Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth

[Syt]

http://www.indieretronews.com/2014/04/sid-meiers-civilization-beyond-earth.html

Probably the biggest news of the week has just hit the Indie Retro News HQ as Sid Meier is back with a new Alpha Centauri (1999), one of the greatest sci-fi turn based strategy games I've ever played. Sid Meier's Civilization Beyond Earth as it's titled, will not be a simple remake of Alpha Centauri but rather a "what would happen after Civilization V" (according to the devs). There will also be 3 types of planets from lush vegetation to airy decaying worlds. You will start with an Outpost and your only goal will be to survive! Are you alone on this world? Will you build cities upon the lush or decaying landscape? Will this be as good as the original? Who knows, but I'm sure many of us will be waiting for even more news on Beyond Earth!
Release date : Late 2014 - UPDATE : On further investigation, it seems as if this isn't a direct sequel, but the concept will be very similar, a representation of Civilization, but in space.



(There will be orbital devices)

Goals:
- Find proof of existence of an ancient life on the planet and try to make a first contact,
- Resume contact with Earth by deploying a satellite,
- Return to Earth (if you find out it still exists),
- Host Terran refugee on your new planet.

-Thanks Jeuxvideopc for the heads up

[Queequeg]

I dairy factoried. 

[Syt]

Alpha Centauri is still one of the best games of all time. Not only was i a very good 4X title, but it added a highly immersive presentation that is quotable like few other games.

[Tonitrus]

I dairy factoried.

I am going to hold back on that.  What made AC great was its depth, and I am not seeing anything like that so far here.

If it's just a glorified Civ5 mod with "alien" terrain and some shallow alien-contact crap...it will just suck.

[Syt]

I don't have high hopes of this capturing the spirit and wonder of the original.

Nevertheless, I wouldn't be too unhappy if it underwent the "XCOM modernization" in some way, i.e. re-imagining a modern version of it.

[Razgovory]

Oh sweet!

[Syt]

Announce trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtYWqE55s24

And a few more bits:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/04/12/civilization-beyond-earth-trailer/

This is news worth working on a weekend for. Firaxis have announced Civilization: Beyond Earth, a spiritual successor to Alpha Centauri. There's an announcement trailer below, which doesn't show any of the game but does set the scene. (The scene is of me, rubbing my thighs at all the spaceships). Also, it's due out this "Fall/Autumn" which i) is not far away at all and ii) it's nice that they wrote both Fall and Autumn because it makes me feel included as a non-American.

There's very little info on the Civilization site other than the trailer, but there is this description under the YouTube video:

Sid Meier's Civilization®: Beyond Earth™ is a new science-fiction-themed entry into the award-winning Civilization series. As part of an expedition sent to find a home beyond Earth, lead your people into a new frontier, explore and colonize an alien planet and create a new civilization in space. A New Beginning for Mankind is coming Fall/Autumn 2014.

Firaxis released Alpha Centauri in 1999 as a spin-off from the Civilization series, putting a scifi bent on the 4X formula. It was and is beloved, but the rights remain with the game's original publisher, Electronic Arts. Beyond Earth is Firaxis' attempt to re-capture the original, only without the name.

The designers are still up on stage at PAX East, talking about the game, but PC Gamer are first to the punch with a meaty interview on the game's factions, planets, alien life, AI and more.

PC Gamer: How did you go about moving the narrative into game systems?

Will Miller: We try to take as much as we can from the fiction and put it in the map. When you kill the siege worm, you see its skull, and when you pick the skull up you may find a new quest thread that you can pick up and follow, and each time you complete an objective in that thread, you get a little bit of the fiction. We decided very early that we would imply more than we say. I think that's really important, because the gaps the player's going to fill in with their imaginations is a story that's way more interesting than the one we could write ourselves. I think the more explicit you are about the narrative, the less the player gets to build it themselves. We've tried to strike a balance between content that we write, and building blocks of content that the players get to assemble into something really cool, and it belongs to them.

Shacknews follow along with a wee write-up of the announcement, which includes a couple of screenshots (one of which is above). These screenshots technically leaked earlier this morning but maybe they have been officially released now? Who knows!

What do you think? To my mind Firaxis are some of the safest pairs of hands around, and even without Brian Reynolds at the helm and Sid Meier only in his normal supervisory role, I trust them to release something worthwhile.

An the mentioned interview: (long, not gonna post the whole thing) http://www.pcgamer.com/2014/04/12/civilization-beyond-earth-interview-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-new-factions-aliens-technology-and-more/

[Syt]

As for the relation to Alpha Centauri, I guess sums up their intentions:

Yeah, the influence of Alpha Centauri will be apparent, but it's in winks and nods—it's an homage to that game—this game really is meant to be our version of the place that game sat when it came out. It's our version of this idea of mankind in space, and we started with that perspective of the fiction and the narrative, and also of Civ V. Civ V has enjoyed a huge success. There are lots of parts of that game that people really like, and we're building on the Civ V technology, so we took a lot of influences from that as well. If you're a Civ V player, you'll feel right at home.

Still, it will be measured against AC when it's released, just as every fantasy 4X will be measured by most people against Master of Magic, and every space 4X against Master of Orion 2.

[FunkMonk]

Apparently the trailer fits really well with Europe's Final Countdown. 

http://youtu.be/Z_WSgMhfuic

[Syt]

 

[The Brain]

Apparently the trailer fits really well with Europe's Final Countdown. 

http://youtu.be/Z_WSgMhfuic

Is there anything that doesn't?

[Norgy]

Apparently the trailer fits really well with Europe's Final Countdown. 

http://youtu.be/Z_WSgMhfuic

Oh, dear. 

[Viking]

Apparently the trailer fits really well with Europe's Final Countdown. 

http://youtu.be/Z_WSgMhfuic

I love how the trailer's beats match up perfectly with Europe's beats.

[Duque de Bragança]

Apparently the trailer fits really well with Europe's Final Countdown. 

http://youtu.be/Z_WSgMhfuic

Very good indeed! 

[KRonn]

Great news about this game! I have strong hopes that it will be done well, given the good track record of Civ V.