This chapter explains the Affinity system, one of the newest game concepts in Civilization: Beyond Earth. This controls a variety of bonuses that both your colony and its military forces receive. The more you master an Affinity, the easier it becomes to defend yourself and dominate your rivals.
There are three Affinities in this game: Harmony, Purity, and Supremacy. If you don't know a unit specifically, you can tell a great deal just by the color of the people or machines in question. White units are members of the early game; they do not have an Affinity yet. Blue-green units are Harmony-based. Red and beige units follow the path of Purity. Yellow and black units are devoted to Supremacy.
All colonies begin without any Affinity experience whatsoever. From there, they can grow in one or all three of the Affinities. Your colony's highest Affinity value is its dominant one. This starts to become significant around midgame, when you have an affinity at or above Level 6.
Research in most Civilization games is what determines the power of your Units; the more technology you have, the better your forces become as they train with increasingly improved weaponry. Things are slightly different here; Units receive tiers of Upgrades at specific Affinity levels. Some Units are locked at higher points in the technology web, but Upgrades are a huge aspect of gameplay. When an Upgrade is chosen, it is immediately applied to all units of that type--you will not have to upgrade individual units manually or pay any cost.
Though Affinity is tied to certain technologies, there are multiple ways to advance in this system. As such, you could be a technological powerhouse and still not have the most modern military force in the game. Things are a little more complicated than that.
Reaching a high Affinity level is, in some ways, even more important than mastering all available technologies. Not only is this important for your military, but it's also the way to unlock various end-game goals. Each Affinity has its own way to win the game. Everyone can try to achieve a Contact or Domination victory, but high Affinity values also unlock Transcendence, Promised Land, and Emancipation as victory conditions. The more paths to victory you understand, the more likely it is to achieve one of them. Getting to higher Affinity quickly substantially improves your ability to win the game, whether you're the strongest nation or not!
Gaining Affinity Experience
Gaining levels in an Affinity requires experience of that same category. To see how much experience is needed, highlight the Affinity levels in the upper-left corner of the screen when in-game. This also displays the various bonuses the player receives when specific Affinity levels are reached. A player can gain experience in all three Affinity categories, even after becoming dominant with one of them, and gain bonuses from each. However, becoming dominant in one Affinity reduces the amount of experience gained in the others.
There are three ways to gain experience and increase Affinity level. The most reliable and consistent is Research. Look through the technology web, and note the blue-green, red, and yellow symbols that are located on many leaf technologies. Those are Affinity experience! Completing those technologies gets you a certain amount of experience in the displayed Affinity category. Highlight the technology to see how much experience it will provide.
Another method for Affinity advancement is the Quest system. Some events appear occasionally throughout the game, providing Quests that should be followed to their conclusion. The choices you make for these special Quests are often along Affinity lines. Make choices that are aligned with a desired Affinity to gain experience in that category. These Quests have an icon with all three Affinity symbols. Prioritize these above all other quests, as they often take more time and require exploration. That's fine; it's worth your investment.
The third and final way to gain experience is from Expeditions. Your Explorers are vital to the colony's progress. They sometimes get random Resource Pods with small yields, but that's only the tip of the iceberg. Expeditions are the way to get the serious bonuses. These can provide a sum of Affinity experience or even a full Affinity level (if you're lucky), and they sometimes tie into the Quests previously mentioned.
Choosing a Dominant Path
You should often choose your intended Affinity very early in the game. The sooner you pick one, the easier it is to know which to follow during Quest choices. You also can hurry toward Technologies that give one kind of Affinity experience over the others.
It's fine to grab Affinity experience all over the board; the bonuses you get are really cool. Just make sure to have one Affinity in mind as your preferred type. Now, you'll learn more details about the upsides and downsides of the three Affinities so that you know what you're getting into.
