The company wants to avoid problems it had with Civ V

Apr 15, 2014 23:15 GMT  ·  By

The development team at Firaxis has just announced that it is working on a new turn-based strategy title called Civilization: Beyond Earth, but the studio is already reassuring long-term fans of the franchise that the coming title is designed to introduce an upgraded Artificial Intelligence system for enemies that will make the experience more challenging.

David McDonough, a leading designer working on the title, is quoted by Gamespot as saying that the company will keep the same core combat system seen in Civilization V, which means that military units cannot stack on top of each other.

He explains that, “I thought it was very elegant and would make a good fit for this game as well considering we’ve added these alternate game layers - such as the orbital layer - which sort of let you break that rule by launching units into space and having them effect units on the ground without being stacked on top of them.”

The fact that Civilization: Beyond Earth takes place on an alien world also allows the development team at Firaxis to introduce more innovative special abilities for units and to create interesting situations for the player to explore.

The studio is also working hard to create smarter computer opponents, which can actively challenge players.

The developer adds, “We've had the opportunity to do a great deal of work and learn from the successes that Civilization V had with its AI to make AI suited for Beyond Earth. We’re confident it’s going to do a great job. We’re working hard on it and the war simulations we’re running in our test games are already pretty crazy and fun.”

Civilization V introduced the one military unit per hex rule and the Artificial Intelligence was initially unable to properly deploy its armies to actually threaten player-controlled territory and cities.

Since then, Firaxis has launched two expansions for the game that managed to make the computer-controlled opponents somewhat smarter, although veteran gamers still say that the challenge that they offer is limited.

Civilization: Beyond Earth will take gamers to a range of possible alien planets that humanity aims to colonize after our own planet was affected by an unspecified great catastrophe.

Gamers will be able to explore new technologies and new gameplay mechanics that the developers will detail in the coming months.

Civilization: Beyond Earth will be launched on the PC before the end of the year, but Firaxis has not offered a clear date yet.