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I had a great time catching up with the LP, and it made me want to play BE again so I'll probably do that. Though I still don't know why no matter what i try to do in regards to installation, all the tech tree tech icons have some kind of image corruption going on.
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Sep 8, 2019 18:46
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I greatly enjoyed this LP. Thank you for writing it.
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Sep 8, 2019 18:47
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This was a pleasant read, and it made me want to go back to Beyond Earth again. Great work!
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Sep 8, 2019 19:11
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Was great chill LP, excellent writing and characterization... maybe a step up in difficulty for the next one just so there is at least one conflict
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Sep 8, 2019 19:17
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As for warhammer40k, while it started out as a parody of dark fascist sci fi, it ended up going full circle into becoming full on dark fascist sci fi. I mean, the old joke about the imperium is that they are Catholic Space Nazis, and only heroes because everything else they fight is just worse. And I say this as someone who really doesn't care much for 40K. I do like some of the memes and making fun of the hardcore fans. ---------- Honestly, I really liked this lp as a relaxing narrative romp, although maybe I would have preferred a few setbacks here and there so that the payoff would be all the sweeter. Maybe next time a bit higher difficulty? Siegkrow fucked around with this message at 19:30 on Sep 8, 2019 |
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Sep 8, 2019 19:28
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This was an entertaining romp from start to finish. Thank you for presenting this to us.
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Sep 8, 2019 19:49
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Yeah, this was a great read and I enjoyed seeing CBE portrayed as a game worth playing instead of merely enduring. The only part that wasn't clear to me as someone with only passing knowledge of Civ V and basically zero knowledge of CBE was that I couldn't tell which parts of the game were the broken parts and which parts were just the result of the rewards of baseline-sensible strategies and a low difficulty level. And that isn't really a fault of the writing, since this wasn't a dissection LP.
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Sep 9, 2019 00:47
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Siegkrow posted:Honestly, I really liked this lp as a relaxing narrative romp, although maybe I would have preferred a few setbacks here and there so that the payoff would be all the sweeter. Maybe next time a bit higher difficulty? Yeah I found it a bit of a letdown when multiple updates mentioned that one of the AI might finally declare war once we started on our ending, then we actually started on our ending and got... a round of angry Twitter messages and not one thing beyond that.
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Sep 9, 2019 06:36
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Thanks for the read Cythereal, enjoyed it. I'll admit I was a little put off at first by your adamant refusal to go full turbo-hitler but in the end I came to appreciate your more positive spin on things, my only criticism is that a lack of conflict/negative consequences did make the Al Farah seem a bit too infallible at times. Anyway, regarding the purity run: You put forward that it would be like the Star Trek Federation, is there a faction that gets bonuses for exploration or is particularly suited for it? If so I'd vote for that one to lean into the space frontiers style all the way.
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Sep 9, 2019 11:52
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BisbyWorl posted:Yeah I found it a bit of a letdown when multiple updates mentioned that one of the AI might finally declare war once we started on our ending, then we actually started on our ending and got... I will note that this surprised me, and I think it boils down to the endless war Chungsu was already embroiled in. They hated me, but I think the AI kept going "...Do I REALLY want to start another war, with the world's most powerful military" and deciding not to do it. I may up the difficulty for the second game. A quiet, relaxing game is exactly what I play CBE for, and frankly wars aren't interesting to watch in this game. CheeseThief posted:Anyway, regarding the purity run: You put forward that it would be like the Star Trek Federation, is there a faction that gets bonuses for exploration or is particularly suited for it? If so I'd vote for that one to lean into the space frontiers style all the way. Nope. I'll explain every faction's bonuses when it's time to vote, but none of them involve exploration. Cythereal fucked around with this message at 17:10 on Sep 9, 2019 |
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Sep 9, 2019 12:43
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Siegkrow posted:As for warhammer40k, while it started out as a parody of dark fascist sci fi, it ended up going full circle into becoming full on dark fascist sci fi. I mean, the old joke about the imperium is that they are Catholic Space Nazis, and only heroes because everything else they fight is just worse. They have started veering back into being a parody (if you consider the Ciaphas Cain novels) or at the very least, painting the Imperium as "Yes, you are the baddies, holy poo poo why would you think you're good" with the return of Guilliman and his reaction to the fascist-space-church that the Imperium had become. I hate the miniatures game, but I do enjoy the setting. I do have a soft spot for CBE, I just wish that it had gotten either one or two more expansions, or that we got the more bizarre stuff that was allegedly in the betas. As it is, it's basically just a sci-fi mod of Civ5 out of the box, which is unfortunate.
