Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword

Beyond the Sword, as the name would imply, focuses on economic and diplomatic improvements to the game, as opposed to the conquest-oriented Warlords expansion pack released a few months back (by the way, every change in Warlords is included in Beyond the Sword). The new systems include the ability to found corporations, colonies, and the addition of a new espionage aspect.



Corporations are founded by a Great Person and require access to a certain resource and grant your city bonuses in return. Depending on the corporation – there are several, ranging from seafood conglomerates to a record company – the costs and benefits are different. Some grant extra food, or wealth, or culture. They all require something in return. The seafood company requires access to clams or lobsters, for instance, and the mining company requires access to minerals. Corporations also consume wealth as a fee from cities in which they are present. The wrinkle that makes corporations more than glorified city improvements is the corporate executive, a unit that can be created in any city which the corporation has spread to. The corporate executive can spread the corporation’s influence to other cities within your own borders or to other civilizations, in the process granting bonuses and penalties to that city, but also increasing the amount of wealth earned in the city where the corporate headquarters is located. Right now, the system is a bit broken, and, combined with inflation late-game, a corporation can turn into a money-grubbing beast that can easily lay waste to your economy, but once this is fixed, things should even out, and no doubt corporations will be another integral part of a game of Civilization.

Another new system is espionage, which joins wealth, culture, and research as things which cities produce automatically. Players assign a certain percentage of espionage points per turn to their rivals, and after several turns players build up a balance of espionage points against a certain other player. These points can be used to incite rebellions, steal money from the treasury, destroy improvements, or poison water supplies. Various factors affect the cost of pulling these dirty tricks, including the presence of a spy or various buildings that can be built to guard against espionage activities. Plus, of course, spies can be built. Spies are invisible units which travel across the land and act like latter-day scouts and have the added ability of being able to infiltrate a city. Espionage is also available at a very early point in the game.

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