Civilization Beyond Earth and Sid Meier’s Starships are not only linked by a common plot, but also have a common integration through a 2k account. The essence of this integration is that when certain conditions are met in one game, additional functionality opens in another. Most likely in firaxis this idea came from 2k for you to buy two games.
How it works?
For CivBE it looks something like this: you click on the 2k logo, then log in and … nothing happens. Any interface that explains why it is and what it gives is simply not there. Maybe they’ll correct me, but the first time you enter 2k, you should see the Glaciers map, in any case, I don’t remember the pop-up window, but the update says this. Further in the game, if you do what you need to, you will have a window with a message about the reward.
In Starships, this is already better and after logging in you will have a Rewards button where you can view all the unlocked rewards.
Bonuses from playing at CivBE
| Bonus type | Name | Description | Condition |
|---|---|---|---|
| New type of planet | Nirvana | +5% morale | opens with victory through Harmony |
| New type of planet | Xanadu | +10% towards science | opens with victory through Purity |
| New type of planet | Earth | +10% to metals | unlocked by victory through Domination |
| New type of planet | Observatory | immediately unlocks all AI | opens with a victory through Contact |
| New mission | New jerusalem | protect religious refugees | you must complete the quest “Found an Outpost” |
| New mission | Assembly Required | protect freight transport | you must complete the quest “Gifts from Home” |
| New mission | The arena | battle without shields | you must complete the quest “Hostile Takeover” |
| Hybrid paradigm | Excellence / Harmony | two paradigms can be chosen | opens if you reach 7 level of Superiority and 3 levels of Harmony |
| Hybrid paradigm | Excellence / Purity | two paradigms can be chosen | unlocked if you reach level 7 of Superiority and 3 levels of Purity |
| Hybrid paradigm | Purity / Harmony | two paradigms can be chosen | opens if you reach 7 levels of Purity and 3 levels of Harmony |
| Hybrid paradigm | Purity / Excellence | two paradigms can be chosen | opens if you reach 7 level of Purity and 3 levels of Superiority |
| Hybrid paradigm | Harmony / Excellence | two paradigms can be chosen | opens if you reach 7th level of Harmony and 3th level of Superiority |
| Hybrid paradigm | Harmony / Purity | two paradigms can be chosen | opens if you reach the 7th level of Harmony and the 3rd level of Purity |
Bonuses from playing Starships
| Bonus type | Name | Description | Condition |
|---|---|---|---|
| New map | Tiny islands | map with many small islands | opens with victory through the population |
| New map | Inland sea | inland sea map | opens with victory through the population |
| New type of colonist | Pioneers | colonists and explorers are built twice as fast | you must complete the “Fleet Escape” mission |
| New type of colonist | Mercenaries | all cities have +25 HP and all units have + 10% strength in friendly territory | you must complete the “Dark Star” mission |
| New type of spaceship | Supply Module | start the game with 2 resource pods near the first city | you must complete the mission “Den of Thieves!” |
| New type of spaceship | Electromagnetic Sensor | opens all artifacts on the map | you must complete “Final Justice!” mission |
| New type of cargo | Cryotome | start the game with a free social policy (virtue) | complete the “Fragile” mission |
| New type of cargo | Xeno Management | start the game with an Ultrasonic Emitter, this unit deals 10 damage to everyone on adjacent squares | you must complete the “Death Craft Alpha” mission |
Let’s analyze it
Bonuses for Starhips are a couple of missions, new planets and cheats. Yes, that’s right – CHITS. Hybrid paradigms are the ability to choose the bonuses of the two paradigms just like that from the very beginning of the game. Given that the game has an easy difficulty, it is not clear why this was done. Perhaps this is an idea for the future, given the fact that now in CivBE in the new DLC there will be truly real hybrid paradigms with many different improvements for units.
Bonuses for CivBE are so-so. Only free social policy (virtue) and the emitter unit look interesting. The unit looks interesting, but nothing more. He walks only one cell in any terrain, deals 10 damage to all units around him, and you will not be able to build such units, and you will not want to.
Apparently, the CivBE bonuses are embedded in the game itself and if you have them open, then you can use them in a multiplayer game.
However, if you log out of your 2k account or you do not have the Internet, then all your bonuses will disappear, although you can download an already created game.
Here’s a comparison to the additional content from the Steam Workshop: EnhancedLoadout and Awesome Loadout. Compare yourself what you can get by simply downloading these modules and “bonuses” for which you have to buy the game for 15 euros and spend a couple of hours completing the necessary missions.
Welcome to the dark side
Since this content is built into the game, you can unlock it without a 2k account and Starships. We are looking for these files in “Sid Meier’s Civilization Beyond Earth \ assets \ Gameplay \ XML \ Civilizations”:
- CivBECargo.xml
- CivBEColonists.xml
- CivBESpacecraft.xml
Inside these files, we search for the necessary lines in such a format as FiraxisLiveUnlockKey = “UltrasonicEmitterUnlocked” and delete them. Please note that “/>” cannot be deleted.
To unlock maps, we need another directory “Sid Meier’s Civilization Beyond Earth \ assets \ Maps” with files:
- Tiny_Islands.lua
- Inland_Sea.lua
Open lua files through the editor and delete the lines starting with FiraxisLiveKey. And now you have access to bonuses in 5 minutes and without financial costs.
Conclusion
Hopefully this is Firaxis’ first and last attempt at doing such black magic..
Article author: Alexey Khaletsky
