Unit (CivBE)

In Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth, as in previous Civilization games, a unit is any mobile entity that is independent of a city and able to exist or move around the map on its own. Unlike previous games, there are no civilization-specific units in Beyond Earth; however, there are Affinity-specific units which are available only to colonies that have advanced enough in a certain Affinity.
== Unit types ==
According to their domain, units may be divided into several main types:
* Land units - These units move on land. Once the Planetary Survey technology has been researched, all land units gain the Embarkation ability, which allows them to move on water. Note that, unlike in Civilization V, there is no limitation as to where on water they may move (Coast or Ocean).
* Naval units - These units move on water. They may also enter land tiles with a city on them. Note that if this city is built on the border with another large water body, naval units will effectively be able to use that city as a canal to cross into the other water body.
* Air units - Those that move on air, but are unable to sustain themselves out of a base for prolonged periods. This means that units of this type stay in bases (either cities or Carriers) and perform missions within their operative radius. They can also switch bases, an action which consumes a turn.
* Hovering/levitating units - These units possess technology to move several feet above the ground or water. These units are the most versatile type, since they can move effectively anywhere, except Mountain and Crater tiles. Note that unlike Land units, Hovering units don't lose any MPs to switch from land to water and vice-versa, although they do have a combat penalty while hovering over water.
* Satellite units - The final type of units is also one of the biggest innovations in Beyond Earth, and exists in its brand new feature, the Orbital layer. Satellites are launched from cities and enter geostationary orbit above the target part of the world. Note that they may only be launched within the orbital coverage radius provided by your cities. Once launched, satellites stay in position for a fixed number of turns and may not move. They provide certain effects on the land below within certain range (depending on the type of satellite). After their at the end of their lifespan, satellites fall on the planet and turn into rubble, which may be salvaged by some civilization's units.
According to their purpose, units are divided into:
* Civilian units - These units perform economic, non-combat functions, such as the Worker or the Colonist. These units are able to move freely on land (and also on water with Embarkation).
* Trading units - These are special units that service trade routes between cities and stations. Trading units are also considered civilians (and are thus vulnerable to attacks), but they cannot exist outside their bases.
* Military units - These units have combat functions.
== Unit features ==
Each unit has several statistics which define its usefulness:
* (MP) - This determines how far the unit can go each turn. Note that moving along a Road or Magrail allows the unit to move much faster, while moving through difficult terrain causes it to move slower.
* Sight - This determines how many tiles the unit reveals nearby. Important for Ranged units (because they can't attack a tile they can't see). Do note that some terrain, such as hills, can block vision.
* (CS) - This determines the base strength for a unit when attacking in melee or when defending against any attack (for both melee and ranged).
* (RS) - This determines the strength of a ranged unit when it attacks.
* - For ranged units, this determines how far (how many hexes) they can attack from their current position.
* Lifespan - For satellites, this denotes how many turns they have stayed in orbit since their launch, and how many turns total they can remain operational.
== Special unit operational modes ==
Air and satellite units have specific conditions under which they can operate. Unlike other types of units, they can't move freely on the map, and depend instead of a series of conditions.
=== Air units operation ===
Air units are extremely fast, capable of flying at high altitudes over any land obstacle and striking any target, regardless of its surroundings. However, this comes at a price: limited fuel capacity. In practice, this means that air units can only operate from a nearby base, and inside the range their fuel capacity allows. Air units may switch their base, also within a certain range (meaning that you can't switch to a base on the other side of the planet), an action which will consume a turn.
=== Satellites operation ===
Satellites are orbiting units which occupy the brand new orbital layer - a second field situated in geostationary orbit right above the planet. After being built in a city, a satellite has to be deployed (launched) to a position in the orbital layer. This may be done only within the orbital coverage of your colony (marked with a blue line around your cities), and only to a position where the satellite's area-of-effect won't overlap with that of another satellite. Note that here all colonial satellites are considered, so if your neighbor has a satellite in an area where you want to deploy one of yours, you won't be able to do so.
Once deployed, a satellite will stay in orbit for limited duration - a number of turns which depends on its type. During its lifespan, the satellite will provide some special effect on the tiles below within its area-of-effect. 5 turns before the end of the satellite's natural lifespan, you'll receive a warning of "an imminent de-orbiting"; clicking on the message will show you which satellite will soon fall to the planet's surface.
=== Shooting down satellites ===
The orbital layer may turn into another battlefield, thanks to military capabilities some satellites possess, and also thanks to the fact that certain land units (such as the Missile Rover) have sufficient range to shoot down satellites. To do that, these units usually have to move within 1 tile of the satellite's position (remember, despite being in orbit, a satellite is considered to be flying over 1 specific land tile), and then use their "Orbital Strike" ability. Certain special buildings allow increased range for orbital strikes.
Shooting down satellites becomes extremely important in the later game stages when colonies have developed direct strike satellite technology, which allows certain satellites to shoot with impunity at land targets.
== Unit development ==
One of the most innovative features of Beyond Earth is the way military units evolve. Since there are no more eras, and consequently there are no more historic-related military tech advancements, unit evolution is now tied to a colony's progress in Affinities.
