posted 04-17-99 12:02 AM ET        

#D'HARA
D'Haran Empire, D'Hara, D'Harans, M, 2, Richard Rahl, M, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1,
TECH, Mobile, TECH, Physic, SOCIAL, ++RESEARCH, SOCIAL, +PLANET, SOCIAL, --PROBE, SOCIAL, -ECONOMY,
Future Society, Eudaimonic, RESEARCH
Economics, Free Market, nil
D'Hara, D'Hara
Kahlan Amnell, Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander, Ebinissia
Emperor, bold, trusting, reckless, stubborn,
the Bringer of Death
destroy the Imperial Order
to save all factions from the Imperial Order
forcing us all into slavery under his rule
forcing us all into slavery under your rule
destroy the sovereignty of all the factions
dancing with death
dancing with death
slaughtering innocents
powerful army, M1
people, M1
efforts, M2
support tax, M1
keeping the Imperial Order at bay
General Reibeish
my terms

#BASES
Aydindril
People's Palace
Ebinissia
Tamarang
Hartland
King's Port
Southaven
Palace of the Prophets
Togressa
Pendisan Reach
Agaden Reach
Grennidon
Tristan
Penverro
Winstead
Sandilar
Castaglen Crossing
Cellion
Coney Crossing
Horner's Mill
Lynford
Shinavont
#END

#WATERBASES
Trunt
Drun
Callisidrin
Kern
#END

#BLURB
Once committed to a fight, cut. Everything else is secondary. Cut. That is your duty, your purpose, your hunger. There is no rule more important, no commitment that overides that one. Cut. The lines are a portrayal of the dance. Cut from the void, not from bewilderment. Cut the enemy as quickly and directly as possible. Cut with certainty. Cut decisively, resolutely. Cut into his strength. Flow through the gaps in his guard. Cut him. Cut him down utterly. Don't allow him a breathe. Crush him. Cut him without mercy to the depths of his soul. It is the balance to life: death. It is the dance with death. It is the law a war wizard lives by, or he dies.
^
^ Richard Rahl
^ "The Prime Edict"

#DATALINKS1
^LEADER: {Emperor Richard Rahl}
^BACKGROUND: {Hartland, Wood's Guide}
^AGENDA: {destroy the Imperial Order}
^TECH: {Doctrine: Mobility, Applied Physics}
^

#DATALINKS2
^+2 RESEARCH: {Lord Rahl strives to learn new things}
^-2 PROBE: {Richard's trusting nature leaves him open to enemy infiltration}
^+1 PLANET: {Being a wood's guide has given Richard an affinity for nature}
^-1 ECONOMY: {Richard will not let merchants overcharge or con his people}
^{May not use Power for values}

#FACTIONTRUCE
#xs 440
#caption $CAPTION7
"Let us end this war, my soldiers are more useful in a fight against the Order."

"Agreed, my fight is with the Order."
"No, there will be no neutrality in my war with the Order. You are either a part of the D'Haran Empire, or you are an enemy."

#FACTIONTREATY
#xs 440
#caption $CAPTION7
"I am at war with the Imperial Order, $TITLE0 $NAME1, will you join me in my struggle."

"We will both strike against the hordes of Emperor Jagang!"
"No, $NAME3, you are but a puppet of the Order."

# ; This line must remain at end of file

okay to answer ghost, about the reasearch. And I quote, "Knowledge is power, and I intend to be formidably armed". Richard has repeatedly used the knowledge he has gained form the wizards of old to help him defeat Jagang's schemes. I think the most important thing in richards victories have been the knowledge garnered in kolo's journal. This knowledge is essentially unknown to anyone else. Hense I feel research in the game best represents.

posted 04-17-99 11:52 PM ET         

End of line.

posted 04-18-99 12:25 AM ET         

+2 Kn... I still argue that +2 Kn and free tech is balanced off in the UoP by the extra drones, and not the NNs. You need something more than a probe penalty to pay for that (and as was said many times before, -2 probe is the minimum probe value which matters, and as such Knowledge values + a Kn+2/pr-2 society is working on pure fat). The extra starting tech was supposed to be a substitute for +2 Kn, not in addition to it.

On top of that, giving applied physics and doc: mobile makes you a better conquer fac than either spartans or believers; not fair. And how do you reconcile giving two starting "conquer" techs to a faction which avoids power values (or someone whose motto is "Cut him down utterly... crush him")? I would limit either Free Market or Wealth, probably free market, since (as mentioned before) it is the pursuit of WEALTH over the public good (massive planet damage). Not Rahl's style, and I think you know it.

On the Planet thing; -1 Econ is a nothing disadvantage in and of itself (-1 energy at HQ), and also in extension unless Free Market or Wealth are limited (thus preventing you from easily getting +2... although limiting free market does that anyway). On the other hand, +1 Planet is quite good, allowing mindworm conversion from the start and allowing maximum Planet bonuses with a Green economy (max is +3, most factions can only ever get +2 planet until cybernetic comes alon, at which point they are wasting a point with +4). Do you honestly think any other faction can stand up to a faction which is armed from the start with mindworms and lasers... very soon to be impact cannons, while others are still on hand weapons?

Stop thinking about trying to balance the point values of your force... I would take -3 morale, -1 efficiency, -1 growth, and -2 probe any day for +1 Planet, +3 econ, and + 3 research. The points just do not balance up on a one - to - one ratio. Think about what those point values mean, and what your force as a whole means. You are still hogging three "bests": you are tied with UoP for research once out of the NN early game, and you overtake them quickly without the extra drone in the middle game. You have +1 Planet, which isn't the Gaians only bonus but is the one which provides their distinctive flavor, and is their main early conquer strat. And you have a wide variety of abilities which make you the single best conqueror in the very early game... you will be able to easily subdue or destroy any faction which begins close by.

It is better, but it still is too powerful.

(Hint... +2 kn must go)

posted 04-18-99 02:06 AM ET         

You cannot, however, expect to maintain any sort of balance by insisting on the priviledges granted to your faction via it's source. Perhaps the D'Harans were the best warriors where they came from... that doesn't mean they are better than Santiago's troops, and even if you had some way of knowing that they were, it wouldn't make it balanced for the game. I could make a Valheru faction from Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar saga, and insist that these godlike beings be granted their full abilities of maxed out social engineering, all conquer techs and all other techs of level 4 or less already researched, as well as starting with a powerful 24-12-8 Valheru Dragonrider unit (gravship) with elite morale, singularity engine, and trance and empath song special abilities. But such a faction would not be meaningful to post here, under the pretence of trying to create a balanced faction.

If you want to make a good, memorable faction, then focus on an ability not specialized in by previous factions, like atombombs hyper industry group or a special growth intensive faction. Maybe a faction which begins with a higher level than normal starting tech, or one which has a different sort of "Immunity: Inefficiency"... or perhaps your faction starts out with automatic Psi gates at every base, making them insanely mobile (it's not that crazy... the Peacekeepers have a better version of the Clinical Immortality secret project as their faction ability) and with no bonuses to social engineering at all. It's your call... I'm not trying to invent your faction for you. But as long as you keep posting here, I'm going to give you back my opinion, and when I see something is too powerful I'm going to call it as such.