For Fun: Naming the Hybrid Affinities

Cool idea, my take (after many thesaurus lookups):

Gentility - Purity/Supremacy. Judging by some of the unit names humans form a sort "idle rich" with an army of robot servants to pamper them. This leaves them able to pursue leisurely and creative activities and the unit graphics look very refined. I would expect the humans to be pale in complexion since they don't have to do anything, kind of like 18th century nobles, maybe even effete.

Potency - Purity/Harmony. This hybrid contrasts with "Gentility" in that they are more virile. They seem suited to the outdoors of the alien planet and enhance their bodies to express ideals of ruggedness. I think the unit names reflect this and the graphics make them look like bronzed gods. They're like jocks who pump iron on the beach whereas Purity/Supremacy are the nerds.

Brutality - Harmony/Supremacy - The cold emptiness of electronic circuitry from Supremacy and the unforgiving organic competition from Harmony, both without human ideals to constrain them.
 
I think I'm going to have to settle on the following:

Divinity

Mastery

Ascendancy

Yep, I'm giving Ascendancy over to H/S because that really seems to be what they're trying to do - ascend beyond man, machine and alien to create something entirely new and bold.

Divinity just makes sense because it's Purity taken to its most god-like extent - a kind of hyper Purity, basically. It's not really ascending so much as creating God in Man's image.
 
Myself, I haven't quite settled but I think I'm getting close:

Gentility - sophistication and ease for colonists thanks to obedient robots; the human Purity they surrender to Supremacy is any affinity for "low" work
Audacity - colonists with amazing physical augmentations thanks to borrowing from planet biology; just like our Wolverine and spiderman
Monstrosity - unholy union of machine and organism; can't be described in human terms since it is so "unpure"
 
I think I'm going over to

Ascendancy

Mastery

Audacity

While HS is new and bold breaking limits, it isn't guided by any particular ideal in its boldness... just "more better"
 
I feel like Audacity is too limited in its scope.

They're audacious, but to what end? I'd argue it's to ascend and transcend.

Audacity feels more like the name of a rebellious daughter, along with her two sisters Temerity and Tenacity.
 
Westwall said:
I feel like Audacity is too limited in its scope.

They're audacious, but to what end? I'd argue it's to ascend and transcend.

Audacity feels more like the name of a rebellious daughter, along with her two sisters Temerity and Tenacity.
Click to expand...

Well I don't think they have an 'end', an end would imply a direction... that direction would stop you from doing things (because they are in the wrong direction). I think more of the developments in HS are 'because we can'

And I think Ascendancy implies some degree of moral improvement as well.

I agree Audacity sounds somewhat more like a personal trait than a civilizational one (why I suggested Totality previously)
but I think it is important to capture the idea that they will do Anything
 
Abandoning specific labels, if I had to guess where some of the inspiration came from in various science fiction...

Purity: Star-lord
Purity/Harmony: spider-man
Purity/Supremacy: C3PO

Supremacy: Hal9000
Harmony: Cthulu
Supremacy/Harmony: Mechagodzilla and Godzilla's lovechild
 
KrikkitTwo said:
And I think Ascendancy implies some degree of moral improvement as well.
Click to expand...

I think it's too presumptuous to assume they're immoral or amoral, it's more likely that they have their own set of morals and principles, even if they aren't congruent with the ethical concerns of the other affinities.

They're doing a lot of weird science but that doesn't mean they don't have their own codes of conduct and ambitions with an overall goal in mind, which I'd wager has to do with being the ultimate being.
 
Westwall said:
I think it's too presumptuous to assume they're immoral or amoral, it's more likely that they have their own set of morals and principles, even if they aren't congruent with the ethical concerns of the other affinities.

They're doing a lot of weird science but that doesn't mean they don't have their own codes of conduct and ambitions with an overall goal in mind, which I'd wager has to do with being the ultimate being.
Click to expand...

Whether they're objective more ethical or not (nigh impossible to say), I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say they see themselves as more ethical, just as I'd imagine they'd see themselves as superior to baseline humanity in every way (I like to think Ascendancy running the Promised Land victory would be a lot more patronizing, a la thinking the earthlings are like little lost children who are helpless and must be guided).

Audacity (Harmony Supremacy), on the other hand, doesn't seem to care what everyone thinks of it. It makes machine man monstrosities, goes for the most aggressive names possible, and is the only one to play so heavily with stealth as a concepts (thus the only one with pseudo landmines, assassins, etc...) Probably why I still like Audacity - it has just enough of that sense of "We Dare" and still sounds like something they could conceivably call themselves.
 
Westwall said:
I think it's too presumptuous to assume they're immoral or amoral, it's more likely that they have their own set of morals and principles, even if they aren't congruent with the ethical concerns of the other affinities.

They're doing a lot of weird science but that doesn't mean they don't have their own codes of conduct and ambitions with an overall goal in mind, which I'd wager has to do with being the ultimate being.
Click to expand...

However it doesn't imply they are making an ultimate being, just many alternate beings. (the "toasterpuppy" isn't supposed to be 'ultimate' just a fun way to get toast in the morning... the new "radiohead virus" injections aren't necessarily to be 'greater' just because it can be done)

Essentially it feels like it overlaps too much with HP if they are trying to 'Ascend'

Ascend is going "up", I see HS going "out"
 
KrikkitTwo said:
Essentially it feels like it overlaps too much with HP if they are trying to 'Ascend'

Ascend is going "up", I see HS going "out"
Click to expand...

