Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword
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Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword is the second official expansion pack of the critically-acclaimed turn-based strategy video game Civilization IV. [1]. The expansion focuses on adding content to the in-game time periods following the invention of gunpowder, and includes more general content such as 11 new scenarios, 10 new civilizations, and 16 new leaders.[3][4]
Features
Overview
- Corporations: A new gameplay feature, similar to religion 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.
- Random 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.
- Advanced Starts: This new option allows the player to start the game in any era by purchasing components for an already-developed nation.
- Expanded Space Victory: Obtaining a space victory is now more difficult and requires more strategy and decision-making than before.
- Expanded Diplomatic Victory: It is now possible to achieve diplomatic victories much earlier in the game, and to defy resolutions.
- New Game Options: Beyond the Sword offers various new game options, like new world-types and the option to play any leader-civilization combination.
Corporations
Corporations become available with discovery of the Corporation technology. Each of the seven available Corporations requires a particular type of Great Person, a particular additional technology, and access to particular resources to build the Corporate Headquarters and found that Corporation; each of the seven Corporations can be founded only once per game. Each Corporation consumes specific resources and supplies alternate resources or benefits in return. The more instances of resources they consume, the more food, production, commerce, or resources they supply. Corporations can be spread like religions (using the Executive unit as a missionary) to other cities, including foreign cities; any city hosting a Corporation branch must pay a maintenance fee for its services, but the owner of the Corporate Headquarters receives bonus gold for each branch.
Players can block foreign corporations from operating in their cities by adopting the Mercantilism civic, and they can block all corporations, even their own, by adopting the State Property civic.
Currently, the following seven Corporations appear in the game. The Corporations are not based on real-life corporations, unlike Religions.
- Standard Ethanol Company[5] offers the player, after the use of a Great Scientist to build its headquarters,[6] the possibility to provide oil in exchange for corn, sugar, or rice.
- Cereal Mills[5][7] provides additional food for a city in the form of cereal, in exchange for corn, rice, or wheat. The player can build its headquarters with a Great Merchant.[6]
- Creative Constructions[8] provides extra production in exchange for obsolete strategic resources like iron, copper, stone, or marble. A Great Engineer can create a Creative Constructions headquarters.[9]
- Aluminum, inc.[8] provides Aluminum in exchange for Coal. Its headquarters can be created with a Great Scientist.[9]
- Civilized Jewelers requires the Mass Media tech [6] and needs a Great Artist to create its headquarters. The corporation consumes gold, silver or gems to increase happiness in cities.[9]
- Mining Inc. corporation's headquarters can build with a Great Engineer.[10] It consumes Coal, Iron, Copper, Gold or Silver and increases a city's production.
- Sid's Sushi Co. requires the discovering of the Medicine tech[6] and the use of Great Merchant to build its headquarters. This corporation uses Fish, Crabs, Clam or Rice to provide extra food and culture to cities.[9]
Espionage
Espionage's importance in Civilization IV has been raised to compare with that of scientific research, culture, income from taxes etc. The new espionage slider allows the player to divert part of their income towards espionage activities against other civilizations. Once the player has reached certain thresholds of espionage investment, the player starts gaining some automatic intelligence benefits over rival civilizations.
The player can also send Spy units into foreign territory to gather further intelligence and to perform various missions of destruction and propaganda. Their role is a bit different, because spies are now invisible to all units, save for other spies. [11] Great Spies are born in cities, like other Great Persons. Great Spies can perform typical functions like serving as a Specialist, starting a Golden Age, or building a unique building. Their special function allows them to infiltrate into enemy cities, giving the player significant advantage in espionage against that civilization. Just like other Great Persons their appearance changes accordingly to the time period, e.g., a Great Spy in the ancient era shows up as a ninja.[12]
The names used for the Great Spy units are given at List of historical figures in Civilization IV.
