Harmony uses genetic engineering to adapt humanity to its new alien environment.

Supremacy looks to a completely transhuman future through use of cybernetics, computing, and genetic engineering. Players can gain points in one of three Affinity paths: Supremacy, Purity, or Harmony. However, one of the most prominent new features is factional Affinity. For example, a recently discovered bio-material can be adapted toward making stronger materials or repurposed as a food source.

Empire management also includes a number of quest events, which often involve newly implemented technologies. Other key differences include how a new colony has to start a few turns as an outpost before it turns into a city under your control, and how trade is managed by building an unit that is sent off to another city. If the health of your empire becomes extremely low, then even your fighting units will start to underperform. Players will have to build clinics and perform other actions to make sure the inhabitants are healthy, otherwise every aspect of the game, including production, science, and expansion take a hit.Unfortunately, expansion and population growth both negatively impact overall health. Instead of keeping an eye on happiness, players have to manage over the population's health. The ground is covered in a toxic miasma that damages units. A number of key systems have undergone changes. The race to become the dominant empire begins as soon as you land.Īlthough the planet is divided into a familiar hex grid, playing Beyond Earth is very different from Civilization 5.

Players select from eight sponsors (factions), customize a couple of starting benefits, and choose a planet type. In it, Earth is on the brink of collapse, and looks to the colonizing space for salvation. Ever since Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri released in 1999, fans have longed for a new chance to head back to the stars, and Civilization: Beyond Earth certainly appears ready to fulfill that desire.

Civilization beyond earth review