Beyond Earth - A good base for a Fall From Heaven type Mod?

[DonQuigleone]

I think the way CivBE is set up, makes it an excellent base for developping a good successor for Fall From Heaven for Civ IV, in a way Civ V was not.

In particular, you could make a Fall From Heaven like game by simply swapping CivBE sci fi elements for fantasy equivalents. In particular, the affinity system is a much better fit for fantastic factions/ideologies then the religion system in Civ IV. I could easily imagine 4 or 5 different elemental affinities you could have in such a tech tree.

As a plot setup, you could have a cataclysm whereby some number of elemental gods rendered the earth uninhabitable through their conflict. As the earth revives, you can choose to align with one of those gods, with one final alignment where you forge your own "technological" path.

Thoughts?

 

[s0nny80y]

I don't recall ordering orbital coverage part of Merlin's time.

However there are monsters galore, so modding in Einstein's A-bomb can take a hint from Hollywood.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

I don't recall ordering orbital coverage part of Merlin's time.

However there are monsters galore, so modding in Einstein's A-bomb can take a hint from Hollywood.

'Orbital coverage' could be large scale curses/spells

 

[DonQuigleone]

'Orbital coverage' could be large scale curses/spells

Indeed.

Furthermore, it's always easier to remove elements then add them.

 

[Lancor]

Yeah, it would take huge amounts of work with art assets and models, but fantasy mods could very well fit as mods for CivBE.

There is a quest system, which is always awesome for fantasy. Like you mentioned, the affinities and with the satellites even an easy framework for global spells.

 

[DonQuigleone]

Yeah, it would take huge amounts of work with art assets and models, but fantasy mods could very well fit as mods for CivBE.

There is a quest system, which is always awesome for fantasy. Like you mentioned, the affinities and with the satellites even an easy framework for global spells.

To be fair, couldn't a lot of art assets be ported from Civ IV? They all still look pretty good.

 

[poom3619]

Don't sure if Kael and other's is still up to making it, but it would be great mod if they do.

As a plot setup, you could have a cataclysm whereby some number of elemental gods rendered the earth uninhabitable through their conflict. As the earth revives, you can choose to align with one of those gods, with one final alignment where you forge your own "technological" path.

I can think of many version of Deus ex Erebus thing. Maybe the tower of Mastery in 100 years later after it was built end up somehow disrupting the power of Gods, magic and some of what we called "law of physics" itself.

 

[awesome]

Yeah, it would take huge amounts of work with art assets and models, but fantasy mods could very well fit as mods for CivBE.

There is a quest system, which is always awesome for fantasy. Like you mentioned, the affinities and with the satellites even an easy framework for global spells.

To be fair, civ5 has a quest system, too. The affinities would probably work pretty well, though, so i'll give you guys that.

 

[Epic Eric]

To be fair, civ5 has a quest system, too. The affinities would probably work pretty well, though, so i'll give you guys that.

Yeah, but they are all CS-based in Civ 5. In BE they incentivate you to go deeper along an Affinity line, they are more rewarding and general. In that sense, it seems like a funner system to play with in this scenario.

 

[Drakarska]

Orbital coverage could be portrayed as "world spells" available to certain UU's ( I. E. resetting the Armegeddon Clock), and I belive Kael ( long may HE code ) is currently working on GalCiv III, so it is unlikely that the FFH team will be back to do anything with BE. Kind of a bummer really, as I wouldn't mind paying $50 for a FFH 3.

 

[darkedone02]

Orbital coverage could be portrayed as "world spells" available to certain UU's ( I. E. resetting the Armegeddon Clock), and I belive Kael ( long may HE code ) is currently working on GalCiv III, so it is unlikely that the FFH team will be back to do anything with BE. Kind of a bummer really, as I wouldn't mind paying $50 for a FFH 3.

unless he mysteriously appear out of thin air and address this.

 

[The_Reckoning]

After playing and thinking about it, yeah I can totally see this working as a base for a fantasy mod.

The tech web enables us to make different branches representing different spell schools, since it can jut off in all directions.

Affinities could also be used for either different spell schools or as a "tech level" for general military units.

Different victory conditions -> Master spells
Satellites -> Overland, persistent spells
Orbital range -> Wizard towers (like AoW)
Tacjets -> Long range spellcasters
Strategic resources -> Magic nodes

You could do something like
Culture -> Spell research
Virtues -> Spell unlocking

How flexible is the whole affinity/unit system to modding? Can you add new affinities? More units? Can you make the virtue tree unlock buildings/units? Can you change the virtue tree for each faction individually?

I could imagine a great system where affinity is used for magic progress, the tech web is used for spells and magic-themed units, and the virtue trees are condensed and used for non-magical, faction specific units.