Civilization V Analyst

About the Analyst

This site tracks pre-release information about games in the Civilization series. Why do I do this? Because I'm not sane -- I enjoy playing "intelligence analyst" trying to parse data out of screenshots and assembling a coherent picture of the game. And because it often seems that the information isn't available elsewhere.

Pardon the messy, temporary nature of the pages. They are large and image-heavy, and frequently change. There is usually a limited window between the time the information is available and the release of the game (at which point it becomes mostly irrelevant), and so things are rarely as polished as I would like. Post-release, I try to keep things updated as best I can, but there are other sources that probably do a better job as post-release games guides (see links below).

Links

Civilization Series Official Site: Overviews of Beyond Earth and previous entries in the series.
Civilization V Official Site: Not a lot of information here, but a few screenshots, videos, and podcasts with the developers.
Civilization Fanatics Center Forums: Discussion of Civilization. I post here as "AriochIV".
Civilization V Civilopedia Online: a faithful online version of the in-game documentation. Includes a Beyond Earth version.
Well of Souls: My main website, containing my artwork and Outsider webcomic, and other game projects similar to this one.
Stars in Shadow: The indie space 4X game that I'm currently working on as artist and co-designer.

People

A number of names get mentioned in various notes around the site, so here is a key to who is whom in Civilization Land:

David McDonough: Beyond Earth co-Lead Designer, Firaxis Games
Will Miller: Beyond Earth co-Lead Designer, Firaxis Games
Lena Brenk: Beyond Earth Producer, Firaxis Games
Anton Strenger: Beyond Earth Lead Systems & Gameplay Designer, Firaxis Games
Dennis Shirk: Civilization Senior Producer, Firaxis Games
Pete Murray: Marketing Associate, Firaxis Games

Ed Beach: G & K and BNW Lead Designer, Firaxis Games
Kate Distler: a.k.a. "Ga1Friday," Community and Social Media Manager for 2K Games

Casey O'Toole: G & K Lead Programmer, Firaxis Games
Liam Collins: G & K Designer/Developer, Firaxis Games
Tiffany Nagano: G & K Producer for 2K Games

Jon Shafer: Civ V Lead Designer, Firaxis Games
Brian Wade: Civ V Programming Lead, Firaxis Games
Dorian Newcomb: Civ V Lead Artist, Firaxis Games
Dan Baker: Civ V Graphics Lead, Firaxis Games
Garrett Bittner: Civ V Producer for 2K Games
Greg Laabs: a.k.a. "2K Greg," Civ V Community Manager, 2K Games
Elizabeth Tobey: a.k.a. "2K Elizabeth," Sr. Manager, Interactive Marketing, 2K Games

Thanks to Greg Rozmarynowycz for his groovy stylesheet work.

Recent Updates (detailed change log)

09 October 2015: The Civilization: Beyond Earth expansion Rising Tide is now available for purchase in North America.

26 September 2015: Firaxis has revealed the fourth and final new faction, Chungsu.

Sorry for the lack of updates recently. I moved a few months ago, and the internet connection at my new place is terrible, making it difficult to watch the new gameplay videos, especially at resolutions high enough to take quality screenshots.

22 July 2015: A variety of new previews and gameplay videos are being released today; check the change log for updates over the next few days.

17 June 2015: Firaxis is showing a bit of Rising Tide at E3. Check the updates for new information and links to previews and gameplay footage.

18 May 2015: Firaxis has announced an expansion for Beyond Earth, titled "Rising Tide," targeted for Fall 2015 release. It adds four new factions, dynamic leader traits, aquatic cities, two new biomes, and new hybrid affinity units. I have put up a quick overview of the new features.

29 January 2015: Firaxis posted a video of their PAX South panel with Sid Meier and Will & David, which includes an overview of Starships and some brief gameplay (which begins at about 32:50). Sid and Pete Murray also have an introduction and gameplay video up on Twitch.tv.

19 January 2015: 2K/Firaxis has just announced Sid Meier's Starships, which appears to be a Master of Orion style 4X space strategy game which ties into the Civilization: Beyond Earth setting. It is scheduled for release in "early 2015" for PC, Mac and iPad. Check the above link for GameSpot's announcement, a few screenshots, and a trailer video.

23 October 2014: Civilization: Beyond Earth is now available in most regions. Enjoy!

14 October 2014: The unit stats for standard and Harmony units are now mostly up to date. The Purity and Supremacy units stats are still out of whack.

09 October 2014: The unit strengths have been changed in the latest build, so expect the unit stats listed here to be out of whack for a while until I can get enough new data to correct them.

01 October 2014: 2K posted a nice "Discovery" gameplay trailer.

26 September 2014: Firaxis did their seventh livestream today with MadDjinn, showing some midgame strategies and mechanics changes. There are also a number of other new articles and livestreams around the web. I'll be posting updates over the weekend.

18 September 2014: Firaxis did their sixth livestream today, detailing some mid-game technolgies.

11 September 2014: Firaxis did their fifth livestream today, detailing the Covert Ops system.

04 September 2014: Firaxis did their fourth livestream, showing some late-game Harmony units and detailing the Virtues. Check the change log for updates later in the day.

03 September 2014: Post PAX Prime it appears some media embargoes have been lifted, and so there have been a number of "First 100 turn" videos posted. Check the bottom of the links for the videos and the change log for updates.

28 August 2014: Firaxis did their third livestream. I will be posting updates throughout the day.

21 August 2014: Firaxis is doing their second livestream. I will be posting updates throughout the day.

13 August 2014: Gamereactor.dk posted a number of detailed new screenshots, showing some late-game Purity and Supremacy units and structures on a Fungal biome map. I have added the relevant images and information to the Units, Buildings and Terrain sections.

7 August 2014: Firaxis has done a Beyond Earth livestream on Twitch; I've posted a few updates, and will continue to do so as a better quality version of the video becomes available.