Rising Tide - First Impressions

[Acken]

I've noticed a few things lacking in impressions:
- does AI know how to win in final stages? And I mean the purity and supremacy victories?
- If AI is going hybrid, what do they do to win?

I don't really know what the AI is doing.

- Is it easy to have a sea city floating around capturing a huge line of territory?

Yes. Production can get insane and moving around 1 per turn is easy but I don't really see the point of doing it beyond

- MP experiences (probably not for some time, understandably, but still)?

None. The game is too unbalanced for interesting MP so you'll get everyone using Polystralia and then the agreement will make the trade route stuff even crazier. Water cities are really weak too which will make them hard to use in MP.

- Devs reported minor changes to virtues, namely synergy bonuses, what are those changes (unless they're mistaken or I misheard)?

If there was changes I haven't noticed.

 

[Joneill]

Seconding the resource building bug. You can build buildings that require certain resources in cities without that resource. As in, once I got firaxite and xenomass improved by my second city, I could build stuff like the Observatory in cities that did not have any firaxite in range. Needless to say the xenolabratory (or whatever it's called) for the 15% science boost in any city you want, with or without any actual xenomass by it seemed.. unintented to say the least. Since the tooltip still says "requires workable X resource at city" I'm pretty sure it's a bug. Guess I'll post that in the bugs section later.

Already mentioned that earlier in this thread, but it's because of international trade routes providing resources, which will count as fulfilling the building prerequisites (at least for strategic resources). I like it, means you have more stuff to build in all your cities.

 

[Galgus]

In another opinion, it would be nice if the artifacts menu was a bit more streamlined.

I'm all for an even larger number of possible three artifact rewards, but when I have seven of the things in storage I'd like to have a convenient list of the possibilities and what would be required for them.

Swapping between them to find out can be a bit tedious.

There is also the problem of artifact bonuses ranging from cute but practically useless to solidly strong to what-the-hell-were-they-thinking.

(The 30% technology discount wonder is the last category.)
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If you finish the alien skeleton quest you can use military units to "leash" the krakens, essentially creating an unstoppable gamebreaking armada of ocean going tanks. I have three krakens so far.

Not on a lush Biome, but that does sound...well, cheesy.

It seems like that should at least cost energy or something for Colossals.

 

[albie_123]

I like it, means you have more stuff to build in all your cities.

I don't, for what it's worth, as it makes the already boring terrain of BE even more boring. It doesn't matter what strategics you're around, you'll be able to build everything everywhere regardless.

 

[Acken]

Is the mind flower not working correctly ?
I had 20 Xenosanctuary and mindstems and still had to wait 20turns. Sad. I had finished the flower at turn 152 while using NSA xD

Playthrough incoming.

 

[Halbbruder]

I don't really know what the AI is doing.


Yes. Production can get insane and moving around 1 per turn is easy but I don't really see the point of doing it beyond

None. The game is too unbalanced for interesting MP so you'll get everyone using Polystralia and then the agreement will make the trade route stuff even crazier. Water cities are really weak too which will make them hard to use in MP.



If there was changes [in virtues] I haven't noticed.

Hm, in that case, I still don't know if I really want to get the expansion. The lore, I am sure, would be nice, but there's got be more to make me get it.

 

[GAGA Extrem]

First impression: Meh

The look and immersion of the game is better (amazing what some artwork and biome color rebalancing can do), but the actual gameplay is worse.

Games are over even faster, the AI performs even worse, water cities and hybrid affinities feel useless compared to existing stuff, the artifact system is a giant "roll the dice" experience (one game I got the stadium for 1 free promtion, the other game I got the +50% internal yield building - guess which game went better...), the diplomacy system is anything BUT diplomacy, the warscore system is just silly and the balance in general is just off.

In a way, this feels a lot like G&K for CIV5: The new features are an interesting idea, but not fleshed out too well and quite imbalanced. If they had been part of the basic game, it would have been a decent release. As is... "meh".

And again I have the same issue as with the base game: 30€ seems like a really silly price. I paid 20 (thanks to GMG discounts) and I'd say that was barely acceptable. It's also silly that nothing was done to fix the base game. Nanopasture tooltip is still broken in vanilla, so in a way this also feels like an expensive patch. Meh.

Let's hope that they patch AND balance the whole thing before the second expansion gets out. As is, RT is a quite mixed bag.

Is the mind flower not working correctly ?
I had 20 Xenosanctuary and mindstems and still had to wait 20turns. Sad. I had finished the flower at turn 152 while using NSA xD

I think they upped the transcendence timer significantly. In my 5 city test game I finished the Mindflower at turn 210 and had to wait 36 turns (with Xeno Sanctuary and Mind Stems in every city).

 

[Lanth]

I think they upped the transcendence timer significantly. In my 5 city test game I finished the Mindflower at turn 210 and had to wait 36 turns (with Xeno Sanctuary and Mind Stems in every city).

I played a standard game on Vostok (one of the lower difficulties?) on the 2nd largest map size.

Was making +400 energy per turn when I completed the Beacon for contact at turn 202. I had to wait 45 turns to win. It was insane. The civolopedia says that the time for the Beacon to work depends on your energy per turn, so I did everything I could to maximise it (including getting +12% city energy from traits) but the needle didn't budge at all.

It seems their response to "its too easy to win the game early" was just to artificially drag the times on everything out. Boo.

