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Author Topic:   New Faction: Nomads of the Planet

Ghost posted 04-19-99 05:18 PM ET
I haven't played with this faction, because I don't have ACEdit and don't feel like learning how to use it.
Nomads
Starting tech: Doctrine Mobility
Begin with 2 rovers.
Cons:
NO Police State
-1 Support
-1 Police
-1 Research
Reflecting their ideological need to travel light, their need for freedom, and their non-contemplative lifestyle.
Pros:
Free Psi Gate in every city.
Can use Transcend thinkers in cities under size 5 (empaths, techs, librarians, etc).
The point in making this faction was to make a faction that played REALLY differently than other factions. Slow start followed by rapid expansion, via building such things as supply crawlers, colony pods and formers in larger central bases and then gating them to outer bases. Allows maximum concentration of troops in any firefight. Psi Gates are really inexpensive to make, although very high up the tech tree... the question is, how much will they matter?
Obviously, the ideology behind this faction is Mobility. The question is "Will the concentration of force and the easy movement of vital production units between bases offset the general inferiority of this group?" I can't say, not having played with them. I gave them 2 rover units at start so that they could scout around a bit and also hopefully survive the opening game for a few seconds... their generally low values hurt in the early game, and they have NO benefits until they begin expanding. On the other hand, they seem like they will be quite strong, if not the strongest, in the middle game after a strong expansion... once you get supply crawlers up and going you can transfer all cities mineral output into one pretty much at will, so they will rapidly begin grabbing up SPs/setting up new bases with essentials like creches, and conquest is easy by setting up one forward base and then pumping in probes and military units from everywhere. Will the SPs allow them to dominate? Or will they simply get rocked by other factions superior values?
I only added the -1 research with hesitation, thinking that would choke off the whole process, but I thought they were still overpowered... I had originally given them an efficiency hit, but I thought that would be kind of silly, as all bases are in linked. I also thought to give them +4 efficiency due to this fact, but then I realized that would be really powerful. I am not sure what to give them now... Let me know what you all think.
--Ghost
Travathian posted 04-19-99 06:32 PM ET
-1 research could be justified by the fact that they are always on the move, and its tough to set up a lab and do research on the back of a rover.
eNo posted 04-19-99 07:29 PM ET
I think it should be a +1 Support to reflect the faction's ability to live of the land but should have -1 growth because a large populations would not be able to maintain the mobility that this faction centers around.
Are you sure you can do that Transcend/Thinker thingy?
Ghost posted 04-19-99 09:53 PM ET
I have no idea what ACEdit is capable of.
As for other SE... yeah, the growth penalty might work, thematically, or a pop cap like Morgans. I am worried about including any bonuses, for all that a Support bonus is reasonable. If I couldn't do the other Thinkers thing, then I might include the support bonus. My basic purpose was to get a new idea out there, and get a bunch of people to try it and test it. Originally, I wanted them to be able to do all the abilities I described them as able to, and in addition have a -1 Growth penalty but be able to transfer population at will between bases (people walking through Psi Gates). I didn't think that was remotely possible, tho. Then I wanted to give them a bonus for industry but only for constructing colony pods, something ridiculously high, like +50% minerals but only towards pods, which would do the same thing and not be all that powerful without enhanced growth, but it would still cause big problems if they ever hit a boom, which they presumably would via Clone Vats if they could ever get the tech for it (supply crawler SP production)... so I don't know. It was an interesting idea, but I am not sure how they will play.
--Ghost
eNo posted 04-20-99 12:57 PM ET
Look in the alpha.txt file to see what abilities you can give a faction.
evil_conquerer posted 04-25-99 10:35 AM ET
I don't think there's any way to allow transcend thinkers in every base. I modify the faction.txt files directly and I didn't see a value for it (this means that ACEdit couldn't do it either). It's a cool faction though and looks like it will play VERY differently.
eNo posted 04-25-99 11:20 AM ET
How about giving this faction an extra colony pod to represent the population wanderlust. Chances are the pod will get killed by mindworms anyways.
