Five Additional Ideas for Sponsors in Beyond Earth

[Nuukov]

Nice thread hopefully we will get some good ideas that might make it into mods/future DLC if they are good enough.

Speaking of which, I have a couple of ideas for some additional sponsors. I was a bit upset to find out there was no British sponsor in BE, especially considering I am British. So I thought up what they might be like as a sponsor (I also would have enjoyed a Japanese faction - I know there is the Pan-Asian Cooperative which I guess might include them, but personally I would prefer them separate, so I thought up one for them too)

Hope you enjoy (but you will have to forgive my poor paint skills)

The Royal Expedition Corporation

Capital: Londinium
Primary Language: English
Expedition Leader: David Williams
Earth Regions: Great Britain

Sponsor Special Ability: Trade Routes to Stations grant +50% more of their respective yields (Militaristic Stations grant units 50% faster).
+1 Movement for Naval units.​

Changelog

Spoiler :

08/10/14 Sponsor Special Ability: Trade Routes to Stations grant +50% more of their respective yields (Militaristic Stations grant units 50% faster). +1 Movement for Naval units.

The Shogunate Consortium

Capital: New Kyoto
Primary Language: Japanese
Expedition Leader: Yamato Takahashi
Earth Regions: Japan

Sponsor Special Ability: +1 Culture from Specialists.
+1 Science from Buildings that grant Production.
​

Changelog

Spoiler :

09/10/14 Sponsor Special Ability: +1 Culture from Specialists. +1 Science from Buildings that grant Production.

08/10/14 Sponsor Special Ability: Newly built units start with a free promotion. +1 Culture from Defensive buildings.

Still thinking about leader/sponsor backstory/history - so I might add that later - but for now those are the basics of them both.

 

[jaldaen]

I wonder if it might be a good idea to create a thread dedicated to "Sponsor Ideas" b/c I would not have know there were multiple ideas in this thread just by the title.

 

[Minor Annoyance]

Despite being Canadian I haven't cared enough to look into any of the past civ mods adding Canada as a civilization and I didn't care that they weren't in Beyond Earth's sponsors in any clear way. But this one I can get behind. I would play this.
And since others are putting in their suggestions for sponsor special abilities, my idea for The Vesperian Confederacy's ability would be a discount on improvement maintenance (but not roads because that is covered in supremacy). This being because they'd supposedly be good at building up a less hospitable environment, and PAC already has worker speed increase.

 

[The Naug]

A Scandinavian faction should have "Insulated Housing" -10% building maintenance
Idk what our edge is as Scandinavians. Orderly society? Excellent Welfare? A pretty good history of Science?

Food from snow tiles however is not it(maybe for an Antarctica based faction though!). If anything, extra food from the sea would probably be more true to life.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

A Scandinavian faction should have "Insulated Housing" -10% building maintenance
Idk what our edge is as Scandinavians. Orderly society? Excellent Welfare? A pretty good history of Science?

Food from snow tiles however is not it(maybe for an Antarctica based faction though!). If anything, extra food from the sea would probably be more true to life.

CSE: Confederate States of Europe; Baltic, Germany, Nordic, Britain, all 'north europe' (loose confederation formed as EU dissolved)
-10% energy maintenance (units, buildings, and tiles)
because those areas have a current reputation for not terribly ineffective bureaucracy...and 'terraforming' in the low countries.

 

[Falrinn]

Here's some of my ideas.

Luna Prime

The nation of Luna Prime owes it's origin to the International Lunar Station (or ILS), which when online a mere 2 years before the Great Mistake brought about a century-long cessation in spaceflight. While the station was never intended to be completely self-sufficient, through hard work and a lot of ingenuity the meager population of less then a thousand individuals managed to not only survive on the supremely inhospitable surface of the moon, but in time they began to thrive.

As the ILS was a joint effort of over a dozen nations, the nation of Luna Prime owes no special allegiance to any nation or culture below. This combined with the reality that the mineral resources in the moon cannot sustain it's population forever, the nation of Luna Prime has chosen to embark on it's own seeding mission to ensure that it's unique culture will survive.

