Playable Affinities

[Potenzo]

As well, there could be more ways to gain affinity points, such as having specitalists of affinity point producers.

That's a good idea.

 

[Potenzo]

I don't know why getting the wrong affinity would stop them from getting it. There's no penalty!

But it does defeat the essential concept of the game.

Apart from simply being set on a new planet, there are two core defining propositions for BE: the Tech web, and Affinites. These are not merely features, like Virtues, the are game defining, both in terms of gameplay and in terms of what the game is about.

The concept of the tech web says "History is the past, it is defined, and recreating the past is a defined progress towards the present, so Civ gets a tech tree. The Future is not defined, we sit in the middle of a sea of possibilities, and our choices define where we will end up"

The concept of Affinities asks "What is the future of humanity? Do we spread ourselves across the galaxy, but in so doing always take ourselves with us, and use our technology to reshape worlds to suit a recognisably human pan-Galactic civilisation? Or in moving to new planets, do we adapt to each, and in so doing fundamentally diverge from our earthly roots, such that there would never be one recognisably common civilisation across the cosmos? Or do we move beyond these material choices, transcend our physical limitations and the physical pressures of our environment, and become uploaded consciousnesses, beings of thought and spirit?"

This is the story of BE. The tech web, as much as the planet, is the setting where the story is told.

The problem with a game mechanic where everyone gradually accumulates all the Affinities is that it prevents this story being told, and so defeats the concept of the game. It turns the game from a choice between distinctive futures into a steady progression towards a single, bland blended mish-mash. IMO, this is a big part of what lies at the heart of the criticism that BE fails to deliver on flavour, that it provides ways to achieve "+1 in something-or-other" without a real sense of meaning or purpose.

 

[Minor Annoyance]

Well you never accumulate all affinities. The game never lasts that long. By the end the most I ever had of my non primary affinities was 5 compared to 18 of my primary one. Your civilization is both practical and not homogeneous. Even the Borg state that both biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to their own.
Also, this is the beginning of transhumanism not the end. They don't set down on the plant and immediately decide it's all cyborg from now on.
The way some talk its as if the want to select an affinity at startup same as they would a sponsor. I don't think anyone would ever say that, but the way they want to play the game means in function they are playing as though this was Starcraft. And the designers specifically said the affinities are not like the Starcraft races.

 

[Lord Tirian]

Making a mutually exclusive choice also means you can't develop it in response to the game which is actually a rather fun aspect of the game right now.

Affinity choices are somewhat based on your starting location and a bit by your game plan based on it.

Having non-exclusive affinities means you can organically develop the affinity appropriate to your situation which is a) more fun game-wise and b) results in cool stories.

An example is a recent game I had: I was going for Transcendence but another faction was going to win before me as they just activated their own mindflower. As a result, I aimed for cheap Supremacy techs to get the Firaxite orbital coverage and launch a phasal transporter invasion.

This not only means you have more game options, it also means that it's a very different story: Harmony with a dash or Supremacy is a very different concept from, let's say, Harmony with Purity. I mean the former implies cyborg bugs. Which is pretty cool. The latter implies genetically engineered superhumans that can breath miasma. Also cool.

 

[Lglenhaber]

There could be more of a spectrum were you could be a mix of affinites and get different synergy bonuses

Examples
Purity/harmony: People who use animals a beasts of burden-- +1 from animal resources
Purity/suppremecy: People who use robots, but only as servants-- Have units that have a human in the core, like giant death robots
Harmony/suppremecy: people who feel that they need to adapt with genetics and robots to the new planet-- from aliens and more natural resources

Any feedback would be helpful!

 

[Bezurn]

Thought I would cross post my take on making the affinity system a bit more robust. This was posted in a thread discussing decoupling affinity advancement from the tech web and instead tying it into other gameplay mechanics that would make science rushing not as powerful. I like some of the ideas presented in this thread as well. Hopefully we'll see a mod of something along the ideas presented above come out someday.

Begin cross post...

I like the idea for establishing which direction you wish to lead your people through a tourism like system for the start / middle of the game. I think the next step after you have cemented your chosen ideology is to not make the "tourism" mechanic such a driving force of increasing the affinity level, but to instead transform your land, cities, and population into that society type. There would be about (three?) different vectors in which this would be approached in the mid to late game.

• Transform the land - Some of the worker improvements in the game are already tied to a certain type of affinity in that affinity experience is on the leaf tech and as a side effect certain tile improvements get a boost. Farms become more powerful with Purity. Supremacy can use Nodes and Arrays to supplement their troops, and Harmony embraces Biowells and Miasma. Additions to the tech could be made that would further separate the three affinities to make their land more unique. At a given affinity level (4-6)? further progress in your affinity can be earned over time by improvements that are being worked that mesh well with your chosen affinity. Points are added to a pool "affinity pool" which is a large counter that eventually ticks you over to a new affinity level once so many points have been accumulated.
  
  I'd also like to see improvement tile growth brought back much like cottages in Civ 4. Higher tier improvements would grant higher affinity point gain per turn, but they would also be more costly to maintain in either a reduction of energy, food, or production on that tile. Tiles could actually incur a negative yield, such that it reduces the output when worked by the city. This encourage a system where spamming your specific affinity tile improvement all over the map would cause a great drain on your economy of one of those yields, which are all important and would require some careful balancing to maintain positive incomes of all the yield types.
  
  • Purity Improvements:
    • Terrascapes: +Food, +Production, -Energy (+maintenance)
    • Dome: +Culture, +Health, -Food (+maintenance)
  • Supremacy Improvements:
    • Node: +Culture, +Energy, -Production (+maintenance)
    • Array: +Science, +Health, -Energy (+maintenance)
  • Harmony Improvements
    • Biowell: +Health, +Culture, -Production, -Energy (+maintenance)
    • Miasma: +Food
  
  You will notice I did not add Academies or Manufactories to this list. Science and production are important for any society, and as such should remain neutral to all affinities.
  
  ...
• Great People Return - What better way of furthering the ideology of your cause than to have notable people who make impactful progress in evolving your society to the one you have chosen. This would make specialists more meaningful and provide some incentives for a tall vs wide approach. A tall player would focus more on specialists, while a wide player would focus more on improvements. When a great person is born he can be used to increase a specific affinity, or be sent on a mission.
  
  Missions:
  • Great Engineer: Rush a wonder
  • Great Scientist: Gain a Beaker Boost (no free tech out-right)
  • Great Trader (merchant): Conduct a Trade mission
  • Great Artist: Gain a free virtue
  • Great Grower: Gain additional population in a city (more than 1 most likely)
  ...
• Golden Ages - Haven't fully thought this one out yet. But either tie this in with great people, or have it be its own thing. Perhaps excess health (stability) leads to faster affinity gain, while lower health slows down your progress. Perhaps have this a fallback mechanic that keeps the ball moving towards advancement in your affinity over time, but at a slower rate than focusing on the other options. Perhaps I'll sleep on it and think of how this dovetails into my silly ideas

In any event I like your idea and would like to decouple tech and affinity levels. Learning a tech should be about learning how to make and implement these new ideas. It is through the actual use and practical application that your society progresses in transforming itself into the path you have planned out for them.

 

[Lglenhaber]

I think that there should also be teraforming, but it would influence affinities (i.e. lose levels in harmony or gain points in purity)

 

[silvertuerk]

"It is assumed that the currently overpowered nature of trade routes, which makes ICS and trade route spam the only optimal strategy, is fixed" -- Well, if we want we can see fault in trade routes but perhaps negative health is not enough an issue. In addition, production and food is solely issue with INTERNAL trade routes, not ALL trade routes.