Random events
The Beyond the Sword expansion reintroduces Sim City- and Alpha Centauri-style random events from the original Civilization game, which can cause the game to swing in the player's favor or present another obstacle the player must overcome. There are more than 100 of these events, including natural disasters, such as earthquakes that can destroy buildings, and diplomatic marriages that might suddenly turn two former rivals into friends. Together these new events give each game a completely unique flavor. [13] In addition, each game offers players the opportunity for rewards through the completion of special events in the form of missions ("quests").[14]
Some examples of Random Events to be included in the game include:
- Tsunamis[15]
- Floods[15]
- Discovery of new resources[15]
- Earthquakes[16]
- Diplomatic marriages[15]
- Plea of help from another civilization[15]
- Unexpected demands from citizens[15]
- Golden ages[17]
Advanced starts
Advanced Starts are a pre-game setup phase players use to purchase cities, improvements, buildings, technologies, and units. It works in both single-player and multi-player. The player decides what to purchase and where to place it. When everyone is done, the game starts with players controlling relatively balanced, advanced empires with a working infrastructure. This mechanism is ideal for those who want to jump right in and experience a balanced game in a further era, without having to start it from the stone age.
Expanded Space Victory
To acquire a Space Victory, the player now requires their spaceship to reach Alpha Centauri, rather than simply launch. It is now also possible to build spaceships that fly faster than those of other civilizations, so that a player can achieve Space Victory, even if they finished building a spaceship after a competitor. It is also once again possible to end a rival's space program by capturing his capital city.
Expanded Diplomatic Victory
The new Apostolic Palace wonder allows the player to win an early diplomatic victory, centuries before the United Nations is due to make its appearance. The wonder is tied to the state religion of the player who built it. Depending on the influence of the Palace's religion on their civilization, players get votes to cast on decrees like holy wars, trade embargoes, or peace enforcement. It is later rebuffed by Communism and made obsolete by Mass Media. At this point, the more modern United Nations takes over many of its functions.[18]
New game options
The expansion offers various new world-types and game options. The player will have the option to play as any leader-civilization combination, therefore allowing intriguing "what-if" possibilities. Also, a new feature is the option to only trade away player researched technologies. Finally players can choose the religions founded by specific technologies, so that the same religions will not be dominant in every game.[19]
New content
New content includes:
- 10 new civilizations
- 16 new leaders, one for each new civilization, 6 for existing civilizations.
- 25 new units, 18 buildings and new technologies added primarily to the late game.[15]
- 11 new scenarios.[4]
- 6 Wonders of the World.
- New diplomatic resolutions through the United Nations.
General changes
- Improvements in AI (Artificial Intelligence) making for more difficult games on all difficulty levels. The AI player will also attempt more ways to win than before. It is now better at conducting wars, especially naval operations. It is much better at economic management and it knows how to use all the new features added.[20]
- On-map ocean trade routes that enhance the importance of the navy[21]
- Colonies splitting from their motherland to form new civilizations[22]
- The foreign advisory screen has been overhauled.[20]
- The Expansive trait has been changed and only grants a 25% bonus to worker production instead of 50%.[23]
- Augustus Caesar's traits have been changed from Creative/Organized (now Zara Yaqob's traits) to Imperialistic/Industrious. (see below) After Beyond the Sword, Charismatic/Creative, Protective/Organized and Philosophical/Industrious are the only unused trait combinations.
- Beyond the Sword includes some material from the previous Warlords expansion pack, specifically the core game features, but not the Warlords scenarios.[20]
- The Greek Phalanx now replaces the Axeman instead of the Spearman, and the Spanish Conquistador replaces the Cuirassier instead of the Knight.
