Firaxis announces "Sid Meier's Starships"

[SupremacyKing2]

I agree - it's a shame.

That said, I'll always take a developer saying, "We can't do this feature" over one saying they'll put the feature in and then the feature being broken in some fashion.

True, it is better for the dev to be honest and admit he/she is leaving something out because they can't do it right rather than promise it will be fantastic and deliver something broken.

I guess there is still a chance that might work on a MP addition that is tactical combat only. Perhaps, they are just waiting until they can get MP done right before adding it.

Also, is anyone curious what the big secret is about cross-connectivity between BE and Starships? I mean we already know that Starships uses the same affinities. I think in the PAX panel, it was mentioned that players could carry over their affinities, state of war, etc to a starships and yet Sid is saying that it is still a big secret. Is it possible that there is a big BE expansion on the way that will connect with Starships?

300th post!

 

[Kutuzov]

Also, is anyone curious what the big secret is about cross-connectivity between BE and Starships? I mean we already know that Starships uses the same affinities. I think in the PAX panel, it was mentioned that players could carry over their affinities, state of war, etc to a starships and yet Sid is saying that it is still a big secret. Is it possible that there is a big BE expansion on the way that will connect with Starships?

One possibility might be that you'll be able to win a game of Civ BE and then import your victorious empire into Starships with the correct affinity. There may be an option in the end game menu saying 'continue in Starships?'. Although this may be a bit weird seeing as how you've just mauled the other leaders on 'Planet X' and now have to face them all over again.

 

[s0nny80y]

If I recall correctly, space objects retain their positioning relative to each other. I guess the ingame time scale for the strategic layer is akin to XCOM sorta.

And I do agree that it would make sense to mark the relationship between Starships and Beyond Earth centered around the conclusion of a Beyond Earth play through...I could imagine the player's home world somehow reflecting the level of success a Beyond Earth player finishes their game and if this is so, perhaps importing a BE game into Starships might predetermine your dominant affinity and chosen leader. If this were the case, I should probably play more Brasilia Supremacy games for the extra starship granted by Reijinaldo with Supremacy bent for a starting game changing wonder...as hopeful as that sounds, I like the idea of a BE save resulting in one of the planets waiting to be 'conquered' on the strategic map instead of the won BE game represented as my Starship's home world.

What wouldn't make much sense is if my BE win were a domination victory in which case how could rival leaders have left to seed other planets? Maybe for the sake of lore, leaders were cloned for redundancy purposes for the seeding of multiple planets although I am inclined to believe that minus a domination victory, some factions managed to escape your BE planet for other planets in the (solar system).

 

[s0nny80y]

Perhaps the exclusion of end game statistics was necessary for Beyond Earth's crossover into Starships.

I think the main values affected by a BE saved end game would reflect on the player's home world's initial count of food, energy, beaker, and metal (i.e. production)...time to play more Brasilia Supremacy games to crossover into Starships for the extra starting starship and a starting game changing wonder =)

- Born Artistic Rebel Sneezer

 

[Wodan]

What wouldn't make much sense is if my BE win were a domination victory in which case how could rival leaders have left to seed other planets? Maybe for the sake of lore, leaders were cloned for redundancy purposes for the seeding of multiple planets although I am inclined to believe that minus a domination victory, some factions managed to escape your BE planet for other planets in the (solar system).

The feeling I get from reading the in-game lore is that Earth did seed multiple planets. I think the duplication of BE leaderheads is a necessary abstraction. Each colony would be lead by a leader with similar characteristics (resulting in the same gameplay), so the only duplication is really of the leader animation and name.

 

[Minor Annoyance]

If CivBE had more leaders than the maximum the game allows then we'd just assume whoever isn't in the game is on another planet. It's only because we're only aware of these eight that anyone would assume there is only one planet that was seeded. However we do know of the Cestus group and the augments from their reference in quests, so there are plenty of also-ran's out there.

 

[PsiCorps]

I've just been reading about Starships and whilst I haven't purchased or played BE I am very interested in this new game.

I haven't seen anything to suggest that Starships will be customizable.

Does anyone know if there will be a facility to change things?

