CelJaded
DENOUNCING!
Greetings all.
I've been absent from the Beyond Earth scene for a while now and I've since noticed that activity on this forum has slumped in the wake of the most recent patch.
It's not getting any easier to enjoy BERT what with Firaxis' suspect ability to fix big problems - what did they do to marvel quests!? - but I thought I'd start up a little discussion on the elements that people currently like/dislike for giggles anyway.
To start off I've chalked up a favourites list of where I personally rank the 12 sponsors of Beyond Earth and might consider doing more for virtues and wonders etc. if people are keen to discuss.
To be clear: this isn't a tier list necessarily, but just a ranking of how much I like each sponsor, taking into account everything from their design and backstory to their unique abilities and overall game balance.
Share your top 12 too so we can get a decent discussion going. Thanks!
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From bottom to top:
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12. Brasilia
Dear, oh dear! Firaxis just can't seem to give Rejinaldo a break, can they? Taking home many a worst sponsor award since the vanilla release, Brasilia's benefits never seem to make any sort of meaningful impact on your game.
With the new war score system being introduced last patch, this sponsor has some potential to do something different as the idea of trained soldiers turning the tide of a war through nothing but pure numbers is a thematic one.
After trying it out in a few games though, I can say that the bonus to war score points just doesn't have a big enough impact to be worth upgrading.
Even with INTEGR's War of Ideas agreement in tow (which offers a total +75% war score bonus when coupled with Brasilia's fully upgraded UA), the net result is a bunch of extra technologies or resources you didn't prioritise because they weren't important anyway.
Similar to Civilization V, Brasilia is a war orientated race that doesn't get the important tools required for actually waging a war.
No energy support, no army limit bonus or additional combat expertise; just a hidden counter in the background that ensures any lucrative reparations payout is even more lucrative.
All Guerilla Mastery really does is give you a slight boost whilst you're already ahead and that is neither helpful nor particularly interesting.
I'm not even going to mention the 'diplomatic capital for kills' portion of the ability because I find it insulting that Firaxis would even consider that a bonus.
11. Pan-Asian Cooperative
How the mighty have fallen. And just when you thought that wonders in BE couldn't be devalued further.
Once my favourite sponsor in Beyond Earth, PAC has been ruined for no good reason in Rising Tide. I can remember when every member of this very forum was calling this ability change a typo, with the designers stating it would be "changed" in time for release. Well, here we still are and yes it sucks.
This ability is so remarkably unthematic that it actually makes me angry. How do you explain a sponsor who has the ability to finish massive feats of human engineering in a single turn? Do they all have magic hands or something?
Even more hilarious is the fact that the ability comes off as somewhat weak because the majority of wonders in BE are so terribly ineffective.
Making matters worse is the fact that most of them are unlocked on wayward technologies that you'll not want to research anyway thus making the ability more of a liability than a boon.
This is just a very badly thought out design choice and if you want further proof of that then just look at how it badly it suits the new upgrade system; offering the worst upgrade bonuses of any sponsor, Brasilia included!
The only thing keeping PAC out of last place is the fact that you can play a fairly different culture orientated strategy with water cities + Monomyth + Techno Artisans, but it's at the cost of wonders actually representing something unique and special and for any Civilization game - spin off or not - that's just really disappointing.
Give me back my bonus to worker speed! ;(
10. Franco Iberia
Another sponsor who has fallen from grace, going from game-breakingly good to puzzlingly awful in the space of a single patch.
The Rising Tide upgrade system has done nothing to help Franco Iberia stand out either, as a couple of free virtues per game is not going to amount to anything worthwhile by the end of your standard 200-turn conquest.
Focusing on culture is a really bad idea in Beyond Earth and its limited role has gotten even more limited with the introduction of water cities. Until the virtues themselves are given a proper balance pass then I can't see Elodie ever rising above that of a poor/boring choice.
9. Slavic Federation
Similar to Franco Iberia, the Slavs are a faction that were stupidly good in vanilla BE only to be brutally torn down in subsequent patches.
Whilst their latest incarnation is not quite as bad as the previous one, granting a surplus of useless strategic resources is hardly worth getting excited over; especially now that the trading system has been changed to require spies.
I find the idea of an orbital focused game to be tantalising, but the problem is that they're only one or two worthwhile satellites worth launching in the first place and the new Abyssal Mirror wonder is far too expensive and out of the way to consider factoring that in either.
You're always forced to play a certain way with Kozlov, which kind of sucks and most of the time you probably won't even notice his bonus coming into effect - especially if you play with strategic balance turned on.
The stellar Civilian Observatories agreement can really shine in multiplayer games though, I have to say.