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Sep 9, 2019 14:15
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 Well, doesn't this look familiar? After thinking about it, I've decided not to bump up the difficulty. Combat in this game isn't terribly interesting, and I enjoy peaceful, quiet games. So this will probably be another relaxed, low-intensity game. However, this time we will be going Purity as our dominant affinity, and we won't be playing as Al Falah. But if not them, then who?  Pan-Asian Cooperative Leader: Daoming Sochua Starship: Xu Fu Capital: Tiangong We've already met Daoming, and know that she's a brilliant scientist and leader who does not suffer fools gladly. The Pan-Asian Cooperative is primarily an alliance between China and South Korea, but judging by city names Vietnam is an important third power. The PAC was slow to join the Seeding, but committed immense resources to the project. Though in Daoming's specific case, she was offered command of a Seeding specifically to get her out of the hair of the PAC's political leadership.  North Sea Alliance Leader: Duncan Hughes Starship: Erikson Capital: Deepcastle Duncan Hughes is a familiar face to us, but like Daoming the North Sea Alliance sent him into space mainly so he'd shut up and stop bothering their Earth-bound leadership with all his talk of the Inflection point and general doom. An alliance of the United Kingdom, Scandinavia, and in theory the Low Countries, the NSA were world pioneers in settling the seas - both in habitation and resource exploitation. Most of the NSA saw humanity's future lying on and beneath the waves, but Hughes leads a faction that felt very differently.  Franco-Iberia Leader: Elodie Starship: Magellan Capital: Le Couer A post-EU political union of France and Spain (and Portugal and Italy and parts of North Africa, not that you'd know it from the in-game material), Franco-Iberia has a reputation for being conservative and celebrating the preservation of European culture - something they deemed as important to the Seeding as material resources or technology. Elodie is a billionaire heiress to one of Franco-Iberia's oldest and wealthiest families, a socialite of the first order, and by hobby a historian and poet. Underestimating this old lady would be a mistake.  Slavic Federation Leader: Vadim Kozlov Starship: Tsiolkovsky Capital: Khrabrost The Soviet Union 2: Deep Space Boogaloo, the Slavic Federation were the world's leaders in interplanetary travel and exploration, and off-world resource gathering in the wake of the Mistake. One of the Federation's most significant leaders in deep space is General Vadim Kozlov, who volunteered for the Seeding the moment the Federation announced its intention to join the effort. Kozlov is a man of few words and less people skills, but is nevertheless deeply respected by most for his integrity, work ethic, and courage.  American Reclamation Corporation Leader: Suzanne Fielding Starship: Enterprise Capital: Central Ha ha, no. I play good guys, and I cannot think of any circumstances in which I'd consider an American megacorp to be good guys. Any votes for ARC will be held in reserve by me to tip towards whoever I feel like.  Chungsu Leader: Han-Jae Moon Starship: Yi Sun-sin Capital: Jeongsang We're already familiar with Korean X-COM and Han-Jae Moon, but Chungsu's decision to leave Earth was a dire portent. One of the most technologically advanced groups in the world, founded to combat any alien threats to the planet, gave Earth up as lost.  Kavithan Protectorate Leader: Kavitha Thakur Starship: Raj Thakur Capital: Mandira We've seen Kavitha already and gotten to know that she's a rather strange woman. She is the daughter of Raj Thakur, a demagogue and religious prophet who reunited India after the Mistake. Raj Thakur had intended leadership of the Indian Protectorate to pass to secular authorities after his death, but the people overwhelmingly voted for Kavitha instead. Kavitha called the Provenance Discovery and the Inflection Point a divine signal that it was time to leave Earth, and she is the woman who started the Seeding movement that grew to encompass the whole planet.  