Civilization: Beyond Earth Walkthrough Listing

(This is just a placeholder article for the moment. I planned on finishing it tonight, but, well, I'm too tired. I'll get it done first thing tomorrow, yes? Yes. Enjoy my rough notes.)

 Virtues

- Attained through accumulating Culture, finding and exploring Progenitor Ruins with an Explorer, completing ten Virtues (check which part that is), and Synergy Bonuses
- Synergy Bonuses - obtained by completing multiple Virtues across the same tier in different Virtue categories

Might

Tier I

Adaptive Tactics

Prerequisite: None
Effect: +50% XP from combat

Nice for early-blooming warlords, and unavoidable.

Survivalism

Prerequisite: Adaptive Tactics
Effect: +25% Strength and Ranged Strength against Aliens

Very handy if you need to clear the field, or otherwise just like murdering Aliens. Especially helpful if you want to take out Siege Worms early. If Aliens aren’t your focus, ignore this.

Military-Industrial Complex

Prerequisite: Adaptive Tactics
Effect: +15% Production towards military units

Handy if you want to field an army more quickly. In the long run, this is better than Survivalism.

Public Security

Prerequisite: Military-Industrial Complex
Effect: +0.25 Health for every military unit under your command

Militaristic players may have trouble maintaining their Health score if they keep conquering cities. Public Security will help offset the effects. Be warned, however - if your army takes a big hit to its units, your Health may crumple.

Liberation Army

Prerequisite: Military-Industrial Complex
Effect: After conquering an enemy outpost, found an outpost of your own in its place

Ehhh… not the best. Liberation army is good if you want to expand really quickly, and it offsets the need to create a Colonist of your own, but you are forced to take the new outpost. You may not like the old outpost’s placement, or you may not want a new outpost. Regardless, not that great.

Tier II

Scavenging

Prerequisite: Survivalism
Effect: Earn 100% of an Alien’s Strength as Science after killing it; earn 40 Science from destroying Alien Nests

Another Alien-centric Virtue. If you pursue Aliens early on this can help you boost your Science like crazy. Otherwise, skip it entirely.

Adaptive Sciences

Prerequisite: Public Security
Effect: +20% Affinity from researching technologies

An amazing tech for quickly building up your Affinity (or Affinities) of choice, but the fact that you have to go through a minimum of three Virtues to get it kinda hurts. Still an excellent choice if you’re pursuing an Affinity-based Victory, or even just quicker upgrades to your units.

Special Service

Prerequisite: Liberation Army
Effect: +40% Intrigue from Covert Operations

Enjoy sending spies into enemy cities? This is a must-have tech. You’ll gain access to much better operations much more quickly, which can be very handy in war time. Otherwise, skip it.

Army Engineering Corps

Prerequisite: Adaptive Sciences
Effect: +1 Production and +1 Energy from every strategic resource

A solid Virtue for any player. You’ll have to manually direct your Workers to make the most of it.

Martial Meditations

Prerequisite: Adaptive Sciences or Special Service
Effect: Choose 1 free Affinity

Woo! Affinity!

Tier III

Brutal Efficiency

Prerequisite: Army Engineering Corps
Effect: +50% quantity from strategic resources

Fantastic for building those unique, late-game units that require more than just Energy to create.

Integrated Arms

Prerequisite: Martial Meditations
Effect:  +10% Production per upgrade on a unit during construction

Essentially, more powerful units get created more quickly than normal. A great way to maintain a strong, plentiful army during a war, and a must-have for militaristic colonies.

Joint Operations

Prerequisite: Special Service
Effect: +3 Orbital Coverage provided by stations you trade with

This is useful for smaller games where trade partners are limited and you’re forced to make use of stations. In larger games it’s not that handy, as you’ll probably trade with other cities instead.

Democratized Quartering

Prerequisite: Integrated Arms or Joint Operations
Effect: -50% maintenance for units

There is virtually no downside to this. Strong armies suck up a lot of Energy in maintenance every turn, and this will allow you to substantially increase your arms without seriously affecting your bottom line. 

