Firaxis took to Twitch for another live gameplay demo of Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth. The video went into great detail about the Virtue trees in the game while also touching on what the late-game looks like for players pursuing the Harmony victory condition.
The beginning of the video gives viewers a great look at what the last dozen turns look like for the Harmony affinity, which focuses on adapting human anatomy to better survive in the indigenous environment of the alien planet. The developers went into the kind of unique units that Harmony players gain access to, including the Xi-no Titan, the game's most powerful offensive unit.
The narrators mention both Harmony-unique and Harmony-flavored units, implying that some units are available for all factions but receive special qualities when they become affiliated with a certain affinity. As a possible example, they tell about a unit promotion Harmony players can utilize that causes their units to explode and damage all adjacent enemies upon death.
30-Minute Beyond Earth Gameplay Video Shows How The New Game Follows And Breaks From Civ V's Example
The majority of the video, though, is spent dissecting the Virtue trees, the civ-wide bonuses that look akin to the Social Policies of Civ V. The Virtues all fall in one of four categories. Might Virtues grant military strength, Prosperity helps encourage civ growth, Knowledge Virtues benefit science and culture, and production increases with the Industry Virtue tree. For more information about what kind of specific bonuses these Virtues offer, you can watch the video, where the two narrators outline every choice.
The Virtue system includes wider bonuses as well with a system of depth and breadth bonuses. Depth bonuses reward the player for activating several Virtues within a given category, whereas breadth bonuses offer rewards for choosing many Virtues out of several different trees.
Some other areas of interest in the video include a mention of spy abilities. Far removed from Civ V's very tame spy system, one narrator mentions that Beyond Earth spies can set up a dirty bomb in a city or construct an attractor for siege worms, powerful alien units that specialize in taking down cities. Sure beats stealing a mid-powered tech.
Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth is set to release worldwide on October 24.
