Civ IV- Beyond The Sword Expansion

* The title “Beyond the Sword” suggests that the expansion gives more depth to the second half of the game, and also implies players will have more options when it comes to building up their empire through peaceful means.
* There are large numbers of random events in Beyond the Sword. They don’t all occur in every game, so each game feels unique. Some events simply ask the player how to deal with a situation that has arisen, but other events are quite intricate, sending the player on quests in order to receive some reward, for example.
* The graphics will be more polished and the look of the game has been completely transformed for some of the scenarios.
* Space race now allows you to customize your 3D spaceship before you send it off to Alpha Centauri.
* Apostolic Palace, a new Wonder, allows you to leverage your diplomatic standing to manipulate the world like never before. Build it and civilizations sharing your religion can vote on resolutions you put forth, like stopping and starting wars, enforcing trade embargos, or even assigning cities to their "rightful" owner.
* Queen Boudica (Traits: charismatic and aggressive) of the Celts is one of the new leaders.
* Privateers and Paratroopers have returned, and the AI knows how to use them.
* The scenarios are not part of single-player campaigns and have very high replay value. They range from fantasy to hardcore WWII simulations and range in time from the Renaissance to centuries into the future. Some are played on random maps, while others are played on historical maps.
* In multiplayer front, it's now possible to select any leader-civilization combination. This new option likely will give Civs and leaders that were previously unpopular in multiplayer new attention. The traditional sequential turn play mode has been improved so all players on the same team take their turns simultaneously.
* More game mechanics have been exposed to XML and Python, making it possible to do things that you couldn’t previously do with just Civ4. You can now completely alter the look of the interface, and have civilization-specific graphics for the same unit.
* The AI has been improved and no longer needs hefty bonuses to compete with a smart human.
* Firaxis will release demos showcasing two of the scenarios.
* The expansion has been in development since the release of Warlords last summer.


Thats just a list of stuff based on an interview...just wondering if any Civ fans here have any opinions. I think it sounds awesome though, and Civ 4 is already in my opinion one of the most replayable games ever. Thoughts?

 

yay, civ 4 all the way. i'd be interested to see what they do to encourage conquest by peaceful means. i quite enjoyed taking over neighbouring cities by using artists.

was there any indication to when it would be released?

 

Sometime in early July I believe...
They mentioned espionage being expanded as well, and that you could also form multi-national corporations somehow...not sure how that will work but sounds interesting

 

Sounds really sweet. From what I've read, corporations are basically going to work like late-game religions. There's a bit more info on Firaxis' website (some of their podcasts as well as a few other bits and pieces)

 

Oooooh niiiiiiiice.

 

a pity that i can't get onto there site at work. bloody net security. will have to wait till i get home to check it out properly.

 

Ive been playing galactic civilizations 2 lately.

Go play that its a much more interesting game.

 

Nah, I by far preferred Civ4. GalCiv2 is ok, but not in the same league as Civ.
(And in the 4x genre, I prefer Master of Orion over GalCiv too)

GalCiv has some neat ideas (lots of them, really), but fails to really bring them together...

 

I agree. While GalCiv is nice, it doesn't capture me like CIV does. The only thing I want after a CIV game ends is to start a new one. With Gal Civ I really don't care. Just like the tech tree in Gal Civ... I simply don't care what I investigate while with CIV it is a very big part of the strategy.

On civ: sounds nice, but I still miss my advisors from Civ2

 

I hear ya, Ice-Tea. NO! The defense of our cities is our foremost concern! Those bits were great. At least the wonder movies were back (sorta) with cIV.

BTS should be terrific - since the inspired but very unbalanced Alpha Centauri, Firaxis' Civ games have been heading for that level of greatness, but with more stability.

We all on Apolyton are greatly looking forward to this expansion. Me, most of all I want the random events. Remember Civ, the original? Volcanic eruption? Never mind - build a Temple to appease the gods and you prevent them! New effects of disasters like that and plagues should be awesome.

 

There was an interview up with one of the designers, but the page took it down I guess they published it too early...whoops. Google Cache can help with that if anyone is interested, forget what site it was. I think the best part about this expansion will be adding depth to the second half of the game. The late game can seem kind of less important at times as the standing are often pretty well established by then. If the interest can be spiked during the later eras all the better

 

Alpha Centauri wasn't that unbalanced, was it? (In any case, it was a downright awesome game.... I want a sequel )

 

BTS will be awesome, and I should know. Do any of you guys play online at all?