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Author	Topic: New Faction: Nomads of the Planet
Ghost	posted 04-19-99 05:18 PM ET I haven't played with this faction, because I don't have ACEdit and don't feel like learning how to use it. Nomads Starting tech: Doctrine Mobility Begin with 2 rovers. Cons: NO Police State -1 Support -1 Police -1 Research Reflecting their ideological need to travel light, their need for freedom, and their non-contemplative lifestyle. Pros: Free Psi Gate in every city. Can use Transcend thinkers in cities under size 5 (empaths, techs, librarians, etc). The point in making this faction was to make a faction that played REALLY differently than other factions. Slow start followed by rapid expansion, via building such things as supply crawlers, colony pods and formers in larger central bases and then gating them to outer bases. Allows maximum concentration of troops in any firefight. Psi Gates are really inexpensive to make, although very high up the tech tree... the question is, how much will they matter? Obviously, the ideology behind this faction is Mobility. The question is "Will the concentration of force and the easy movement of vital production units between bases offset the general inferiority of this group?" I can't say, not having played with them. I gave them 2 rover units at start so that they could scout around a bit and also hopefully survive the opening game for a few seconds... their generally low values hurt in the early game, and they have NO benefits until they begin expanding. On the other hand, they seem like they will be quite strong, if not the strongest, in the middle game after a strong expansion... once you get supply crawlers up and going you can transfer all cities mineral output into one pretty much at will, so they will rapidly begin grabbing up SPs/setting up new bases with essentials like creches, and conquest is easy by setting up one forward base and then pumping in probes and military units from everywhere. Will the SPs allow them to dominate? Or will they simply get rocked by other factions superior values? I only added the -1 research with hesitation, thinking that would choke off the whole process, but I thought they were still overpowered... I had originally given them an efficiency hit, but I thought that would be kind of silly, as all bases are in linked. I also thought to give them +4 efficiency due to this fact, but then I realized that would be really powerful. I am not sure what to give them now... Let me know what you all think. --Ghost
Travathian	posted 04-19-99 06:32 PM ET -1 research could be justified by the fact that they are always on the move, and its tough to set up a lab and do research on the back of a rover.
eNo	posted 04-19-99 07:29 PM ET I think it should be a +1 Support to reflect the faction's ability to live of the land but should have -1 growth because a large populations would not be able to maintain the mobility that this faction centers around. Are you sure you can do that Transcend/Thinker thingy?
Ghost	posted 04-19-99 09:53 PM ET I have no idea what ACEdit is capable of. As for other SE... yeah, the growth penalty might work, thematically, or a pop cap like Morgans. I am worried about including any bonuses, for all that a Support bonus is reasonable. If I couldn't do the other Thinkers thing, then I might include the support bonus. My basic purpose was to get a new idea out there, and get a bunch of people to try it and test it. Originally, I wanted them to be able to do all the abilities I described them as able to, and in addition have a -1 Growth penalty but be able to transfer population at will between bases (people walking through Psi Gates). I didn't think that was remotely possible, tho. Then I wanted to give them a bonus for industry but only for constructing colony pods, something ridiculously high, like +50% minerals but only towards pods, which would do the same thing and not be all that powerful without enhanced growth, but it would still cause big problems if they ever hit a boom, which they presumably would via Clone Vats if they could ever get the tech for it (supply crawler SP production)... so I don't know. It was an interesting idea, but I am not sure how they will play. --Ghost
eNo	posted 04-20-99 12:57 PM ET Look in the alpha.txt file to see what abilities you can give a faction.
evil_conquerer	posted 04-25-99 10:35 AM ET I don't think there's any way to allow transcend thinkers in every base. I modify the faction.txt files directly and I didn't see a value for it (this means that ACEdit couldn't do it either). It's a cool faction though and looks like it will play VERY differently.
eNo	posted 04-25-99 11:20 AM ET How about giving this faction an extra colony pod to represent the population wanderlust. Chances are the pod will get killed by mindworms anyways.