Beyond earth the worst civ game ever - nothing happens

[Kutuzov]

Apollo is not easy compared to Emperor difficulty: it's easy compared to Settler. That is not an exaggeration.

If you are going to exaggerate, please don't tell us that you are not exaggerating. I've played Settler difficulty in Civs 3, 4 and 5 and I've played Civ BE on Medium. Playing any of those at Settler is absolutely NOT comparable in difficulty to Civ BE Apollo. I know because it's not comparable to playing Civ BE on Medium.

I know it's popular here to trash-talk the game at every opportunity and unpopular to say anything nice about it but it's bordering on the absurd that we are seeing posts like this go largely unchallenged on a site that purports to be a fan site and these posts are being read by long-time 'experienced' players of the Civ franchise.

For me, this is a bit like asking, "Which is the worst version of the TV series, 'Star Trek'?" If you liked Star Trek, you probably liked most of them but perhaps not so much Star Trek Enterprise, (which I liked a lot until season 4) Just like Civ BE right now, Civ IV and V both received a similar reception from some of the fans on launch and yet most of us grew to love them after the patches/expansions came along. This will follow the same path and eventually will be loved by most of us in time.

 

[melcron]

If you are going to exaggerate, please don't tell us that you are not exaggerating. I've played Settler difficulty in Civs 3, 4 and 5 and I've played Civ BE on Medium. Playing any of those at Settler is absolutely NOT comparable in difficulty to Civ BE Apollo. I know because it's not comparable to playing Civ BE on Medium.

I said I wasn't exaggerating because I wasn't exaggerating. The game is fun and will get better with patches but at the moment city spamming + trade routes + prosperity is simply broken (although steamrolling the AI with an advanced army is gratifying). The responses I've received in this thread so far are surprising... perhaps the 10+ games I've played I've somehow been incredibly lucky with my start/placement?

I've even tried playing with the Beyond Balance mod on Apollo and while the aliens are pretty bad ass in the beginning as long as I delay hostilities a bit it's a breeze.

My apologies if I've offended anyone by stating my experience and my opinion... I am not bashing the game (I've only mentioned that in its current state it's very very easy... as that has been my experience... VERY easy). I also said it would improve with patches as these issues are pretty obvious (nerf incoming).

 

[Kutuzov]

I said I wasn't exaggerating because I wasn't exaggerating. The game is fun and will get better with patches but at the moment city spamming + trade routes + prosperity is simply broken (although steamrolling the AI with an advanced army is gratifying). The responses I've received in this thread so far are surprising... perhaps the 10+ games I've played I've somehow been incredibly lucky with my start/placement?

I've even tried playing with the Beyond Balance mod on Apollo and while the aliens are pretty bad ass in the beginning as long as I delay hostilities a bit it's a breeze.

My apologies if I've offended anyone by stating my experience and my opinion... I am not bashing the game (I've only mentioned that in its current state it's very very easy... as that has been my experience... VERY easy).

Yes, perhaps Civ BE is easy but Settler is ludicrously easy. In each game I played, I was several ERAS ahead of the AI in tech, not just 1 or 2, but 3 or more. I only played my first game of a new Civ with Settler because I wanted to build all the wonders and explore the game without having to worry about the AI. The AI couldn't ever have beaten me on Settler but it could if I played in a similar, laid-back manner in Civ BE on Medium. And it absolutely WILL beat you on Apollo if you don't try.

No need to apologise at all either. I'm not offended. I simply think you are exaggerating. But I'm sure a great many here agree with you and applaud your stance. Silence is consent.

 

[melcron]

And it absolutely WILL beat you on Apollo if you don't try.

Let's hope that's my experience soon.

 

[Ryika]

I said I wasn't exaggerating because I wasn't exaggerating. The game is fun and will get better with patches but at the moment city spamming + trade routes + prosperity is simply broken (although steamrolling the AI with an advanced army is gratifying). The responses I've received in this thread so far are surprising... perhaps the 10+ games I've played I've somehow been incredibly lucky with my start/placement?

I've even tried playing with the Beyond Balance mod on Apollo and while the aliens are pretty bad ass in the beginning as long as I delay hostilities a bit it's a breeze.

