As I mentioned in my New Year's post I have a very vague resolution to play more video games and I've started by playing Civilization: Beyond Earth. My husband and I both enjoyed playing Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri and this seemed like a new version of that and we thought we'd try it. So far I have only played a few games with no victories yet. As in other versions of Civilization there are a variety of ways to win a game. I've been focusing on the Transcendence victory because that was my favorite way to play in Alpha Centauri. Each game I've started has ended closer to victory but I'm not quite there yet.
Obviously there are a lot of similarities to older versions. It picks up where regular Civilization leaves off, sending people out to colonize space. It uses the same turn based system as basically every Civ game before it. You follow the same steps of founding cities, building up units, and researching new technologies. The factions are not exactly the same as those from Alpha Centauri but there are certain similarities, war like factions, backstabbing factions, etc. There are some things missing in the main game but included in the expansion, which we didn't buy, including building cities on water and the ability to convert alien units to your faction.
So what's different? Virtues, Quests, and Affinities. Virtues are earned by increasing the culture in your cities. There are four categories: Might, Prosperity, Knowledge, and Industry. Each virtue gives a bonus related to that category and you can earn synergy bonuses from concentrating on a single category or level. For example choosing multiple industry virtues will grant a 10 percent bonus to production in all of your cities.
Quests come in a several different varieties. The first are random quests that come up at various times in the game. When you finish a quest series you gain rewards based on the decisions you made. There are also certain quests that come up in every game and give you affinity points based on your choices.
Which brings us to Affinities. There are three: Harmony, Purity, and Supremacy. Depending on the type of victory you are working towards you will need to raise the corresponding affinity. You can do this by earning affinity points from quests and virtues and researching particular technologies. I've been focused almost exclusively on Harmony which is needed for a transcendence victory. Purity and Supremacy don't match up as exclusively to a certain victory there is a bit of overlap. Various levels of affinity also give you bonuses so it can sometimes be advantageous to raise more than one. There's also a change in the look of your units based on affinity which is kind of cool.
Overall I've had a lot of fun with it so far. It's a little tricky to find the right balance of faction abilities and virtues to speed you towards victory. There is a city health rating that replaces the unrest mechanic from Alpha Centauri and the various bonuses and abilities can affect that score. You have to find a balance that keeps your cities healthy, your research and harmony levels increasing, while also maintaining enough energy to support all your units and produce wonders.
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