Live stream "Masterclass: Faction Strategies" Friday, Sept 26 at 2pm EST

[KrikkitTwo]

Pete specifically said in the espionage lifestream that stealing energy, science and techs is NOT a zero sum game. It benefits you, but does not harm the victim (it does not empty his coffers). You won't notice anyone stealing your energy and acience at all and will not have any disadvantage from it (aside from increased intrigue and having a stronger neighbor).

Stealing isn't but what about Trading (in the diplo screen)... I assume trading Energy is a zero sum game.. does that also apply to science?

 

[MadDjinn]

Stealing isn't but what about Trading (in the diplo screen)... I assume trading Energy is a zero sum game.. does that also apply to science?

Ok, I think that can be shown.

 

[Black Whole]

One question that has been on my mind since weeks:
Will the Aliens still be present in mid to late game? Can they cause problems that you could have to deal with? I mean beside the Harmony units, obviously.
Or do they disappear? I think it could spice up the end game, when some kind of xeno titan suddenly comes to the surface and begins to wreak havoc (only if they are very aggro of course). As it is now, the aliens will be too weak to pose a real threat once you have the first upgrade of your units (or at least it seemed that way in the let's plays I have seen so far...)

 

[KrikkitTwo]

One question that has been on my mind since weeks:
Will the Aliens still be present in mid to late game? Can they cause problems that you could have to deal with? I mean beside the Harmony units, obviously.
Or do they disappear? I think it could spice up the end game, when some kind of xeno titan suddenly comes to the surface and begins to wreak havoc (only if they are very aggro of course). As it is now, the aliens will be too weak to pose a real threat once you have the first upgrade of your units (or at least it seemed that way in the let's plays I have seen so far...)

That is a good point, I was hoping the aliens themselves would upgrade (perhaps some Wonder allows you to upgrade the aliens based on your Harmony level)

 

[gunnergoz]

I would think how many Aliens are left depends upon how many nests remain intact by late game. If everyone has been busy eliminating nests all along, they could get to be pretty scarce...OTOH, the remaining ones will tend to be pretty PO'd at humans.

 

[Aaronk24]

I would like to see

Whether purchase costs follow a similar formula to Civ V where later game purchases are more favorable (compared to production)

Is it feasible to have an undefended worker at the start of the game?

Details on the mechanics for a new outpost

Can you embark on an ocean with planetary survey, or do you need other techs?

What are all of the unit classes?

 

[Khaim]

Can you embark on an ocean with planetary survey, or do you need other techs?

That's all Planetary Survey does, so I'd assume yes, you only need it. It's the future, we know how boats work, we just need to figure out how to build them on a new planet.

 

[The Naug]

Does BE have shorter turn times than Civ V? There are some reasons to believe that they are a bit faster:

- Mantle can allegedly handle a higher number of draw calls, which the Civ V engine had lots of.
- Happiness seems harder to get, therefore empires will be smaller and that could translate into smaller armies as well. Air units are available earlier, and orbital units are also a production sink with no pathfinding cost. So it seems like armies will be smaller and less CPU intensive.

Of course Firaxis could have decided to spend the performance gains on more detailed graphics.

Graphics have nothing to do with end of turn times. All the graphics calls are performed each and every frame, regardless if you're in end of turn calculations or not.

The time it takes to go from turn to the other is due to the AI calculating their next move and that is not done on the graphics card, but on the CPU. However, if mantle(I know little about it) moves graphics operations from the CPU to the GPU which is the direction things have been going all these years there would be more CPU cycles left for the AI to work with

 

[Zet]

Graphics have nothing to do with end of turn times. All the graphics calls are performed each and every frame, regardless if you're in end of turn calculations or not.

The time it takes to go from turn to the other is due to the AI calculating their next move and that is not done on the graphics card, but on the CPU. However, if mantle(I know little about it) moves graphics operations from the CPU to the GPU which is the direction things have been going all these years there would be more CPU cycles left for the AI to work with

It's standard for game engines to store the objects needed to render each scene in the GPU. The game engine manipulates these objects and still has to do work. Anyway, Mantle is specifically built to reduce CPU overhead. So it will most likely speed up turn times because the CPU can focus more on pathfinding and AI. The question is just by how much.

 

[DarkestOnion]

I would like to know about the efficacy of an early game military 'Welcoming Comittee' scouting the map in order to take out AI Sponsors shortly after they land. Will greater difficulty levels make this strategy harder; or even imposbible, due to Late Landing Bonuses?

 

[gunnergoz]

I would like to know about the efficacy of an early game military 'Welcoming Comittee' scouting the map in order to take out AI Sponsors shortly after they land. Will greater difficulty levels make this strategy harder; or even imposbible, due to Late Landing Bonuses?

If you thought of it, probably so has the development team and QA's beta testers - or so one would think. I would not be surprised if later arriving factions arrive with a military escort (soldier/marine).