My apologies if I've offended anyone by stating my experience and my opinion... I am not bashing the game (I've only mentioned that in its current state it's very very easy... as that has been my experience... VERY easy). I also said it would improve with patches as these issues are pretty obvious (nerf incoming).

Apollo is certainly much easier than Deity, but saying Apollo is "easy" compared to Settler is just nonsense. And saying "that's not an exaggeration" is either trolling or a strong case of ignorance. If you really think it's a "fair statement", then you'd better get back to Civ 5 or something and actually play a few games on Settler difficulty to see how wrong you are. ^^

@topic: Yeah, in it's current state that's really a problem. But I think it can be fixed though, because the expansion-heavy gameplay would actually promote conflicts if players weren't able to just outpace everyone. And also if things like having a trade route wouldn't give such a huge diplomatic boost.

 

[melcron]

Apollo is certainly much easier than Deity, but saying Apollo is "easy" compared to Settler is just nonsense. And saying "that's not an exaggeration" is either trolling or a strong case of ignorance. If you really think it's a "fair statement", then you'd better get back to Civ 5 or something and actually play a few games on Settler difficulty to see how wrong you are. ^^

Or perhaps it's because I purchased Civ 5 only recently and have never played vanilla (unmodded). I retract my Settler comment but maintain that the game is too easy and I agree that it is easily addressed. So apparently I'm an ignorant troll ;-) Always a good start when joining a forum.

 

[Gort]

Without exaggeration, I'd say that the higher difficulties in Beyond Earth are about two or three difficulties easier than the equivalent difficulty in Civ 5. So Apollo is somewhere near King and Emperor, and so on downwards.

I introduced a new civ player to Mercury difficulty the other day, and he completely ran away with the game.

 

[Kutuzov]

Always a good start when joining a forum.

I've seen a LOT worse starts to forum posting. You'll soon forget.

 

[melcron]

I've seen a LOT worse starts to forum posting. You'll soon forget.

In my defense I initially joined just to vote for my favorite Civ 5 war theme I'll let this thread get back on topic now.

 

[Mustakrakish]

I actually like apollo. It's just right for me, gives just enough challenge, while not being insane with "carpets of doom". It never was fun to fight endless carpets of doom, while at the same time AI has to be more productive than me to pose a challenge. I never was a deity player EVER! Sometimes I wandered higher than king for a challenge, but in the end crunching one true optimal path to victory, with whole continents covered in AI units was never fun. And somehow apollo here provides just the right difficulty.

Only one apollo game played so far, but it was... decently fun. I went purity, got in a territorial conflict with ACR (they be damned), had a natural progressing war. Survive initial wave, from two fronts I might add, they actually went through PAU's territory and around the big range of mountains and canyons that separated us 3, and attacked from 2 sides at the same time. Too bad my 2 Brazilian marines and one armor with flanking bonus was too much for their 5 armors in the north.
So survived initial waves > established air superiority (it took 4-5 turns) > beat them back (easy with air superiority) > cripple them by taking Vanguard, separating their colony in two, take capital > peace.
Basically peaceful prosperous golden age afterwards. By the time I started settling earthlings, supremacist Iberian scum started to be a serious threat, much much more serious than stupid ARC. But then I won.

So what I think is games end way too fast, WAAAAYYY too fast. By the time it started to be real interesting and threatening, it ends.

 

[Greasy Dave]

If you are going to exaggerate, please don't tell us that you are not exaggerating. I've played Settler difficulty in Civs 3, 4 and 5 and I've played Civ BE on Medium. Playing any of those at Settler is absolutely NOT comparable in difficulty to Civ BE Apollo. I know because it's not comparable to playing Civ BE on Medium.

I know it's popular here to trash-talk the game at every opportunity and unpopular to say anything nice about it but it's bordering on the absurd that we are seeing posts like this go largely unchallenged on a site that purports to be a fan site and these posts are being read by long-time 'experienced' players of the Civ franchise.

For me, this is a bit like asking, "Which is the worst version of the TV series, 'Star Trek'?" If you liked Star Trek, you probably liked most of them but perhaps not so much Star Trek Enterprise, (which I liked a lot until season 4) Just like Civ BE right now, Civ IV and V both received a similar reception from some of the fans on launch and yet most of us grew to love them after the patches/expansions came along. This will follow the same path and eventually will be loved by most of us in time.

