I'm not on the side of going to far. I'm sorry about the guy that wanted to
"play as a brain in a vat" but I think this is the Alpha Centauri mood they wanted to deviate from in Beyond Earth - Indeed both CivV and BE seem to be positively focused - evolving, but not becoming monsters - despite war and other leaders thinking you do not deserve much, of course...).
Despite that, it irks to me that most affinities are mainly recolors... and just a little bit of face details... there should be more details changing at least. Take Khavita in example:
http://plonq.org/up/544d19c727f32.png
Check the gold details that appear at the bottom of her ¿gown?. Nice for a first step of embellishing the dress, but ¡what a missed opportunity in the following ones!. You should spect this "antique" gold pattern should keep only in purity (maybe more embellished with jewelry and embroidery). But why keep it in harmony? Shouldn't it tend to be replaced with scales/leafs/... as you get more connected to the nature of the plannet. ¿And why don't slip some wires/connectors/other interfaces, when moving further into supremacy?
Additionally other details such as the headdress might change in a similar way (becoming more organic-like for harmony, more tech-like for supremacy). Also textiles could keep silky or cottony for purity, become more crude skin-fur for harmony (from already dead aliens if you want to keep the trehugger vibe ;P), and more square-y plastic/metal pieces and sintentic fibers for supremacy.
These little details (models get more detailed with affinity progress, but details are always the same) are for me one of the most important things that make affinity progress feel bland... you don't feel like progress in an affinity makes the faction deviate from other possibilities... (as you do i.e., with the units). It just feels the same, in other color.
And it does not need a full rework of the model... just caring a bit more about these extra details...
Of course, full affinity-specific dress like in starships would rock
(gathered some images in the spoiler below in case someone has missed the examples). And it shouldn't be that work intensive since the deviations in there probably do not impact the movement defined for a base model, is just a change in the volumes that cover it. But in case there is not enough time/budget, please just care a bit more about the details!
Moreover considering that
Exis, the artists of the concepts/models above, are also
working in beyond earth... Some extra love for base game models (and even for the newcomers) would be appreciated. Damn!, even if it was a DLC!.