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Civilization: Beyond Earth's first expansion is typically broad-ranging, covering a big new feature, a few additional toys, and a measured recalibration of an existing system. It's inventive, it's often transformative - and, at present, it's also a little bit broken. Play the current code for any serious length of time and you'll find what strikes me as a pretty major bug lurking near the heart of the game's reworking of diplomacy mechanics. I've been in contact with 2K about this, and they've confirmed that the game isn't working properly at present but that a fix is on the way. I want to be clear up-front: this is not a game-breaking problem - and I'm going to explain it as best as I can in a few moments - but it does mean that the results of some of Rising Tide's most interesting ambitions are impossible to honestly comprehend for the time being (which is why we don't feel able to call this article our final review).For now, though, let's look at the wider package, starting with that headline new feature. Rising Tide offers a huge map-level twist to Firaxis' planet-conquering strategy game by allowing players to build aquatic cities, thus bringing the game's vast oceans more clearly into focus. Aquatic cities are unlocked early on in the tech web - although some civs start with them ready to go - and they're a little different to land-based settlements. On the downside, they're weaker, which makes sense when you picture a bunch of skyscrapers wibbling about on inter-connected dinghies. On the upside, though, rather than relying on traditional means of expansion, you can choose to move them around, gaining new territory in a sort of sluglike fashion, leaving a lengthy trail of urban development behind you. Lovely!
Moving cities about is handled by a selection in the production menu, which means that when you're making waves you can't be building anything else. It also allows for new strategies in terms of area denial that I'm still starting to get my head around. Early on, the compulsion to move comes from the fact that there are resources lurking nearby that you wouldn't mind getting a worker to have a look at. In the late game, though, and if I'm chugging towards a tricky victory while the rest of the planet decides it's time to give me a shoeing, I've started using them to run interference, to make it trickier - and more expensive - for anyone to get to my true heartlands.
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