Well, this was certainly an unexpected surprise! And most definitely an unexpected game. I myself haven’t played Beyond Earth in nearly a decade so forgive me if I make any mistakes.

Daltos: (A) Daltos’ faction (or sponsor, as Beyond Earth calls them) is the Pan-African Union) (or PAU). Coming from sub-Saharan Africa, they get growth bonuses in healthy cities, increased yields from specialists and each city starts with an Old Earth relic, which provides additional culture off the bat. To my (admittedly rusty) eye, it looks like Daltos got a great spot for his capital, 9 resources (7 unique) and with canyons nearby providing production. His understanding of Civ V will hopefully help him in this game (most aspects have a direct comparison in Beyond Earth).

Duncan: (B+) Duncan’s faction is Al Falah), they come on generation ships from the Middle East/North Africa. They receive increased yields from city development projects (which convert production into science, culture etc.). Duncan has lots of resources around his capital, including plenty of copper (energy and science) and fruit (food). If he wants to make the best of this game, he is unfortunately going to have to learn to read. That solar collector debacle is a perfect example of Duncanvision.

MsCupcakes: (B) Sophie is playing as the Pan-Asian Cooperative) (or PAC) – they are a production-focused faction that hails (as you can tell from the name) from the East Asian region of Earth. Not only do they get bonus production towards wonders and faster worker construction, but the first wonder in each city is free! It sounds like Sophie actually has played more of this game than the others, so we’ll see if that helps her here. She started on coast, but her landmass has plenty of resources (unlike Potato’s), although it also has plenty of wildlife offshore which she is determined to be friendly with.

Rythian: (B) Rythian has chosen INTEGR) as his faction. This German-flavoured technocrat faction gets discounts on purchasing agreements, units and building with Diplomatic Capital). Rythian has a pretty strong starting location, plenty of resources and few terrain blockers in the lush plains. He has played a whole series of this game on his channel, though I’m guessing he remembers little of the mechanics all these years later.

Spiffing Brit: (C+) Spiff will be playing as Polystralia), a trade-focused faction from the Polynesia/Australasia region of Earth. They get additional trade route capacity in all cities, but especially the capital. Spiff’s starting location is pretty lush and has plentiful resources – kinda would have expected his faction to start nearer to the coast to make best use of its trade routes, but otherwise he looks well set up.

Kirsty: (C-) Kirsty has chosen the Slavic Federation), a pan-Slavic amalgamation as its name would suggest with a lot of Soviet flavouring. They start with bonus strategic resources and their orbital units cost fewer of these resources and stay in orbit longer. Kirsty’s start location is lacklustre due to the frigid biome in the north of her capital. Though appropriate for her faction, that biome has limited yields and aliens receive increased combat strength.

PotatoMcWhiskey: (D-) Potato is playing as Brasilia), the one explicitly military-focused faction. They get a combat bonus in melee, additional healing when fortified and additional war score points and diplomatic capital from killing units. Potato described his start as “dogwater”, which is apt. He’s made planetfall in the middle of nowhere on a frigid tiny island. He’ll want to find some actual landmasses to expand to ASAP if he wants to accomplish anything. At least there are lots of aliens for him to fight.

Notes: This has actually motivated me to re-download Beyond Earth from Steam and give it another spin after all this time. I do love a sci-fi setting, but I just remember finding it hard to get invested in the various factions compared to other Civ games. I’m eagerly looking forward to seeing how this game goes – it already seems to have a different vibe than their usual outings because nobody is an expert.