Channeled Wrath

Prerequisite: Democratized Quartering
Effect: +10% Strength and Ranged Strength

Your units will always be a little stronger than those of the competition. What’s not to like? If you’ve come this far along the Might tree, you may as well snag this final, valuable Virtue, unless you anticipate war not being a factor. (If that’s the case, Might probably wasn’t a great idea in the first place.

Synergy Bonuses

  • +5% Strength and Ranged Strength for all units
  • +5% Strength and Ranged Strength for all units
  • Choose 1 free Affinity level
Prosperity

Tier I

Frugality

Prerequisite: None
Effect: +10% Food retained after a city grows

A necessity for starting along the Prosperity path, and a decent enough Virtue to boot, if you like an expansive empire.

Workforce Initiative

Prerequisite: Frugality
Effect: Gain one Worker

If Prosperity is your first Virtue category, this can be quite helpful. Workers are a little scare early in the game. Later on Workforce Initiative is a bit of a waste of a point, as you can probably build them in a single turn anyway.

Homesteading

Prerequisite: Frugality
Effect: +30% speed towards Outpost growth

Handy if you want your outposts to grow quickly without redirecting Trade Convoys. Overall the better choice between Homesteading and Workforce Initiative.

Helping Hands

Prerequisite: Workforce Initiative or Homesteading
Effect: +15% build speed for tile improvements

Your Workers become a little more efficient. Nothing wrong with that, regardless of the focus of your colony.

Colony Initiative

Prerequisite: Homesteading
Effect: Gain a free Colonist

Like Workforce Initiative, Colony Initiative is great at the beginning of the game, especially with the Health-rich Prosperity Virtue. Later on, it’s… not that amazing.

Tier II

Pathfinders

Prerequisite: Workforce Initiative
Effect: Explorers can build three additional expeditions

A pretty handy Virtue if you send Explorers out regularly. Pathfinders is especially good if you're pursuing the Contact Victory and have Explorers searching for Progenitor Ruins.

Pioneer Spirit

Prerequisite: Helping Hands
Effect: -25% Culture needed for border expansion

Wanna save money on purchasing hexagons? This is a wise choice. It'll also allow your city to grow organically more quickly.

Gift Economy

Prerequisite: Pathfinders or Pioneer Spirit
Effect: +3 Energy from land- and sea-based trade routes to foreign cities

Niiiiice. So long as you have one foreign power with which you trade, this is a fantastic Virtue. It's also not so far down the Prosperity tree that players who don't specialize in Prosperity will find it daunting.

Settler Clans

Prerequisite: Pioneer Spirit
Effect: +2 Population for newly founded cities

So long as your colony is Healthy, this is a good tech. If you're sitting on the edge, though... hrm. Not so good. Players at higher difficulty levels should think twice before jumping right on this Virtue.

Mind Over Matter

Prerequisite: Gift Economy or Settler Clans
Effect: +7 Health

Wow. That's a hell of a boost. This bonus can dig players out of some deep overpopulation ruts. Highly recommended - though only if your Health is around eight or lower. Any higher and this might prove superfluous.

Tier III

Nature's Bounty

Prerequisite: Gift Economy or Mind Over Matter
Effect: +1 Production from every basic resource

Very handy if you possess industrious Workers who have been exploiting the land.

Joy From Variety

Prerequisite: Nature's Bounty
Effect: +1 Health for each type of basic resource that is improved

Wow. Bountiful Health indeed. If you found Nature's Bounty worthwhile, then Joy From Variety is a must-have.

Hands Never Idle

Prerequisite: Nature's Bounty
Effect: +2 Energy from any Population acting as a specialist

Players who get nitty-gritty with their cities and mess with specialists constantly will find this very useful. Players who prefer running on automatic... maybe not as much. Still, pretty good.

Ecoscaping

Prerequisite: Hands Never Idle
Effect: +1 Food, Production, and Culture from every Terrascape improvement

Wow. This is good enough that you'll probably transform most of your squares into Terrascapes once it's active, assuming you aren't hurting too badly for Energy.

Eudamonia

Prerequisite: Hands Never Idle
Effect: 25% less negative Health

More help for Health, which is always useful. Eudamonia is particularly useful in that it impacts negative Health specifically, rather than just adding more to plain ol' Health.

