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From the livestreams we know that Affinity can be "changed" in mid-game, and it appears that generally you will get at least a couple points in each Affinity through natural gameplay. This means that cherry picking some of the early Affinity bonuses from outside your main Affinity can be a big part of an overall strategy.
Level 1 Affinity Bonuses
Harmony: Alien aggression level returns to neutral twice as quickly
Supremacy: Explorer Units can build an additional Expedition
Purity: Aliens will not attack tiles with Explorer Units
Purity 1 Analysis
The problem looks to be Purity 1. First, it doesn't make much sense. Why would Aliens not attack Purity? It would make more sense for Harmony. That's not a big concern though ... what is of concern is that Explorer units become effectively immortal (in regards to their application), and it gives the player the ability to "herd" Aliens. The first is powerful, but maybe not broken. The second part screams game breaking exploit. Given what we've seen of Siege Worms, if one shows up relatively early ... it would allow very inexpensive methods to completely eliminate Aliens from being any sort of threat.
CivBE Aliens are supposed to be a game long pressure on the player, but get Purity 1 and they are no longer an important factor. They may even end up being pawns in the hands of a player, herding Siege worms into enemy territory with Scouts, without ever having to declare war. Peaceful/Isolationist players can rely on Scouts to make sure the Aliens are never a threat.
Because Purity 1 looks to be broken, and you're probably going to get it at some point in the game regardless, and it's gives a lot of value early in the game ... it would make sense to go for Purity 1 very early in the game regardless of which Affinity you will be looking to go for eventually.
How to get to Purity 1
It looks like the fastest option to get Purity points on the Tech Web is going to be Genetics->Genetic Mapping. How long that would take depends on the game speed. In some playthroughs (likely on faster settings) it would take 40 turns.
That would look to be too slow to really take advantage of Purity 1 for scouting purposes. By then your Explorer may already be dead or at least have military escort for it's Expedition. Instead, it may be best to get those Purity points from the first quest they are available. Though it's not yet known how reliable quests are for getting Purity in a faster timeframe than 40 turns.
In any case. Whatever you're doing, it looks like Purity 1 will be a big part of the answer as to "how?".
The Other Affinity Level 1 Bonuses
The level 1 Affinity bonuses in the other two cases are nice, but not really huge benefits. Being able to do a second expedition saves you some time going back and forth from your base. This effectively means you get more Expeditions and scout more area faster ... at least as long as you don't get your Explorer killed in the process. It's a % bonus to number of Explorer turns, variable depending on how many Expeditions you can find, and how the map is laid out. Likely around 20% to 30%. It's a nice boost, but definitely not game breaking.
Harmony's level 1 appears to be stronger, and perhaps a bit more open to exploit. It depends on how the global Alien mood is affected by the bonus. If you can basically count on 50% less aggression from Aliens, pushing hard to get Aliens aggressive worldwide may make sense to give you a relative boost. This one needs more info to be evaluated properly, but it appears it offers more potential than Supremacy 1, but much less than Purity 1.
How to Bring Purity 1 Back in Line
So for Purity 1 we should be looking for a decent bonus that doesn't really "wow" in and of itself, and doesn't open up any exploits. A narrow bonus without much in the way of interaction with other systems. A Purity theme would be a benefit. Possibilities along these lines:
- Reduction in Expedition time. This is very similar in effect to the Affinity bonus for Supremacy 1 ... basically acting as a % modifier to number of (active) Explorer turns. It doesn't really have a Purity theme to it. Easily adjusted for balance, though without very fine granularity.
- Increased vision range for Explorers. Again, a bonus that gives a % increase to what an Explorer can do in a given number of turns, but doesn't really impact any other system. Not easily adjusted for balance unless going with an approach that doesn't just increase radius.
- Bonus vs Alien units. This one has a Purity theme. You're out there exterminating bugs. You're getting better at exterminating bugs. It maps more closely to Harmony 1, which also affects interactions with Aliens. It's easily adjusted for balance purposes. Has some limited second-order effects, but nothing exploitative.