- The standard game now comprises 500 turns, but still ends at 2050 AD. [citation needed]
New civilizations
Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword will feature 10 new civilizations:
| Civilization | Starting Technologies[24] | Leader | Leader Traits | Favored Civic | Unique Unit | Unique Building | Capital |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Babylon | Wheel, Agriculture | Hammurabi | Aggressive, Organized[24] | Bureaucracy | Bowman (Archer)[24] | Garden (Colosseum) [24] | Babylon |
| Byzantine Empire | Wheel, Mysticism | Justinian I[15] | Imperialistic, Spiritual | Theocracy | Cataphract (Knight)[24] | Hippodrome (Theatre)[24] | Constantinople |
| Ethiopia | Hunting, Mining | Zara Yaqob[24] | Creative, Organized | Theocracy | Oromo Warrior (Musketman) | Stele (Monument) | Aksum |
| Holy Roman Empire | Mysticism, Hunting | Charlemagne[25] | Imperialistic, Protective | Vassalage | Landsknecht (Pikeman)[24] | Rathaus (Courthouse)[24] | Aachen |
| Khmer | Hunting, Mining | Suryavarman II[24] | Creative, Expansive | Organized Religion | Ballista Elephant (War Elephant) | Baray (Aqueduct) | Yasodharapura |
| Maya | Mysticism, Mining | Pacal II[26] | Expansive, Financial | Hereditary Rule | Holkan (Spearman)[24] | Ball Court (Colosseum)[24] | Mutal (Tikal) |
| Native Americans[3] | Fishing, Agriculture | Sitting Bull | Philosophical, Protective[24] | Environmentalism | Dog Soldier (Axeman)[24] | Totem pole (Monument)[24] | Cahokia |
| Netherlands | Fishing, Agriculture | Willem van Oranje (William of Orange)[27] | Creative, Financial | Free Religion | East Indiaman (Galleon)[24] | Dike (Levee)[24] | Amsterdam |
| Portugal | Fishing, Mining | João II (John II)[28] | Imperialistic, Expansive | Hereditary Rule | Carrack (Caravel) | Feitoria (Customs House)[24] | Lisbon |
| Sumeria | Wheel, Agriculture | Gilgamesh[15] | Creative, Protective | Hereditary Rule | Vulture (Axeman)[24] | Ziggurat (Courthouse)[24] | Uruk |
New leaders
There will be 6 new leaders in Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword for pre-existing civilizations.
| Civilization | Leader | Leader Traits | Favorite Civic |
|---|---|---|---|
| America | Abraham Lincoln | Charismatic, Philosophical | Emancipation |
| Celtic | Queen Boudica[21] | Charismatic, Aggressive | Universal Suffrage |
| France | Charles de Gaulle[23] | Charismatic, Industrious | Nationhood |
| Greece | Pericles[29] | Creative, Philosophical | Representation |
| Ottomans | Suleiman the Magnificent[27] | Imperialistic, Philosophical | Hereditary Rule |
| Persia | Darius I[23] | Financial, Organized | Free Religion |
Existing leaders
Traits in bold are new traits introduced for that leader. These new traits replace the older assignment of traits for the leader. The older traits are given alongside.
| Civilization | Leader | New Traits | Old trait(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rome | Augustus Caesar | Imperialistic, Industrious | Creative, Organized |
New scenarios
The expansion will deliver 11 new scenarios, some developed by the fan community.[4] The following scenarios are to be included.[30][31][32][14][33]
- Afterworld
This single player scenario was designed by Firaxis's Tim McCracken featuring a Science fiction/Horror/Role Playing Game theme where a team of "Gravebringers" are sent to a world inhabited by human robots to retrieve research. In this squad based tactical scenario the player must fight against zombies and the undead. Besides being a X-Com styled thriller this scenario is unusual in that it does not contain many defining aspects of Civilization like leaders, cities or technologies. [34][14] In addition, if any of your gravebringers die, you lose.
- Broken Star
Russia is divided, and a civil war is coming. To unite the Motherland the player may purchase military units from the U.S. or promotion upgrades from the Chinese Black Market; conscript the Russian people or bribe enemy forces; or even deploy the ultimate in doomsday weaponry, the nuclear bomb.[14]
- Charlemagne's Wars
This scenario will be based on the wars fought by the legendary Charlemagne in Europe during the Middle Ages. In the Charlemagne's Wars scenario units outside friendly borders will not heal without supply trains following them along. These defenseless units will have to be protected if the player wants to continue the advance against the Saracens. The Supply Truck is a new unit for this scenario only that will heal troops in enemy territory. [35]
- CIV Defense
In CIV Defense Civilization IV becomes a single player arcade game in which players start with a small amount of cash to buy an advanced start and to get a single city going before the game starts. At that point, the player will be confronted with a wave of enemies who are hell bent on capturing the cities. After weathering each new wave of attacks, the player will be rewarded with additional gold for each city that survives. In the Buy phase he can then acquire new units, new cities and new technologies before the next wave of attackers comes. This pattern continues and gets more and more difficult over the course of twenty waves. Once the player has survived them all he will be declared the winner. [33]
- Crossroads of the World!