Synergy Bonuses

  • +10% Growth in every city
  • +1 Health for every city
  • +50% orbital coverage radius from cities
Knowledge

Tier I

Foresight

Prerequisite: None
Effect: +10% Science when Healthy

The starting point, and not a bad one at that. Keep your colony small to start to benefit most from this Virtue.

Field Research

Prerequisite: Foresight
Effect: Earn 20 Science from finishing expeditions

Send a bunch of Explorers out into the world early on to make the most of this Virtue. Handy, but it'll lose its usefulness with time.

Social Mores

Prerequisite: Foresight
Effect: Each city tile generates 0.25% Culture for every Population

A fantastic Virtue, though it takes a long time to shine. Players who also jump into Prosperity to create larger colonies will find it useful for quickly developing Virtues.

Laboratory Apprenticeship

Prerequisite: Field Research or Social Mores
Effect: Each city generates 0.25% Science for every Population

The Science version of Social Mores, and just as good in the long run.

Creative Class

Prerequisite: Social Mores
Effect: Earn extra culture equal to 30% of net positive Health

An excellent Virtue, though it's not that great if you're only pursuing Knowledge. Players who also dip into Prosperity will find Creative Class of most use.

Tier II

Cohesive Values

Prerequisite: Laboratory Apprenticeship
Effect: -10% Culture needed for new Virtues

All-around handy. Not a bad idea to grab this even if you don't go all the way down with the Knowledge tree.

Applied Aesthetics

Prerequisite: Creative Class
Effect: Earn extra Energy equal to 30% of the Culture you generate

Similar to Creative Class, though the targets are different. Great for colonies that focus on Culture over other resources, as your Energy output may suffer otherwise.

Networked Datalinks

Prerequisite: Cohesive Values
Effect: -40% Science penalty from number of cities for new technologies

Small colonies will find this near useless. Large colonies, on the other hand... either way, you'll probably find this works best in conjunction with Prosperity Virtues.

Community Medicine

Prerequisite: Cohesive Values
Effect: +1 Health for every 6 Population in a city

Amazing. Normally raising your population murders your Health; it's nice to see otherwise for once.

Memeweb

Prerequisite: Networked Datalinks or Applied Aesthetics
Effect: -40% Culture penalty from number of cities for new Virtues

A solid Virtue for larger colonies, and a staple for a later Virtue that's worth getting for Science-centric colonies. Probably worth getting.

Tier III

Metasearch Methods

Prerequisite: Community Medicine or Networked Datalinks
Effect: Leaf technologies cost 10% less Science

Leaf techs (the lower techs in the overarching categories on the Technology Web) virtually always cost more than the branches. This will help offset some of the cost. Never hurts to get.

Information Warfare

Prerequisite: Metasearch Methods
Effect: Recruit one new Covert Agent

Always a plus if you're going for covert tactics and have a spy network set up. A bit useless if that's not your thing (though it's always good to at least protect your cities from Intrigue buildup).

Learning Centers

Prerequisite: Memeweb
Effect: +2 Science from every Academy Improvement

Awesome. You can set up Academies on so many spaces, and this will make them all the more potent. Techs galore!

Technoartisans

Prerequisite: Metasearch Methods or Learning Centers
Effect: Earn extra Science equal to 15% of the Culture you generate

Its usefulness is dependent on your Culture output. Assuming you're at least on par, this is a good Virtue.

Monomyth

Prerequisite: Learning Centers
Effect: +7 Culture for every Wonder

If you've rushed a lot of Wonders through your cities, this can be an absolutely devastating Virtue. Even if you only have two or three Wonders it's still pretty good. If you didn't manage to get any...

 Synergy Bonuses

  • +10% Culture in every city
  • +10% Science in every city
  • Choose one free technology
Industry
Tier I

Labor Logistics

Prerequisite: None
Effect: +10% Production towards buildings

Considering you'll be working on buildings throughout your match, regardless of your final destination, this is a great Virtue to snag.

Commoditization

Prerequisite: Labor Logistics
Effect: +1 Energy from every basic resource

An excellent choice if you make a point to send your Workers manually to every resource you come across. Not as good if they're on automatic and skip a lot of resources.