Bonus: All tiles provide a minimum of 2 food, farm tiles provide a minimum of 3 food

The Alexandria Initiative

While enormous amounts of digital information was lost during the Great Mistake, one place it was meticulously preserved was in a handful of nondescript warehouses on the outskirts of the city of Alexandria. After the dust settled the information stored in these warehouses became the foundation of the New Library of Alexandria, the first wonder of the post-Great Mistake world and brought about the second Arab enlightenment. Where other regions stagnated or even regressed technologically, the Arab world was discovering habitable worlds and solving many of the fundamental problems behind intersteller travel over a century before the first seeding mission was launched.

As the inflection point began to grow near, the nations of North Africa and the Middle East turned to the same organization that had gifted them with so much valuable knowledge to lead the way to a new world.

Bonus: Old Earth Relic produces +1 science and boosts science production in the city by 10%

The New United Kingdom

When the European Union dissolved, the nation of Franco-Iberia was not the only power to rise in it's place. Over a period of 30 years through a combination of political marriages and other dealings, coalition of need between the battered remnants of the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Scandinavian nations were gradually merged into a single nation-state under the leadership of a re-empowered and integrated monarchy. In time, Canada as well as several other nations of European origin joined the growing of the New United Kingdom.

In recognition of the necessary role of Canada's immense natural resources in supplying the raw materials needed for the New United Kingdom's seeding expedition, the King made the unexpected decision to appoint the elected governor of Canada as the colony's leader and grant him the title of Duke.

Bonus: After completing at least 2 full traderoute cycles with a station, you may spend energy to convert it into an outpost under your control, which will develop into a city.

 

[Magma_Dragoon]

The Shogunate Consortium

Capital: New Kyoto
Primary Language: Japanese
Expedition Leader: Yamato Takahashi
Earth Regions: Japan

Sponsor Special Ability: Newly built units start with a free promotion.
+1 Culture from Defensive buildings.[/CENTER]


Still thinking about leader/sponsor backstory/history - so I might add that later - but for now those are the basics of them both.

I don't think a military bonus is very representative of modern Japan. They're more into telecom, digital media, and manufacturing nowadays.

A Scandinavian faction should have "Insulated Housing" -10% building maintenance
Idk what our edge is as Scandinavians. Orderly society? Excellent Welfare? A pretty good history of Science?

Food from snow tiles however is not it(maybe for an Antarctica based faction though!). If anything, extra food from the sea would probably be more true to life.

I don't think food from snow would be very useful, since everyone will put terrascapes on snow anyway. Their homogeneous populations would indicate a culture bonus of some sort.

 

[Nuukov]

I don't think a military bonus is very representative of modern Japan. They're more into telecom, digital media, and manufacturing nowadays.

That is true, but then again this is the fuuuuutuuuurreeee...
So in that time they might have changed - but I will give it another think over and see if I can come up with something else.

 

[Falrinn]

I don't think food from snow would be very useful, since everyone will put terrascapes on snow anyway. Their homogeneous populations would indicate a culture bonus of some sort.

From my understanding terrascapes are pretty time consuming to build and have an extremely high maintenance cost (Civilization wiki is showing 6 energy per turn, triple any other tile improvement).

So if nothing else, if a city is relying mainly on terrascapes for food production, it's probably going to be running at an energy deficit. A sponsor bonus that allows a city to draw food from otherwise barren tiles would reduce the reliance on terrascapes which in turn would mean more energy to spend on things that aren't tile maintenance.

 

[Magma_Dragoon]

The +1 food on desert from the vivarium affects terrascapes on desert. Assuming the UA works the same, it would just make terrascaping ice even more appealing. Also, the maps in all the gameplay footage I've seen appear to have significantly less ice than previous civ games.

Even if it didn't work that way, it's the same as giving the sponsor a grass start bias and no UA, which is boring and useless.

 

[Nuukov]

I don't think a military bonus is very representative of modern Japan. They're more into telecom, digital media, and manufacturing nowadays.

Alright then - I have changed it:

Sponsor Special Ability: +1 Culture from Specialists.
+1 Science from Buildings that grant Production.

