Default Planetary Soundtracks in Civilization: Beyond Earth

I went to New Earth and all I got were these lousy quavers

Introduction

I'm a big fan of the Civilization: Beyond Earth soundtrack and the Affinities system but one thing I've always wondered about the soundtrack is if certain tracks were composed specifically for a particular affinity or not. Some of the titles would definitely hint towards this (e.g. "Solid State Citizen") so I thought I'd give it a look. I stumbled across a few XML files in this directory:


[drive letter:]\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization Beyond Earth\assets\Sounds\XML


and they seemed to contain a whole bunch of triggers/event names and music file names associated with them. The files in question are:

  • DefaultPlanetMusicScripts.xml
  • DesertPlanetMusicScripts.xml
  • FungusPlanetMusicScripts.xml

The music filenames in the xml files seemed to correspond to the .OGG music files contained within this directory:


[drive letter:]\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization Beyond Earth\assets\Sounds\Streamed\Music


I then manually went through playing the .OGG music files in these folders and tried to match them up with the events/triggers in the three XML files above. The result is this guide you're reading.

Note: I didn't list the music files that play when you're at "Peace" but suffice to say, they're most likely the ambient pieces for particular planets along with repeats of tracks I have already matched.

Lush Planet Soundtrack (Default)

It's just... a little lush... not like I faint... every time we toOoOoOuch

  • Planetfall Music = The Lush Planet
  • Satellite Launched 1 = Lux Perpetua
  • Satellite Launched 2 = Planetfall Ambient Late 2
  • Colossal Unit Spotted = Destroyer
  • Planetary Wonder Built = Beauty in the Eye of the Orbiter
  • Supremacy Level 5 = Planetfall Ambient Late 2
  • Supremacy Level 10 = Solid State Citizen
  • Harmony Level 5 = The Lush Planet - Ambient Middle
  • Harmony Level 10 = The Lush Planet - Ambient Late
  • Purity Level 5 = Planetfall
  • Purity Level 10 = Alien Shores
  • Victory Imminent = Our New World
  • War 1 = Xenomancer
  • War 2 = O Muse
  • War 3 = Destroyer
  • War 4 = Earth's Ambassadors

Arid Planet Soundtrack

Feeling hot...hot..hot...

  • Planetfall Music = The Arid Planet
  • Satellite Launched 1 = Dogmatic Engineering
  • Satellite Launched 2 = Planetfall Ambient Late 2
  • Colossal Unit Spotted = Xeno Titan
  • Planetary Wonder Built = Solar Collector
  • Supremacy Level 5 = Planetfall Ambient Late 2
  • Supremacy Level 10 = Solid State Citizen
  • Harmony Level 5 = The Arid Planet - Ambient Middle
  • Harmony Level 10 = The Arid Planet - Ambient Late
  • Purity Level 5 = Planetfall
  • Purity Level 10 = Alien Shores
  • Victory Imminent = Deep Memory
  • War 1 = Xenomancer
  • War 2 = O Muse
  • War 3 = Xeno Titan
  • War 4 = Earth's Ambassadors

Fungal Planet Soundtrack

I've got nothing...

  • Planetfall Music = The Fungal Planet
  • Satellite Launched 1 = Xenomalleum
  • Satellite Launched 2 = Planetfall Ambient Late 2
  • Colossal Unit Spotted = Promethean
  • Planetary Wonder Built = Acclimation
  • Supremacy Level 5 = Planetfall Ambient Late 2
  • Supremacy Level 10 = Solid State Citizen
  • Harmony Level 5 = The Fungal Planet - Ambient Middle
  • Harmony Level 10 = The Fungal Planet - Ambient Late
  • Purity Level 5 = Planetfall
  • Purity Level 10 = Alien Shores
  • Victory Imminent = A New Beginning
  • War 1 = Xenomancer
  • War 2 = O Muse
  • War 3 = Promethean
  • War 4 = Earth's Ambassadors

Affinity Themes

So to get back to the original reason I went searching for these files in the first place, which tracks from the Civilization: Beyond Earth soundtrack are meant to represent the Affinities?

Well judging by the Level 10 tracks it would have to be:

  • Purity: Alien Shores
  • Supremacy: Solid State Citizen
  • Purity: The Lush Planet - Ambient Late

Technically, the Harmony one could be one of three (depending on which planet you're on) but I liked the "Lush" variant the best. It's definitely got a Vangelis vibe to it towards the end of the track.

My favourite would definitely have to be the Purity track but I guess you'd expect that being the most "human" of the three Affinities (which means more "human" music).



Oh for anyone wishing to access the guide on Steam, I've published it and it's accessible here.

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