History VideoGame / CivilizationBeyondEarth

Also diverging from the previous Civilization games, Victories are delivered via a quest system; each colony expedition gets four victory quests at the beginning of the game and is told step-by-step what is needed to accomplish them. Three are tailored to one of the affinities and the fourth is one that anybody can do. They are:

* Domination Victory (General victory): Unlike the other victories, this one doesn't have a quest chain associated with it. Like previous ''Civilization'' games, conquering every other human faction on the planet will win you the game. ''Unlike'' previous ''Civilization'' games, you need only capture all your opponents' starting cities (players can't redesignate other cities to be their capital).

* AllStereotypeCast: The initial leaders roster consists of a dour, workaholic Russian, a religious Indian who speaks in flowery language, a scheming American capitalist, a violent, blunt Brazilian, an affable, irreverent Australian, a genius Chinese scientist, and a cultured French snob.

* ArchaeologicalArmsRace: Your Explorers can excavate abandoned Progenitor structures, abandoned Human settlements (from previous failed Seeding expeditions or destroyed Stations/Cities), giant alien remains and crashed satellites/starships, in addition to popping open resource pods sent by your faction back on Earth ahead of your ship's arrival. Each one provides some kind of bonus when you successfully grab it so make sure you get them before the other factions.

* FleshVersusSteel: The dynamic going on with Supremacy (which prefers cybernetics and robotics) and Harmony (which uses genetic engineering and controlling alien lifeforms). That said, Supremacists have been confirmed to use some genetic engineering, while Harmonist leaders eventually gain mechanical "ports" in their head, showing that it's not a dichotomy.

** One of the choices for the Xeno Sanctuary building implies that Harmony colonies develop a sort-of alien-centred animism, in a manner similar to Shintoism or many of the traditional African or Native American belief systems.

* ReversePolarity: The quest for the Ultrasonic Fence asks you if you want to make the device portable in order to protect trade convoys, this trope is apparently how it is done.

* ScannableMan: A shown in the ''The Chosen'' trailer, at least the people authorized to board the colony ships have a barcode on their forearms.

* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: Expanded intelligence options include things like planting a suitcase nuclear bomb in another player's city, planting a thumper to call in a bunch of Siege Worms on the unlucky city or knocking out all improvements within 5 tiles.
** Then there's the dichotomy of a player progressing to positive relations with the aliens spread across the planet in one game, only to commit localizaed genocide against them in the very next.

** Even worse? A Spy from a faction with sufficient levels in Harmony can call a bunch of them to a city if the Intrigue level is high enough.

-->-- "A New Beginning" Announcement Trailer

As you land on the planet and combat the alien wildlife and other colony expeditions, your colony can take one of three technological affinities:

* [[NatureHero Harmony]]: Followers of Harmony believe that mankind needs to adapt itself to this new world in order to avoid repeating the same mistakes humanity made on Earth. Colonies which follow the Harmony affinity have an easier time moving around, can genetically modify their soldiers, and can eventually control and breed alien lifeforms.

* Transcendence Victory (Harmony victory): Based on the ''Alpha Centauri'' victory of the same name. The player discovers that the planet is a living being and find a way to communicate with it and eventually integrate themselves into its consciousness. Requires time and defense of your cities as you build a lot of wonders that link you to the planet over time, with more time being shaved off for more Mind Stem wonders in cities.

* BlankSlate: The factions are usually distinguished by one small bonus that becomes more relevant later on in the game rather than major gameplay changes. The leaders themselves have character and personality though not to the same degree or percision as in ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri.'' Thus everyone starts off as more or less a blank slate that gets customized to their preference as they go. While this means the game is super-flexible it also means the characters aren't as vivid as a ranting Montezuma in front of a sacrificial fire pit or so on. On the other hand, ''Rising Tide'' seems set to mitigate this by giving additional differentiations as well as foils of sorts to the existing characters.

* CastFullOfStereotypes: The initial leaders roster consists of a dour, workaholic Russian, a religious Indian who speaks in flowery terms, a scheming American capitalist, a violent Brazilian, an affable an irreverant Australian, a genius Chinese scientist, and a cultured Frenchwoman.

