leader, nor do I ever accept their "deals". Maybe I'm missing out on something, but I just don't see anything in these trades for me.

If the a friendly AI offers favors in exchange for a currently useless resource (titanium in the early game, firaxite when I'm playing harmony and they're harmony...) I'm glad to give it. Favors can make AIs that won't even consider declaring war do it a negotiable price. Last game I got Hutama to declare war against his best friend in the world with 3 favors and 100 energy.

Is it a good system? I'm not sure about that. But I do deal with the AIs occasionally, and I often deliberately trade with AIs for titanium or petroleum for weather controller/orbital fabricator spam.

 

[Iduakil]

Great much requested changes! I`m hoping for more as other have already pointed out few key features are missing from the list mainly lackluster wonders.

 

[HiRezAudio]

I don't know if I speak for everybody but I would really prefer a quick patch soon (in a week or so) that fixes the easiest stuff on the list, and a more meaty patch just before Christmas rather than having to wait for all fixes until everything is perfect.

What do you guys prefer one complete patch that takes longer or a quick one now and a even more complete one later?

I'd much rather wait and get a proper patch.
The problem with a quickie that has not been properly tested is that it's still a copy/paste/overwrite kind of thing & a "quick patch" is usually little more than a fast Hot Fix for a critical or showstopper issue and if ytoo much is done it can easily break things that were okay before.

I'm much happier just....waiting.

 

[Janskey]

Sounds great, Firaxians! Hopefully it won't take too long.

 

[Whiterussian]

@HiRezAudio

I bet you don't have a 120hz monitor and are forced to play at a 800x600 resolution

 

[sprang]

If the a friendly AI offers favors in exchange for a currently useless resource (titanium in the early game, firaxite when I'm playing harmony and they're harmony...) I'm glad to give it. Favors can make AIs that won't even consider declaring war do it a negotiable price. Last game I got Hutama to declare war against his best friend in the world with 3 favors and 100 energy.

Is it a good system? I'm not sure about that. But I do deal with the AIs occasionally, and I often deliberately trade with AIs for titanium or petroleum for weather controller/orbital fabricator spam.

This is good to hear. I just won a game where I got #4 Hutuma to DoW the #2 Kavitha. It cost some money, but well worth it because he slowed her down enough to let me pull away for victory. I tried to do it again later, but her other neighbors were too friendly with her and disliked me, so next game I may try to save up some early game favors for late game shenanigans.

 

[sprang]

I'd much rather wait and get a proper patch.
The problem with a quickie that has not been properly tested is that it's still a copy/paste/overwrite kind of thing & a "quick patch" is usually little more than a fast Hot Fix for a critical or showstopper issue and if ytoo much is done it can easily break things that were okay before.

I'm much happier just....waiting.

Agreed.

They're doing more than just a simple balance patch. That means that they can't rush the quick stuff because they'd just have to re-do it again with the later patch - unneccessary duplication of effort.

For example, the AI fixes may create additional balance problems. The UI fixes may may be dependent on other systems implicated in the graphics and stability issues (crashes, etc). Addressing the Slavic Faction Ability may require some major changes to the way orbital units are handled - there *should* be a way to distinguish between satellites you want to last longer and ones you want to work faster (Miasma Repulsors). But that distinction may not have been included in the initial game design.

 

[Gort]

If the a friendly AI offers favors in exchange for a currently useless resource (titanium in the early game, firaxite when I'm playing harmony and they're harmony...) I'm glad to give it.

You're better off selling those resources for energy. You can bribe them with energy instead of favours if that's your intent, but energy won't get wiped out if they decide to declare war on you, unlike favours.

Yet another dumb thing AIs do - buy resources they have no use for with energy they do have a use for. Whether they need a resource doesn't factor into their calculations at all. A human player might pay more for a resource they need, but they certainly won't buy one they don't need for any price.

 

[forty2j]

Interesting omissions from the list (things they are putting off til later/don't see as problems)
No talk of
-balancing building quests
-worker/explorer miasma warnings
-alien aggression settings

I'd assume they're on the list somewhere, and not everything can be considered for Patch One.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

I'd assume they're on the list somewhere, and not everything can be considered for Patch One.

Not really... but I agree not everything can be in patch one

 

[Cyon]

Well they can't fix the trade routes without touching the auto plant quest so some building cuests are likley to change.

 

[Gort]

Well they can't fix the trade routes without touching the auto plant quest so some building cuests are likley to change.

It'd actually be an interesting thought-experiment to balance the Autoplant quest WITHOUT dumping the +1 trade route per city option. How much energy is one extra trade route per city worth? You can get something like 20 food and production from a single trade route (given that you get food and production at both ends of the route), so would a "balanced" Autoplant decision be something like:

+1 trade route per city
OR
+60 energy per city

(Disclaimer: I don't actually have hard numbers on the maximum yield of an internal trade route, it's simply etched into my brain as "tons")

 

[KrikkitTwo]

It'd actually be an interesting thought-experiment to balance the Autoplant quest WITHOUT dumping the +1 trade route per city option. How much energy is one extra trade route per city worth? You can get something like 20 food and production from a single trade route (given that you get food and production at both ends of the route), so would a "balanced" Autoplant decision be something like:

+1 trade route per city
OR
+60 energy per city

(Disclaimer: I don't actually have hard numbers on the maximum yield of an internal trade route, it's simply etched into my brain as "tons")

Its actually 12 (without the Industry virtue that bumps it up)

 

[Lucius_]

It'd actually be an interesting thought-experiment to balance the Autoplant quest WITHOUT dumping the +1 trade route per city option. How much energy is one extra trade route per city worth? You can get something like 20 food and production from a single trade route (given that you get food and production at both ends of the route), so would a "balanced" Autoplant decision be something like:

+1 trade route per city
OR
+60 energy per city

(Disclaimer: I don't actually have hard numbers on the maximum yield of an internal trade route, it's simply etched into my brain as "tons")

Trade route yields could be managed with the 3rd route from autoplants. But that does nothing for the insane micromanagement of them. Removing that quest option cuts out 1/3 of the routes, which helps. Interesting to think about, but unless they reduce TRs to 1/city, it's unlikely to go that route.