Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword Add On

November 11th, 2007

OK…I actually “purchased” a game for the first time in quite a bit for my PC. I’ve had Civilization IV for quite a while and pretty much worn the thing out, and figured out every cheap way to beat the computer on it. That game is pretty kick ass though with the amount of mods you can put on it. Pretty amazing how much time people spend modding these games as well. Basically I ened up wandering over to the CivFanatics forums for help and strategy and you could probably play this game the rest of your life with all the stuff that is over there. Those guys have so much traffic, hopefully they are getting some good deals on used cisco equipment as I doubt many people click their ads on that site considering the crowd. Who knows I guess, but that is neither here nor there.

Anyways, like I said before I “purchased” this add on just to see what they had stolen from the people at that website and incorporated into the game. If you have ever played Civ IV at all you will see some new ideas introduced into this, but it is pretty much the same game. They added a bunch of new Leaders to the game so you can play with new people like Abraham Lincoln which is cool, but really just a cosmetic thing as they all pretty much have the same abilities as the other ones did. Beyond the Sword takes Civ IV, as well as all the add ons that came with Warlords earlier this year.

Basically to save some time I’ll just throw some new features up real quick:

* Expanded Epic Game: Firaxis Games delivers a massive increase in new units, buildings, and technologies to the epic game with additional focus on the late-game time periods.
* New Game Scenarios: The expansion will deliver 12 new scenarios custom designed by the team at Firaxis and select members of the Civ Fan Community.
* New Civilizations: The expansion pack includes ten new civilizations, such as Portugal, Babylon and Netherlands and their associated unique units and buildings.
* More Civilization Leaders: Sixteen new leaders including leaders for the ten new civilizations, as well as additional leaders for existing civilizations.
* Corporations: A new gameplay feature that allows players to create corporations and spread them throughout the world. Each corporation provides benefits in exchange for certain resources.
* Espionage: Now available much earlier in the game, this expanded feature offers players many new ways to spy on opponents, stir citizen unrest and defend their government’s secrets.
* Events: New random events such as natural disasters, pleas for help, or demands from their citizens will challenge players to overcome obstacles in order for their civilizations to prosper.
* New Wonders: Five new wonders await discovery including the Statue of Zeus, Cristo Redentor, Shwedagon Paya, the Mausoleum of Maussollos, and the Moai Statues.
* Expanded Space Victory: Winning the race to Alpha Centauri will now require more strategic planning and tactical decision making.
* Apostolic Palace: The United Nations will become available earlier in the game, providing a way for players to win a diplomatic victory earlier. New resolutions will also be added which will expand the available diplomatic options.
* Advanced Starts: A major fan request, this new feature will enable players to “buy” components of a custom-tailored empire and begin play in the later part of the game, allowing them to experience many of the new features of the expansion pack in a shorter amount of time.
* Enhanced AI: The AI has received many enhancements, making it tougher to beat on the higher difficulty levels. The ways in which the AI will attempt to achieve victory have also been expanded.

Quite a bit of stuff I guess. Definitely an upgrade from the first, and it has already taken one day from my life as I play this and time flies by. I can’t NOT finish a game once I start so I may be stuck playing it for 5-6 hours instead of being smart and just saving. Of course I never restart it anyways if I know I have the AI dominated already .