There are alot of changes, and I know that its going to be alot more fun (especially after the (IMO) not extraordinary xp warlords).

 

Yes to both sentences! Airpower was phenomenally overpowered, leading to a race to get Doctrine: whatever it was that gives you Needlejets. Secondly, you could build some Boreholes or Echelon Mirrors on artificially-raised terrain, then let your Supply Crawlers work all the tiles, shunting all the goodness back to your bases for massive boosts in energy or resources. There was no limit to what you could do with the terraforming (which was GREAT), but also the AI was hopeless as usual.

 

Oh, yeah, alpha centauri , please!

I agree on the needlejets. Once you had those, there was little point in using much else.

 

I think that one of the best parts of BTS will be the improved AI, I bet its alot better.

 

How do you know? Are you developing it or something?

 

yea lets get some insider info going...I am curious whether or not BTS will work over Warlords or only over the original Civ

 

I am not a developer, and I'm pretty sure you need WL to run BTS.

 

here is a little update i borrowed from a fan site...

Here is a summary of the new info:

* Joao II of Portugal: Imperialistic and Expansionist; Unique unit: Carrack
* Sitting Bull of Sioux: Protective and ?; Unique building: Totem Pole (acts as sort of an extra barracks for archer units)
* Corporation:
o Corporations consume specific resources in order to provide benefits to their city. The more instances of resources they consume, the more food, production, commerce, or resources they supply.
o The downside is that any city hosting a corporation has to pay a maintenance fee for its services.
o It really pays to consume a Great Person to found the headquarters of a corporation, since the city with the headquarters gets royalty income for each city in the world hosting a branch of that corporation.
o Players can block foreign corporations from operating in their cities by adopting the Mercantilism civic, and they block all corporations, even their own, by adopting the State Property civic.
* Espionage:
o There is now an espionage slider that gives you the ability to divert part of your income towards espionage activities against other civilizations. Once you have reached certain thresholds of espionage investment, you start gaining some automatic intelligence benefits over rival civilizations.
o Great Spy is a new Great Person type and can perform the typical great person actions. Great Spies can also infiltrate into enemy cities, giving you a significant advantage in espionage against that civilization.
o You can send your spies into foreign territory to gather further intelligence and to perform various missions of destruction and propaganda.
* Space Race: The space race is now more suspenseful because victory is not achieved until the spaceship actually arrives, not when it's launched. Therefore, you may pull out a victory even if you launch late, by building a faster spaceship and overtaking your opponent on the way to Alpha Centauri.
* New Unit: The paratrooper can perform jumps onto strategic spots in enemy territory before an invasion.
* New Unit: The Cuirassier is a new mounted unit that takes the place of the old Cavalry unit in the technology tree. Cavalry has been pushed back to require rifling.
* New Unit: The Anti-tank Gun is an inexpensive early counter to Tanks.
* New Wonders: The Statue of Zeus (doubles the war weariness of other civilizations fighting against you), the Mausoleum of Maussollos, the Cristo Redentor, the Shwedagon Paya, and the Apostolic Palace.
* Scenarios: One of them is like Civ in space.
* Advanced Starts: a pre-game setup phase which allows players to purchase cities, improvements, buildings, technologies, and units. It works in both single-player and multi-player. The player decides what to purchase and where to place it. When everyone is done, the game starts with players controlling relatively balanced, advanced empires with a working infrastructure. This mechanism is ideal for those who want to jump right in and experience a balanced game in the modern era, without having to start with nothing but a few settlers and units.


The Espionage sounds very interesting

 

Did anyone else get this expansion?

I think its going to take quite some time to get used to the new stuff, and the AI can actually fight now

 

You bet I did. Working through my first game very slowly - quite different to before. Haven't seen the AI in combat yet - the Apostolic Palace and Espionage is making this particular world more passively conflict-based.

I simply haven't had time to continue C&C3, F.E.A.R, Doom 3, Far Cry, or any of the other great games I have been addicted to since my new laptop. This game is crack cocaine, heroin and anything else addictive you can roll into one. Can't wait until the fan mods come out for BTS.