Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth: Complete Guide

A strategy guide for Civilization: Beyond Earth and its Rising Tide expansion: sponsors, seeding choices, the tech web, affinities, the five victory types, openings, and the habits that separate a smooth win from a stalled colony.

Researched September 2026 — current as of the final Rising Tide patch (November 2015 "Wonder War" update). Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.

Status note: Beyond Earth hasn't had a gameplay patch since late 2015 but is still sold by 2K and regularly discounted (for example 75% off in the May 2026 Firaxis 30th anniversary sale). Everything below applies to the final version. If you own Rising Tide, most players consider it essential.

Quick Start

Choose a sponsor that fits your plan (science, expansion, culture, military). Each has a unique bonus and leader.
Seeding choices set your start: spacecraft, cargo and colonists shape your first turns. Pick what speeds up your plan.
Explore early with Explorers. Resource pods, ruins and expeditions give free resources, techs and quests.
Watch out for aliens. They're neutral-ish early but will attack if you provoke them or crowd their nests. Don't fight what you don't have to.
Health replaces happiness. Expanding too fast makes your colony unhealthy and slows growth and production.
The tech web is non-linear. Don't beeline blindly; grab economy and health techs around your path.
Pick an affinity by mid-game. Harmony, Purity or Supremacy unlocks unit upgrades and an affinity victory.
Quests matter. Most give meaningful choices between two permanent bonuses.
Virtues are your social policies. Commit to one or two trees to unlock synergy bonuses.
Plan your victory from turn 1. Every victory has distinct requirements.

Sponsors and Leaders

Base game

Sponsor	Leader
American Reclamation Corporation	Suzanne Fielding
Pan-Asian Cooperative	Daoming Sochua
Kavithan Protectorate	Kavitha Thakur
Franco-Iberia	Élodie
African Union	Samatar Jama Barre
Polystralia	Hutama
Brasilia	Rejinaldo Duarte Bolívar
Slavic Federation	Vadim Kozlov

Rising Tide

Sponsor	Leader
Al Falah	Arshia Kishk
North Sea Alliance	Duncan Hughes
Chungsu	Han Jae-Moon
INTEGR	Lena Ebner

Each sponsor has a unique bonus (and in Rising Tide, persona traits you can unlock with Diplomatic Capital). Read the tooltip at game setup and match it to your victory plan. Achievements exist for winning as each base-game leader.

Seeding the Expedition

Before landing, you pick a spacecraft, cargo and colonists. These determine things like extra starting resources, free buildings or units, revealed map features, or yield bonuses. Good general principles:

Early extra food or production speeds up your first colonists and workers.
Revealing coasts, resources or alien nests helps pick a strong capital site.
Extra starting units (like a free worker or soldier) are strong on higher difficulties.

After landing, you can move your first colonist to choose a better spot before founding your capital; don't wander more than a couple of turns.

Core Systems

Yields

Yield	Used for
Food	City growth
Production	Units, buildings, wonders
Energy	Gold equivalent: buying, maintenance
Science	Tech web
Culture	Virtues
Health	Empire-wide wellbeing; negative Health reduces growth and output

Resources

Basic resources improve tiles.
Strategic resources (Petroleum, Titanium, Geothermal, plus the three affinity resources) gate units and buildings.
Affinity resources: Floatstone (Purity), Xenomass (Harmony) and Firaxite (Supremacy). Securing the one you need is critical for late units and victories.

Aliens and the Miasma

Aliens live in nests; Siege Worms and sea monsters are big threats early (killing a Siege Worm is an achievement).
The Miasma is a toxic cloud that damages non-adapted units. Harmony eventually turns it into a benefit.
Clearing nests near your cities is often worth it; attacking every alien on sight is not.

Outposts and cities

New colonies start as outposts that grow into cities after a few turns. Guard them; they're vulnerable.

Stations

Neutral Stations land during the game. You can trade with them, protect them, or take them over. Trade routes to stations and your own cities are a big part of the economy.

Orbital layer

Satellites (launched from cities) sit above the map and provide bonuses or attack capability in an area. Launching your first orbital unit unlocks "Light This Candle". Protect satellite-heavy cities.

Covert operations

Agents can run covert ops in other players' cities (steal tech, sabotage, incite unrest). Rising Tide expanded the Black Market covert op.

Virtues

Four trees: Might, Prosperity, Knowledge and Industry. Buying multiple virtues in the same tier across trees unlocks synergy bonuses. Most strong players commit heavily to one tree with a second as support.