Think that is more fitting, or would something else be better? (To me this feels a bit bland, would rather have something else).

 

[Magma_Dragoon]

Maybe, +1 from engineers, +1 from scientists, +1 from foreign trade routes?

 

[TPangolin]

In civ design, I'm not the biggest fan of attributes that give you something for nothing (+25% Worker Speed, +1 This/+1 That). I believe that the player should be subtly directed towards a playstyle and should work for their attributes (like Polystralia's old UA or Franco-Iberia).

So personally, I'd stray away from giving flat bonuses seeing as overall they become lackluster and less dynamic from a gameplay perspective.

So here are some ideas for the civs in the OP:

The Athenian Society

• Whilst at Peace, buildings that provide Science gain additional Culture if the City has a Military Garrison.

Eighth Fire

• Receive 20% of the amount of Culture required for your next Virtue upon completion of a Wonder.

Vesperian Confederacy

• Land and Naval Units gain Double Movement upon Trade Route Lines.

The Crescent Company

• Energy Output of the capital is increased by 10% per Trade Route with a Station.

Valkyrian Reich

• Cannot select Cargo, Spacecraft or Colonist types. Gain a Science boost whenever a new Military unit or Building is constructed.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

Here are a couple of ideas. Sorry I haven't created any fancy logos.

Sponsor: MaxStar Expedition
Maxwell Starling's personal hunting trip.

Leader: Maxwell Starling
Starling is the son of wealthy American corporate tycoons. Instead of turning his inherited wealth to productive endeavors, he bought up a huge estate in South Africa which dwarfs many neighboring nations. He has stocked the estate with many rare and endangered animals, some of which are extinct elsewhere in the world. His purposes are not entirely altruistic, he breeds them to be hunted by himself and his friends.
When Starling learned of the Seeding, he immediately saw it as an out-of-this-world opportunity to hunt interesting new quarry. Lacking the resources to build his own ship, he simply leveraged his immense fortune to buy and load out a starship.

Sponsor trait: Killing aliens yields culture

Sponsor: Astra Mining and Exploration
AME is the long-standing leader in asteroid and comet resource acquisition. It was founded early in the 21st century, just before the Great Mistake. Fortunately its major resources were in orbit at the time and suffered no great loss. They were able to profit greatly from the ensuing chaos. In the Seeding, the AME will utilize their proprietary space technologies to their benefit.

Leader: President Roku Sataki
Sataki acquired sole ownership of the AME in a hostile takeover shortly before the Seeding. While he comes off as a reclusive maniac, he is extremely shrewd and coldly calculating. He is a complete mystery to his rivals, his background seems to have been wiped from all records.

Sponsor Trait: May choose one additional Cargo, Colonists, or Spaceship type in the Seeding.

 

[Ikael]

Speculation time? Speculation time!

Valkyrian Reich
Purity trought discipline.
Gain extra health (to be determined under game balance) from each occupied enemy city under your control and for each elite unit under your control. Your units can reach an additional experience level (elite)

A unique ability that favours militaristic expansion or at the very least, military readiness, while its unit bonus makes for a good tool to help yourself to build an empire, its permanent health bonus bodes well for not only conquering it, for but subsustaining as well

Eight fire
The Eight Secret Rules of Silence
Your spies can perform an exclusive special covert operation "instigate revolution" that would turn an enemy city into a non-affiliated "barbarian" city (with supporting guerrilla units to boot). It's a far more easier operation to carry out than flipping a city. Eight fire spies yields twice the amount of science and gold when stealing them from other civs

Keeping the theme of a "guerilla faction", the Eight fire thrieves on covert ops, but on a different way than the ARC. It can easily instigate revolutions in other factions (a maneuver that can backfire them too!) and easily live off the riches of another civilizations trought the carefull use of spies

The Vesperian Confederacy
Mankind cooperation treaty
Outpost Stations level up 50% faster when dealing with the Vesoperian Confederacy, +50% yield to trade routes with Outpost Stations

A civilization that thrieves on peaceful cooperation, the Vesoperian takes the best advantage of one of the most flavourful mechanics of the game (outposts) thus making them a worthy rival for competing at the diplomatic arena

