Don't assume that the way you're playing will take you all the way through the game. Domination players can lose their capitals, even if their military is amazing. Stuff happens. You might also take too long to finish the game with other methods, if a rival gets ahead of you in their construction or affinity Experience.
Be flexible! Spartan Kel once tried to explain the importance of this mindset, and it's a lesson that you should always remember. Don't be too stiff in your approach to a situation. Look for multiple means of success, and be ready to shift your strategy if an opportunity presents itself.
In game terms, this means that you should watch the world develop around you. If targets are weak and vulnerable, a military path is going to earn you major rewards, even if you weren't planning on pursuing Domination. On the other hand, poor terrain, good enemy alliances, and a few unlucky players might give you a horrible position for continuing an aggressive expansion. Consider alternate plans! Maybe going on the defensive and using a Promised Land approach would be easier than taking everyone else out.
At a minimum, have two victory methods in mind as you go through each game. Domination doesn't have to be one of them, but it's a useful option in the majority of games.
The Six Ways to Win the Game
You can win Civilization: Beyond Earth in one of six ways. Know how to do each of them so that you have alternatives.
Domination (Military Victory)
- Goal #1: Be the last nation that still holds their original capital city.
This is one of the most intuitive victory methods in the game. Knock out all of the other capitals, and you win. However, there can be more to it than that. Many newcomers to the series might think that the winner has to be the one who maintains control over all of the capitals, and that's simply not the case. Rather than thinking of this as pure domination, consider it more like a game of last person standing. You don't even need to declare war or take a single city to win this way. If other nations cut each other down, you only need to be the one who survives and holds on to their own capital the longest.
Having a great military is a good way to prevent the loss of your capital, and it helps to ensure that Domination occurs before any rivals get to their own victory conditions. As such, you're better off preparing for war and attacking anyone who doesn't lose their capital without wasting too much time.
During the early or middle game, you want to conquer swaths of enemy territory. Take cities, let them grow, and your empire will become stronger over time. Toward the end of the game, you don't need to have that level of care. Instead, look at the number of people who have their original capitals, and see if you can rush in, crush their defenders, and take those cities. You don't need to hold on to them. Just crush the person's chance for Domination, and you will be that much closer to the end.
Lightning raids with fast-moving units and air support (if possible) are great for taking out capitals that have exposure to your borders, neutral territory, or the ocean. Look for a weak point so that you don't always have to defeat a person's entire military just to win the day.
Might virtues are not required for this type of victory, but they do make some of your campaigns that much easier to win.
Contact (Economic Victory)
- Goal #1: Discover "The Signal."
- Goal #2: Decode The Signal.
- Goal #3: Construct the Beacon.
- Goal #4: Activate the Beacon.
- Goal #5: Earn Energy to power the Beacon.
This victory method is another one that's available to any player regardless of their affinity choices. Contact lets you make contact with an advanced alien species and begin a new level of human interactions.
The first step in this is to discover The Signal. You do this by completing the Transcendental Equation (a project that is unlocked when you research Transcendental Math, a leaf of Computing). If that isn't your preferred method, you can meet the same goal by launching a deep space telescope. This takes more time because you have to wait for the telescope to detect The Signal, and that is a random event.
In the rarest cases, you can discover The Signal by launching expeditions in Progenitor ruins. This isn't something that you can really plan for. It might happen, but it's more of a moment of opportunity than anything else.
Once you find The Signal in any way, you have to use the Decode Signal project in one of your cities. Finish that, and then use the Beacon project to get access to the end stage of the game. With the Beacon running, your economy starts to shift. All surplus Energy goes into the Beacon, and you win if you can get enough Energy to make contact.
To help with this victory method, you must have a large nation (the more cities, the better), a thriving economy (with more generators and economic buildings), and solid trade with other nations. Prosperity and Industry virtues are both very helpful. Industry gets you the Energy and buildings you need, and Prosperity lets you maintain a larger nation without as many downsides.
Transcendence (Harmony Victory)
- Goal #1: Contact the planet's consciousness.
- Goal #2: Create the Mind Flower.
- Goal #3: Merge with the planet's consciousness.
Technology lets you get your foot in the door with a Transcendence victory. You ultimately need to have at least 13 levels of Harmony and several Technologies mastered before you can begin (Nanorobotics, Transgenics, and Swarm Robotics).
