So, Civilization 6 came out last Friday but instead of Civ: 6 they're calling it Civ: Beyond Earth. It's pretty similar to Civ: 5, but takes place after the science victory of Civ: 5. I started on "Mercury" difficulty for my first play through on a medium sized world and was able to win with a Harmony victory not long after maxing the Harmony Affinity. My people of the Pan Asian Cooperative had, at this point, become some sort of alien-human hybrids and built a big sentient flower thing that united them all.
Or something.
Anyhoo, if you like Civilization 5, you'll like Beyond Earth. Diplomacy is pretty much the same, except you no longer get mad at historical figures as there are no more historical figures but instead "futuristic" heads of state that you don't care nearly as much about. Although it is amusing that the future "President" of America (the American Reclamation Corporation, or ARC) is a half mexican - half african-american woman who is a CEO & not a President.
Being able to yell at futuristic Ghandi would have been swell, but I'll have to wait for the mods I guess...
The Afinities seem neat, but I'm trying for a Purity play through the 2nd time around on a harder difficulty & finding it hard to "stick" with Purity. Each affinity seems to lead to new units too, which is kind of neat. Its the BE version of CIV 5's Idiologies, essentially.
The revamped Espionage mechanic improves upon Civ 5s and can even lead to a Domination victory without having to battle anyone by mounting Coups. So there's that too.
One more turn time now....