#Civilization beyond earth expansions free

This offers a nice way to kit your army out for a particular brand of warfare. When you factor in all the special units that each Affinity unlocks, you end up with a respectable amount of options.Įarn enough Affinity points through research and side-missions and you’ll unlock the ability to customise a particular unit, picking one of two unique abilities. If you disliked that game’s on-unit-per-hex rule and slightly awkward tactical manoeuvring, you’ll find much the same issues with Beyond Earth, though there is a far greater variety of units to play with. Should you choose to pump all your research into finding new ways to shoot people with lasers, you’ll find a combat system that’s very reminiscent of Civilization 5. Say you want to improve your colony’s health Whereas in Civ 5 you might have had to switch tech paths, spending countless turns working your way to the one you wanted, now you can jump across to the relevant branch. The web structure means that it’s far easier to pick and choose what you want to go for at any particular time. Each branch has a core technology, and then a couple of related ‘leaf’ technologies, specialist options that offer big rewards and opportunities, but take a lot longer to research. Rather than the previous linear structure, which meant you were forever sacrificing one tech path in favour of another, the technology tree in Beyond Earth is really more of a web. The way the Affinity system ties into the tech tree necessitated a redesign of one of the most familiar features of the Civilization franchise. The tech web is a blizzard of scientific jargon at first, but you swiftly come to appreciate the versatility that comes from using it The system does a terrific job of making you feel like you’re really leading your colony in a particular direction, and it’s Beyond Earth’s biggest success. Purity colonies meanwhile, employ a retro-futuristic look eschewing style and elegance in favour of hard-nosed functionality. Harmony players, for example, will make use of flashy green plasma cannons and sleek, almost insectoid green structures and vehicles. Picking one of these paths slowly morphs your colony, both in terms of the way you approach expansion and conflict, and on a more basic level the visual make-up of your cities and units. Purity is a martial-focused path that encourages the use of brute-force human technology, while Supremacy is more tied-in to trade and industry. By following this path you eventually unlock a towering xeno siege monster, and therefore it is my favourite. Harmony encourages a union between humanity and the alien life inhabiting your new planet. By focusing on researching certain technologies, you’ll nudge your fledgling colony in one of three directions. Lacking unique buildings and units, most of the difference between factions on the field comes from the new Affinity system. There’s lots to find, and with new side-missions providing an incentive to explore, you’ll want to make use of your scout units while you develop your first holding. Firaxis has done a solid job of creating worlds that look suitably alien, but at the same time weirdly relatable. Smug gitĪfter choosing your faction, you’ll pick a few different materials and benefits for your colony founders before shuttling down to the planet surface. This is Humata, leader of the Polystralian faction, rejecting my modest trade proposal.

Presentation overall is rather brusque and flavourless, aside from some satisfying sound effects and a beautiful, expansive score.

There’s also nothing like Leonard Nimoy’s wonderful voice-over telling you the history of your people while the map loads up, which always felt like a fantastic touch that invested you in your choice of nation. Lacking special units and structures, it’s a shame that the colonial forces never feel as unique and flavourful as the national leaders in a regular Civ game.

#Civilization beyond earth expansions free

In fact, it feels more like a standalone sci-fi expansion to predecessor Civilization 5 than its own beast.Įach one of the game’s factions is an expeditionary force from a particular region of Earth, each packing a perk that makes them more suited to a particular style of play the American ACR is better suited to corporate espionage for example, while the Franco-Iberians get a free tech after unlocking a certain amount of social policies. Those hoping for something approaching the complexity and unique character of Sid Meier’s sci-fi spectacular Alpha Centauri, which is the obvious touching point here, will be disappointed with Beyond Earth, which treads a more familiar path. Civilization: Beyond Earth is about mankind finding its feet in the wider universe, leaving planet Earth behind to find all-new exotic locations in which to shoot each other with rocket launchers.