A late medieval age scenario where the player carves out a fortune from the riches of fourteenth-century Africa, Arabia, and Persia. Victory is achieved by trading, betraying, and battling one's way towards control of the Crossroads of the World.[14]
- Fall from Heaven: Age of Ice
A plot-heavy scenario set in the world of Erebus, home of the popular Fall from Heaven public mod[36] and made in cooperation with Firaxis staff and members of the mod team.
The scenario begins 350 years into the Age of Ice. Mulcarn, the God of Winter, reigns and the world is little more than a frozen wasteland ravaged by blizzards. Mankind has lost the knowledge gained during the previous age and has broken into small tribes fighting for survival.
The player controls Kylorin, an ageless hero, as he tries to gather several tribes into a force capable of standing against Mulcarn. To do that, the pieces of a legendary sword, the Godslayer, have to be found and numerous threats have to be overcome. These threats could be creatures that roam the wilderness, enemy civilizations or the power of Mulcarn himself. If the player reforges the Godslayer and takes it into battle against Mulcarn he can win the scenario and end the Age of Ice.
- Final Frontier
The Final Frontier space scenario adapts Civilization into space with a brand new tech tree, units and terrain. The sides are different extrasolar colonies that have now lost contact with Earth. Over the course of the scenario, clues about what happened to humanity's home planet are revealed. The focus is not on building cities, but colonizing entire star systems. [17]
- Gods of Old
Gods of Old is the standard game, with the exception that the Mesopotamians were right when it comes to religion. Each of the seven Ancient Mesopotamian gods in the game has a special ability and can unleash calamities such as earthquakes and floods.[4]
- Next War
A futuristic sci-fi scenario with clone armies and mechanized units set in the 2050s. This scenario is available as an expansion on the Epic game as well as being a standalone scenario.[14]
- Rhye's and Fall of Civilization
Another improved and updated favorite among fans' mods for Civilization IV that tries to provide a realistic and historically correct game based on an Earth map.[14]
- World War II: Road to War
Play as the Allies or Axis in the European Theater starting in either 1936 or 1939 or the Pacific Theater starting in 1936 of the Second World War[14]
New World Wonders
New wonders have been announced for the game:
- The Statue of Zeus (doubles the war weariness of civilizations fighting against you.) [3][37]
- Mausoleum of Maussollos [3][37](extends the Civ's golden age by 50%)
- Statue of Christ the Redeemer [3][37] (allows the player to switch civics without Anarchy)[38]
- The Shwedagon Paya [3][37] (gives access to all religion civics) [39]
- The Apostolic Palace[21] (depending on the influence of the state religion of the player who built it; players get votes to cast on decrees.)[8]
New National Wonders
- Moai Statues (gives the player production in all water tiles of that city) [39]
- National Park (Removes access to Coal, removes any unhealthiness in the city and give one Free Specialist per Forest Preserve)[40]
New buildings
- Security Bureau (makes it harder for foreign spies to perform missions in your cities)[22]
- Intelligence Agency (enhances espionage spending)[22]
- Public Transportation[38] (boosts healthiness)[23]
- Industrial Park[38] (boosts great engineers points)[23]
- Levee[38] (grants a production bonus to all river tiles within the city radius)[39][23]
- Customs House (boost to all foreign trade coming in from overseas)[23]
New units
- Privateer[21] - has hidden nationality, can blockade coastal cities preventing ocean trade
- Ship-of-the-Line[41] - gets bonus against Frigates[citation needed]
- Paratrooper[21] - can make paradrops, but is vulnerable to interception
- Cuirassier - takes Cavalry's place in tech tree, Cavalry is available later[37]
- Airship - sees submarines, gets attack bonus against ships[41]
- Anti-Tank Infantry[37] - bonus against armored units
- Tactical Nuke[5][38]
- Guided missile[41]
- Mobile Artillery[8][38]
- Mobile SAM[8][38]
- Attack Submarine[38]
- Missile Cruiser[38]
- Stealth Destroyer[38]
- Great Spy (Great Person)
- Executive (Spreads Corporations)
New Promotions
- Air unit promotions [42]
- Woodsman III
New technologies
These new technologies are narrated by Sid Meier.
