Many of the reviews have commented that Civilization: Beyond Earth lacks the same engaging atmosphere as Alpha Centauri. I am convinced that a large part of this perception is the game's reliance on the Civilopedia entries for lore. However, many of these lore entries are incredibly well-written, and provide an awesome context for the game. The game is trying to do a much different thing, focusing more on broad civilization development and less on specific personalities. (just like Civ V) The hidden depth of this lore will be appreciated more after the first few balance patches are out.
The Wonders reflect this, as they often are more abstract than in previous Civ games. I've summarized a few of the Wonder entries below to encourage curious players to read the full articles. My purpose here is simply to expose some hidden gems. There may be some inaccuracies, and there are definitely some very cool ones that I missed. I encourage you to do your own reading and call me out on both!
Markov Eclipse: A predictive AI computer is paired with a human operator to optimize research and battle outcomes. The computer generates huge landscapes of probability pathways (i.e. Markov chains), and the human operator intuitively selects from among them and primes the next set of pathways, thus multiplying the strengths of both. It takes 4-9 years to train a human operator to competency.
Cool story: A Markov Eclipse team helped defend a massively outnumbered base by giving incredibly specific commands to every individual soldier. Not only that, it also played inspiring music and gave emotional encouragement to soldiers in tough spots, helping them win against tremendous odds.
Deep Memory: A virtual reality simulation of life on Old Earth, allowing users to experience events from the perspective of historical actors.
Promethean: A project to optimize the human genome, rearranging genes and eliminating evolutionary imperfections. Humans with the purified genome have immunity to diseases that plagued humanity in the past, and are generally much more healthy and resilient than baseline humans. (The appendix now functions again!)
Resurrection Device: The secret to immortality is unlocked, but kept under extremely close supervision. Wary of a population explosion or new Malthusian crisis, social leaders choose top scientific, artistic and political talents, and raise them to immortality in a special city isolated from the rest of society.
Drone Sphere: A network of self-replicating, intelligent drone servants is established in the city. All human comforts are provided for - simply speak your desire aloud, and one of the omnipresent drones nearby will fulfill your need.
Daedulus Ladder: This seems to be more of a philosophy than a simple structure. Humanity embraces a set of principles designed to encourage self-evolution, including an acceptance of obsolescence and the transfer of moral responsibility to the next iteration of the self. Quietly one of the most revolutionary wonders available.
Cynosure: An incomprehensibly powerful AI, itself built by insanely powerful AIs, which were themselves built by Markov Eclipse teams. Humans are trained since early age to speak to the computer. Cynosure often ignores or critiques "dumb" questions posed to it, infamously answering the first question posed to it with, "The question is not even wrong." When it does answer, it often uses Zen koans to encapsulate many layers of meaning.
Cool Story: Cynosure is powerful enough that it could probably destroy civilization instantly, but such a prospect probably bores it. Instead, it spends its time capriciously manipulating seemingly random events, and contemplating itself.
Armasail: A new material that is almost completely indestructible. In particular, armasail can transition between a rigid or flexible state very easily, making it incredibly useful for armor.
Bytegeist: Basically a self-aware Facebook-Tumblr-Wikipedia hybrid. Composed of many intelligent or sub-intelligent AI routines interacting in a swarm network, it is capable of predicting users' needs with a disturbing degree of precision.
Xenodrome: A massive (think city-sized) zoo that seamlessly integrates preservation and appreciation of alien species. Tourists can walk right up to xeno mega-fauna without being in danger (or even detected) thanks to the advanced technology, huge space, and innovative design of the zoo.
Archimedes Lever: The strongest of a class of seismic weapons (nukes are out of favor following the Great Mistake). Humans map subsurface faults and discontinuities, and figure out how to weaponize them. They eventually become capable of creating localized earthquakes on the destructive scale of nuclear weapons.
Memetwork: Social scientists deconstruct memes and social network intelligence, and use their newfound knowledge to deliberately spread memes aimed at influencing the population, keeping Terran history fresh for colonists, etc.
