Need help with designing a new faction

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Author Topic:   Need help with designing a new faction

akathisia posted 07-27-99 10:07 PM ET
I began to design a new faction-The Chosen- a faction which crash landed and had Mind Worms infest them but the Worms don't kill them. This faction survives the experience and becomes a Hybrid which is convinced they are the next step in human evolution.
I tried to balance +1 Planet and +1 Probe with 0 mind control and +10% on Psicombat (also free Temple of Planet and Cent. Empathy) but I still think its way too powerful (-4 Industry, -2 Economy)
I'd appreciate any recommendations (I feel the benefits follow naurally from a Mindworm-Human Hybrid but its obviously too strong though the -2 Economy makes it hard to earn cash early on)
;
; Sid Meier's ALPHA CENTAURI
;
; FACTION FILE: The Chosen
;
; Made with ACEdit (c)1999 ANX at http://www.sidgames.com/acedit
;
; For use this Faction file select load from
; faction select in the game and write... chosen
;
#CHOSEN
The Chosen, The Psychic, Chosen, M, 2, Tobias, M, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
TECH, CentEmp, SOCIAL, -----INDUSTRY, SOCIAL, +PROBE, SOCIAL, +PLANET, SOCIAL, --ECONOMY, FACILITY, 32, UNIT, 8, PSI, 10, RESEARCH, 1, DRONE, 1, TALENT, 1, ENERGY, 1, COMMERCE, 1, INTEREST, 0, MINDCONTROL, 0
Economics, Green, PLANET
Economics, Free Market, nil
Chosen, Chosen
Paeta, Aronstein, Paeta's Rebirth
First Chosen, cunning, insane, psychically sensitive, brainless,
Worm-ridden Mutant
become one with our Mother
to unite man and boil to evolve man to the next level
destroying the last vestiges of mankind
destroying the last vestiges of mankind
work towards the end of human dominance
letting the worms chew away at his brain
letting the worms chew away at your brain
proclaiming subversive alien trickery
alien gobbledygook, M1
evolutionary agenda, M1
alien worshipping, M1
bit of Alpha's energy, M1
serving and protecting my brothers and sisters
my psychic forces
the Law of Mother Chiron
#BASES
The Enlightening
Rebirth
Mother Chiron
Children of Chiron
Brother Locust
Unity
Homo Chironae
Hills of Fungus
Crimson
Allofungus
The Calling
The Dream of One
Arms of Hercules
Blossom Glory
Ethereal Song
Nessus and Pholus
Evolution
New Beginning
Womb of Chiron
Our Planet Sings
Bosom of Chiron
Beautiful Planet
Mother's Voice
Symbiosis
Eurytion
Hybrid
Holy Verses
#END
#WATERBASES
The Living Seas
The Deep
Waves of Fungus
Our Mother's Ocean
Purity of Unity
The Shallows
Saragasso
IoD Sea
#END
#BLURB
We have been blessed. We have heard the music. And now we are
one.
^
^ -- First Chosen Tobias Perry,
^ "We Are One"
#DATALINKS1
^LEADER: {Tobias Perry}
^BACKGROUND: {Greater New York Repulic, Unity Psychiatrist}
^AGENDA: {Elevate Humanity to the Next Level of Evolution}
^TECH: {+10% combat bonus due to Human-Native Symbiosis}
^
#DATALINKS2
^+1 PLANET: {One with Mother Chiron}
^+1 PROBE: {Powerful Hybrid Mentality}
^-4 INDUSTRY: {Focus on the Land}
^-2 ECONOMY: {Hate Materialism}
^{+1 Nutrients, +1 Energy, +1 Minerals in fungus square}
^{May not use Free Market economics.}
^{Immunity to Mind Control due to Hybrid Central Nervous System}
#FACTIONTRUCE
#xs 440
#caption $CAPTION7
"These constant attacks only serve to harm our Mother. Please
join us in a Blood Truce and keep Mother Chiron safe."
"The bloodshed will end, my friend."
"Never! Your genetic code goes no further, $NAME3!"
#FACTIONTREATY
#xs 440
#caption $CAPTION7
"I sense you are worthy to join us on our journey, $TITLE0 $NAME1.
I suggest we sign a Treaty of Friendship, that we and you can
further the evolution of man."
"I agree. Walk with Planet, $NAME3."
"No. Your mutant-kind cannot be trusted."

