Civilization: Beyond Earth vs. Civilization vs. Alpha Centauri and disappointment?

What do you guys think about Civilization: Beyond Earth vs. Civilization vs Alpha Centauri? I played BE when it had that free weekend recently on the Humble Store and I really liked it. I've played about five minutes of Civ 3 a long time ago. I don't want to play Civ because the weird historical setting isn't for me. BE and AC are fine though since they're more consistent in setting. I played about two hours worth of Alpha Centauri.

So what was the issue with Beyond Earth? A lot of people had negative things to say about it when it came out. I think those people were people who had played Civ or Alpha Centauri a lot and they were disappointed with it. So what exactly was wrong with it? I thought it was really cool. I'm not here to defend it and I don't need validation of my own opinion on it, I'm just here because I'm interested on how these three games stack against each other, mainly about how the older games compare to Beyond Earth. I'd like to get the full version of Beyond Earth for my birthday so I wanted to know about it.

If you weren't coming to Beyond Earth after playing recent Civ games, I can understand why you might be alright with it. Overall, it's not a terrible game. However, if you're directly comparing Beyond Earth to Civ V, you're going to pretty clearly see places where it's lacking.

The AI can't really handle combat at all. Diplomacy is clunky. The leaders have no personality and lack interesting unique leader abilities. The tech web and affinity systems are kinda interesting, but I still think the tech progression and social policy systems in Civ V are better. In spite of being overall simpler, the UI actually does a poorer job of communicating what you need to know. I'm also honestly just not a fan of the game's art style, and that matters a lot if you're looking for a strategy game to play for hundreds of hours.

Beyond Earth was the first Civilization that I properly played (also for a free weekend). Just like you, I really enjoyed it. It's a shame that people weren't down with it, because I love me some sci-fi. I have since played Civilization 5, and I have to agree with a lot of the sentiment that Beyond Earth is just a reskin - It's not, but it's very clearly built atop Civ 5. But for someone that's more interested in sci-fi than alternate history, I definitely preferred Beyond Earth to Civ 5. Also, the way your buildings look at the end of the game in Beyond Earth is really cool.

I've tried to play Alpha Centauri three times now - it's just too dense for me (or maybe I'm just too dense). There are definitely a bunch of similarities between Beyond Earth and Alpha Centauri, but Beyond Earth is many times more accessible. If you want another similar older game that's easily accessible, I'd recommend Deadlock.

BE is good but after two games I lost interest. It's a reskinned Civ 5 in a Sci Fi setting, I enjoyed the 40 hours I put in.

Unlike you I LOVE historical settings so Civ 5 was a game I just played over and over and over and modded and played over and over. Really felt like more was going on in Civ 5 games than a BE game and that ultimately led me to putting way fewer hours into BE.

Cannot wait for 6 though, I'm already clearing my schedule of games so I don't have anything conflicting with it that I want to play

If Civ V didn't exist, I suppose Beyond Earth would be an alright game. It is fact, however, that Civ V does exist, and it's generally regarded to be better in almost every facet. If they tried making BE its own thing rather than repurpose the Civ V formula, I think more people would be into it. Instead, they limited themselves in their creativity, and the final product shows.

Pretty much my exact answer.

I love historical settings more than sci-fi.

BE didn't do enough new mechanically to differentiate it from Civ. When it came down to it, I take Civ over BE any time.

BE not a bad game, I still put 30 hours in to it, but I found myself going back to Civ V after 1 or 2 campaigns. It's good to keep in mind that Civ V was fairly garbage when it launched - but, by the time Gods and Kings and Brave New World came out, it became probably my favourite Civ game (Civ II always has a soft spot in my heart though)

Long live Prokhor Zakharov!

I bought BE at launch, extremely disappointed as a fan of Alpha Centauri. Civ 5 is superior to BE if you just want a civ game; AC is in every single way better than BE if you're looking for sci-fi. BE completely lacks in character and imagination from that point of view. I still remember every single faction from AC, from BE i already just barely remember that there was a vaguely french lady. The planet, tech, systems like social engineering, wonders and even their silly videos from AC are so much better than the bland stuff in BE. Only interesting stuff in BE was the espionage. If anyone wants to play a sci-fi themed Civ i'd advise to spend a few bucks on gog for AC and expansions instead of getting BE

I will agree with the chorus. Civ V is better than BE. AC is my all time favourite!

That's what I'm talking about!

Beyond Earth copied Civ 5 without understanding what made it great. What made any Civ great. The point that stands out most to me is the quote that comes after you research a tech or wonder. In all Civ games they are from history, and are often profound, related to the technology you researched. In Beyond Earth not only is the tech tree a load of made up nonsense (which isn't itself bad, since it is sci-fi), but the quotes that follow are more made up nonsense and because they're nonsense they have no weight, no flavour, no character. It feels hollow, and lifeless.

Civ uses history to give weight to your research and the character of the game. Beyond Earth uses quotes read by people who don't exist, making pretentious and made up statements in the same way as if it means something.

Beyond Earth is alright, but the second you know what Civ V is like it becomes a disappointment. The problem is unless you drastically enjoy sci-fi more than history, there is no reason to play Beyond Earth over V. BE is a boring shell of Civ V with a different skin on it essentially. It was fun for one or two games, but nowhere near the hundreds of Civ V game's I've played.

So will go more in depth in a later post after thinking some and rereading this thread - may be a couple days to a week. However, if you have not played civ recently and did not play alpha centauri then beyond earth you will probably like. I am MUCH more a sci/fi person than a history person so I honestly like beyond earth more than civ. I am however much more of a philosophy person than either. What alpha centuari had that no civ game before or since has had was character and philosophy. The characters in AC were real people with real thoughts and philosophies that made a difference in game play. Morgan was an uber capitalist and so couldn't choose certain government paths and had certain minuses when you played him. Diedre was a religious fanatic of the Christian variety so she hated science. This made a difference in how she played.

None of this is in Beyond Earth. The different factions are not really all that different, and though the different affinities could have been a great avenue to explore different philosophies they fell flat. The team tried to cover this by saying it was a design choice because "the story our players made up in their head would always be better than the story we could make up". This of course is a cop out. What AC did is give a great story basis and characters that you could then use yourself (find some AC fan fiction and prepare to be amazed). Beyond earth did none of this. Look up some of the tech movies from beyond earth and prepare to be amazed they fit with the world so well and the philosophies of the character. They have actual weight and meaning. BE was fun for me over Civ V because I love sci -fi much more than history, I love the tech web rather than a straight tech shot, and I hate the enforced need to have only five cities at most on higher levels of Civ V.

It has none of the character and story though of AC. Another aspect I will go into more later is AC allowed you to screw up. It had a unit designer that allowed you to make completely worthless units but also some great ones that worked in wonderful ways. I will always remember the first day I put a plane module on a colony pod.

Well this got longer than I wanted but oh well. To sum up - BE better than civ if you care about sci-fi and haven't played much civ or AC. AC best strategy game of all time though...Endless Legend comes close and if you like fantasy/sci-fi (as endless legend connects to endless space so really it is sci-fi though hard to see at first) and would be the game I would recommend. It isn't perfect by any means and it isn't as good as AC for me but better than BE? Yes.

Which ever one you get I am always looking for people to play with on Steam so if you want to look me up send me a message. My time is limited though so may not be able to play often.