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[/B]So why do you still play this game, when there's supposedly better options out there?
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Oh, good question, this one. And i sure have a good answer / reason. In fact, a few, even. Some of them are... somewhat uncommon.
1. Because just like you, i prefer Sci-fi settings so very much more than historic/ancient ones.
2. Because it's turn-based, and i love both TB and RT games; thing is, good TB games are so very few in compare to RT ones. TB + Sci-fi setting? Even fewer. It regularly gets dull to go for all that "quick quick quick!!!" of all the real-time ones - which is when this one saves that boring day.
3. It's pretty. Yep, i like 'em looks. Civ2 is mighty and all, but this one is much, much prettier.
4. It has stories, lots of stories. But it doesn't force none of them on you. As it should always be.
5. The music. It's good. Never bothersome. Not too many games can tell that about themselves. How many TB+Sci-fi games can tell that without any doubt? Ditto... Nearly none.
6. It gives me a dream... One thing to hope for, one thing far away. One thing which matters to nobody, not even to me. But exactly because this thing doesn't matter, may be it's worth going for. And as a symbol, too.
I am talking about the dream of far future with one particular nation "living happily ever after". One colony keeping to its borders, defending against everything hostile, but not going out to its neighbours. The dream of being able to provide for virtual people in a virtual society, for them to live their virtual lives in peace and abundance, with arts blooming and food aplenty, with high-tech things aiding lives of hundreds generations (or more).
But of course i know CivBE is "sold" as a 4X game - which stands for "eXplore, eXtend, eXploit, eXterminate". Well, so what if most folks play it so. I play it 3X - without "eXterminate" (with few exceptions mainly out of curiousity). May be even as 2X - with only half the expected average "eXtend" part, and half "eXploit" part.
See, it's so many games about KKND - yep, this game's name fits very well to describe most of games being played by people nowadays, - that something which _can_ be peaceful is usually special to me. Especially when it can be completely peaceful for prolonged periods of time, but at least peaceful in terms of no need to be aggressive to in-game opponents and only defend oneself from agression.
May be i grow old. Why, i _do_ grow old. Old fart Fins... Perhaps there is indeed nothing better than to have some good times while one still can, and for me, getting a virtual nation into some equivalent of Earth-time year 3000s or beyond - is something calm enough to spend some time waiting for the inevitable end of my life. It ain't "escape from reality", though, which i find in this game; rather, it's shaping my reality in quite relaxed way for fairly large portion of my time. I'll elaborate here, a bit.
May be someone does not realize that when they are playing computer games, what they do in fact is sitting on their rear, doing small finger and eye movements and varying amount of brain activity. But i do. Full well, i do. But why not? It definitely is better than just to sit on one's rear and spit into the ceilng all day long, - ain't so boring. And for quite many, myself included, it's better than to running/jumping/fitness/etc any much. Humans are lazy bums in terms of physical activity, and it's normal, i believe. So considering other more-or-less-available means to spend thousands and thousands hours of boredom, such as alcohol, watching TV, slowly getting psycho by being sucked into social netowkrs / chats / etc, or doing politics, or getting psycho and/or sick and/or dead on some sort of drugs, - i say, BERT is definitely near the top of the list, in terms how nice passtime it is. Perhaps, for many, _the_ best. Especially for older folks, i think.
And that was all expanded #6. There is one more, though. One more reason, one more answer.
7. It is the first and the only game i know which in fact mentions the greatest loss, the greatest challenge, the greatest danger we humans will soon (extremely soon, in historic terms!) face on Earth: the Great Mistake. BERT mentions dramatic sea level rise of Earth, epidemics, huge loss of population and other tragic consequences of us - very well expected in the real world in not-so-distant future. I personally am pretty sure that present-day kids will live to see quite many of those tragedies... Most of them, not for long. There is very real 6th Great Extinction of species, going on on Earth, as we speak. And no, it can't be stopped now.
Ain't our "human" crime, though. Mistake? Sure is. But do we humans, all together, living today, have real chance to prevent that "mis" part of the "mistake" word? Can we "make it right", today? Nope. We can't. Same way our fathers and grandfathers were not able to. Laws of physics are merciless and not tuned to provide for a billions-strong planetary society of sapient humans. See, it's all because with that sapiens of ours, we break and override - tremendously, - natural mechanisms of information flow. Even now, while typing this post, and perhaps even soon enough someone reading it, - are perfect examples of that. We humans now pass information to "do" things we want with totally mind-boggling, pretty much instantenious speed - in compare to nature's own way to collect and pass information (which is, through genes). Yep, the Nature's "IT" department works on entirely different timescale... Timescale we humans can't tolerate, because it's too long.
And so at some point, getting smarter, we developed better and better ways to pass information. From paintings of prehistoric cavemen - to modern multi-TB optical cables passing information through them close to the speed of Light itself. We learned ways to accumulate and structurize HUGE volumes of information, too - 1st in books, now even more with computers.
But, we humans are still human _bodies_. And will remain so for many decades ahead, in practice. Our bodily selves need to have shelter, to sleep regularly, to eat, to hydrate with clean enough water, we need enough oxygen in the athmosphere. And so, as now we tremendously outclass any other species on Earth in terms of information storage and exchange methods - this advantage will inevitably "extract" nutrients, fibers and other "useful" components from more and more living beings of Earth. And we can't stop it. There will always be among us some individuals who are eagerly willing to kill, main, pollute and chop down for their personal profit, with no account whatsoever for the future of the rest, be the humans or any other beings...
In about last 40 years or so, the Earth lost about a half of its forests. Which is nearly 3 trillions trees. Most of that, we humans took down. Earth now - right now, - is already being half-like Easter island... The one which had human population collapsing and their civilization pretty much self-destructing, their culture lost - soon after they chopped down the island's last tree. Granted, in terms of Earth, actual things are MUCH more complex than "just trees". Nitrogen cycle, Phosphorous cycle, Methane-hydrate gun process in polar regions (currently accelerating and likely extremely deadly at its peak intensity, as last ~3 millions years at least Earth was very gradually cooling down on average, and the result is that Earth accumulated lots and lots of methane in its polar deposists - land permafrost and shallow ocean shelves methane-hydrate layers. Methane is one extremely potent greenhouse gas. PDSI research of dr. Emilio Dai, soil erosion and degradation as a result of modern main-stream agriculture, increase in albedo due to polar ice caps shrinking (which in turn accelerates their melt), etc etc.
So you see, Guy McPherson has a point (and his famous link collection is certainly something worth noting), even if humans will make through as a species - which he does not believe, but i still hope for, - even if some humans will somehow manage and survive through, the number of humans and species lots dead and extinct to results of present-day mankind _existance_, - is more than enough to call the whole thing "Great Mistake"... Yep, sure is. But it's not ours. It's universe's. The mistake is having us sentients both exploiting AND depending on the natural world of not-exactly-that-much-sentient species. The mistake is our (human's) individualistic nature and significant needs, which we tend to fulfill "here and now" 1st, and talk about consequences for Gaia 2nd (if at all)...
The Great Mistake - is we, people of the Earth. BERT reminds me about it now and then. And i respect this game - OK, its creators, to be precise, - for that. Very much.
P.S. Big text huh? And i bet some typos, too. Haven't slept in over 28 hours now. Please forgive me no-spoiler huge post, too... My hand doesn't dare to put part of _this_ post into a spoiler, somehow.
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