When an expansion pack is released for a game, the connotation is usually negative. These days, sequels are often referred to as expansion packs while the actual expansions are viewed as not worth the extra money. In some senses Beyond the Sword fits this mold as well. However, that's only for the people who have already purchased
Civilization IV and the first expansion called Warlords. For those who are new to Civilization IV or simply haven't purchased an expansion for the game yet, Beyond the Sword is a definitely worthy of a purchase.
New Content
Beyond the Sword contains quite a bit of content. First, it contains everything in the Warlords expansion minus the scenarios. Since I am not as big of a fan of the scenarios, this does not bother me as much. Besides, I found that the scenarios in Warlords, while decent, pale in comparison to many of the fan-created mods already out there now.
Beyond the Sword has two huge features added to the game: Corporations and Espionage. With Beyond the Sword you can now found Corporations. When you acquire the corporation technology, combined with another technology and a specific great person, you can start a corporation in one of your cities. Corporations act a lot like religions. They're uniquely founded in a single city; they can spread to other cities within our outside of your borders. The biggest differences is that you can somewhat control the spread of your corporation. Also while religions can get you into diplomatic hot water if not used correctly, corporations can get you into financial hot water if used incorrectly.
Espionage is also a great addition to Civilization IV. Once your civilization advances to a certain point, a slider appears next to your research slider. It allows you to allocate a certain percentage of your commerce towards espionage. This can be weighted across all your opponents or just directed at one. Acquiring espionage points against an opponent allows you to aggressively subvert their cities and tiles by destroying them or creating unhappiness or health problems. You can also perform espionage missions which allow you to peacefully quell your opponent's wrath towards you. This is by encouraging them to change state religions or civics. Finally, you can also use your spies to subvert your opponents' spy missions in your own territory as well as try to steal your opponent’s technology.
What I like the most about these additions is how they add so much to the gameplay. Like many other gameplay aspects of Civilization IV, Corporations and Espionage do not play the role of a trump card where novice users can steamroll their way to victory. Instead these new mechanics can lead to problems if misused or misapplied. If you spread your corporation to too many cities, it'll dry up your economy. However if applied just right it can bankrupt your opponents or kick start a new city's growth. Similarly, espionage is not powerful enough to single handedly defeat your opponent and if used too much you'll foster diplomatic animosity as well as sacrifice your technological progress. Still, with the correct tweaking, your espionage missions can allow you just enough of an advantage to win a war, or win a diplomatic victory.
New Scenarios
Beyond the Sword contains about a dozen new scenarios. Most of them are cleverly created like the futuristic Next War or Rhye's and Fall of Civilization. While some contain quite a bit of plot in them, others seek to recreate specific moments in history like Charlemagne's Wars or World War II: Road to War. Most of these scenarios are pretty well constructed and do add quite a bit of replay value to the expansion pack. I tend to play the default game more than anything itself, but these are worthy additions to the series and depending on your tastes can be worth the price of the expansion itself.
New Leaders, Units, and Buildings
Beyond the Sword also includes many new units like the Privateer, Tactical Nuke, Great Spy and Executive. Most of the newer units are set in the Modern Age, though there are a few that can affect other time periods as well. Most of the units fare well and for the most part help to balance out the warfare matchups later on in the game, especially when battles can rage over land, sea, and air.
In addition to the new units, you have 13 new buildings including 5 new world wonders, one of which allows you to achieve diplomatic victory earlier in the game; 2 new national wonders, and 6 regular buildings. There are also 6 new technologies which allow you to access many of these new buildings and units. Most of the technologies are available late in the game.
There are 16 new leaders, 10 of which are part of new civilizations. Like Warlords some leaders' traits needed to be shuffled around to accommodate the newer leaders. I like the addition of many of these leaders since they add more depth to the game when you combine the different traits together combined with their other advantages.
Like with Civilization IV, these new units and leaders were obviously added very carefully as not to disrupt the balance of the game. If anything the addition of these units and buildings serve more to expand out the tree of possibilities when playing the game. However, I found that there is no sure route to victory as a result of these additions.
Other Improvements
Beyond the Sword also features random events. For instance that mountain sitting within your cultural borders could be a volcano waiting to erupt. And when it does it could destroy your pasture. Similarly, coastal cities are subject to hurricanes that can destroy buildings or lower population. Random events can also lead to more deliberate diplomatic pathways. For instance sometimes you have the option to help out a neighbor coping with one of these disasters, which only helps your relations with that person. So while these events add a certain amount of random dumb luck to the game, it's not enough to drastically or even significantly alter the course of the game only to provide minor annoyances or advantages.
Requirements
The following is required to play Beyond the Sword:
A copy of Civilization IV
1.2 GHz processor
256MB RAM
64MB Video card with DirectX 9 support
1.7GB of Hard drive space
Conclusion
Beyond the Sword is a very worthy expansion set. It comes with all the changes that were implemented in Warlords like Great Generals and Vassal States. The people who get the worst out of this deal are those of which who own both Civilization IV and the Warlords expansion. Beyond the Sword really shines for those who are new to Civilization IV or simply haven't invested in Warlords yet. Still, for $20 Beyond the Sword is still a good deal. The addition of Corporations and Espionage alone are two fantastic editions to the game.