The Athenian society
Scientific Athenian Foundation
Whenever the Athenian society carries on a successful exploration mission, it can either found an Athenian Academy at the exploration site +5 culture production to the tile, yields can increase with certain affinity levels) or recieve a scalable science boost

A unique ability that encourages exploration while at the same time rewards a hefty mix of cultural and scientific gameplay

The Crescent Company
Let the planet bloom
Tundra and desert tiles with resources in them generates +2 food. Weather controller satellites reveals twice as much resources. Tiles that generates 3 or more food generates +1 energy as well

A unique ability made to modify the gameplay of tall builders, the crescent company combines expertise at making otherwise undesirable terrain hospitable with a knack for rewarding tile specialization (energy bonus) and careful planning (weather satellites)

 

[DevilDude]

reposting this from /r/civbeyondearth:

I've been thinking about learning to do the faction modding myself just to create this one.

The Poseidon Collective

Capital: Freeport (maybe too close to polystralia, but I couldn't think of anything better)

Primary Language: Anglopolyglot (English base Hybridized with several southeast asian languages)

Leader: Clinton 'Clint' Hale (Should be of ambiguous mixed descent, Hale being a Hawaiian surname)

Bonus: Start game with Planetary survey (tech), +5% strength to naval units

Originally founded by 21st century futurists convinced that seaborne settlement would solve mankind's overpopulation problems. The Poseidon Collective was greatly bolstered by displaced populations created during the years of rising tides that preceded the great mistake. The Collective's self-sustaining modular oceangoing settlements proved ideal for housing refugees, able to rapidly expand to house and supply the worlds displaced.

Centuries of self sufficiency on the waves had taught the Collective one thing: waste not. The refugees who's very lands were lost were offered new homes, many were far more than poor homeless, scientists, engineers, skilled agronomists, all joined with their saviors in building a new society on the water.

The immediate effects of the great mistake were largely remote from the Collective's burgeoning populace. However as time passed the truth began to show through: Their ocean was dying. With marine life ever in decline, ocean acidification accelerating, and increasing pollution by the land based nation's desperate attempts to stave off the inevitable, collective leadership decided to act.

Calling in diplomatic favors, retooling for deep sea mining, shifting manufacturing centers into equatorial positions, the collective joined the seeding producing their own probes and taking advantage of their suddenly numerous launch sites to bargain for position among the nations.

The people of the Poseidon collective are rugged self sufficient and individualistic to a fault, their ancestors were driven off the land and forced to find a new way of life among the waves. In their own opinion they are the best prepared to tackle the task of settling new worlds, and they may well be right.

 

[TPangolin]

Clinton Hale's name just reminds me of Saxton Hale - the brutish Australian CEO of TF2's Mann Co.

I can also see the Poseidon Collective working perfectly with that one FramedArchitecture mod that allows you to place underwater cities.

Speculation time? Speculation time!

These are some really cool ideas. I might just have to steal some!

 

[Turnad]

For the Athenian Society, how about their soldiers can undertake exploration missions, and if garrisoned during peace they give the city a small science boost. That means an Athenian player can take the soldier cargo early and get quick early science boost and then capitalise on that as the game progresses. It would mean they would be the paramount science sponsor.

 

[TPangolin]

I guess this is when we request this topic be moved to the new section and a topic title change.

 

[DevilDude]

Clinton Hale's name just reminds me of Saxton Hale - the brutish Australian CEO of TF2's Mann Co.

I can also see the Poseidon Collective working perfectly with that one FramedArchitecture mod that allows you to place underwater cities.



These are some really cool ideas. I might just have to steal some!

You're talking about this one yeah? here's hoping it can be updated for BE, though I'm not sold on the art style, something that looks like a floating city ala SG: Atlantis, or something that's covered by the water surface layer would look better IMO.

One of the things I hope for are some sea improvements beyond just the one's for map resources, tidal generators, wind farms, kelp beds, or fish farms all spring to mind.

edit: one other thing, on the name, Hale isn't pronounced like hail but more like Hah-Lay it might be better spelled Ha'le.