8. Kavithan Protectorate
Another good sponsor that Firaxis couldn't help but spoil.
I can see why you would add an energy discount to tile purchases, what with the new water cities ignoring culture costs, but did they really have to remove the bonus to outpost creation!?
This was the big selling point of playing Kavitha and now that it's missing, it really hurts her overall game.
As a self-confessed tile-purchasing addict, I'm probably ranking this sponsor a bit higher than it really deserves, but it is fun to combine it with the diplomatic trait that grants further discounts to tile purchases, as you can have Shosone-size territory in no time!
Good health agreements too.
7. Chungsu
I'm not a massive fan of Chungsu, truth be told.
Han Jae Moon is an interesting leader, starting on water is novel and I like any ability that grants an innate science solution, but my biggest gripe is that they feel way too similar to ARC.
We already had a espionage centric sponsor on hand so I don't really see why we needed another - especially one that (arguably) doesn't do as good a job at it.
They'd rank much lower on my list if Firaxis hadn't fixed their icon and colour scheme though, so praise the sun for small mercies I guess.
6. Duncan Hughes
The debate will rage on as to whether NSA's bonuses are actually useful or not, but the water-bound start combined with the assurance that no opposing water city will have strong defences is what makes Duncan so dangerous in the hands of an experienced player.
When combined with the fast naval unit production of aquatic cities and the Precise/Scavenging abilities especially, you can amass a dangerous fleet of ships and begin dominating water world maps in very short order.
Solid but unspectacular, NSA gets bonus points for Duncan himself, who I think is a likeable guy (for a change!) to have in your game.
5. Polystralia
With the buff to their ability, not to mention internal trade routes in general, Polystralia is back with a vengeance.
Managing all of those trade routes has been made a little easier with the new automated system too and thus Hutama is always a solid pick no matter the victory condition you want to pursue.
A superb array of agreements only adds to the broken-feeling package, but the fact that Beyond Earth's trade route system has always annoyed me is the only reason that Polystralia isn't a higher on my list.
4. African Union
I wasn't sure what to think of the African Union when I first saw their proposed change, but in practice I really like this ability now.
Actually focusing on food growth is made into a tactic again and the rather horrible Institute building really comes into its own when crammed with boosted science specialists.
The tall 4-5 city game of Civilization games past finds a comfortable niche here and it gets even more ridiculous when combined with certain diplomatic traits :cough: Student Aid :cough.
The only thing I don't like about this sponsor is that I feel like I'm playing the exact same way every game and I'm not sure what room there is to budge with their strategy when playing on Apollo.
3. INTEGR
With so many diplomatic traits and agreements on hand, you'll be hard-pressed not to find enjoyable strategies to use when playing as Lena.
You probably won't make use of the city purchases all that often, but the discount on big agreements really expands the variety of potent options from game to game.
Party Politics is a superb agreement for multiplayer sessions (essentially giving your allies free diplomatic capital every turn) and overall INTEGR really make the most of Rising Tide's new diplomacy system.
Not the best colour scheme perhaps, but a well designed sponsor nonetheless.
2. ARC
ARC were my second favourite sponsor to PAC in vanilla and they're still clinging to the number 2 spot after receiving a rather superb buff to their overall espionage capability in Rising Tide.
Firaxis ditched the intrigue bonus and went with faster stealing (always nice) and an inspired reduction on operations costs thus allowing ARC to steal crucial science as soon as their agents are in position.
The Subtle diplomatic trait helps make the dream of <5 turn thefts an achievable reality and it gives ARC a niche that no other sponsor has (except maybe Chungsu).
Suzanne doesn't come into her own until the mid game, but when she does she can be a real powerhouse and is a great pick if you're looking to go with the Supremacy affinity due to the number of free spies you can get from buildings.
1. Al Falah
So far I haven't enjoyed a game of Rising Tide more than the time I rolled up a map with this sponsor.
A firm mid game bloomer, Al Falah's unique ability gives you absolute control over the direction of your colony.
Focusing on production and growth in the early game yields incredible results when you can later convert all of that hard work into the yield of your choice.
You want a few turns of massive culture gains? Food? Energy? Sci- YES YOU DO!
Granted the ability is rather poorly explained, but when combined with the Industrious trait especially, the huge science gains will just carry you to whatever victory you want.
Outside of the actual game mechanics, Arshia Kishk is an enchanting figure and the backstory of her people and their arrival on this new world is one of the more inspired stories to be found in Beyond Earth.