INTEGR Leader: Lena Ebner Starship: Oberth Capital: Weltgeist A wehraboo's worst nightmare, the Initiative für Nachhaltige Technologien, Effizienz, Gerechtigkeit und Rechtschaffenheit ("Initiative for sustainable technologies, efficiency, justice, and righteousness") is future Germany (and Austria, and Romania, and Hungary, and Switzerland, et cetera down through Greece) here as an emphatically liberal, environmentally conscious, refugee-loving bunch of liberals with nose piercings (seriously, Elodie will taunt Lena about that specific thing) and faction bonuses all about being diplomatic sorts. Like Chungsu, a group like INTEGR deciding to flee Earth was an ominous sign.  Brasilia Leader: Rejinaldo de Alencar Starship: Aquila Capital: Cidadela Like Africa, South America escaped the worst of the global chaos from the Mistake, and an economic and military coalition formed between Brazil, Argentina, and Chile. The Organization of South American States grew in power and influence during the Mistake, and OSAS soldiers were some of the most widely deployed peacekeepers around the world as the Mistake receded. The OSAS is not wealthy, but they have resources, and committed immediately to the Seeding. Leading the OSAS's first colony expedition is Rejinaldo de Alencar, possibly the finest military mind of his generation. A brilliant leader, strategist, and administrator, the Supreme Commander of OSAS is nevertheless out of his depth with matters of science, culture, and trade.  Commonwealth of the Pacific Leader: Hutama Starship: Adventure Capital: Freeland The collapse of Europe, North America, and China during the Mistake had grave consequences for the world economy, and one of the most significant was the rise of Oceania as the center of global banking and trade. The Commonwealth of the Pacific (seriously, the name Polystralia is an abomination) formed from an economic and political union of Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, and the Philippines, and by the time of the Seeding was one of the wealthiest and most economically influential power blocs on the planet. The Commonwealth committed only reluctantly to the Seeding, entirely too aware of the less than glorious past that colonialism meant for much of the Pacific. Hutama is a charming, gregarious, down to earth populist leader better known for his morning talk show than his considerable political successes in the popular consciousness, and his change of stance to favor the Seeding was a turning point for the Commonwealth.  Peoples' African Union Leader: Samatar Jama Barre Starship: Inkululeko Capital: Magan The Mistake devastated North America, Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia, but other parts of the globe thrived, particularly sub-Saharan Africa. The Peoples' African Union was one of Earth's richest superpowers in natural resources, and parlayed the Seeding's need for those resources into immense wealth and political influence. Underneath the humble, friendly attitude the African Union affected towards the rest of the world, though, lurked a long, bitter memory of Africa's exploitation by the rest of the world. Prime Minister Samatar Jama Barre is no exception, a veteran military officer and politician determined to prevent the tragedies of Africa from ever repeating.    I will be choosing different options for all of these this time around, much as it sticks in my craw.  However, this time we will not be going to a snowball in space! The question is, though, where are we going?  Lush worlds are the boring choice I hardly ever pick when playing by myself, but maybe we've earned a vacation.  Arid worlds actually have no more or less water than any other planet type, possibly implying interesting climate reasons.  Fungal worlds are blue and purple rather than red, to the relief of some and disappointment of others. And Jesus that's a lot of firaxite in that landing zone.  Primordial worlds are dark red landmasses and wine dark seas, geologically young and volcanically active.  As for map layout, I always like having plenty of water. I could keep the same archipelago settings I used for the Al Falah game. I could bump up to an atlantean world, adding more land. Or I could keep an archipelago and use an advanced setting to make absolutely everyone start in the water. Your choice. Also, we'll need our secondary affinity, if any! Purity will be our dominant affinity no matter what, so Promised Land and Contact will always be victory options. Going straight Purity is a viable option. Mixing with Harmony as a secondary affinity will open up Transcendence as another victory we could pursue. Supremacy is a valid secondary option, but even if that's