Virtues are a special feature in Civilization: Beyond Earth that utilize your Culture, one of the five yields in the game (Science, Energy, Production, and Food being the others).
When you start growing a city in your colony, there is a certain Culture threshold value that can be reached. When it is, a Virtue is unlocked, and the threshold increases to a new level.
For more help on Civilization: Beyond Earth, read our Culture Tips, How to Deal With Aliens and Orbital Units Guide.
Civilization: Beyond Earth Virtues
Once a virtue is unlocked, there are four different Virtue trees, divided into three tiers each that can be accessed. The first tier of each tree is available to you, and you need to grab a certain number of virtues in a specific tier before unlocking the next one.
Culture is the key to gaining virtues, so buildings and resources that produce large amounts of Culture will help you grab Virtues. Virtues themselves offer a large variety of bonuses and can tailor your nation in different ways to give you an advantage over rivals.
The four Virtue trees are Might, Prosperity, Knowledge, and Industry. Each of these is described in detail below.
Might
Might is about willpower and conquest, and has bonuses and Virtues that would encourage an aggressive approach from your end. It helps a lot in gaining Experience early on through combat, but you’ll need to take an unkind approach towards aliens and be frontal and direct with your rivals.
This can tarnish diplomatic relations (or simply prevent any from growing), but it is an excellent tree to take into consideration for all those who have confidence in their military power, and demand aggressive expansion of territory.
The issue with Might-oriented colonies is that they hardly make friends, which means investing early and heavily on military and defense. Furthermore, the situation is further exacerbated by the constant alien threat.
However, with a powerful enough military (which Might Virtues play a huge role in developing), utilizing this tree can be the fastest method to a Domination victory.
Bonuses
- 5 Virtues – +5% Strength and Ranged Strength for all Units
- 10 Virtues – +5% Strength and Ranged Strength for all Units
- 15 Virtues – Choose 1 Free Affinity Level
Tier 1
Adaptive Tactics
+50% Experience from combat
Liberation Army
After conquering an enemy Outpost, automatically found an Outpost of your own in its place
Military-Industrial Complex
+15% Production toward Military Units
Public Security
+0.25 Health for every Military Unit under your command
Survivalism
25% Strength and Ranged Strength against alien life forms
Tier 2
Adaptive Sciences
+20% Affinity earned from researching technologies
Army Engineering Corps
+1 Energy and Production from every Strategic Resource
Martial Meditations
Choose 1 Free Affinity Level
Scavenging
Earn 100% of an alien lifeform’s Strength as Science after killing it, and 40 Science from destroying alien nests
Special Service
+40% Intrigue from Covert Operations
Tier 3
Brutal Efficiency
+50% quantity from sources of Strategic Resources
Channeled Wrath
+10% Strength and Ranged Strength for all Units
Democratized Quartering
-50% maintenance for Units
Integrated Arms
+10% Production toward a Unit for each Upgrade.
Joint Operations
+3 Orbital Coverage provided by Stations you trade with.
Prosperity
Prosperity Virtues are mainly responsible for accelerating your Growth and giving a large amount of health to your city. If you want massive expansion rates and colonize fast, then Prosperity is the way to go.
However, these Virtues aren’t the kind that would cater to all the needs of the city – you should try to combine Prosperity virtues with Might or others, depending on your approach to expansion.
Combining Might with Prosperity can allow you to expand aggressively with military force, which is a great way to completely dominate your rivals. If you’re a type who would prefer diplomacy over military aggression, then Prosperity can be combined with any of the other virtue trees.
Though Prosperity virtues may not be entirely necessary, expanding your colony is one of the core objectives of the game through which victory is achieved, so acquiring virtues from this tree is always recommended.
