Tech Web and Affinities

[Seek]

Just for fun I threw together a visual representation of everything we know about the tech web so far from the PCGamer interview.



Beyond this, there is a bit more we can extrapolate from the information released about Affinities regarding techs and/or bonuses in these trees. (All info from PCGamer interview unless otherwise noted.)

Harmony:
Genetics (and likely Xenosciences) will grant bonuses to:

• Expansion
• Unit movement speed
• Unit healing
• Alien domestication and weaponization
• Geophysics (PAX Panel)
• Ecology (PAX Panel)

Purity:
Info/Comm (and likely Planetary Sci) will grant bonuses to:

• Defense (particularly against fauna and flora of Planet)
• Weaponry
• Flight/Floating
• Science (Polygon)

Supremacy:
Transhumanism (and likely AI) will grant bonuses to:

• Offense
• Specialized units
• Unit formations (which will grant buffs when "harmonizing" correctly)
• Ignore inhospitable terrain* (IGN)

* I am definitely reaching a bit here, but from this quote I'm guessing a specialist-economy type of gameplay. Original quote is "Supremacy disregards the land and focuses on humanity's independence from its environment".

~​

Did I miss or misinterpret anything?
Any other thoughts as to other techs, the way the tech web is layed out, speculations, etc?

 

[bhavv]

Nice info.

 

[stealth_nsk]

Seek, your pic is fantastic!

 

[SammyKhalifa]

Thanks for this.

(Hey look, another hex )

 

[Lyoncet]

As a long-time MTG player, I immediately looked at this like the color wheel. So not only where and how do the three flavors play together, but what are they inherently opposed to. It works out really well... mostly.

Harmony is straight across from AI, which makes perfect sense. They're all about the organic and natural, and them bleeding over into xenoscience and planetary science fits perfectly. Supremacy sits across from Planetary Sciences, which fits a bunch of technophilic brain-in-a-can enthusiasts, and I guess you can make a case for resource exploitation and adaptation in xenoscience, while AI fits to a T.

The one that doesn't make quite as much sense to my very limited understanding is Purity. Opposing xenoscience fits of course, since that's pretty much anathema to human purists. What doesn't quite fit for me is bleeding over into AI and planetary science. Maybe my take on purity is that they're more restricted than they are in fact. I took their focus to be on maintaining and nurturing human self-reliance and exceptionalism, which would be at odds with relying on AI. I guess terraforming and adapting the planet to your needs fits fine though.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

As a long-time MTG player, I immediately looked at this like the color wheel. So not only where and how do the three flavors play together, but what are they inherently opposed to. It works out really well... mostly.

Harmony is straight across from AI, which makes perfect sense. They're all about the organic and natural, and them bleeding over into xenoscience and planetary science fits perfectly. Supremacy sits across from Planetary Sciences, which fits a bunch of technophilic brain-in-a-can enthusiasts, and I guess you can make a case for resource exploitation and adaptation in xenoscience, while AI fits to a T.

The one that doesn't make quite as much sense to my very limited understanding is Purity. Opposing xenoscience fits of course, since that's pretty much anathema to human purists. What doesn't quite fit for me is bleeding over into AI and planetary science. Maybe my take on purity is that they're more restricted than they are in fact. I took their focus to be on maintaining and nurturing human self-reliance and exceptionalism, which would be at odds with relying on AI. I guess terraforming and adapting the planet to your needs fits fine though.

I think Purists focus on Using AI.
Supremacists focus on Becoming AI.

Overall I think the wheel works very well.

 

[Seek]

I think Purists focus on Using AI.
Supremacists focus on Becoming AI.

This is my take on it too. One other thing to note is that although the designers described the web as a wheel, it seems to me that the three major branches are generally more closely linked to only one of the adjacent secondary branches (thus the links I drew between them in the extrapolation section of the OP).

So the secondary branches may more be in tandem with the main branches: Transhumanism with AI, Genetics with Xenosciences, and Information/Communication with Planetary Sciences.

@stealth_nsk, bhavv and SammyKhalifa - Cheers!

 

[Arrowstorm]

Really cool representation you've thrown together.

 

[Gokudo01]

i love your picture, really explicit

 

[reddishrecue]

So this is the technology that is way after the repetitive future technology.

 

[CleverFool]

Indeed, to echo others I'm quite impressed by the picture. Simple, yet makes a lot of sense.

I think it will be interesting to see how Supremacy interacts with terraforming. Harmony sounds like they will do little, Purity will change everything, but I question how Supremacy changes (or doesn't change) the environment.

 

[Rakshasa72]

So this is the technology that is way after the repetitive future technology.

That's one thing I wondering about Civ:BE if you get to the point where you have finished your Tech tree and you haven't finished the game for what ever reason. Can you go back and fill out one of the other Virtues?

 

[boghog]

That's one thing I wondering about Civ:BE if you get to the point where you have finished your Tech tree and you haven't finished the game for what ever reason. Can you go back and fill out one of the other Virtues?

Sure, they said that a typical game would see you researching something like 75% of the technologies in the web. That means that you can get far more than only your segment.

BTW affinities are not the same as virtues apparently.

 

[Cyon]

Do you think that you will get 'affinity points' for two affinities for some techs, like a planertary scinece tech could give you points to both Purity and Harmony or will only the three main affinity techweb paths give affinity points?

 

[SoupJuice]

That's one thing I wondering about Civ:BE if you get to the point where you have finished your Tech tree and you haven't finished the game for what ever reason. Can you go back and fill out one of the other Virtues?

I swear some information somewhere explicitly stated the path chosen would render some "techs" unavailable, but I would imagine those particular techs would be in conflict with the system that exists late-game, so there is no reason to want them unless you change affinities.