Excellent post- QFE -if the site had the ability to give you rep, I'd be repping you.

 

[chazzycat]

And it absolutely WILL beat you on Apollo if you don't try.

that's a pretty low bar to set for a difficulty level that is described as "Impossibly hard".

There's no doubt Apollo is currently much too easy for most of the players who would want to play on the hardest level.

 

[Kutuzov]

that's a pretty low bar to set for a difficulty level that is described as "Impossibly hard".

There's no doubt Apollo is currently much too easy for most of the players who would want to play on the hardest level.

You're taking my post out of context to make your own point which is 'that's a pretty low bar to set for a difficulty level that is described as "Impossibly hard"'. I have never stated and will never state that the bar of Civ BE's difficulty levels is fine as is.

 

[Manannan]

Apollo is certainly much easier than Deity, but saying Apollo is "easy" compared to Settler is just nonsense. And saying "that's not an exaggeration" is either trolling or a strong case of ignorance.

Or, y'know, just the result of too many easy games where the AI just kinda sit around like lemmings watching you endlessly expand until you roll through with battlesuits or whatever. Yea, he's exaggerating but I can think of a few games of BE where I honestly wondered if there was some weird bug that reversed the orders of difficulties in the main menu.

 

[bladex]

I don't know if it's the worst ever.

oh trust me it is

 

[Kutuzov]

oh trust me it is

This is a matter of opinion, not of fact. Why should we value your opinion over our own?

 

[Fabio1701]

We may need to be a bit more particular about the different connotations of "worst".

Does worst mean least polished at release? (I have the feeling it is)

Does worst mean least potential of being a game that after all patches and expansions is never played again? (nah, civ3?)

Does worst mean least well designed concept from the outset? (civworld)

Does worst mean least living up to expectations of an experienced studio/series? (civ5 vanilla?)

 

[Kutuzov]

We may need to be a bit more particular about the different connotations of "worst".

Does worst mean least polished at release? (I have the feeling it is)

Does worst mean least potential of being a game that after all patches and expansions is never played again? (nah, civ3?)

Does worst mean least well designed concept from the outset? (civworld)

Does worst mean least living up to expectations of an experienced studio/series? (civ5 vanilla?)

The OP kind of clouded the issue with his title because his real question was 'was Civ BE the easiest Civ ever?' I'd definitely agree with it being the easiest Civ game but not with it being the worst Civ game. I'm undecided on that because I really HATED Civ IV's corporations.

Funnily enough, I loved Civ 3. I have so many happy memories of playing that game and it had a cracking soundtrack, only bettered by Civ V's and BE's. If I were to chose, my 'worst' Civ game would probably be Civ IV after the expansions but I still loved playing it

 

[Roxlimn]

Without exaggeration, I'd say that the higher difficulties in Beyond Earth are about two or three difficulties easier than the equivalent difficulty in Civ 5. So Apollo is somewhere near King and Emperor, and so on downwards.

I introduced a new civ player to Mercury difficulty the other day, and he completely ran away with the game.

Isn't Mercury like Settler difficulty?

I actually counted the difficulty settings on the menu going up from Settler, Warlord, Noble, Prince, King, and Emperor. Apollo is 6th down the line, so it should actually line up with Emperor. I suppose the devs thought that the small fraction of players playing above Emperor would require more work, so they just didn't include the higher settings.

Shrug.

 

[melcron]

I said I wasn't exaggerating because I wasn't exaggerating. The game is fun and will get better with patches but at the moment city spamming + trade routes + prosperity is simply broken (although steamrolling the AI with an advanced army is gratifying). The responses I've received in this thread so far are surprising... perhaps the 10+ games I've played I've somehow been incredibly lucky with my start/placement?

Alright, I'm on my 12th game and I'm finally at a point where the forces I face are enough to require constant pressure to advance. The continent is a thin crescent so all warfare is done in a column and I don't have boats yet so it's been rather interesting warfare. I took out ARC in the beginning and I am now at war with both Brasilia and the PAU (which is currently the largest force once ARC was removed). If I stopped trying they would take the gains I've made at least.

So it turns out I was not exaggerating: I just happened to roll into war at the absolute best moment each time in my first 11 Apollo games. Now it's not overly difficult but definitely nothing as easy as Settler.