New Civ VI expansion out; I'm feeling like a game of BE

[legalizefreedom]

I'm enjoying Civ VI and I'm excited to get into the new mechanics, but I'm just more in the mood for a game of BE.

To be fair, I just finished a game of VI and I've generally been alternating.

Also, as with new exp or patches, it just seems right to let the dust settle a bit.

There are a couple of things that really appeal to me. Well, space, but duh.
I have a hard time going back to VI after being able to settle and improve the water.
I prefer workers over builders. Being able to just build something immediately feels wrong to me. I like the feeling of investment build times give.

I do appreciate some of the mechanics and concepts that they are using in VI that were introduced in BE... Maybe I should make a thread about that...

 

[Ryika]

I have a hard time going back to VI after being able to settle and improve the water.

Funny, I've been playing around with modding the Non-Rising Tide Version of BE lately partly because I have really started to dislike the "There is no geometry"-feeling of Ocean Cities (which of course is not really accurate, but still). I really, really don't like the gameplay that ocean cities produce, but I might also be the only person who feels that way.

I prefer workers over builders. Being able to just build something immediately feels wrong to me. I like the feeling of investment build times give.

I think it's sort of emblematic of today's game design philosophy. Click a button, bam, instant reward! Not that Civ VI does too much of that (most of its mechanics are still build around delayed rewards), but I find that builders are almost "immersion breaking" in how they generate moments of instant reward at the cost of what could be a nice representation of a steadily improving empire.

Which is of course why I stole the builder system and put it into my mod, because I'm a beacon of consistency.

Although, on the other hand... Beyond Earth's system has its problems, too. The long construction times of advanced improvements make it necessary to have an army of workers that is completely over the top in any strategy that wants to make heavy use of those. 25 turns base construction time for a Terrascape.

 

[LORD ORION]

I keep going back to Bert.
One of the reasons is how BERT implements gameplay mechanics from the Civ 5 expansions.

As one specific example of what I am talking about, think of excavations. In Civ 5, it is a chore that appears at some point later in a game to get a benefit after you make a research choice. In BERT, it's a strategy choice. How much are you going to invest in excavations this game? Which excavation types do you go after? Are you going to be aggressive by going after excavations near other factions?

It is a valuable lesson to think about from a game design perspective... What was it in Civ 5 vs. what it has become in BERT.

I also keep coming back to think about some minor changes I would make to the game for myself. Not sure if I will ever pull the trigger on that.
Some things in this game just bother my sensibilities. eg: I would like to swap positions of the "Social Investment" and "Liquidity" Virtues.

eg: Imagine CEO Fielding explaining how yes, we've followed the capitalistic plan to first "Commoditze" basic resources, "Invest" in Energy Stockpiling and develop "Alternative Markets" by trading with stations... But seriously, now it's time we implement a "Social Investment" and double down on a specific production technology.... never mind the "Liquidity" of our energy stores. GAH!

 

[legalizefreedom]

Funny, I've been playing around with modding the Non-Rising Tide Version of BE lately partly because I have really started to dislike the "There is no geometry"-feeling of Ocean Cities (which of course is not really accurate, but still). I really, really don't like the gameplay that ocean cities produce, but I might also be the only person who feels that way.

I like the ocean cities. It's a big draw for me. It's not ICS on the water like AC was. You still target the best locations just like on land.

I think it's sort of emblematic of today's game design philosophy. Click a button, bam, instant reward! Not that Civ VI does too much of that (most of its mechanics are still build around delayed rewards), but I find that builders are almost "immersion breaking" in how they generate moments of instant reward at the cost of what could be a nice representation of a steadily improving empire.

Which is of course why I stole the builder system and put it into my mod, because I'm a beacon of consistency.

Although, on the other hand... Beyond Earth's system has its problems, too. The long construction times of advanced improvements make it necessary to have an army of workers that is completely over the top in any strategy that wants to make heavy use of those. 25 turns base construction time for a Terrascape.

Right. Steady growth seems much more rewarding to me.

As far as VI goes, the game really drags until after turn 100-200 when you actually start to feel like you can do something. Unfortunately, that's when the district costs start to kill you. It seems much harder to get a feeling of accomplishment in VI despite the builders.

I think you reduce some of BE's build times on Biowells and Terrascapes and you've solved the problem. But you can't say they don't give you opportunities to improve build speed with the quests, techs, etc.

BTW, I used your Pods and Ruins mod in my current game. I'm mostly okay with the unmodded game, but this is definitely a better experience. The thing that really got on my nerves was the extra pop always going to the cap.

I've previously loaded up a ton of your mods in a game and it just glitched too much for me. I think I'll stick to the Awesome series. Thanks for those!

 

[Aldor]

I just had to re-install windows (and steam), and haven't downloaded BE yet again. But I eventually will, since I like the BE space theme and the gameplay. And BE's performance is just better than Civ VI, allowing me to complete a game in reasonable time.

In my games of BE, I often feel like oceans are the new continents. It's not uncommon to find continents almost entirely covered by dense forests, impassable mountain or canyon ranges, and of course miasma. It would take a lot of time to clear all that, while the oceans are clean. So I enjoy building my colony along the shores of continents. It is particularly nice to have "almost" inland seas with only a small opening to the ocean, where you can build several cities and defend them easily

 

[SammyKhalifa]

I tried to get into BE. I really did . . .