- Aesthetics (required to build The Parthenon, The Statue of Zeus and Shwedagon Paya)[41]
- Military Science[41] (required to train Ships of the Line and Grenadiers)
- Advanced Flight[41] (required to train Jet Fighters and Gunships, obsoletes Stable)
- Laser[38] (required to train Mobile SAM and Mobile Artillery)
- Superconductor (required to build Laboratory) [38]
- Stealth (required to build Stealth Bomber and Stealth Destroyer)[38]
In-game Easter eggs
- The Final Frontier scenario has a military technology called "Shock and Awe", and its symbol is the face of Donald Rumsfeld.
- The third stage of the CIV Defense scenario is entitled "#1 Threat to America: Bears!" in reference to The Threat Down! on/and The Colbert Report.
See also
References
- ^ http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=222075
- ^ http://www.amazon.de/Civilization-4-Beyond-Sword-Add/dp/B000PDZBT2
- ^ a b c d e f http://www.firaxis.com/games/game_detail.php?gameid=16
- ^ a b c d http://www.2kgames.com/civ4/beyondthesword
- ^ a b c http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=223198
- ^ a b c d http://pc.ign.com/articles/798/798385p3.html
- ^ http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=227265
- ^ a b c d e http://pc.ign.com/articles/791/791168p2.html
- ^ a b c d http://media.pc.ign.com/media/896/896712/img_4643244.html
- ^ http://media.pc.ign.com/media/896/896712/img_4643279.html
- ^ http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/civilizationivbeyondthesword/news.html?sid=6171558&mode=previews
- ^ http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=227415
- ^ http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/civilizationivbeyondthesword/news.html?sid=6171558
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Civilization 4:Beyond the Sword". BigPond Game Arena. Retrieved June 28.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ a b c d e f g h i Melville, Richard (May 25 2007). "Preview - Civilization IV:Beyond The Sword". Eurogamer. pp. p. 1. Retrieved June 18.
{{cite web}}:|pages=has extra text (help); Check date values in:|accessdate=and|date=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ http://pc.ign.com/articles/792/792037p1.html
- ^ a b http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=76804&page=2
- ^ http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=222075
- ^ http://play.tm/story/10816/2
- ^ a b c http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=225548
- ^ a b c d e http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?threadid=165702
- ^ a b c http://pc.ign.com/articles/791/791168p1.html
- ^ a b c d e f g http://pc.ign.com/articles/797/797847p2.html
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Butts, Steve (June 19 2007). "Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword: Full details on all the new toys the expansion holds!". IGN. pp. p. 1. Retrieved June 28.
{{cite web}}:|pages=has extra text (help); Check date values in:|accessdate=and|date=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - ^ http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=227277
- ^ http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=5448204#post5448204
- ^ a b http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=223656
- ^ http://pc.ign.com/articles/788/788749p1.html
- ^ http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=224007
- ^ http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=5496896&postcount=6
- ^ http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=224790
- ^ http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=5497552&postcount=214
- ^ a b http://pc.ign.com/articles/801/801206p1.html
- ^ http://www.firaxis.com/games/game_bts_afterworld.php
- ^ http://pc.ign.com/articles/792/792037p2.html
- ^ http://pc.ign.com/articles/796/796807p1.html
- ^ a b c d e f http://pc.ign.com/articles/788/788749p2.html
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Gibson, Sam (June 3 2007). "Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword with Alex Mantzaris". PlayTM. Retrieved June 28.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=and|date=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ a b c http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=5563190#post5563190.html
- ^ http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2007/172/reviews/938800_20070622_screen025.jpg
- ^ a b c d e f http://pc.ign.com/articles/797/797847p3.html
- ^ a b c d http://pc.ign.com/articles/798/798385p4.html
External links
- Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword - Official site, 2kgames
- Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword - Firaxis Games
- Civilization series at Wikia
- Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword Review 9.5/10 at NZGamer.com
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