Steam Charts: some statistics of interest

Users gave Europa 8.7 and critics gave it 8.7, make of that what you will.
 
There was a peak of 6000 today dropping to about 3000 later.

I'm thinking about how much the player base will jump after the patch. I don't suspect it will get back to it's post release peak of 80000 so I'm speculating it will hit around 30000 and then level off around 10000.
 
It's always a different civ team. I don't think they've kept the same lead designer for two civ games in a row. It's clear in this game they've failed to learn the lessons they should have done from the previous game, though.

I don't really agree...

Brian Reynolds was the lead designer on Civ 2 and SMAC.

Soren Johnson may not technically be the lead designer on Civ 3, but he was the lead designer on Civ 4 and left his mark on both games.

While not "in a row," of course Meier was lead on Civ 1, Colonization, and Civ Rev.

And speaking of "team," there have been lots of constants over multiple series. Meier has given his feedback on pretty much every title, Ed Beach has been at Firaxis for years, etc.

I get what you're saying, of course. Particularly after Civ 5, given that Jon Schafer left and is now working on this own thing. But there's no general rule about this in the series.
 
The game is too new for a patch to bring a ton of people back. Those who tried it and didn't like it mostly uninstalled and moved on. Most of them probably don't even know there was a patch.

An expansion is going to be what it takes most likely.
 
Even when vanilla Civ 5 was dire on release it still managed to keep more interest. It was beautiful and appealed to the historical aspect that gave people chills since the first Civ. BE is an assault to the eyes and just tedious clicking so many times to change production queues and so on. And there aren't any flavours of different civs. No Montezuma or Ghandi or Elizabeth.

I think BE needs something big even before an expansion is justified. Change the colour palette first or give us maps that aren't the colours of my leg after getting kicked in football. And aliens could be implemented much better, more types with different behaviours. That's before all the macro economic parts of the game, which I am confident can be fixed with some rounds of patches.
 
The patch broke the game for a lot of people so that did not help
 
Even when vanilla Civ 5 was dire on release it still managed to keep more interest. It was beautiful and appealed to the historical aspect that gave people chills since the first Civ. BE is an assault to the eyes and just tedious clicking so many times to change production queues and so on. And there aren't any flavours of different civs. No Montezuma or Ghandi or Elizabeth.

Yes, this is a fundamental problem with BE. I am also old enough to remember the AC release and it was a problem there too. There is very little in the futuristic setting to really hook you in like there is in a historical one. Discovering The Wheel, Iron Working or Democracy or being able to build a University or a Tank actually feels significant because of the historical context. Discovering Supernanostealthrobomechanics or being able to build a futuristic-looking vehicle with a bigger gun than the last futuristic-looking vehicle just isn't so interesting.

This is why I don't think the future-setting versions of Civ will ever really take off and be worthy of their own independent franchise, even if the games themselves are as good or better.
 
I strarted playing Civ after I played Alpha Centauri. It is the SciFi setting that got me in, an I still find it more intersting than history. Both are just a setting for a 4X game, with I find a fun type of game to play, so I don't mind if Civ is in a history setting... :mischief:
 
Well after the patch a lot of people are like me , their game crashed because of whagtever graphic card mess and direct X . So yeah we are not playing the game anymore.
 
I played BE for 60-70 hours the first couple weeks it was out. I haven't been back since, nor have I tried it after the patch.

This is just my opinion but the patch only fixed balance issues while breaking other things. It didn't fix the main problem for me and that is that the game is boring and has very little in the way of strategic choices.

BE got rid of great people, different victory conditions, city specialization, religion, unique unit promotions, UUs and UAs, and leader flavors. It only replaced these things with affinities, better worker improvements, orbital layer, and a greater reliance on trade routes. Meh. Even an expansion wouldn't get me back because I just don't like the base game.
 
For me this game is done. I won't buy any expansion since I feel it would be sinking even more money in a boring and failed game. I'd rather cut my losses now. This game had such potential and it was all wasted. I don't feel the slightest for playing the game even after the patch. Firaxis blew it big time and it's quite shocking how such an esteemed company could perform so poorly.
 
I'm done. I put 323 hours into BE before the patch. I admit the game had problems, but I was still having fun. But if with a single patch Firaxis can so dramatically affect my game experience, damned if I've got any more time or money for them as a company. From now on I'm sticking to companies like Blizzard who polish their games to perfection, or companies willing to experiment like Amplitude Studios. By now Firaxis should have polished the Civ franchise to radiance, but they've caught the disease of Maxis it seems.
 
I'm done. I put 323 hours into BE before the patch. I admit the game had problems, but I was still having fun. But if with a single patch Firaxis can so dramatically affect my game experience, damned if I've got any more time or money for them as a company. From now on I'm sticking to companies like Blizzard who polish their games to perfection, or companies willing to experiment like Amplitude Studios. By now Firaxis should have polished the Civ franchise to radiance, but they've caught the disease of Maxis it seems.