* CityOnTheWater: In ''Rising Tide'' cities can now not only be built on water a la SMAC, but they can also be moved from water tile to other applicable tiles. Indeed, this is actively encouraged by the gameplay, as aquatic cities only acquire new tiles through direct purchase (which can quickly drain Energy resouces) or re-establishment.

* DeadlyGas: Many areas of the planet you land on are covered by a green mist called Miasma. If a unit ends its turn in a hex with miasma, it will take damage. Miasma also diminishes the resources you can gain from the terrain and prevents certain types of improvements from being built on the hex. Aliens are healed by the miasma instead, as can those with sufficient levels in the Harmony affinity or those who research a specific tech that nudges them towards Harmony. However, despite what it looks like on the map, the lore reveals that Miasma is in fact Deadly Spores.

''Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth'' is a spinoff of the ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'' franchise which was released on October 24, 2014. It is a SpiritualSuccessor to ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri'', which also happened to be a SpiritualSuccessor to the Civilization series.

* CentralTheme: The journey of the game through the various Affinities is an exploration of what it means to be human, and how that meaning must necessarily change with the distant future.

* HoverTank: All affinities get some variation on them, but this is the specialty of the Purity affinity, with their floating tanks looking more like a land battleship than a dune buggy. [[https://blog.2k.com/index.php/home/single/the-affinities-of-civilization-beyond-earth-purity According to a dev blog]] these tanks move slowly, but they don’t suffer from the same environmental move penalties of a typical ground unit and are capable of crossing the ocean. Amphibious invasions have never been easier.

** The strategy of the Harmony ''Xeno Swarm'' in a nutshell. Two handlers and a horde of extremely expendable alien bugs. Harmony in general tends towards a WeHaveReserves mentality thanks to their lack of reliable ranged units, abilities that penalize fighting in formation and reward throwing your forces piecemeal, and cheap cannon fodder units.

* NatureVersusTechnology: The Harmony specialization represents Nature, prioritizing preserving the new planet's ecosystems, using genetic engineering to adapt humans for life in a new environment and domesticating alien lifeforms, while those with the Supremacy specialization represents technology, using robots, artificial intelligence, and cybernetic upgrades to create a human race that can thrive independently of their environment.

* JustOneMoreLevel: Upon acheiving a victory, you can choose to end the game, or choose Just...One...More...Turn, and keep playing.

** Harmony-Supremacy: Subversive, technical units such as a melee unit on land that is invisible until it strikes or troops that ignore rough terrain. Also Guerilla, with two stealth units and a an AirborneAircraftCarrier capable of force projection over land and sea.

* GiantEnemyCrab: The Makara, a colossal alien found in the seas. It has no legs but huge claws it can use to attack or drag itself along landmasses.

* {{Kaiju}}: In the base game, there's the Harmony-specific [[RentAZilla Xeno Titan]], as well as the [[SandWorm Siege Worm]] and [[KrakenAndLeviathan Kraken]]. ''Rising Tide'' adds the Makara, a large alien that can move on land and in the water. Depending on the type of world, you may find the remains of extinct aliens that cover ''multiple hexes''.

* BagOfSpilling: Settlers start out deprived of certain base technologies that should logically have been accessible to the people that sent them, like robotics and chemistry. This is justified as a simplification of these terms referring to more advanced versions of such studies, and also because Earth has suffered a major social breakdown akin to a second Dark Ages, so some deterioration of technology is not surprising.

** Chungsu, one of the factions introduced in the ''Rising Tide'' DLC, is Korean-based and its civlopedia article mentions that Japan has become an economic dependent of Korea in the wake of the Great Mistake.

** The new Architect unit in ''Rising Tide'' is a dedicated form of this, able to forgo its own attack in order to buff a friendly unit's combat strength or inversely debuff enemy units. Taken UpToEleven with the Throne unit, a vehicle that houses an ''entire squad'' of Architects.

** Each affinity gets unique units. Supremacy has robotic units of various stripes, Harmony uses alien lifeforms as cavalry or genetically engineers and breeds new creations, and Purity has various types of [[HoverTank hovering vehicles]], including [[UpToEleven hovering battleships]].

* BioPunk: The Harmony faction, which is all about using genetic engineering to colonize and conquer.