This would be a lot easier to sort out if the hybrids had their own victories.

But the devs said that would confuse players.

"Too many choices."
 
Westwall said:
This would be a lot easier to sort out if the hybrids had their own victories.

But the devs said that would confuse players.

"Too many choices."
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm not sure how that would create too many choices since the other pure/hybrid affinity victories could be designed so that they're not available under your current one. *shrug* Plus, it would help to diversify endgames between each different game you create and play through, since you're probably not going to be the same affinity or hybrid each time -- unless you purposefully pursue them because they're your thing. Also, it makes stopping your opponents from winning more interesting instead of only the three different affinity victories plus Domination and Contact.

And "too many choices"? It's a 4X game, haha. I'm sure a lot of fat can be trimmed in many existing areas of the game.

Also, Firaxis went the route of creating hybrids which are pretty different from their pure affinities, and even look very different, instead of trying somehow to combine them half and half (a wise choice!). They definitely need their own victory types. Perhaps the second expansion can flesh-out hybrids a bit more -- maybe even give them their own symbol and name (my hidden agenda with this thread, haha).

For example, does H/S really want to become one with the planet? I think they would be the most likely to simply exploit it (again), like on Earth, and then move on to the next planet to consume and grow more powerful from.

Or P/H, do they really want fresh Earthlings coming into their world and contaminating the gene pool of their population?

Surely S/P doesn't want to emancipate Earthlings from their biological bodies. I guess this one isn't as awkward, they're saving the Earthlings from the hardships of that planet so that they can come to the luxurious new one and be served by the machines.

- - - - - - - -
EDIT: Oooh... Actually, maybe they tweaked each victory so that the hybrids pursue these victories:

Promised Land: Purity or Supremacy/Purity
Transcendence: Harmony or Purity/Harmony
Emancipation: Supremacy or Harmony/Supremacy
- - - - - - - -

We have yet to see anything about the revised victories in Rising Tide. Hopefully,

1. They're more flexible to each affinity combination and make sense. The story and descriptions of each one are fantastic, I hope they remain so after being changed.

2. More enjoyable to actually pursue (and inhibit!). As said above, the flavor is great, it's just that they're boring to work towards during actual gameplay.
 
Yeah none of it really makes much sense.

These hybrids are clearly distinct and would have very different agendas from the core affinities...

Yet we're supposed to believe they would pursue the same victory conditions.
 
Westwall said:
Yeah none of it really makes much sense.

These hybrids are clearly distinct and would have very different agendas from the core affinities...

Yet we're supposed to believe they would pursue the same victory conditions.
Click to expand...

Again, I think that's because there's a disconnect between what the developers made them as and what we want the them to be. We want new affinities with these aesthetics, they want them to be hybrid supplements to the main three.
 
Except they didn't, at least not thematically.

They explained how these were different from the main affinities and how they wanted them to be different and unique.

So this is more a case of the devs pushing lore that they decided not to back up with the mechanics.
 
Westwall said:
Except they didn't, at least not thematically.

They explained how these were different from the main affinities and how they wanted them to be different and unique.

So this is more a case of the devs pushing lore that they decided not to back up with the mechanics.
Click to expand...

But they never said the were full fledged affinities. They are supposed to reward the player for branching out so they don't avoid techs because its not their affinity or only grab a tech because it's their chosen affinity, not essentially be an entirely different scale of their own. That's why a lot of it is purely aesthetic, because it doesn't interfere with balance and it still has a lot of appeal to players. It's not a case of main affinities and these side affinities. It's main affinities and these offshoots of them.

Personally, I would love to see a mod that elevates them to the same status (maybe a little less in terms of number of units/buildings), but seeing how they were implemented, I just don't think that was actually what was intended by the developers.
 
I get all that, I really do. I understand what you're saying, but my point is that if they were just going to make them hybrids and nothing more, then they probably shouldn't have bothered making them look so much like their own separate affinities while giving them extended lore and rationale behind why they look so different.

That's what I mean when I say they invited us to think about all this extended reasoning that went into the art direction, then abruptly slammed the breaks... yet again. They've managed to push hybrids into this weird purgatory where they look way too different to just be a mix between the core affinities... but at the same time too incomplete to be their own.

So I getting this sneaking suspicion that playing with hybridization will feel a lot like playing with incomplete affinities that could've been so much more if only the devs would stop pulling their punches all the time.

They have me really wishing to come across a rival faction that has bronze cities and units of purity-harmony, or the blue and white of purity-supremacy... because that would just be so incredibly cool.
 
Westwall said:
Yeah none of it really makes much sense.

These hybrids are clearly distinct and would have very different agendas from the core affinities...

Yet we're supposed to believe they would pursue the same victory conditions.
Click to expand...

Except I don't think they do pursue the same victory conditions.

to pursue the Affinity victory condition as a 'true hybrid' means reaching 13-13(maybe 13-12) before Starting on it.
Even higher if they upped the Victory conditions (imagine reaching 15-14 before starting construction)

More likely Hybrids pursue Contact/Conquest Victories or they are a phase society goes through to focus on a pure affinity.
 
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