Ever since the days of MS-DOS, Sid Meier has been producing episodes of his main strategy franchise, Civilization. The basic gameplay hasn't changed much over the years, but he somehow manages to add something significantly new with each release. Today's release is the latest expansion for Civilization IV, Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword. The question is, will it be another triumph in Sid Meier's chain of successes or will it become the weakest link?
In order to solve this question, you'll need to take a look at the new additions brought in by the expansion. The largest of these additions is the new espionage mechanics. You can now store up a large number of espionage points in each nation which end up playing two roles. The first is to make it harder for other nations to perform espionage operations. You can do this by simply having a large ratio of your points versus their points, or even by performing espionage actions that decrease it over a short period of time. The second is to disrupt, destroy, and disable enemy nations' cities and units. The most annoying of these removes all progress towards a current project, which can take a wonder from being finished in one turn to being finished in sixty.