picked I won't be doing Emancipation again. Oh, and this will be a completely different timeline than the Al Falah game. Every faction we didn't see in the Al Falah game will be present in this new game, whether we're playing as one or not, and Al Falah is going to be present as an NPC faction to show them off. The situation on Earth will also be different from what Al Falah encountered. So, voting time! Please vote for: 1. Faction A: Pan-Asian Cooperative B: North Sea Alliance C: Franco-Iberia D: Slavic Federation E: Chungsu F: Kavithan Protectorate G: INTEGR H: Brasilia I: Commonwealth of the Pacific J: Peoples' African Union 2. Biome A: Lush B: Arid C: Fungal D: Primordial 3. Map A: Archipelago B: Atlantean C: Everyone water starts 4. Secondary Affinity A: Purity (so, straight Purity) B: Harmony C: Supremacy
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Sep 12, 2019 00:07
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GCCA
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Sep 12, 2019 00:15
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JDCA
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Sep 12, 2019 00:30
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1. Faction J: Peoples' African Union 2. Biome D: Primordial 3. Map B: Atlantean 4. Secondary Affinity A: Purity (so, straight Purity)
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Sep 12, 2019 00:31
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1. Faction G: INTEGR 2. Biome C: Fungal 3. Map B: Atlantean 4. Secondary Affinity B: Harmony
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Sep 12, 2019 00:31
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I can't believe you consider ARC a villain cov when Kozlov is right there massacring every city in range. Anyway: H: let's play as the big and strong sudacas. And with my continent's strong history of REVOLUCIÓN at the drop of a hat, how about playing a defender? Whenever there is a war (somewhere) we attempt to return any taken cities to their original owners. B: Arid planet, because I've never seen one B: atlantean, so we can place down some roads. A: Pure Human Strain. We're building flying churches! (Flying churches would also fit a lot with Latin America's very Catholic populace)
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Sep 12, 2019 00:41
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berryjon posted:JDCA
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Sep 12, 2019 00:47
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YMCA
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Sep 12, 2019 00:54
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Well I was wondering what Chungsu played like, but since OP doesn't like spies, PAC Fungal OP's Choice OP's Choice
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Sep 12, 2019 01:00
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JCBA I too enjoyed Beyond Earth a lot, it's fun for what it is, but what kept it from being great and really gripping you is not that it's too tame in its sic-fi, it's that it lacks texture. To compare to Civ5, that game had evocative portraits for units and buildings, along with dramatic watercolours for wonder splashes. Civ5 could get away with using quotations, poetry, etc as descriptions for techs and wonders because we all have a certain amount of understanding of what everything is already. CivBE has none of that. The buildings, wonders and units all have boring wireframes as their portraits, the wonder splashes are colour-less blueprints. So when it's just these made-up quotes from leaders and such describing all these fancy techs, wonders and affinities, we don't have a tangible reference to appreciate what they are saying. There's no inherent texture for us to understand at a glance what something is/does. Independent of that, if we did want a game with a little more tension without ramping up the difficulty, I find adding 1 or 2 extra civs more than the map size standard does a good job. When you can settle on water, the amount of space available is a lot more than the game realizes, so there's not a lot of border region that naturally develops.
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Sep 12, 2019 01:07
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JDBB
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Sep 12, 2019 01:43
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GDAB!
