Headscratchers / Civilization: Beyond Earth

• Why do Supremacy units have religious-sounding names like "prophet" and "redeemer"? Supremacy is the science focused affinity, so why do they name their units like they're a cult?
  • Because science is a method of thinking and problem solving; the whole "science vs religion" farce is mildly amusing at best and grossly misleading at worst. All the affinities use science, but Supremacy believes in "the god from the machine" a la cybernetics, cyborgs, and the like, and their units and structures reflect that belief.
  • Perhaps because of the transcendental nature of it. The idea that they're ascending to a higher form of existence, so their rank would show the level of supremacy they have attained. Then again, the developers might just appreciate the duality of it. Just because supremacy is focused on tech doesn't mean it's atheistic.
    • It also doesn't make sense that civs that have an atheist leader (PAU) or have traditionally non-Christian cultures (PAC, KP) to give their units quasi-Christian names.
    • It's most likely a concession of the game design to make the terminology generally universal. The unit types are the same for all factions, and it makes more sense to make the term applicable for most factions instead of a set name that would feel esoteric (for example: KP naming something "deva" makes some sense, but why would ARC, FI, SF, etc. follow suit?), and modifying each units names on a by-faction basis while keeping the units visually and functionally identical would just be confusing.
    • Possible fridge brilliance: Not all factions speak the same language. It's quite possible that some nations do call their units things like "Deva", and the game pulls a Woolseyism and call it an Angel. As for nations with Atheist leaders, their leaders probably didn't invent the unit (he just hired somebody to) and so they got to name it.
    • Machine Worship? Or maybe the fact that the Supremacy philosophy is, effectively, trying to reach The Singularity, and, taken to a logical extreme, will result in a godlike AI/uploaded personality hivemind?
    • From a Doylist perspective, it's possible that they are based on BSG's Cylons, who are very religious machines.
    • It's just a name. They just did that because it's a cool, badass-sounding name for a piece of technology. The reason they're all named after various religious entities, is well, Theme Naming. Once there's a theme, further development along the same lines (Ie, Tanks, Ships) tend to follow the same naming scheme, like the Abrams, Patton, and Sherman Tanks.
  • All of the Affinities are rather religious in character; just check the quotes. Even if the original faction and leadership were atheistic in character, developing along the lines of any affinity seems to include spiritual, as well as technological and ideological, transformation. Either a faction develops a religious reverence for the human form, for the Planet and unity with it, or for technological transcendence and ascension.
• On a similar note to the above head scratcher, Why would Asian cultures adopt the Roman Look? It makes sense for western cultures to adopt a Roman look (the SPQR being an ancestor of nearly all western societies), but wouldn't PAC prefer its Battlesuits to look more like samurai?
  • Well, Purity Factions are basically in love with everything that comes from earth and most likely Rome is the Culture of which they know the most and it has for sure a prominent place in their lore (remember that their knowledge has it's mistakes, maybe they thought Rome was in east Asia as well). Plus Rome is famous for developing from one small village into an empire, basically what they want to do, so Rome is their idol.
  • It could be another concession (like with Theme Naming above), a Purity-aligned KP city could have skyscrapers that look like Hindu temples or the Taipei 101 so I'm all for the PAC marching into battle headed by samurai Astartes.
• Why is Daoming compared to Sheng-Ji Yang all the time? I know the obvious reason, but she has shown no sign of supporting anything like Yang's fascist/communist dictatorial ideology.
  • I have to agree. I find myself puzzled by this one as well. In fact no faction in Beyond Earth seems quite as bad as Yang. If SMAC has a villain, Yang is that villain.
  • Personally, I think it's because she comes off as very single-minded/determined and appears willing to trample people if they're in the way. Those are personality traits that Yang also has, though their goals are likely different.
  • Also, her quote on the characters page is almost a paraphrase of one of Yang's, describing how he plays fast-and-loose with human genetics. Obviously you shouldn't judge a person, real or fictional, based on a single quote, but it shows that Firaxis wanted SMAC veterans to associate Daoming with Yang, even if she doesn't go nearly as far as him.
• The Progeniters evolved on the Planet. All life native to the planet is linked with the hive mind of the planet. Does this mean that the Progeniters were similar in nature to your civ if you're aiming for a Harmony Victory?
• Why are Terrascapes not an affinity specific improvement limited to only Purity factions? They represent the complete antithesis to what Harmony (Who believes in preserving and becoming part of the planet's existing ecosystem) and Supremacy (Who believes in removing themselves from any ecosystem entirely by embracing technology) stands for, since Terrascapes are basically a deliberate and mass scale reenactment of the Columbian Exchange via introducing Earth flora into the Planet's ecosystem.
  • Well, there are several possible reasons, depending on how you look at it (just like a lot of other things in-game). It also depends on what exactly you think the Terrascape is.
    