Bonuses
- 5 Virtues – +10% Growth in every City
- 10 Virtues – +1 Health for every City
- 15 Virtues – +50% Orbital Coverage radius from Cities
Tier 1
Colony Initiative
Gain a free Colonist Unit
Frugality
+10% Food retained after a City grows
Helping Hands
+15% build speed for Tile Improvements
Homesteading
+30% speed toward Outpost growth
Workforce Initiative
Gain a free Worker Unit
Tier 2
Gift Economy
+3 Energy from your land- and sea-based Trade Routes to foreign Cities
Mind over Matter
+7 Health
Pathfinders
Explorer Units can build 3 additional Expeditions
Pioneer Spirit
-25% Culture needed for border expansion
Settler Clans
+2 Population for newly founded Cities
Tier 3
Ecoscaping
+1 Food, Production, and Culture from every Terrascape
Eudaimonia
25% less negative Health
Hands Never Idle
+2 Energy from any Population acting as a Specialist
Joy from Variety
+1 Health for each type of Basic Resource that is improved
Nature’s Bounty
+1 Production from every Basic Resource
Knowledge
Knowledge is there to provide a large amount of two things: Science and Culture. These will vastly accelerate the speed of your research and allow you to acquire even more Virtues. For this reason, acquiring Knowledge virtues is always recommended.
Knowledge can be combined with the other trees to really bring out the personality of your colony and your approach. When combined with Might, it will allow you to acquire advanced military units that are technologically superior to your rivals, allowing for easy conquering and domination.
Combine Knowledge with Prosperity and you’ll get a rapidly growing, advanced civilization way ahead of the rest. Knowledge also combines well with Industry to boom small colonies forward and make them as important as those twice or thrice their size.
Bonuses
- 5 Virtues – +10% Culture in every City
- 10 Virtues – +10% Science in every City
- 15 Virtues – Choose 1 Free Technology
Tier 1
Creative Class
Earn extra Culture equal to 30% of net positive Health
Field Research
Earn 20 Science from finishing Expedition
Foresight
+10% Science when Healthy
Laboratory Apprenticeship
Each City tile generates +0.25 Science for every Population
Social Mores
Each City tile generates +0.25 Culture for every Population
Tier 2
Applied Aesthetics
Earn extra Energy equal to 30% of the Culture you generate
Cohesive Values
-10% Culture needed for new Virtues
Community Medicine
+1 Health for every 6 Population in a City
Memeweb
-40% Culture penalty from the number of Cities for new Virtues
Networked Datalinks
-40% Science penalty from the number of Cities for new technologies
Tier 3
Information Warfare
Recruit 1 new Covert Agent
Learning Centers
+2 Science from every Academy Improvement
Metaresearch Methods
Leaf technologies cost 10% less Science
Monomyth
+7 Culture for every Great Wonder
Technoartisans
Earn extra Science equal to 15% of the Culture you generate
Industry
Energy and Production is what investment in Industry virtues will get you. These two are important to produce the goods that are available to you through research and technology. Industry virtues will make you rich, increase your production rate, and when combined with Knowledge can accelerate your civilization way ahead of rivals.
The industry is excellent when combined with Might, as it allows you to rapidly grow your military in sheer numbers to overwhelm rivals and aliens. You can combine it with Prosperity to have large and booming cities that thrive on wealth, or you can combine it with Knowledge in a small colony that has the potential to overthrow even the biggest rivals.
Contact victory is rapidly achieved by mastering the Industry tree, as you get increased Production, wonder bonuses, and a strong economy.
Bonuses
- 5 Virtues – +10% Energy in every City
- 10 Virtues – +10% Production in every City
- 15 Virtues – Earn 1% of stockpiled Energy amount every turn, up to 100 Energy
Tier 1
Central Planning
+5 Energy in the Capital
Commoditization
+1 Energy from every Basic Resource
Labor Logistics
+10% Production toward Buildings
Scalable Infrastructure
+15% Production toward Wonders
Standardized Architecture
+25% Production toward Buildings that have already been built in the Capital
Tier 2
Alternative Markets
Trade Routes with Stations grant +6 Energy per Station tier
Entrepreneurial Spaceflight
+25% Production toward Orbital Units
Interdependence Network
+25% more yields from your Trade Routes to your own Cities
Investment
Earn 1% of stockpiled Energy amount every turn, up to 100 Energy
Profiteering
+0.5 Health for every Trade Unit under your command
Tier 3
Civic Duty
Each City tile generates +0.5 Production for every Population
Liquidity
-20% Energy cost to purchase Units
Magnasanti
Each City generates +0.2 Health for every Building
Social Investment
+2 Production from every Manufactory Improvement
Superior Engineering
Orbital Units stay in orbit 50% longer before de-orbiting