You did a great job with sponsor, Firaxis. Please don't screw it up in the next patch. :lives in hope:
I've been absent from the Beyond Earth scene for a while now and I've since noticed that activity on this forum has slumped in the wake of the most recent patch.
It's not getting any easier to enjoy BERT what with Firaxis' suspect ability to fix big problems - what did they do to marvel quests!? - but I thought I'd start up a little discussion on the elements that people currently like/dislike for giggles anyway.
To start off I've chalked up a favourites list of where I personally rank the 12 sponsors of Beyond Earth and might consider doing more for virtues and wonders etc. if people are keen to discuss.
To be clear: this isn't a tier list necessarily, but just a ranking of how much I like each sponsor, taking into account everything from their design and backstory to their unique abilities and overall game balance.
Share your top 12 too so we can get a decent discussion going. Thanks!
---
From bottom to top:
---
12. Brasilia
Dear, oh dear! Firaxis just can't seem to give Rejinaldo a break, can they? Taking home many a worst sponsor award since the vanilla release, Brasilia's benefits never seem to make any sort of meaningful impact on your game.
With the new war score system being introduced last patch, this sponsor has some potential to do something different as the idea of trained soldiers turning the tide of a war through nothing but pure numbers is a thematic one.
After trying it out in a few games though, I can say that the bonus to war score points just doesn't have a big enough impact to be worth upgrading.
Even with INTEGR's War of Ideas agreement in tow (which offers a total +75% war score bonus when coupled with Brasilia's fully upgraded UA), the net result is a bunch of extra technologies or resources you didn't prioritise because they weren't important anyway.
Similar to Civilization V, Brasilia is a war orientated race that doesn't get the important tools required for actually waging a war.
No energy support, no army limit bonus or additional combat expertise; just a hidden counter in the background that ensures any lucrative reparations payout is even more lucrative.
All Guerilla Mastery really does is give you a slight boost whilst you're already ahead and that is neither helpful nor particularly interesting.
I'm not even going to mention the 'diplomatic capital for kills' portion of the ability because I find it insulting that Firaxis would even consider that a bonus.
11. Pan-Asian Cooperative
How the mighty have fallen. And just when you thought that wonders in BE couldn't be devalued further.
Once my favourite sponsor in Beyond Earth, PAC has been ruined for no good reason in Rising Tide. I can remember when every member of this very forum was calling this ability change a typo, with the designers stating it would be "changed" in time for release. Well, here we still are and yes it sucks.
This ability is so remarkably unthematic that it actually makes me angry. How do you explain a sponsor who has the ability to finish massive feats of human engineering in a single turn? Do they all have magic hands or something?
Even more hilarious is the fact that the ability comes off as somewhat weak because the majority of wonders in BE are so terribly ineffective.
Making matters worse is the fact that most of them are unlocked on wayward technologies that you'll not want to research anyway thus making the ability more of a liability than a boon.
This is just a very badly thought out design choice and if you want further proof of that then just look at how it badly it suits the new upgrade system; offering the worst upgrade bonuses of any sponsor, Brasilia included!
The only thing keeping PAC out of last place is the fact that you can play a fairly different culture orientated strategy with water cities + Monomyth + Techno Artisans, but it's at the cost of wonders actually representing something unique and special and for any Civilization game - spin off or not - that's just really disappointing.
Give me back my bonus to worker speed! ;(
10. Franco Iberia
Another sponsor who has fallen from grace, going from game-breakingly good to puzzlingly awful in the space of a single patch.
The Rising Tide upgrade system has done nothing to help Franco Iberia stand out either, as a couple of free virtues per game is not going to amount to anything worthwhile by the end of your standard 200-turn conquest.
Focusing on culture is a really bad idea in Beyond Earth and its limited role has gotten even more limited with the introduction of water cities. Until the virtues themselves are given a proper balance pass then I can't see Elodie ever rising above that of a poor/boring choice.
9. Slavic Federation
Similar to Franco Iberia, the Slavs are a faction that were stupidly good in vanilla BE only to be brutally torn down in subsequent patches.
Whilst their latest incarnation is not quite as bad as the previous one, granting a surplus of useless strategic resources is hardly worth getting excited over; especially now that the trading system has been changed to require spies.
I find the idea of an orbital focused game to be tantalising, but the problem is that they're only one or two worthwhile satellites worth launching in the first place and the new Abyssal Mirror wonder is far too expensive and out of the way to consider factoring that in either.
You're always forced to play a certain way with Kozlov, which kind of sucks and most of the time you probably won't even notice his bonus coming into effect - especially if you play with strategic balance turned on.
The stellar Civilian Observatories agreement can really shine in multiplayer games though, I have to say.