    Harmony could be using it as a controlled testbed (I'm pretty sure integration isn't only for the people they brought along), either to see how unmodified Earth plants handle the new conditions (so they know what needs to be altered) or to test out how their modifications to the plants work.
    
    Supremacy doesn't really care one way or the other about preserving or altering the environment unless it benefits them to do so, so if some Earth plants would provide them with something useful that the native life can't, they'll grow as many as they need.
    
    One that would work for either is simply as a memorial of sorts to the planet they left behind. While that's more a Purity thing, Harmony and Supremacy still consist of humans and getting sentimental would not be beyond either of them.
  • The idea of hybrid affinities actually makes you think. What would Purity/Harmony and Supremacy/Harmony be like?
    • Supremacy/Harmony would be a "whatever works" faction, doing whatever it takes to survive, whether that be using cybernetics or integrating with the environment. Purity/Harmony would be biological segregationists, preferring to leave both humanity and the planet in their "natural" states, without "corrupting" them by mixing the two. Supremacy/Purity would love humanity, but see humanity's primary advantage as being that they are big-brained tool users that invent technology, and thus would create robots and cybernetics, but preserve some version of the human form.
• Why are native units received by studying alien skeletons incapable of moving over water? This can be really annoying, if you happen to study a skeleton on a remote island.
  • Most likely because barring drones and sea life, none of them are adapted to swimming or otherwise crossing bodies of water (being land-based predators.) The aggravation about it is still justified though.
• One thing that bothers me is that why is there no tech or orbital unit that allows you to reveal the entire map (ala Satellites tech in Civ V)? Given that you appear to be capable of boosting satellites up to geo-stationary orbit, one in a lower orbit that maps out the planet in greater detail should be very practical, even allowing for the chance of other factions shooting it down. Even handwaving some reason for having it to be a late game development would still make it easier. Especially as a couple of closely spawned alien nests can make it impossible for explorer units from revealing all of the map.
• Is anyone else bothered by the fact that hybrid affinities do not seem to share the base affinities' primary theme of the connection between humans and their new planet? Purity would modify the environment so humans can live in it. Harmony would modify humans so they can live in the environment. Supremacy would modify humans so they become independent from the environment. From there, Purity celebrates human nature and history, Harmony embraces genetic engineering and Supremacy embraces cyborgs. But hybrid affinities seem entirely focused on combining the latter aspects. Purity-Harmony wants to create the ideal human. Purity-Supremacy has human masters and robot servants. Harmony-Supremacy gives humans both genetic and mechanical augmentations.
  • Because the hybrid Affinity is, well, a hybrid. How the two ideals fit together is dependent on you, the player, and how you raise them and what you then do with your Affinity points. You can be a mostly Purity player dipping into Harmony to gain some advantages, or you can be a perfect melting pot of both, respecting the environment while refusing to change to adapt to it. There's more analysis elsewhere, but in general, the hybrid Affinities can be as different as the "straight" ones, based on how you build them.
• Why does the Augmentation technology, which is described as being viewed as "an essential step to transhumanism", cause you to gain Purity affinity points, when a large part of Purity is being against transhumanism?
  • Turning yourself into a robot with a human brain crammed in it or becoming what some could charitably describe as a bioluminescent half-human hybrid, is several leagues away from say, power armor (man within machine, but separate, and fully still man,) which can be seen as a form of augmentation technology; in addition to this, many of its applications seem to focus on repairing damage to one's genetics and the like (such as from toxins or radiation,) and life extension - something that Purity-aligned folk would be very interested in, moreso than those opting for cyberization or ecologic harmony.
  • Purity doesn't have a problem with augmentation, so long as the human mind and perception isn't changed. Supremacy and Harmony augmentation is much more extreme, and outright alter their perceptions of the world around them.
• Why did INTEGR choose Lena Ebner despite her age? It's mentioned she has right connections (she came from wealthy family), smart, and experienced leader and diplomat. Yet her age still raises a concern. It is stated that her cousin Elodie used her media savvy to sway public opinion. But, there is no statement that Ebner did something to be chosen.
  • Presumably with advanced medicine, or at least the kind the rich and well-connected have access to, Ebner's age is not so much a factor as it would be to us.
• What is Purity's angle on replacing limbs or organs lost to injury or disease? Do they clone a new one or do they use prosthetics?