The final victory 'movie' was stupid too, a very minimally animated splash screen.

 

[Galgus]

I think they upped the transcendence timer significantly. In my 5 city test game I finished the Mindflower at turn 210 and had to wait 36 turns (with Xeno Sanctuary and Mind Stems in every city).

Finished it in 210 turns?!

As a Marathon player I'm at turn 331 and I feel like I'm just getting into the mid-game.

Faster game speeds are crazy.

 

[GAGA Extrem]

Finished it in 210 turns?!

As a Marathon player I'm at turn 331 and I feel like I'm just getting into the mid-game.

Faster game speeds are crazy.

Here is the funny thing: It wasn't even fast, because I tried a new strategy (AU specialist economy) and finished only one affinity quest. I am pretty sure once we have figured out the early game you will see Mindflowers way below turn 200 (my guess would be as low as turn 180 if things go well).

 

[Acken]

No 180 is easy. My lets play I just uploaded is at 175 and I didn't know they had increased the timer for mindflower. If I had known I would have set up my game for a T155 win. Granted it was with two of the most OP artifact the IR one and the tech reduction. But it was also with NSA + engineer which is far from a good sponsor.

I can easily predict people really interested by the fastest wins will get it down to 130-140 with a bit of luck and good play. The TR system is that stupid.

 

[Westwall]

First impression: Meh

The look and immersion of the game is better (amazing what some artwork and biome color rebalancing can do), but the actual gameplay is worse.

Games are over even faster, the AI performs even worse, water cities and hybrid affinities feel useless compared to existing stuff, the artifact system is a giant "roll the dice" experience (one game I got the stadium for 1 free promtion, the other game I got the +50% internal yield building - guess which game went better...), the diplomacy system is anything BUT diplomacy, the warscore system is just silly and the balance in general is just off..

Summed up my feelings perfectly.

In the end, it's out of the frying pan and into an adjacent frying pan with extra olive oil.

I feel pretty confident in that metaphor.

 

[CelJaded]

I think they upped the transcendence timer significantly. In my 5 city test game I finished the Mindflower at turn 210 and had to wait 36 turns (with Xeno Sanctuary and Mind Stems in every city).

Yeah, I discovered this too. My latest game had the Mind Flower come up at 30+ turns for a Civilization with 6 cities all sporting Xeno Sanctuaries and Mind Stems.

I like that Transcendence is harder to achieve now (certainly makes the other affinity victories a bit more competitive), but it's a lot of clicking next turn over and over again.

 

[GAGA Extrem]

It's not really harder, it's just slower.
The problem is that I can't really see Harmony as viable for a tall empire with that change. Going Supremacy and spamming units (or: buying them with your insane energy income) might be way faster (and easier).

 

[Lord Tirian]

Hmmm, overall, I also noticed that somehow, stations are no longer annoying. They seem to have tuned the spawn rate and placement and city exclusion distance. Together with the station sentinel... they're kind of alright now. Not massively exciting but they are worthwhile and not a nuisance, I like that.

Wish they had little splash screens like most other pop ups. Somehow these little generic art elements really made the game feel a lot more fun, it feels a lot less "soulless" than Civ:BE on release. Liking this a lot.

Was making +400 energy per turn when I completed the Beacon for contact at turn 202. I had to wait 45 turns to win. It was insane.

Had the same wait with about 150 income. The 45 turns definitely make games longer but that was the most boring way to achieve it. Better than nothing but I hope one day, Firaxis can have another stab at it.

The final victory 'movie' was stupid too, a very minimally animated splash screen.

Eh, I was more than happy with it. It's enough eye candy to feel a bit more alive and atmospheric without being overly splashy. Not quite the quality of Endless Legends' slide shows but I think, much like Civ5's wonder splashes, it's a good compromise between being eye candy, leaving room for imagination and being reasonably cheap to produce. Could've been about 50% longer, but that's my only complaint.

 

[Alkaid]

It's not really harder, it's just slower.
The problem is that I can't really see Harmony as viable for a tall empire with that change. Going Supremacy and spamming units (or: buying them with your insane energy income) might be way faster (and easier).

It definitely seems so. I finished filling the Emancipation Gate by turn 210 in about 15 turns or less with Prime CDNRs and a few Prime Angels(the Angels I bought, the rest I built) It could certainly be done faster with more planning, energy saved, and actually gunning for a fast victory.

 

[Arkangelus]

I'm very surprised to see people saying the hybrids are pointless - I ended up at Supremacy 5 without even trying when I reached Purity 8, it barely took anything off my existing path to get to 8/8 and the top-tier Autosleds, 60 strength Master Drone Cages and the like, plus they're all on basic tech paths.

 

[ptoss1]

They're not useless. Players are just dumb.

 

[Acken]

It's possible Hybrids are the best way to military units. However afaik you still need 15 in an affinity to get an affinity victory.

 

[GAGA Extrem]

I'm very surprised to see people saying the hybrids are pointless - I ended up at Supremacy 5 without even trying when I reached Purity 8, it barely took anything off my existing path to get to 8/8 and the top-tier Autosleds, 60 strength Master Drone Cages and the like, plus they're all on basic tech paths.

For a peaceful player these units (and thus the hybrid affinities) are still pointless. I guess Supremacy might have use for them if they offer better cost/power ratio, but that's really it. There is really no point to make a tech detour to grab shiny units.