Overview
Multiplayer games are plagued by crashes, desyncs, quitters, and exploiters. This guide will hopefully shed some light on how to minimize those issues, in an effort to help everybody have the best multiplayer experience possible.
Introduction
As most people know, the multiplayer experience on Civilization: Beyond Earth is somewhat lacking. Yes, the game has a few balance issues that they’re working on… but that is not the biggest issue. The biggest issue is being able to start a game, and play it until somebody wins.
I have spent over 300 hours on this game so far, during this time I have studied what causes the various resync screens, crashes, exploits, and quitters. In this guide I hope to shed some light on what causes them, and how to prevent them.
Game Settings
In this section I’ll explain why the above settings are optimal for hosting a game.
Map Type:
Anything other than random, randomness contributes to possible desyncs, just keep in mind that some aren’t fun.
Map Size:
The map size should represent the number of players. Don’t go larger than you have to.
Game Pace:
Quick is standard for multiplayer, other types can be fun however.
Map Terrain/World Age/Temperature/Rainfall
Anything other than random, randomness contributes to possible desyncs.
Turn Mode:
Simultaneous is the standard setting for multiplayer.
Sea Level:
If you have an odd number of players, the map size will be too big/too small for the number of players. To fix this, go one size up and make the sea level high.
Resources:
Standard OR Strategic Balance are the typical multiplayer settings. With Strategic Balance however, many players opt to ban the tectonic scanner.
Victory Types:
Contact victory is a random victory, that is incredibly easy for veteran players to achieve. Untick this if you want a fair game, that lasts a while.
No turn timer:
You’ll notice I don’t use a turn timer. Right now, the turn timer is bugged, and can result in a freeze when the clock hits 0. In order to fix it, somebody has to leave. When people leave/rejoin it generally causes a resync screen. So in order to minimize this, opt to go with no timer. Just remember: fast play is fun play.
Allow Virtue Deferral:
Right now the “Develop a Virtue” bug happens every once in a while. It will pop up the turn after you chose a new virtue and say that you must develop a virtue. When you click to develop said virtue, you are unable to. This results in your inability to end your turn, and will end the game, if you try to leave/rejoin you will come back to the AI having somehow purchased every virtue possible. Utterly gamebreaking bug at the moment.
Quick Combat/Quick Movement
Remember, fast play is fun play. Nobody wants to wait while somebody watches his marines murder aliens, save that for single player.
No DLC:
Right now the DLC is bugged, and should be disabled. Many players uninstalled it just to be safe. Plus… not everybody has the DLC, making it harder to find a game.
Frenzied Aliens:
Frenzied Aliens will help those of us that are experienced, and hinder new players. For public games leave this disabled. They are fun to play with though, and I suggest at least trying it a couple times. Experienced players will quickly get the scavenging virtue (might tree, to the left of tier 2) in order to tech up early, and quickly.
Overpowered Sponsors
As of the recent patch, there are no sponsors that I ban.
Gameplay
Now that we’ve tackled how to host a game, and make it fair for everybody. It’s time to talk a bit about what players do within the game that either makes it crash, or makes it not fun for others.
Manners:
Play fair, play nice. Don’t rush the new guy that’s asking for help, don’t curse out the guy next to you for doing what he has to do to survive. Golden rule: Don’t be a ♥♥♥♥. This should go for every game, not just Beyond Earth.
When to quit:
It’s considered bad manners to quit before you’ve become obsolete. If one guy is ahead of you by leaps and bounds don’t be discouraged. Most games are free for alls, and that one guy at the top? Well he’s likely to be knocked down by multiple other people, you are likely needed in this endeavor even if you don’t think you are. Act as a buffer, use guerilla tactics, anything you can do to help. Quitting just adds an AI that will sue for peace, and give him cities. Remember that golden rule?
It is generally acceptable to quit if you have lost your capital, and are unable to get it back.
Resyncs:
This screen WILL show up. It looks like the loading screen when you first start a game. Wait through it, everything is usually fine. Do everything you can to prevent this screen though, as the more it occurs the more likely the game is to crash.
When you end your turn, and you’d like to do something else. You should first click the circle at the bottom to unready. If you issue a command to a unit or city, there is a chance it will cause a resync.
Play with people you know:
This game tends to have a fairly small, yet dedicated player base. I often host games with 6-8 players, all people I’ve played with before. Playing with people you know allows people that crash to rejoin, and it usually prevents people from being total ♥♥♥♥♥.
Known Bugs
Help me improve this guide, and the gameplay of others by telling me of any bugs you encounter. If you found a way to recreate it/prevent it, also include that.
These bugs commonly occur after a resync. I have only lost/gained affinity from resyncs, enough people reported spy agency and lost turns that I believe them though.
Spy Agency:
Sometimes a player will make a Spy Agency, just to be met with a resync screen and not be allowed to make spies. If this happens to you, either speak up (If you trust the players you’re with), or quickly try to get some defensive spies up through virtues, or the command center quest. This has yet to happen to me.
Lost Turns:
After a resync it is common for some players to lose a couple turn (somtimes up to 20!) on science, or production. To keep this to a minimum, try to not go for the techs that take 50 turns. This has yet to happen to me.
Affinity:
Sometimes players will gain/lose affinity. This can occur after an expedition is completed. After the resync screen the game registers last turns expedition as something else.
Power Explorer:
One game I was in, after a resync I had a super explorer. ♥♥♥♥ was crazy. Took a city with a 100 power explorer. This has only happened once, and no other players have reported it. No idea why this happened.
Civilization No Quitters group
I play with a nice group of Civ players regularly. Most of them are members of the Civilization No Quitters group. The rules within that group are simple, give them a read and then contact either myself, or another admin if you’d like to join. Helps a ton to be able to play with friendly, like minded individuals that will not quit games.
Link:
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