BE starting options without Starships?

[Dark Sun Gwyndolin]

So, I haven't purchased BE until now, because the resolution was bugged on my previous PC. I now have a previous PC that BE works on (tested using the demo), but I have another question before I buy in. Is it possible to get all the starting options in BE without buying Starships, such as through a trainer or cheat? A quick skim of the forums and old reviews told me that A: Starships sucks (I think it was a mobile tie-in), and B: it's difficult to get working with BE anyway.

Is it possible to just cheat my way to the starting options unlocks (yes, I know they aren't critical, but my ego can't tolerate having things locked that I can't UNLOCK through money or gameplay)? If not, I'll go back to GalCiv 3, Endless Legend, or Planetfall for my sci-fi hex-4X pleasure.

Also, what are the best overhaul mods (i.e. improve every aspect of the game, like an unofficial DLC or patch)? I've seen Codex and Awesome X, what are some other good ones?

[Protok]

Hi There is a mods to fix this restriction.
When I've start a mod I done it firstly:

Start game settings

• 6 starting conditions: Trailblazers, Mercenaries, Cargo module, Electromagnetic sensor, Cryotome, Xeno control;
  
• 4 planet maps: Inland sea, Tiny Islands, Glacier, Skirmish;

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2072375377

Ofcource It's better to try those maps. And start options will available for AI too.

[Necroscourge]

I don't think this is supported anymore

[Aquilius]

This mod seems to be broken, lots of error messages and unable to start game

[Dark Sun Gwyndolin]

There's a simpler way to unlock everything by editing some text files:

https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/spoiler-all-starships-unlockables-for-beyond-earth.544763/

[dtt.scanner]

I don't understand the question. You don't have to unlock the starting options, or purchase them, you just select them. Is something grayed out? Nothing you select will count against you or cost you anything, and as far as I know, you can pick any combination.

You can play any faction, and select any of the options, as far as I know. Nothing is forbidden.

Oh... maybe I am starting to see. Having to choose an option does not make them "locked," it makes them elective. There is also very little in the starting selections that you can't earn as you play... want to see the whole map? send out scouts. Want a certain tech? research it. The starting options give you a little boost... they are not game breaking. There may be one or two that you have to actually take at the start... so select one of those and you can have most if not all of the rest through game-play.

[Aquilius]

Originally posted by dtt.scanner:

I don't understand the question. You don't have to unlock the starting options, or purchase them, you just select them. Is something grayed out? Nothing you select will count against you or cost you anything, and as far as I know, you can pick any combination.
...

You are missing something out. You can probably meet any ingame prerequisites to unlock those starting options, but nowadays you still cannot unlock these starting options because devs messed up and do not care anymore. New players with new 2K accounts simply cannot login into the accounts ingame. But logging in is mandatory for unlocking. Same for broken achievements, you do everything neccesary, no unlock and devs don't care. Just a nightmare for any completionist. What does someone do in that case? Right! Unlock/cheat it with SAM.

Taking your golf example. You just bought your member pass for the club. The club advertises: "1 million bucks for anyone performing a hole in one". You actually do so and the club refuses your claim by saying sorry this is only for legacy members with some outdated member passes. You'll be fine with that? I think not and you would most probably will sue/"cheat" your way through ;)

[Aquilius]

Originally posted by Nyakuza:

There's a simpler way to unlock everything by editing some text files:

https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/spoiler-all-starships-unlockables-for-beyond-earth.544763/

BE and Starships cannot be linked to 2K accounts anymore. So that leaves only the hacking way for unlocking. This one worked perfectly fine for BE. But does anyone know a hacking way for Starships to unlock the BE extras? The file system is completely different without any XMLs or LUAs. Does anybody know in which folder Starships savegames are being saved? Haven't found that either.

[Dark Sun Gwyndolin]

Originally posted by dtt.scanner:

I don't understand the question. You don't have to unlock the starting options, or purchase them, you just select them. Is something grayed out? Nothing you select will count against you or cost you anything, and as far as I know, you can pick any combination.

You can play any faction, and select any of the options, as far as I know. Nothing is forbidden.

Oh... maybe I am starting to see. Having to choose an option does not make them "locked," it makes them elective. There is also very little in the starting selections that you can't earn as you play... want to see the whole map? send out scouts. Want a certain tech? research it. The starting options give you a little boost... they are not game breaking. There may be one or two that you have to actually take at the start... so select one of those and you can have most if not all of the rest through game-play.

Several starting options are locked unless you complete a Starships campaign. Since account linking is no longer supported, this is impossible to do legitimately, and Starships is a terrible game anyway. Hacking the files is the only way to unlock them.

[dtt.scanner]

Sorry, I edited my post thinking no one would have seen it yet... I'm surprised there was actually someone who saw it and I apologize that my original response was a little snarky. I have never heard of Starships and didn't know there was some kind of link between the games. Was this supposed to somehow connect BE with other Civ games?

[Guide the Guide]

I bought Starships thinking that I could unlock these things, so it's very sad for me to see that there's no way for me to do that. However I'm glad to know that some people have actually made mods to do it!