8. Kavithan Protectorate
Another good sponsor that Firaxis couldn't help but spoil.
I can see why you would add an energy discount to tile purchases, what with the new water cities ignoring culture costs, but did they really have to remove the bonus to outpost creation!?
This was the big selling point of playing Kavitha and now that it's missing, it really hurts her overall game.
As a self-confessed tile-purchasing addict, I'm probably ranking this sponsor a bit higher than it really deserves, but it is fun to combine it with the diplomatic trait that grants further discounts to tile purchases, as you can have Shosone-size territory in no time!
Good health agreements too.
7. Chungsu
I'm not a massive fan of Chungsu, truth be told.
Han Jae Moon is an interesting leader, starting on water is novel and I like any ability that grants an innate science solution, but my biggest gripe is that they feel way too similar to ARC.
We already had a espionage centric sponsor on hand so I don't really see why we needed another - especially one that (arguably) doesn't do as good a job at it.
They'd rank much lower on my list if Firaxis hadn't fixed their icon and colour scheme though, so praise the sun for small mercies I guess.
6. Duncan Hughes
The debate will rage on as to whether NSA's bonuses are actually useful or not, but the water-bound start combined with the assurance that no opposing water city will have strong defences is what makes Duncan so dangerous in the hands of an experienced player.
When combined with the fast naval unit production of aquatic cities and the Precise/Scavenging abilities especially, you can amass a dangerous fleet of ships and begin dominating water world maps in very short order.
Solid but unspectacular, NSA gets bonus points for Duncan himself, who I think is a likeable guy (for a change!) to have in your game.
5. Polystralia
With the buff to their ability, not to mention internal trade routes in general, Polystralia is back with a vengeance.
Managing all of those trade routes has been made a little easier with the new automated system too and thus Hutama is always a solid pick no matter the victory condition you want to pursue.
A superb array of agreements only adds to the broken-feeling package, but the fact that Beyond Earth's trade route system has always annoyed me is the only reason that Polystralia isn't a higher on my list.
4. African Union
I wasn't sure what to think of the African Union when I first saw their proposed change, but in practice I really like this ability now.
Actually focusing on food growth is made into a tactic again and the rather horrible Institute building really comes into its own when crammed with boosted science specialists.
The tall 4-5 city game of Civilization games past finds a comfortable niche here and it gets even more ridiculous when combined with certain diplomatic traits :cough: Student Aid :cough.
The only thing I don't like about this sponsor is that I feel like I'm playing the exact same way every game and I'm not sure what room there is to budge with their strategy when playing on Apollo.
3. INTEGR
With so many diplomatic traits and agreements on hand, you'll be hard-pressed not to find enjoyable strategies to use when playing as Lena.
You probably won't make use of the city purchases all that often, but the discount on big agreements really expands the variety of potent options from game to game.
Party Politics is a superb agreement for multiplayer sessions (essentially giving your allies free diplomatic capital every turn) and overall INTEGR really make the most of Rising Tide's new diplomacy system.
Not the best colour scheme perhaps, but a well designed sponsor nonetheless.
2. ARC
ARC were my second favourite sponsor to PAC in vanilla and they're still clinging to the number 2 spot after receiving a rather superb buff to their overall espionage capability in Rising Tide.
Firaxis ditched the intrigue bonus and went with faster stealing (always nice) and an inspired reduction on operations costs thus allowing ARC to steal crucial science as soon as their agents are in position.
The Subtle diplomatic trait helps make the dream of <5 turn thefts an achievable reality and it gives ARC a niche that no other sponsor has (except maybe Chungsu).
Suzanne doesn't come into her own until the mid game, but when she does she can be a real powerhouse and is a great pick if you're looking to go with the Supremacy affinity due to the number of free spies you can get from buildings.
1. Al Falah
So far I haven't enjoyed a game of Rising Tide more than the time I rolled up a map with this sponsor.
A firm mid game bloomer, Al Falah's unique ability gives you absolute control over the direction of your colony.
Focusing on production and growth in the early game yields incredible results when you can later convert all of that hard work into the yield of your choice.
You want a few turns of massive culture gains? Food? Energy? Sci- YES YOU DO!
Granted the ability is rather poorly explained, but when combined with the Industrious trait especially, the huge science gains will just carry you to whatever victory you want.
Outside of the actual game mechanics, Arshia Kishk is an enchanting figure and the backstory of her people and their arrival on this new world is one of the more inspired stories to be found in Beyond Earth.
You did a great job with sponsor, Firaxis. Please don't screw it up in the next patch. :lives in hope:
D), and I just always forget to manage trade routes.
