Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword announced
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Mar 28th 2007 at 6:55PM }
Strategy junkies get ready to be home bound this summer, 2K announced the second expansion for Civilization IV entitled Beyond the Sword. The expansion will be out by the end of July and focus on the late-game time period after gunpowder. This puppy is big with ten new civs, 16 new leaders, five new wonders and a slew of other additions.Civilization IV's last expansion, Warlords, focused on combat. Beyond the Sword is designed for the players looking to dominate through other methods. Corporations will allow players to trade resources throughout the world, espionage will be allowed earlier in the game and the race to Alpha Centauri will require more strategy. There will also be advanced starts, allowing players to skip ahead and experience the new content. Which is great, but like Damion Shubert said at GDC, "There's still nothing like that first hour of a game in Civilization when players are just starting their empire."
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Patrick @ Mar 28th 2007 7:12PM
2k, hmmmmm, a subsidiary of take two, who is "selling"?
Quando @ Mar 28th 2007 7:34PM
Thats haut.
Sub @ Mar 28th 2007 7:48PM
W/e, Civilization IV was horrible anyway.
Civ 2 > Civ 4
Back_Lit @ Mar 28th 2007 7:56PM
@3: Whaaaaaaa? Civ 4 was great. It finally dealt with the problem of having to watch automated units move, you didn't have to!
Civ 4 allows people to play the game through a variety of different strategies that one simply couldn't do in Civ 2. I personally find cultural victories to be far more satisfying than pure militant combat, mainly because by the time you have to go to war with your enemies you've either captured a # of their cities with culture or they are starving to death due to a lack of territory and growth.
More Civ 4? Yes please.
Quando @ Mar 28th 2007 7:59PM
Sub, I think Civ Uno was absolute gaming gold. Its the only game I actually had to buy my own PC for and then wouldnt leave to get food.
But unless you know of any expansions for 1-3, this is the civ pron right here
Jake @ Mar 28th 2007 9:30PM
I agree that Civ IV kicks ass. It's the first game since Civ I that I've actually stayed up the entire night playing on a non-weekend. I'm not a huge fan of combat in the Civilization games either, so this expansion sounds great to me.
Andrew Hsieh @ Mar 28th 2007 9:58PM
My computer, being an old and ugly PC, can't handle playing Civilization IV without dying halfway through -- but I throughly enjoy Civilization III (and all its expansions) on a daily basis. :D And seriously -- the man's right. Nothing like building up an Aztec or Incan army to annihilate the Spanish, or striking at the Japanese with the Chinese.
I dunno, I just like putting history in odd positions. It's . . . fun.
matias @ Mar 29th 2007 6:23PM
This is awesome, finally they have something for the pacifists!
NoHitHair @ Mar 29th 2007 4:50AM
Oh goody, an expansion to the most linear Civilization yet.
I'll stick with Civ II & sometimes Civ III.
http://blog.myspace.com/nohithair
Daniel Searson @ Mar 30th 2007 7:25AM
I find the civilisation series is heading towards a very prominant goal; The new concept of your civilisation producing a business to stand the test of time is fantastic because it asks the question, do particular businesses have an impact on civilisations and/or empires?
Although i am not sure what the new empires are i hope the next civilisation series uses Australia as a new civilisation, this is because Australia has acheived so much more than the Zulus and the unique unit could be ANZAC Infantry.
Furthuremore long life Civ probley the best strategy game on the shelf
down_with_mao @ May 10th 2007 5:40PM
With more civs, leaders, wonders, units, and other additions not related to the purely military aspect of the game, I don't understand how anyone could call this game more linear than its predecessors. I suspect that people who are stuck on Civ 2 found that with the changes in Civ 3 onward, their trusty old linear victory strategies no longer work, and rather than learn new ones, they project their disappointment onto the new releases. If any version is linear, it's Civ 2 where the right Wonder combo is essentially an "I win" button. Kudos to Sid and the gang for the line-of-sight, zone-of-control, combat and wonders changes that continue to make the Civ series less linear with every update. Looking forward to this one!