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Problems solved.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 41 / 48
Date: July 29, 2007
Author: Amazon User

As I understood it, the "Beyond the Sword" in the title referred to making the game more interesting in the period after most of the world's territory has already been staked out and all religions founded; previously there was little to do in the late-game apart from declaring war out of meandering ambition and/or boredom (which may yet have been some pretty spectacular social commentary though it didn't make the game any more fun to play). This expansion pack adds espionage, missing from Civ 4 until now, although as I understand it a popular feature in previous installments. I've so far heard mixed feedback as to how much weight it actually carries - and will admit that I didn't bother really trying it until my second or third game of Beyond the Sword - but I can confirm that it most certainly gives you something to do.

Beyond that, the game runs a bit better than it did previously, and the addition of neat little cause-effect events (i.e. "A dispute has arisen over a marriage between your citizen and a neighboring civilization's; offer money to boost foreign relations or decline and receive a boost in your cultural output") add a lot more than you'd think.

Meanwhile - as is always the case with expansions like this, there's hardly any way to react to any of the new tangible content (the requisite Civs, leaders, mods, etc.) other than to be glad of the fact that it's there, though that's no reason for complaint. Beyond the Sword makes Civilization IV a better game.

Worthy Expansion

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 37 / 41
Date: July 26, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I have enjoyed Civilization since my discovery of this wonderful game in the mid-90's. Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword is a nice addition if your a "builder", Warlords the last expansion added some great features, but Beyond the Sword has hit the ball out of the park with new spy unites early in the game, more complicated game dynamics including corporations, religion, spy related point system, and new wonders. Another big plus, is the advanced technology tree, I always wanted to continue past the "Future Techs"-- now I can. PS -- to play civ on linux see [...].

Sink your teeth into this hearty expansion!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 75 / 79
Date: August 13, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Beyond the sword offers so much more than the previous one. Here is what I believe to be the best aspects:

Espionage is now a much larger part of the game. You may use funding to increase and decrease the amount you would like to concentrate on it. Just like science and culture.

Next war mod- This will add about thirty more techs to your tree in the end-game. Clones, mechs, and mind control centers are just a few examples. The only thing I don't like about this is you have to load the mod in order for it too work. Also, it is a tad annoying that the end-game music plays throughout the entire game if you choose this.

A bunch more leaders and few more civs- this is always a bonus. Holy Roman Empire and Byzantium are great choices. Being a fan of ancient Mesopotamian culture I appreciate the Babylonians and Sumerian civs being added as well. Native Americans are also a fun addition.

There is a new random event concept that actually adds a lot of fun to the game. Something good or bad happens at random and you make choices that either make things better or worse.

When it comes to the scenarios, it looks like they were going for a bit of experimentation instead of the usual. Still if you're anything like me you play these once and never look at them again.

There is one that is like a cyber-punk scifi where you fight zombies. Interesting idea but there isn't much to it. Just walk around in dark buildings while you are assaulted by wave after wave of zombies.

Perhaps the best one is an outer space scenario where you colonize planets. About ten new space civs to choose from and a brand new tech tree .

The Charlemagne scenario as you may have guessed involves the many countries vying for power during the dark ages.

Broken star is a russian campaign that involves a fractured russia. Choose a faction and attempt to find nukes.

I believe the animations have been improved and the units of different civs have been changed so they have more personality. ie. an asian civ will look asian while a native american civ looks native american, instead of the units of every civ looking the same.

Unlike the last installment I believe your getting your moneys worth this time around.

Excellent Expansion for the Greatest Game Ever!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 17
Date: July 26, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I bought this expansion a few days ago and Sid Meier knows how to design a game and keep it going for decades; hopefully the future as well. I would love to see Sid Meier and Will Wright (Sims Franchise, Simcity Franchise), team up and create a game that is like "wooow," I just can't imagine playing this and realize that I never wen't to sleep lol. Imagine a Simcity/Sims/Civilization type of game where you can be the ruler of your civilization, build your civilizations and its cities/states/provinces/capitals/capitals/towns/villages and you can become a sim or all of the sims and act as thow you control a city/state and so forth, create factories, be responsible for activating your countries defenses, or go on multiple media and calm your citizens and even frighten them into loving your rule. Have elections and if you loose you could loose to a pacifist who will lower your budget on defenses, armed forces, and/or raise taxes, and expand influence. Anyway Im getting ahead of myself....