 

[Esperr]

Is it confirmed that the aliens have set power values? Because(pertaining to an above poster), the aliens could remain relevant by having relative unit power based on who there fighting(like a percentage of whatever unit there fighting) or something like that. I to am wondering if they will remain relevant for the entire game.

 

[Alkyon]

I would like to know about the efficacy of an early game military 'Welcoming Comittee' scouting the map in order to take out AI Sponsors shortly after they land. Will greater difficulty levels make this strategy harder; or even imposbible, due to Late Landing Bonuses?

The sponsors tend to all arrive by turn 20 or 30. To do an early game decapitation a sponsor would have to a) land really damned close to you b) you'd have to know ahead of time where they were landing (i.e. save scumming) and c) you'd need to have the military needed to remove them, and fast. Destroying a sponsor within 3-4 turns of when they arrive sounds downright improbable.

Is it confirmed that the aliens have set power values? Because(pertaining to an above poster), the aliens could remain relevant by having relative unit power based on who there fighting(like a percentage of whatever unit there fighting) or something like that. I to am wondering if they will remain relevant for the entire game.

Yes, the aliens do have set values. The strongest are the Siege Worms with 60 strength and the Kraken with 70 strength. You really do not become outright stronger than the wildlife until tier 4 military. At tier 2 you gain an advantage over the normal wildlife but it can still wear your soldiers down very quickly by simple attrition. You only are really safe against the average hordes at tier 3, but the mega-fauna (the worms and krakens) are still major threats until you reach tier 4 where most units have strengths in the 60-80 range.

What you're suggesting though is what they did in Alpha Centauri. Mind worms (and late game units if you equipped them with psi weapons) did psi-battle. For the purpose of psi-battle the units were treated as equal strength, terrain was ignored and the only modifiers that mattered were the veterancy modifiers and who was the attacker if on ground (Attackers got a 3:2 advantage. Sea combat gave attackers no advantage and treated units at 1:1). Because of this, combat veterancy was a HUGE deal in SMAC. Veteran units would chew through psi-worms like it was nothing while green units actually got a penalty and would die in droves.

 

[Greybane]

The sponsors tend to all arrive by turn 20 or 30.

Is this on every speed? Or would they appear slower on say the marathon equivalent? If the latter, Engineers, Weapons Arsenal, and Fusion reactor could make for an army that might give you an army that could knock out someone early, without save scumming.

 

[Alkyon]

Is this on every speed? Or would they appear slower on say the marathon equivalent? If the latter, Engineers, Weapons Arsenal, and Fusion reactor could make for an army that might give you an army that could knock out someone early, without save scumming.

You're probably correct that it is game speed dependent. Epic and Marathon game speeds also increase the energy and production costs of everything so its still going to be a tough race. Also you're going to be doing nothing but building an army instead of developing your landing zone which can cost you big if you don't get a target of opportunity. And I'm sure the late arrivals can arrive with soldiers of their own.

Honestly it looks like if you want to do an early decapitation strike it's best to try to rush enough affinity points for early levels to get a T2 army while slowly building up an army that will get upgraded. And THEN crush a neighbor who's hopefully a late arrival.

 

[Esperr]

What you're suggesting though is what they did in Alpha Centauri. Mind worms (and late game units if you equipped them with psi weapons) did psi-battle. For the purpose of psi-battle the units were treated as equal strength, terrain was ignored and the only modifiers that mattered were the veterancy modifiers and who was the attacker if on ground (Attackers got a 3:2 advantage. Sea combat gave attackers no advantage and treated units at 1:1). Because of this, combat veterancy was a HUGE deal in SMAC. Veteran units would chew through psi-worms like it was nothing while green units actually got a penalty and would die in droves.

Yes, SMAC is where I was drawing the idea from, I was just wondering if they were implementing something similar here.

 

[Alkyon]

Nope. As awesome as it was, and really did allow the game and mindworm AI to do more with less, BE isn't bringing the same system back. The aliens here are just your average Chitinous Direwolf +1, not fungal horrors that paralyze you with psychic terror before they lay eggs in your brain.

Hmm, Chitinous Direwolf...a "Fantasy" biome/reskin mod would be awesome. Reskin the wolf beetles, and Harmony's wolf beetle riders to to giant wargs.

 

[Tomice]

Pete said there's no AI preferences.

The German female lead designer said the same (Can't remeber her name).

 

[Browd]

Just to clarify, that's Lena Brenk and she's the Lead Producer for Civ:BE, not lead designer. The co-Lead Designers are Will Miller and Dave McDonough.

 

[AppleMan]

I have two questions.

In the Advanced Setup menu there is an option called "Frenzied Aliens". This is probably similar to the "Raging Barbarians" option in Civ 5, but it would be great if you could find out what exactly it changes. Does aliens spawn more frequently? Does your aggressive reputation with the aliens decrease slower/escalate quicker or is it permanently set at the highest level of hostility? Any clarification would be greatly appreciated.

Also, I heard somewhere that stations will disappear if no one trades with them. Could you confirm this?