Overall Writing Style: This is a subtle one, but notice how similar the tone is to Civilization V. The entries are written in a historical perspective, talking about the Wonder you just built as though from a much distant future, with speculation about future developments in the field. For me, this continuity greatly improved the immersion.
The Wonders reflect this, as they often are more abstract than in previous Civ games. I've summarized a few of the Wonder entries below to encourage curious players to read the full articles. My purpose here is simply to expose some hidden gems. There may be some inaccuracies, and there are definitely some very cool ones that I missed. I encourage you to do your own reading and call me out on both!
Markov Eclipse: A predictive AI computer is paired with a human operator to optimize research and battle outcomes. The computer generates huge landscapes of probability pathways (i.e. Markov chains), and the human operator intuitively selects from among them and primes the next set of pathways, thus multiplying the strengths of both. It takes 4-9 years to train a human operator to competency.
Cool story: A Markov Eclipse team helped defend a massively outnumbered base by giving incredibly specific commands to every individual soldier. Not only that, it also played inspiring music and gave emotional encouragement to soldiers in tough spots, helping them win against tremendous odds.
Deep Memory: A virtual reality simulation of life on Old Earth, allowing users to experience events from the perspective of historical actors.
Promethean: A project to optimize the human genome, rearranging genes and eliminating evolutionary imperfections. Humans with the purified genome have immunity to diseases that plagued humanity in the past, and are generally much more healthy and resilient than baseline humans. (The appendix now functions again!)
Resurrection Device: The secret to immortality is unlocked, but kept under extremely close supervision. Wary of a population explosion or new Malthusian crisis, social leaders choose top scientific, artistic and political talents, and raise them to immortality in a special city isolated from the rest of society.
Drone Sphere: A network of self-replicating, intelligent drone servants is established in the city. All human comforts are provided for - simply speak your desire aloud, and one of the omnipresent drones nearby will fulfill your need.
Daedulus Ladder: This seems to be more of a philosophy than a simple structure. Humanity embraces a set of principles designed to encourage self-evolution, including an acceptance of obsolescence and the transfer of moral responsibility to the next iteration of the self. Quietly one of the most revolutionary wonders available.
Cynosure: An incomprehensibly powerful AI, itself built by insanely powerful AIs, which were themselves built by Markov Eclipse teams. Humans are trained since early age to speak to the computer. Cynosure often ignores or critiques "dumb" questions posed to it, infamously answering the first question posed to it with, "The question is not even wrong." When it does answer, it often uses Zen koans to encapsulate many layers of meaning.
Cool Story: Cynosure is powerful enough that it could probably destroy civilization instantly, but such a prospect probably bores it. Instead, it spends its time capriciously manipulating seemingly random events, and contemplating itself.
Armasail: A new material that is almost completely indestructible. In particular, armasail can transition between a rigid or flexible state very easily, making it incredibly useful for armor.
Bytegeist: Basically a self-aware Facebook-Tumblr-Wikipedia hybrid. Composed of many intelligent or sub-intelligent AI routines interacting in a swarm network, it is capable of predicting users' needs with a disturbing degree of precision.
Xenodrome: A massive (think city-sized) zoo that seamlessly integrates preservation and appreciation of alien species. Tourists can walk right up to xeno mega-fauna without being in danger (or even detected) thanks to the advanced technology, huge space, and innovative design of the zoo.
Archimedes Lever: The strongest of a class of seismic weapons (nukes are out of favor following the Great Mistake). Humans map subsurface faults and discontinuities, and figure out how to weaponize them. They eventually become capable of creating localized earthquakes on the destructive scale of nuclear weapons.
Memetwork: Social scientists deconstruct memes and social network intelligence, and use their newfound knowledge to deliberately spread memes aimed at influencing the population, keeping Terran history fresh for colonists, etc.
Overall Writing Style: This is a subtle one, but notice how similar the tone is to Civilization V. The entries are written in a historical perspective, talking about the Wonder you just built as though from a much distant future, with speculation about future developments in the field. For me, this continuity greatly improved the immersion.
You're first post and taking the time to point out something's that's flown under most of our radars...
). In the RD society, humanity lives on as it always has ... except the Mozarts and Einsteins get selected to join a secret immortal clique.