Sid Meirer rarely makes a stinker of a game (one was Railroads). This exapnsion is top of the line out of the 2 created for Civilization 4. Sid Meier is a GOD! While he creates a expansion with the theme of warlords which deals with wars; Beyond the Sword, deals with stuff outside of wars. Spies are greatly exapnded and while its not perfect it's at least a start. To me it was totally useless and weak in Civ4 and Warlords. The introduction of Corporations is a great addition to continue where religion begins to tale off and become non-existent but it just seems weird in which religion never penalized you. When you have a corporation it can. It would be nice to see that as a corporation grows, it might have an influence on your government. Other additions include: more Wonders, expanded and improved traits of Civilization leaders, more units including Cruisers, tactical nukes, guided missles, attack subs, Privateer, and Ship of the line just to name a few. Naval supremacy takes on a new title in the game now. You also have the introduction of canals, river trade routes and creating a forest preserve.

Between the 2 expansions and the core game this makes Civilization 4 a must have for strategy, simulation, and empire building gamers. While the core of the game is untouched from Civilization 3 in which you guide a civilization from the stone age to the future, it is much more polished, less buggy (not that it was very buggy), and the added content blends in masterfully. This is a remarkable game that makes it even worse to say," Just one more turn!" Sid, dont stop now!!!!! Add more please! More realism, more content!

Anyone remember Sovereign which was being developed by Sony Online--take all the concepts in it and blend it into Civ4 and you got a game that you haven't seen since David Lightman got in trouble with NORAD and Mr. McKittrick (Wargames).

Please note that this game tries to utilize the techniques and rendering of todays video cards as well as great sounds and acoustic enviroments on sound cards. Dont give this game 2 stars because your P4 7 years ago with a onboard sound card doesnt let you enjoy this game.

So much Fun!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: July 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I have been playing the Civilization games forever it seems. I started out with Civ II and havn't stoped since. This expansion blew me out of the water. It is so much fun and the new stuff like corperations and spies make the game even better. The only thing I am disappointed with is that there is no throne room or palace screen, and I miss the advisors from Civ II.

Alot of stuff

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: July 30, 2007
Author: Amazon User

What a supberb expansion pack! So much content it will take a while to check it all out. They did excellent with all their additions to the game on this expansion. Highlights of the expansion include: 10 new civs, 16 new leaders, 11 senarios, new additions to the space race, new events system, additions of corporations, natural disasters, quests, more modern era additions to weapons and military, and Even advance starts! They really packed this expansion full. Lots of content for those that felt jipped off the last expansion. This is one excellent expansion for civ IV lovers!

Civ4 is my favorite game ever-and now its even better!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 8
Date: August 02, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Warning: installing this game can be a nightmare! Make sure your current Civ4 install is up-to-date and fully patched-I had problems on Vista and my friend on XP.

This expansion rocks! It adds to the gameplay-new civ's, techs, and game play ideas.

Totally worth it-I'm addicted again.

A nice update for Civ fans

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: August 09, 2007
Author: Amazon User

For those folks looking to update your Civ playing time - this new update really hits the mark. With new wonders, technologies, features and world leaders - they have given folks enough new content to freshen up the series. Some of the new features, such as the espionage and corporation elements, sort of seem more trouble than its worth, but for some of the more detailed-oriented players, they will enjoy factoring in those new game elements. Even the most casual player, however, will like some of the new wonders and units. For me, the gameplay seems to be big step up from the original Civ IV game - and that makes it a bit more enjoyable than before.