My primary reason for asking being that this would be a perfect platform for the Babylon 5 Mod we have been working on for Civ IV BTS - Final Frontier.

 

[AriochIV]

Starships are customizable in the sense that you can add or remove components at will (as long as you can afford them). It appears that you can do with anywhere or anytime, even right before combat, so it doesn't seem likely that space stations will be a thing. It does appear that certain components might be cheaper or superior if bought while at certain planets... or maybe these are just bonuses that apply everywhere if the planet in question is in your federation.

The starships are very modular; they change form dynamically as you add and remove components. So I suspect that trying to mod in recognizable hulls such as those in Bab5 may be problematic.

 

[Wodan]

If CivBE had more leaders than the maximum the game allows...

Actually, it does. I typically play on small maps and thus unless i go into advanced setup and add more leaders, there are only 6 in the game, with 2 more leaders. Furthermore, there are a TON of other leaders available via the workshop. I think it's over 20 now.

However we do know of the Cestus group and the augments from their reference in quests, so there are plenty of also-ran's out there.

I wouldn't have thought of them as a full-on colony ship that for some reason didn't get the financing together or something. There's no indication in BE that Corporations or private enterprise were even allowed access to the interstellar ship technology. My assumption is that such groups and affiliations survived as factions that had some members get into the lottery and get on board one or more of the ships. After plantefall, they banded together and established their semi-independent station using what resources they were able to smuggle, bribe, or otherwise get on board (maybe they simply pooled their allocated rations of weight/baggage).

 

[edingess]

Here's something I'm confused about: Are they using the fighter models from different tiers? I saw the Level 4 harmony model then Level 3 model for supremacy? Am I seeing things?

 

[Gorbles]

The feeling I get from reading the in-game lore is that Earth did seed multiple planets. I think the duplication of BE leaderheads is a necessary abstraction. Each colony would be lead by a leader with similar characteristics (resulting in the same gameplay), so the only duplication is really of the leader animation and name.

The easy abstraction is that while the planet can differ, the story you're playing is that of one of the established leaders. So you're always playing as Suzanne Fielding, but her story can take place anywhere, as any Affinity, etc.

Much like in SMAC, except that there was only ever one planet in the equation there!

 

[Browd]

Moderator Action: Starships threads moved to All Other Games forum.

 

[NASAROG]

Welp, this thread might as well be dead.

 

[GrayingGamer]

We're only mostly dead, thank you very much!

 

[AriochIV]

Mostly dead is pretty much the same as all dead. No offense intended to Miracle Max.

 

[Lord Tirian]

Eh, to be fair, we don't have much new info released at the moment - the last livestream was dissected pretty quickly.

It might pick up again once we get the next tidbits - though, I think, the livestreams have painted a very clear picture of what the game is going to be like overall.

 

[SupremacyKing2]

Well, tomorrow's livestream is titled "conquering the galaxy". Perhaps, we will get to see how to build stuff on planets. We might get some interesting new tidbits about the game mechanics.

 

[SupremacyKing2]

The civ wiki has been updated with a list of all the ship components and the list of all the sponsor bonuses in starships. It also some nice art of the sponsors in full supremacy garb and a pic of a Supremacy battleship that looks super badass!
http://civilization.wikia.com/wiki/Supremacy_(Starships)

Here is the full list of sponsor bonuses:
Barre
The leader Barre (Benevolent) reduces the cost of cities by 25%
Bolivar
The leader Bolivar (Warrior) starts with an additional starship.
Elodie
The leader Elodie (Charismatic) causes crew morale to increase by 10%
Fielding
The leader Fielding (Economist) generates 50 credits per city each turn.
Hutama
The leader Hutama (Diplomat) always gets a first visit influence bonus.
Kavitha
The leader Kavitha (Humanitarian) starts with one extra city.
Kozlov
The leader Kozlov (Industrialist) increases metals production by 25%
Sochua
The leader Sochua (Progressive) starts with two random tech upgrades.

 

[jddods]

Disappointing the Starships threads have been buried in this dungeon.Any particular reason it didn't rate it's own forum?

 

[GrayingGamer]

Disappointing the Starships threads have been buried in this dungeon.Any particular reason it didn't rate it's own forum?

I was wondering the same thing.