What's the disease of Maxis?
 
There is no peak after the patch. that is strange.
Seems like hardly anybody returned. hm....

The casual crowd moved on to the next game without looking back.

I wouldn't call myself part of the casual crowd, but I've felt no desire to play BE again now the patch is out...maybe one day.

Yes, this is a fundamental problem with BE. I am also old enough to remember the AC release and it was a problem there too. There is very little in the futuristic setting to really hook you in like there is in a historical one. Discovering The Wheel, Iron Working or Democracy or being able to build a University or a Tank actually feels significant because of the historical context. Discovering Supernanostealthrobomechanics or being able to build a futuristic-looking vehicle with a bigger gun than the last futuristic-looking vehicle just isn't so interesting.

Disagree about SMAC, it had tons of atmosphere and each faction was unique and had character. And whilst there was little difference between a 4 laser and a 6 laser, there were technological leaps that gave you huge advantages - needlejets, choppers, drop pods
 
Also agree with Mount Suribachi on the atmosphere and character of SMAC being strong; something which is lacking in BE. Honestly, I remember the alien worm things in SMAC as being quite a menace with real interaction with the player. The sounds were more creepy too.

The idea of BE I can get behind (being similar idea to SMAC) - the implementation is pretty awful though. I truly feel like an expansion improving Civ 5's AI would have been received more greatly than what we have been given with BE; although a well-done BE would have been great, too.
 
I wouldn't call myself part of the casual crowd, but I've felt no desire to play BE again now the patch is out...maybe one day.



Disagree about SMAC, it had tons of atmosphere and each faction was unique and had character. And whilst there was little difference between a 4 laser and a 6 laser, there were technological leaps that gave you huge advantages - needlejets, choppers, drop pods

I wasn't talking about the game-play effect of the things you discovered - these could be profound, as indeed they can be in BE. I was talking about how much connection you feel with them as a player and the excitement that generates.

For example if you are playing regular Civ and discover Mathematics then that's exciting! You know how important the discovery of Math was to humankind and even if you aren't a history buff you can imagine the kind of advantage it would give you over other Civilizations. And it allows you to build a Catapult, which makes sense! And you know what Catapults do, even if you're not a regular on the Discovery Channel everyone has seen films, comics etc featuring catapults. And it makes sense that that to design and operate a catapult you would need a solid understanding of mathematics, so that advantage is played out on the battlefield in a way that makes you feel immersed in the game and makes everything feel connected.

In SMAC you discover Matter Compression and can make Neutronium Armour. Um... okay. You don't know what matter compression is have never heard of neutronium. You assume it is some substance that can only be made by compressing matter. Okay. You can look up the stats and see that it gives you more armour than your previous best defensive unit, which is great and will help you in game certainly. But already you are just thinking in terms of stats and arbitrary names that don't mean anything. There just isn't the same kind of excitement, you have just replaced one arbitrary fictional thing with another arbitrary fictional thing in your army.

I'm sure some people feel differently, but that to me is one reason why I don't enjoy SMAC and BE as much as their vanilla counterparts. There just isn't the same immersion.
 
I'm done. I put 323 hours into BE before the patch. I admit the game had problems, but I was still having fun. But if with a single patch Firaxis can so dramatically affect my game experience, damned if I've got any more time or money for them as a company. From now on I'm sticking to companies like Blizzard who polish their games to perfection, or companies willing to experiment like Amplitude Studios. By now Firaxis should have polished the Civ franchise to radiance, but they've caught the disease of Maxis it seems.

My thoughts exactly. The game was OK for my taste. After 4-City-Tradition-C5 finally some REX-ing, a superb/very nice opening phase which rolled over into exponential growth and that was it. Enough for me. I spent 190 hours on it in 5 weeks. :lol:

The patch brought a game I didn't buy. I knew what I was buying since MadDjin made some preview LP's.

After C5 Vanilla I swore to never buy 2K games blindly ever again. I loved C4 and buying C5 in 2010 felt like a no-brainer. Oh my gosh.

Since BE post-patch I will wait way longer before committing. I feel a bit ripped.
 
I spent 190 hours on it in 5 weeks. :lol: I feel a bit ripped.

Now adays you are vary lucky if you can get 15+ hours out of a new game. I know that isn't what you meant really just saying I would say you got your money worth.
 
Now adays you are vary lucky if you can get 15+ hours out of a new game. I know that isn't what you meant really just saying I would say you got your money worth.

You're right. I shouldn't feel ripped. €45 for 190 hours is a very good deal.

But I had something I liked and 5 weeks later it's gone.
 
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