=== Starting units ===
All types of military units start in a "basic" form, with low CS and basic abilities. They may earn Veterancy upgrades (see below) which will improve their efficiency in combat, but their base CS won't change until you start developing an Affinity.
=== Affinity upgrades ===
Once you start developing an Affinity, your army also starts developing. Each level of any Affinity will allow you to upgrade one of your basic unit types to a next-level unit. The first  unit upgrades unit are streamlined (regardless of the Affinity you choose), but beyond lvl 6 the exact name, and qualities of the new unit will depend on which Affinity you developed. For example, at an Affinity Level 6, your Marine will upgrade to a Brawler if you develop , Sentinel if you develop , or Disciple if you develop . Each upgrade has not only a unique name, but also a unique appearance and different choice of Perks which effectively alter the way the unit behaves on the field. The final result is a highly customizable unit which depends on how you develop your chosen faction rather than being tied to the one you choose.
The Affinity level and the unit affected by the upgrade are tied - for example, a Level 1 Affinity will always upgrade the Soldier, a Level 2 Affinity the Ranger, and so on. Also, after you do the upgrade once, gaining a level in another Affinity won't allow you to upgrade that unit again or change the existing upgrade. The order of the upgrades correlates roughly to how sophisticated the unit is; thus units like the Soldier upgrade first, while flying units upgrade last.
You gain two benefits at each upgrade:
* A combat strength upgrade. This is fixed, and raises the basic CS of the unit type.
* A special ability upgrade, or Perk. Here you can choose one of two options, which differ widely with unit types and levels. There are some very cool bonuses, for example the ability to move after attacking, etc., although those come only at the highest level upgrades. Still, each Perk you select helps you develop your army in a slightly different way; they also help develop the game storyline.
Tier 3 and 4 upgrades also may give the unit some other special abilities, such as levitation or additional range. Refer to the individual unit information for details.
Once you've upgraded a unit, you cannot revert the upgrade, so think carefully about how you want to develop your military. The upgrades you choose will strongly affect your abilities on the battlefield, and may help or hinder you according to the style of play you've chosen. You are allowed to delay the upgrade (hold off on deciding which of the two options you want), but the CS and cost of the unit will still increase.
Also note that, unlike in Civilization V, a unit upgrade affects automatically all units of the particular type, without you having to do or spend anything.
=== Veterancy upgrades ===
Finally, your units will gain experience in combat, in a way similar to older games. However, the choices for veterancy upgrades are limited to:
* New recruits, which amounts to an Instant Heal option. The unit heals 50-100 hp, depending on the level of the unit.
* The Discipline upgrade, which nets a 10% and bonus (cumulative). The 5th level, achievable only with the Precog Project wonder, nets a 20% and bonus. Note that this doesn't change the base CS of the unit. However, since the base is changed with Affinity upgrades, the veterancy bonus will be pertinent throughout the game.
== Unique units ==
Each Affinity has four unique units, which may be built only by colonies that have reached a certain minimum level in that Affinity (and of course, after they research certain technologies). Those units also cost strategic resources, relevant to the given affinity. The level 12 unit of each affinity is considered its "ultimate" unit, and is awesome indeed.
Unique units are conceptually, visually, and (in many cases) strategically different and diverse. For example, the SABR unit is a dedicated siege monster capable of leveling cities from a safe distance, while the Rocktopus unit has the unique ability to fly and switch from normal air to the orbital layer, where it can attack and destroy enemy satellites.
These unique units may also be upgraded with Affinity progress. What's interesting here is that you can also choose a different upgrade based on which other Affinity you've developed. To do that, you have to reach a certain minimum level in one of the other two Affinities, as well as a higher level in the unit's own Affinity. You can also choose to continue developing only the unit's Affinity, in which case the upgrade will come at a slightly higher level.
== Strategy ==
Units in Beyond Earth are much more diverse than in Civilization V, and their development much less linear. While in the older game you could expect practically the same units from your adversaries (with some differences related to their current era and whether they managed to keep up with upgrading their units, and also with some additional flavor for unique units), in Beyond Earth you have three distinct sets of units and different versions of the standard units related to the three Affinities. This not only makes for a highly involving experience (with every Affinity-specific unit having a radically different appearance and fantasy), but also for some strategic differences because of the traits that set different Affinity units apart. For example, the levitating units have no problem operating across any terrain (including water), while units are generally faster and can use Miasma as a weapon. This makes for much more diversified combat later in the game.
On the other hand, unit development isn't intrinsically related to era and technological progress anymore, but rather to Affinity progress (unless the player is dead-bent on only researching Affinity technologies). The bonuses to the base CS of particular units and Perks that players can choose with each Affinity upgrade mean that a player with 20 techs might end up much stronger than another player with a similar number of techs who hasn't developed their primary Affinity that much.
 
While Civilization V depended heavily on accumulated experience as means of diversifying your units (via different high-level promotions which bestowed perk-like bonuses), in Beyond Earth we see a much broader approach where the same Perk affects all units of a certain type and individual experience only adds a simple combat bonus. As a result, we get a unit development on macro level rather than on micro level, and a much more general sort of development in line with the spirit of the series.
== See also ==
* Unit in other games