Level 1 Affinity Bonuses
Harmony: Alien aggression level returns to neutral twice as quickly
Supremacy: Explorer Units can build an additional Expedition
Purity: Aliens will not attack tiles with Explorer Units
Purity 1 Analysis
The problem looks to be Purity 1. First, it doesn't make much sense. Why would Aliens not attack Purity? It would make more sense for Harmony. That's not a big concern though ... what is of concern is that Explorer units become effectively immortal (in regards to their application), and it gives the player the ability to "herd" Aliens. The first is powerful, but maybe not broken. The second part screams game breaking exploit. Given what we've seen of Siege Worms, if one shows up relatively early ... it would allow very inexpensive methods to completely eliminate Aliens from being any sort of threat.
CivBE Aliens are supposed to be a game long pressure on the player, but get Purity 1 and they are no longer an important factor. They may even end up being pawns in the hands of a player, herding Siege worms into enemy territory with Scouts, without ever having to declare war. Peaceful/Isolationist players can rely on Scouts to make sure the Aliens are never a threat.
Because Purity 1 looks to be broken, and you're probably going to get it at some point in the game regardless, and it's gives a lot of value early in the game ... it would make sense to go for Purity 1 very early in the game regardless of which Affinity you will be looking to go for eventually.
How to get to Purity 1
It looks like the fastest option to get Purity points on the Tech Web is going to be Genetics->Genetic Mapping. How long that would take depends on the game speed. In some playthroughs (likely on faster settings) it would take 40 turns.
That would look to be too slow to really take advantage of Purity 1 for scouting purposes. By then your Explorer may already be dead or at least have military escort for it's Expedition. Instead, it may be best to get those Purity points from the first quest they are available. Though it's not yet known how reliable quests are for getting Purity in a faster timeframe than 40 turns.
In any case. Whatever you're doing, it looks like Purity 1 will be a big part of the answer as to "how?".
The Other Affinity Level 1 Bonuses
The level 1 Affinity bonuses in the other two cases are nice, but not really huge benefits. Being able to do a second expedition saves you some time going back and forth from your base. This effectively means you get more Expeditions and scout more area faster ... at least as long as you don't get your Explorer killed in the process. It's a % bonus to number of Explorer turns, variable depending on how many Expeditions you can find, and how the map is laid out. Likely around 20% to 30%. It's a nice boost, but definitely not game breaking.
Harmony's level 1 appears to be stronger, and perhaps a bit more open to exploit. It depends on how the global Alien mood is affected by the bonus. If you can basically count on 50% less aggression from Aliens, pushing hard to get Aliens aggressive worldwide may make sense to give you a relative boost. This one needs more info to be evaluated properly, but it appears it offers more potential than Supremacy 1, but much less than Purity 1.
How to Bring Purity 1 Back in Line
So for Purity 1 we should be looking for a decent bonus that doesn't really "wow" in and of itself, and doesn't open up any exploits. A narrow bonus without much in the way of interaction with other systems. A Purity theme would be a benefit. Possibilities along these lines:
- Reduction in Expedition time. This is very similar in effect to the Affinity bonus for Supremacy 1 ... basically acting as a % modifier to number of (active) Explorer turns. It doesn't really have a Purity theme to it. Easily adjusted for balance, though without very fine granularity.
- Increased vision range for Explorers. Again, a bonus that gives a % increase to what an Explorer can do in a given number of turns, but doesn't really impact any other system. Not easily adjusted for balance unless going with an approach that doesn't just increase radius.
- Bonus vs Alien units. This one has a Purity theme. You're out there exterminating bugs. You're getting better at exterminating bugs. It maps more closely to Harmony 1, which also affects interactions with Aliens. It's easily adjusted for balance purposes. Has some limited second-order effects, but nothing exploitative.