Some players like to jump in immediately and figure out everything on the fly. That's great! Go ahead and make a game now, and get started. Come back to this guide later, when you're ready to learn more.
The Setup Option allows the player to choose a number of features for their game. Including but not limited to, Game Pace, Difficulty, Map Size, Sponsor, Colonists, and Planet to name a few.
Play Now starts a match with most of the settings that were used for the last game.
The Basic Setup Screen
The basic menu takes you through a series of five choices to customize your nation. The first one is likely to be the most important of all: who are you going to play? Your Sponsor determines your Leader, your Colony's primary bonus, and their city names, colors, etc. All of the Sponsors are good, but their bonuses vary. Find a Sponsor that matches your playstyle to get the best advantage out of it. Covert Operations fans are going to love ARC. Big traders favor Polystralia. Brasilia mows down the field with tough troops.
Sponsors
- ARC: Good spying (Flexible)
- Pan-Asian Cooperative: Best wonder builders (High Points, High Risk)
- Franco-Iberia: Free Technology when they reach cultural milestones (also Flexible)
- Slavic Federation: Orbital bonuses (better mid and late game)
- Polystralia: Bonus trade routes (Development)
- Kavithan Protectorate: Outposts become cities faster (Expansion)
- Brasilia: +10% combat strength in melee (Conquest)
- People's African Union: +10% Food in growing cities if your nation is healthy (Growth)
After picking a Sponsor, choose a type of Colonist. Colonists give bonuses to every city. This selection should be based on the intended focus (e.g., fast growth requires Food and good Health, research demands Science).
Colonists
- Scientists: +2 Science in every city
- Refugees: +2 Food in every city
- Aristocrats: +3 Energy and +1 Health in every city
- Engineers: +2 Production in every city
- Artists: +2 Culture and +1 Health in every city
The Spacecraft Choices are slightly less important but still essential. This is a minor bonus that helps during the early stages of the game. A player who loves to explore, may want the Continental Surveyor to see all the coastlines on the map. Someone who is particular on where they land, and want a wider area to land, would want Retrograde Thrusters. A player intent on gathering resources will want Tectonic Scanner. An Energy hungry player will want Fusion Reactor. And someone who wants to either avoid aliens or befriend them might want Lifeform Sensor.
Spacecraft Choices
- Continental Surveyor: Reveal coasts on the map.
- Retrograde Thrusters: Extra territory for choosing your first city.
- Tectonic Scanner: You see Petroleum, Geothermal, and Titanium resources automatically.
- Fusion Reactor: +100 Energy.
- Lifeform Sensor: Reveals alien nests.
Cargo is a fun choice. You get a free bonus and all of them are really good. All of these heavily favor an advantage for the early game, so it is best to think about the first focus as a Colony. Hydroponics and Machinery are for players who plan on growth, expansion, and a powerful mid or late game. Weapon Arsenal is a power play for someone who thinks that their early turns can be leveraged into an aggressive advantage against their opponents. Laboratory is for players that want to trade, and settle new cities immediately. And Raw Materials is for players that want to focus on the Health of their Colony.
Cargo Choices
- Hydroponics: +1 Population in your first city
- Laboratory: Free Pioneering Technology
- Raw Materials: Free clinic in your first city
- Weapon Arsenal: Free soldier
- Machinery: Free worker
Finally, choosing a planet to land on. This is another playstyle choice, it would be wise to pick a planet that best suits the desired gameplay. More islands (Atlantean worlds) slow down early expansion and conquest, as well as warfare. Terran worlds create tiers of competition. There is usually heavy friction on a person's starting continent, but the action slows in the middle as people build up for cross-continental rivalries. A player who likes heavy warfare and conflict might enjoy Protean worlds, as they have few limiting factors to get in the way of conquest.
Advanced worlds (only available with Exoplanets DLC installed) let you try out specific maps that are made with a particular challenge or theme in mind.
With that, you now know everything to set up a great match. Before you begin, though, you should take a deeper look at each of the available sponsors and leaders. Some of this information is fun flavor and backstory, but you should also study the leaders so that you get a feel for how the AI plays them. This helps you to recognize trends, motivations, when they're going to attack you, and so forth.