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Sep 12, 2019 01:44
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ADAA
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Sep 12, 2019 01:47
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IBAC
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Sep 12, 2019 02:51
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IDAA
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Sep 12, 2019 03:16
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AABA
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Sep 12, 2019 03:18
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Don't know when I'll close voting and record the update, but voting as it stands now: African Union: 5 INTEGR: 3 PAC: 3 Commonwealth: 2 Brasilia: 1 Primordial: 7 Fungal: 3 Arid: 3 Lush: 1 Atlantean: 5 Water Start: 4 Archipelago: 4 My Choice: 1 Purity: 9 Harmony: 3 Supremacy: 1 My Choice: 1
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Sep 12, 2019 03:25
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BCBB
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Sep 12, 2019 03:29
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I'll go in for GDBA
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Sep 12, 2019 03:32
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DDBA
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Sep 12, 2019 03:45
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SSNeoman posted:Well I was wondering what Chungsu played like, but since OP doesn't like spies, Spies are kind of wonky and not that great. In essence, each spy can be assigned to one of three missions. You can keep them at home base, where they will give small bonuses to one of five or so potential options; if you are using offensive spying at all this will be either increased chance of success or survival, if not then usually the +2% health/spy option. They can be attached to a friendly city, in which case they lower the rate of intrigue gain from enemy action and increase the chance of catching enemy spies. Finally, you can use them offensively. In this case, you send them to a city, then after five turns or so once they arrive you can send them on various missions that give bonuses and increase the city intrigue if successful. Zero intrigue lets you create networks, which gives you vision on the city and lets you see the city screen but does not increase intrigue (though it is guaranteed to succeed and not kill the spy) or sap energy, which gives you money if it succeeds. Level one opens up steal science, which is the actually useful option. Higher levels let you perform actual offensive options, capping out at various affinity-specific actions like luring siege worms or planting a nuke. The issue is that the odds of actually doing anything are really bad- with no modifiers involved, a max-rank spy has something like a 75% chance of success and 50% chance of survival after 25 turns when tapping energy, which is the easiest and fastest offensive action available, and a correspondingly lower chance of both for everything beyond that. You have to go all in on spying to make it worthwhile, and unless you're ARC and can steal science right off the bat it's not going to make back the investment any time soon.
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Sep 12, 2019 04:29
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It's so weird to see factions like "Snobby French heiress intent on preserving Western Values" and "Brazilian ex-military" presented as positive role models in 2019. 2015 really wasn't that long ago but it feels like it was another geological epoch. Anyway. African Union Primordial World Your Choice Harmony
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Sep 12, 2019 04:44
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jcaa
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Sep 12, 2019 04:53
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JCBA
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Sep 12, 2019 05:15
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IDBA PacCom for Maori/Polynesian flavor.
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Sep 12, 2019 05:16
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INTEGR No opinion on the other options, but I want to see the unique dialogue between Lena and Elodie, and I don't want to be Rich Conservative in space.
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Sep 12, 2019 06:14
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G, D: integr on primordial
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Sep 12, 2019 09:46
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BCCA. In the land of the water colonies, Kalmar-Britannia is monarch.
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Sep 12, 2019 12:05
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HaitianDivorce posted:It's so weird to see factions like "Snobby French heiress intent on preserving Western Values" and "Brazilian ex-military" presented as positive role models in 2019. 2015 really wasn't that long ago but it feels like it was another geological epoch. Something a certain strain of goon might appreciate is that the only explicitly religious leader in the game's story is Kavitha. Everything I wrote about Al Falah in general and Arshia Kishk in particular being religious? Made up by me, you will not see the words 'Islam' or 'Muslim' anywhere in either Al Falah's or Arshia's civlopedia entries. Samatar Jama Barre (African Union) and Suzanne Fielding (ARC) are specifically stated in out-of-game fluff to be atheists. Elodie (Franco-Iberia) is noted by the civlopedia to be a deist of the "God as a clockmaker, wholly uninterested in what's happened after making the universe" school. Beyond that? There's a brief shot of Orthodox priests blessing the launch of a Slavic Federation ship in the original game's trailer, and that's it for the presence of religion in this game until you start getting deep into the affinities - they all start taking on (deliberately, according to Firaxis) religious overtones. Current voting: African Union: 8 INTEGR: 6 PAC: 2 Pacific: 2 NSA: 2 Brasilia: 1 Slavic: 1 Primordial: 11 Fungal: 7 Arid: 3 My Choice: 1 Atlantean: 9 Water Start: 5 Archipelago: 4 My Choice: 4 Purity: 13 Harmony: 5 Supremacy: 1 My Choice: 3
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Sep 12, 2019 12:29
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