Affinities

Affinity	Philosophy	Style
Harmony	Adapt humanity to the planet; genetic modification	Tames aliens, uses Xenomass, ignores Miasma
Purity	Keep humanity human; terraform the planet into a new Earth	Strong defensive units and buildings, uses Floatstone
Supremacy	Merge with technology	Highly specialized units, uses Firaxite

You gain affinity levels by researching techs with affinity points and completing certain quests. Each level unlocks bonuses and unit upgrade options. Rising Tide adds hybrid affinities (for example Harmony/Supremacy), with their own units and achievements.

Victory Conditions

Victory	How to win
Contact	Research the path to detect the Progenitor signal, then build the Beacon and let it complete contact without it being destroyed
Domination	Capture all opponents' capitals
Transcendence (Harmony)	Reach high Harmony and build the Mind Flower to awaken the planet
Promised Land (Purity)	Reach high Purity, build the Exodus Gate, and bring settlers from Earth
Emancipation (Supremacy)	Reach high Supremacy, build the Emancipation Gate, and send units through to Earth

Affinity victories take a long time; start the required techs well before the late game. Contact is often the fastest victory for peaceful, science-focused players. There's also an achievement for winning each victory type.

Opening Build (Standard Speed)

Found the capital on turn 1 or after one short move.
Build an Explorer first (or second) to collect pods and run expeditions on ruins and resources.
Worker next, then an extra Soldier if aliens are aggressive.
Found 3–5 cities early with colonists; don't overexpand past what your Health can support.
Research economy and Health techs around your chosen affinity path.
Pick up quests as they appear; many give permanent empire bonuses.
Take stations' trade routes or build internal trade routes to boost growth and production.

Rules of thumb

A new city every few turns early on is fine if Health stays positive.
Put trade routes toward your biggest cities.
Don't clear every alien nest; clear only the ones near your expansion.
Build defensive units before your borders touch an AI's.

Rising Tide Features

Aquatic cities can be founded on the ocean and can move ("Splashdown", "The Voyageur" and "Ramming Speed" achievements).
Hybrid affinities, with unique ultimate units.
Diplomacy overhaul: Fear and Respect with other leaders, Diplomatic Capital, Agreements and persona traits.
Artifacts found through exploration can be combined for bonuses or artifact wonders.
Marvel quests are long, multi-stage quests with big rewards.
Frigid (ice) and Primordial (geologically active) planets.
Colossal aliens can be leashed with the right tech ("Shai-Hulud" achievement).

Maps and Difficulty

Maps include Terran, Protean, Atlantean, Archipelago, Equatorial, Taigan, Skirmish and Duel. Difficulties are named after space programmes, including Sputnik, Mercury, Vostok, Soyuz, Gemini and Apollo; each has a win achievement.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Ignoring Health. Negative Health cripples growth and production.
Attacking every alien. You'll lose units and invite swarms.
Beelining one tech branch. You'll lack Health, economy and defence techs.
Spreading virtues thinly. You won't get synergy bonuses.
Starting affinity victory projects late. They take many turns.
Leaving outposts undefended. Aliens and AIs pick them off.
Forgetting orbital coverage. Satellites are powerful buffs and threats.

Advanced Tips

Trade routes are your economy. Internal trade between your own cities can give huge growth.
Quest choices snowball. Choose bonuses that stack with your sponsor and affinity.
Use the Miasma as defence once you can ignore it, and clear it only where you plan to work tiles.
Plan for affinity resources. Secure Floatstone, Xenomass or Firaxite early for your chosen path.
Covert ops can steal crucial techs or disrupt an AI's victory project.
Rising Tide diplomacy: building Respect and Fear lets you trade favourably and discourage wars.
Mods: Beyond Earth supports mods; there are achievements for downloading and playing with one.

FAQ

Is Rising Tide worth it? Yes for most players. It adds aquatic cities, hybrid affinities, a better diplomacy system, artifacts and four new sponsors.

Which affinity is easiest? Purity is forgiving with strong defensive units. Harmony is powerful and fun once you understand the Miasma. Supremacy excels with specialized units.

What's the fastest victory? Contact is often quickest for peaceful science players. Domination can be quicker with an aggressive start.

Does Beyond Earth get updates? No. The last patch was in November 2015. It still receives sales.

Is it like Alpha Centauri? Beyond Earth shares the theme (colonising an alien world) and some ideas, but its systems are based on Civilization V.

How do I avoid alien attacks early? Keep units away from nests, don't attack aliens needlessly, and build a Soldier or two for defence.