Central Planning

Prerequisite: Labor Logistics
Effect: +5 Energy in your capital

Ehhhh... for the first little while this Virtue is pretty good, and it ensures that you have some Energy in the bank throughout your match, but by the end it's somewhat underwhelming. Shrug?

Scalable Infrastructure

Prerequisite: Labor Logistics
Effect: +15% Production towards Wonders

A must-have if a point win (or just a lot of Wonders) is your goal.

Standardized Architecture

Prerequisite: Commoditization or Central Planning 
Effect: +25% Production towards buildings which have already been built in the capital

Despite appearing so early, this is such an awesome Virtue. Your capital will almost always be on the forefront of building construction, so the rest of your cities will have an easier time catching up. Highly recommended.

Tier II

Investment

Prerequisite: Commoditization
Effect: Earn 1% of stockpiled Energy amount every turn, up to 100 Energy

For much of the game this will be incredibly useful. It won't start to lag in usefulness until you near the end of the game. Worth the purchase.

Entrepreneurial Spaceflight

Prerequisite: Scalable Infrastructure
Effect: +25% Production towards Orbital Units

Satellites and the like are pretty useful almost regardless of your end goal, especially if they're a part of your Victory (or if you just want to deploy a lot of Phasal Transporters as quickly as possible).

Profiteering

Prerequisite: Standardized Architecture or Entrepreneurial Spaceflight
Effect: +0.5 Health for every trade unit under your command

You don't get many opportunities for Health upgrades outside Prosperity. Might as well take it... though only if you have a lot of Trade Convoys and/or Vessels. Not that great on smaller games.

Alternative Methods

Prerequisite: Investment or Profiteering
Effect: Trade routes with stations grant +6 Energy per station tier

The perfect balance for smaller games with lots of stations but few foreign cities, as stations lag in usefulness as the game drags on. For larger games it's a bit less useful, particularly if the stations take off or get trashed early.

Interdependence Network

Prerequisite: Profiteering
Effect: +25% more yields from your trade routes to your own cities

Heavy on trading? (Almost certainly a yes?) This is a must-have.

Tier III

Social Investment

Prerequisite: Alternative Markets or Interdependence Network
Effect: +2 Production from every Manufactory improvement

A good choice if you love Manufactories, which are, admittedly, pretty impressive improvements. That said, I do not like the Health hit Manufactories give you, and thus don't recommend it unless you don't mind being very unpopular.

Liquidity

Prerequisite: Interdependence Network
Effect: -20% Energy cost to purchase units

The benefits of this for virtually any player, especially warmongers, should be immediately obvious. Highly recommended.

Civic Duty

Prerequisite: Social Investment or Liquidity
Effect: Each city tile generates +0.5 Production for every population

Great for big cities, kinda meh for smaller. Still, an overall handy Virtue for well-developed colonies.

Magnasanti

Prerequisite: Civic Duty
Effect: Each city generates +0.2 Health for every building

This can be great if you have a lot of cities with a lot of buildings. If not, it's... well... meh. Not bad for late-game colonies.

Superior Engineering

Prerequisite: Liquidity or Civic Duty
Effect: Orbital Units stay in orbit 50% longer before de-orbiting

The friend of every combatant who likes Phasal Transporters. If you ignore Orbital Units, ignore this Virtue.

Synergy Bonuses

  • +10% Energy in every city
  • +10% Production in every city
  • Earn 1% of stockpiled Energy amount every turn, up to 100 Energy
Synergy Tiers

In addition to the bonuses listed above, you'll receive Synergy Bonuses for choosing Virtues within a tier level. It doesn't matter which Virtue category you choose, so long as you remain within the same tier. Unlike category-based Synergy Bonuses, tier-based Synergy Bonuses vary in the number of prerequisite Virtue choices.

Tier I
  • Choose one free Virtue - six Virtues required
  • +10% Production and Energy in the capital - four Virtues required
  • Choose one free technology - five Virtues required
Tier II
  • Choose one free Virtue, recruit one new Covert Agent - eight Virtues required
  • Choose one free Affinity level - four Virtues required
Tier III
  • +10% Growth, Production, Science, Culture, and Energy in every city - ten Virtues required