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[Tarran]

I must say, despite the fact that the diplomatic system is now vastly more interesting and tactical, paradoxically, it feels... more sterile, and arbitrary.

You can no longer trade energy, cities, resources, and so on and so fourth, which makes it feel somewhat less alive. Wars are frequent and, frankly, feel slightly arbitrary despite the transparency. Getting to be friends with a leader now entirely depends on the traits they pick, which is, well, difficult to predict. Definitely rough around the edges, will definitely need to be improved. It could be significantly better than pre-RT diplomacy, but for now it feels... iffy.

Still, there are other interesting things now. Artifacts, in particular, are fantastic. They give you a reason to explore, besides a few-turn bonus. They even give you a reason to scour the map late game, with explorers, in the hope of maybe finding a few artifacts to unlock a building or bonus, or get just one more artifact that you need to unlock a building/bonus you want (since unlocks actually depend on the artifacts you use). Ocean cities, while not groundbreaking, give another direction of expansion, such that no longer is the ocean a hard barrier to expansion. Now, it's just another frontier. Plus, you can FINALLY improve resourceless ocean and coast tiles.

Overall, I'd say that RT has improved the game fairly well... though it's definitely got a few noticeable rough edges.

[Astral]

I'm looking forward to when it goes on discount, at least. In many ways it's still an inferior game, mechanically, to Alpha Centauri, or even Civ 5 with expansions but it's slowly getting there.

[Chiefwaffles]

Yeah, with further playtime diplomacy does seem to be a little weird in that fashion.
Like, it appears that the only thing you can do via diplomacy now is change your official relationship status (War/Condemned/Neutral/Friendly/Ally) if you have enough of the relationship points, or use the agreements system.

It's a step in the right direction, though. If Civ VI or the next BE expansion changes diplomacy again, I personally think it should be based on Rising Tide's system with some elements from the old civ diplomacy and some new additions.
It doesn't even have to be something like making it so you can go into a trading menu like before in addition to everything else, it can just be something that allows you to do more official trading and the like. Some more ways to improve relations with a faction other than being super-awesome/super-scary would be nice too. Like bribing, helping them (quest time!), etc.

EDIT:
Also the new title menu background thing is totally Atlantis.
No doubt about it.

[umiman]

Also AC came with its own reading list. It lurved its story.

There are two things I will always remember about AC:

1. Watching your trusted aide get consumed by the mind worm blob.

2. "We hold life to be sacred, but we also know the foundation of life consists in a stream of codes not so different from the successive frames of a watchvid. Why then cannot we cut one code short here, and start another there? Is life so fragile that it can withstand no tampering? Does the sacred brook no improvement?" - Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang, "Dynamics of Mind".

[Chiefwaffles]

1. Watching your trusted aide get consumed by the mind worm blob.

Wait, what? I played through SMAC but I don't remember this part. Is there a link to a full thing anywhere?

[umiman]

I think it was more like, you imagine your trusted aide get consumed by the boil. Not sure on the details.

It was something like you see her get in there and all you can think about is her being destroyed by it or something like that.

Though IIRC, if that first boil actually got killed, another event fires concerning it.

[Majestic7]

"Beware he who would seek to control your access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master" has stuck with me from AC quotes. It is very accurate in our day and world too. I think these kind of small things are where Beyond Earth fails. Just the fact technology quotes are read by the same female voice and not by the voice actors of the characters quoted - things like that all fail to build the atmosphere up where it is in AC.

[Ibid Straydrink]

"My gift to industry is the genetically engineered worker, or Genejack. Specially designed for labor, the Genejack's muscles and nerves are ideal for his task, and the cerebral cortex has been atrophied so that he can desire nothing except to perform his duties. Tyranny, you say? How can you tyrannize someone who cannot feel pain?"

That one always moves my heart.

[puke]

There are a couple that have stuck with me.  "Human behavior is economic behavior" probably my favorite.

I also like "you fill the skies where we watched a million sunsets with flame and contrails"

[Neonivek]

I'll skip my usual satire by pretending that AC sucks because it isn't like Beyond Earth, the flat out inferior game.

[IronyOwl]

"Why do you continue to insist that the genetic code is 'sacred' or 'taboo'? It is a chemical reaction and nothing more. For that matter, we are chemical reactions and nothing more. If you deny yourself a useful tool simply because it reminds you uncomfortably of your own mortality, then you have uselessly and pointlessly crippled yourself."


...but back to BE, I too look forward to Rising Tide going on sale. Really dislike building cities inland anyway, so colonizing EVEN MORE WATER will no doubt be right up my alley.

[Chiefwaffles]

Sea stuff is actually engaging now. In my current playthrough, I feel like I'm spending more time managing ocean stuff than I am land stuff.
Though it may partially be thanks to the fact that it's easier to move through the ocean than land.

[Tarran]

Fun fact: That ability to move through the ocean faster, combined with the lack of vision blocking, makes the ocean significantly better when searching for artifacts.

The AI also seems to be unable to recognize that things can spawn in the ice sheets, and thus mid-late game the northernmost and southernmost parts of the map can hide a few goodies.

[thegoatgod_pan]

I got the expansion. How the hell do they manage to unbalance a game so egregiously: the Chinese civ bonus is now: each city gets to build its first wonder for free.

What?!

This is made even more insane by the old issue: the game gave no compelling reason not to build 20+ cities, since they added more energy than they took away and health didn't matter much anyway. Now you also get 20 free wonders for doing it.

Do they have a team of monkeys balancing this?

Diplomacy is now unrecognizable as diplomacy.

Otherwise, game looks better and hybrid affinity specific units should have been in the game from the start.

I also do not understand why they couldn't add space cities to the mix. Moving cities already exist, space layer already exists, so what the hell?

I guess that is just going to be the next expansion.

[Majestic7]

I think the greatest problem with diplomacy is that there is never a reason not to accept a deal. When you make a treaty proposed by other guy, he gets a bonus, sure, but you get diplomatic points. You lose nothing. So unless you don't want to support someone in the lead, it is always worth it.