Almost like playing a whole new game, but still familiar

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: August 23, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I preordered "Civ IV - Beyond the Sword" almost on a whim. I had also purchased the previous expansion, "Civ IV - Warlords" and had been very happy with it. I am very happy that I followed that whim. In my opinion, Civ IV is the best of the Civ series (which is saying a lot), and "Beyond the Sword" adds some very cool new features which increase the replayability (something very important to me).

The first thing that caught my eye was the new civilizations and new leaders for existing civilizations. I had liked the civilizations and leaders added with Warlords, and these are just as good (my favorite from Warlords was the Vikings). I've tried the Dutch twice now and like them a lot! I can't wait to try a game as the Americans, led by Abraham Lincoln.

As with Warlords, they also added new civ-specific units and some new units usable by all civs. The airship is a neat little air unit, usable by all, that you get around the same time you are getting Cavalry and Ironclads. It is supposed to be good at spotting Subs, but I wouldn't know since my opponent (the Celts led by Boudica) was using them against me while I still had wooden ships! The East Indiaman, a Dutch specific unit, is a vast improvement over the standard Galleon (2 more strength, 1 more carrying capacity), especially in games where control of the seas is a must. It can also be used in place of the Caravel since it can travel through enemy territory and neutrals without provoking war or requiring open borders. No wonder the Dutch became a trading empire!

And of course, there are new buildings and some new wonders including the very frustrating (but also very powerful) Apostolic Palace (a medieval version of the UN). A word of advice on the Apostolic Palace: you must spread your state religion to at least one city in every civilization in order to make use of the voting feature! I had to research a lot of forum threads to figure this out. The Dutch (can you tell I like these guys?) get the Dike, an improved version of the Levee (new building). The Levee gives you an extra hammer on all river tiles, the Dike gives you an extra hammer on all river AND ocean tiles. Both can be built about the time you discover Coal.

But the best feature in my opinion are the random world events. This truly makes every game a unique experience. Some events are good, some are bad, and some are competitive. There are a number of quests amongst these random events that you can attempt to complete for nice rewards (examples include build X number of Y unit type, build X number of buildings in your cities, or found/conquer at least 1 city on X number of continents). A bad event for your opponent is almost as nice as a good event for you. Many of the events seem to be tied to certain time periods, but some can reoccur over and over (surplus food, famous artist/musician, floods, fires, earthquakes). In one game I was invaded by the Goths (Axemen), and in another game by the Huns (Horse Archers)! I repelled both invasions, but it was challenging.

Finally, they added more scenarios and more mods to "Beyond the Sword". I have not tried these yet, but I did play 2 of the scenarios from Warlords and enjoyed both so I am sure when I finish my current game I'll give some of these a try. I don't remember Mods from Warlords, so I'll throw in this explanation. A scenario is completely self-contained game, while a mod can be incorporated into a standard game at startup. Also, "Beyond the Sword" allows you to begin a game in a later epoch, using a point-buy feature to start with multiple cities, buildings, units and terrain improvements. This allows you to start in the medieval era, gunpowder era, and even modern era.

If I had to find a complaint about "Beyond the Sword", it would be that not all the new features were fully explained in the Civilopedia. Or at least the interface wasn't fully explained. I had to discover some things through trial and error (like the later epoch start feature, or the Apostolic Palace). However, there are some great websites that can get you through this little difficulty (I recommend Civ Fanatics).

I strongly recommend this expansion for anyone who enjoyed Civ IV and/or the Civ IV Warlords expansion. For 1/2 the price of most new computer games, this little expansion will get you to dust off a familiar game engine and at the same time give you the experience of a whole new game. If you are like me, you'll play it more than once to try all the new features! And I still haven't told you about all of them....

WARNING: Be prepared to get drawn back into your little Civ world and lose track of many, many, many hours! Just like when you first got Civ IV, Civ III, Civ:CTP, or any of the other Civ products and expansions. You will not be disappointed.

Incredible Game play

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: August 23, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Just to let everyone know that this game expansion in great. Dont hesitate to pick to this up.

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