Building, exploring and conquering for 250 turns in Civilization: Beyond Earth

Civilization is one of the longest and most respected series in gaming. Sid Meiers original creation from 1991 has seen five major iterations and numerous spin-offs. The latest version, Civilization V, after two major expansions and various smaller additions, is damn near flawless. Where can Firaxis go next that would not be an unnecessary retread for the sake of cash-in iteration?

BANG! ZOOM! Straight [past] the moon!

Civilization: Beyond Earth is science fiction Civ, using the same basic framework that the series has developed over the last two and a half decades not to rewind the tape and play out history as we know it, but to project forward into humanitys future. We recently had the chance to play out the first 250 turns a few times, more than enough time to form some impressions of what that future looks like.

To boldly go. You begin where previous Civilizations left off if you won a science victory and took to the stars. 200 years in the future, multinational confederationssuch as the industrious Pan-Asian Cooperative or the espionage-savvy American Reclamation Corporationsend colonization missions to a newly-discovered exoplanet. These sponsors are analogous to the civilizations of previous entries, each with a unique bonus that should help guide your overall strategy.

You can further customize your mission by also choosing things like the type of people to send and what equipment they bring, which allows for finer degrees of specialization. Maybe you want to lean into Pan-Asias productivity bonus by bringing engineers for more productive cities and a worker so you can start improving the landscape immediately. Alternatively you could balance and support that bonus with a colony of culture-generating artists and a bigger stockpile of fungible energy, the de facto currency of the future.

Number One, set a course. Without a historical template for your fledgling civilization to follow, its on you to define your version of humanitys philosophy. The affinity system gives mechanical weight to your ideological choices. Researching particular technologies or making certain choices in quests add points to one of three affinities, which unlock a series of increasingly powerful bonuses as you achieve higher and higher levels of commitment. Each has its own victory quests in addition to the familiar options like capturing everyones capitals.

Related:A look at the flow of the early game inCivilization: Beyond Earth

Harmony is for Gaia-loving hippies that want to become one with their newfound home. It focuses on adapting your people to the environment, rather than the other way around. Its not all peace, love, and sunshine, though, since at higher levels of Harmony you call down the cataclysmic wrath of Shai-Hulud siege worms onto rival cities. Over time your units and buildings take on smooth, organic forms and natural colors that let everyone know youve truly gone native.

Supremacy is the affinity for Singularity believers that see technology as our salvation and wish to escape this anachronistic meatspace for a utopia of pure data. Technology is what got humanity this far, and so followers of Supremacy choose to lean into cybernetics as the path to a hybrid future of man plus machine that extends farther than either could alone. Your crude, colonial astronauts are gradually replaced by sleek robots that are as ruthless as they are efficient.

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Building, exploring and conquering for 250 turns in Civilization: Beyond Earth