With these three techs and a high Harmony affinity, you can start work on the Mind Flower. Construct that wonder in a city that is well defended. You won't want any enemies to come in and ruin your progress. Make sure to have Alien Ethics researched by the time that the Mind Flower is done because that Technology is vital to winning the game quickly.
Once the Mind Flower is ready, start to construct Xeno sanctuaries and mind stems as quickly as possible. Rush their Production whenever you can, and put these buildings into every city, regardless of that city's purpose within your nation. The sooner you get all of these buildings ready, the sooner Transcendence completes, and you win the game. This can be hurried through much sooner than the Purity and Supremacy victory methods. Enemies of Harmony players must be aware of this and react quickly to stop anyone who is close to finishing their Mind Flower.
The Promised Land (Purity Victory)
- Goal #1: Contact Earth.
- Goal #2: Construct the Exodus Gate.
- Goal #3: Summon Earthling settlers.
- Goal #4: Shelter the settlers.
Launch a Lasercom Satellite as soon as you have access to these orbital units (they're researched with Orbital Networks). Once in the sky, these orbitals give you the baseline that you need to start the Exodus Gate. You must also reach Level 13 Purity affinity, so this isn't something that you can do early in the game, even if you rush to get the Technology in place.
Choose a very defensive city for your Exodus Gate. You have to protect the tile that the gate is on and prevent enemies from getting anywhere near it. They'll have the ability to ruin your progress if they take control of the area, so fight with everything you have.
Once per turn, the Exodus Gate can produce an Earthling settler. Lead these settlers into safe territory, and have them settle there. Up to six settlers can use the same tile for settling; they function like an outpost, though they don't have any defenses. You must use your military power to protect them from other players, who are extremely likely to attack. Not only do they get resources for destroying your settlers, but it also keeps the game going. Even friendly nations may start attacking you at this point in the game.
If you settle enough of those cute little Earthlings, you win the game!
Emancipation (Supremacy Victory)
- Goal #1: Contact Earth.
- Goal #2: Construct the Emancipation Gate.
- Goal #3: Send military units to establish order on Earth.
Emancipation begins in the same manner as the Promised Land victory. Launch a Lasercom Satellite after you research Orbital Networks. This lets you contact Earth and begin the next stage of the task. Get 13 levels or more of Supremacy Experience, and then construct an Exodus Gate in a very defensive location near your strongest city.
Once complete, the Exodus Gate can transport one military unit per turn back to Old Earth. You need a set amount of Combat Strength to head through the gate, so the strongest melee unit you can find each turn is going to have to head through. If you have massive Production, prioritize Strength over everything else. If you have trouble keeping up with demand and are missing turns, then prioritize the cheapest units so that you at least have something to send through the gate every turn.
It takes a fair number of turns to get enough units through the gate to win. Watch your borders, and don't abandon your defenses just to keep the gate loaded with troops. You need Production, units, and safety to keep this effort going. It's okay to lose some territory on the periphery, but don't give up your empire. It's too easy for enemies to get an opening after that, and if you lose the gate, you've just lost the game entirely because your nation will be set so far back.
Highest Score (End of Game Victory)
- Goal #1: Have the highest score at the end of the game.
If you run out of turns (at Turn 500 in a standard pacing), the game ends, and everyone's score is tallied. The winner of these long games is the nation that has the highest score when this occurs. It's hard to try to win by this method because so many of the ways to get more points put you in a position that allows you to win sooner by other means.
That said, here are ways to improve your score. It's nice to have a higher score anyway because that usually reflects on something powerful and useful to your nation in the first place. Also, this goes toward calculating the final score that you're given for the Hall of Fame (though that is also quite dependent on the number of turns you take to achieve victory).
Items That Control Your Score
- Number of tiles inside your borders
- Higher population
- Number of techs researched
- Wonders constructed
- Virtues unlocked
- The sum of all affinity levels
- Military Strength
- Total number of covert agents
- Total Science accrued
- Total Culture accrued
If you go into the Diplomacy screen and highlight your nation's score there, you get a full breakdown of those points. This is useful for seeing where you frequently do well; it also gives you an idea for areas that you can improve on in the future.