# ; This line must remain at end of file

MajiK6pt5 posted 07-28-99 12:35 AM ET
if that is the -5 industry that I think I see, you will surely die
korn469 posted 07-28-99 01:07 AM ET
for starters, here are some tips i've learned. try to limit the faction's plus/minus in SE to 6 because that's all that will show up on the read out. in most cases for balance reasons don't give more than plus/minus two in one category. so with that in mind
how about these changes
-1 industry
-2 econ
+1 planet
+1 probe
free temple of planet
and see if they are balanced...if they are too weak the add mind control.
other than that they look interesting to play. kewl concept.
korn469
akathisia posted 07-28-99 08:28 AM ET
I will try that. Thanks.
BTW-Does anyone know how to LOWER the multiplier for Council Votes. I assume ACEdit lets you multiply by 2,3, etc. but can you get 1/2 votes (I don't think other factions would like this one too much)
Also, is there a way of editing which factions this one can be friends with. Obviously, the Green SE will help with Diedre (this make sense) but I feel Miriam and the Chosen should HATE each other (both religious and fundamentalist {sort of} but different gods).
I don't want to mess with alpha.txt if at all possible. I want this to be a simple faction to load on occasion. Not to re-write the game.
-"From the building blocks of life a single-celled organism evolved...on two worlds. Billions of years have passed and now we are brought together to become one- the pinnacle of evolution."
-First Chosen Tobias Perry
"The Long and Winding Path"
akathisia posted 07-28-99 08:30 AM ET
Obviously, I have very little to do at work. Anyone know if SMAC can be installed on a networked NT?
korn469 posted 07-28-99 03:51 PM ET
ok in answer to your question
no you can't make a faction be friends with one faction and hate another...right now they will like deidra and hate morgan. if you want them to hate miriam put in fundamentalism for their aversion.
you can't lower the number of votes a faction has.
SMAC can be installed on windows NT but it messes with things...it crashes continously, and in my friends case it really messed up NT
one other thing. when creating a faction look on the social engineering table and look at the max/min for SE stats. if you gave a faction a +10 police and a -10 indistry it would be the same as +3 police (the max for police) and -3 industry (the minimum for industry)
korn469
akathisia posted 07-28-99 04:21 PM ET
korn, that's true about the SE scale of values. However, if you want to make it impossible (or at least, very difficult) for a faction to EVER have a good rating in one of the SE choices, a very high negative seems the best way to do it. I think its better than just banning a gov't style (no Free Mkt, etc.)
Though I may be insane...this is the first Custom Faction that I've gotten this far in balancing well.
Lord Beselwick posted 07-31-99 05:27 PM ET
Akathisia,
I think your faction sounds cool. So let me begin. Try to Pact with Deirdre early on. Two Planet lovers make a good team. Also try to Pact with someone like Yang or Santiago. It doesn't hurt to have a powerful friend. However build up at least a large Psi Corps. Because when it comes time to evolve I don't think they'r going to do it willingly.
And boost the Planet rating. Try at least
+ 2 Planet. So when you use Green it should make you almost one with Planet.
Tally Ho,
Lord Beselwick
akathisia posted 08-01-99 10:32 PM ET
Here is the most recent faction details. I figured out the problem I was having with runaway energy profits (SMACEdit by default gives +1 in the energy interest box)
It seems pretty well balanced in my games as human. AI handles it not too bad. Survives to the end most times. The +1 Planet is good enough I think, it gives 25% mindworm and Green gives another +2 Planet to 75%.
I usually have an early and long-standing Pact with Diedre until she stabs me in the back.
The High Planet and extra 10% Psi combat put an end to her being a problem rather quickly.
^+1 PLANET: {One with Mother Chiron}
^+1 PROBE: {Powerful Hybrid Mentality}
^-1 INDUSTRY: {Focus on the Land}
^-2 ECONOMY: {Hate Materialism}
^{Additional 10% combat bonus due to Human-Native Symbiosis}
^{May not use Free Market economics.}
^{Immunity to Mind Control due to Hybrid Central Nervous System}
Zakharov_54 posted 08-02-99 06:06 AM ET
You were saying how you wanted to lower coucil votes. What you might try is using a decimal or a negative number.
Big Mad Drongo posted 08-04-99 02:17 PM ET
I tried using decimals but it doesn't work, dunno about using negatives tho'
akathisia posted 08-04-99 02:26 PM ET
I had problems getting decimals or negatives to work. The most recent attributes I posted seem to make the faction pretty balanced (at least in my games)
Now to design the artwork with PSP 6.0.
I'm trying to get rid of the blue background around my bases and faction logo. Otherwise, the PCX seems to be working fine. Any experience with the blue background appearing an dhow to fix it? I think I used the transparency function right (though obviously I didn't)
akathisia
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Author	Topic: Need help with designing a new faction
akathisia	posted 07-27-99 10:07 PM ET I began to design a new faction-The Chosen- a faction which crash landed and had Mind Worms infest them but the Worms don't kill them. This faction survives the experience and becomes a Hybrid which is convinced they are the next step in human evolution. I tried to balance +1 Planet and +1 Probe with 0 mind control and +10% on Psicombat (also free Temple of Planet and Cent. Empathy) but I still think its way too powerful (-4 Industry, -2 Economy) I'd appreciate any recommendations (I feel the benefits follow naurally from a Mindworm-Human Hybrid but its obviously too strong though the -2 Economy makes it hard to earn cash early on) ; ; Sid Meier's ALPHA CENTAURI ; ; FACTION FILE: The Chosen ; ; Made with ACEdit (c)1999 ANX at http://www.sidgames.com/acedit ; ; For use this Faction file select load from ; faction select in the game and write... chosen ; #CHOSEN The Chosen, The Psychic, Chosen, M, 2, Tobias, M, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, TECH, CentEmp, SOCIAL, -----INDUSTRY, SOCIAL, +PROBE, SOCIAL, +PLANET, SOCIAL, --ECONOMY, FACILITY, 32, UNIT, 8, PSI, 10, RESEARCH, 1, DRONE, 1, TALENT, 1, ENERGY, 1, COMMERCE, 1, INTEREST, 0, MINDCONTROL, 0 Economics, Green, PLANET Economics, Free Market, nil Chosen, Chosen Paeta, Aronstein, Paeta's Rebirth First Chosen, cunning, insane, psychically sensitive, brainless, Worm-ridden Mutant become one with our Mother to unite man and boil to evolve man to the next level destroying the last vestiges of mankind destroying the last vestiges of mankind work towards the end of human dominance letting the worms chew away at his brain letting the worms chew away at your brain proclaiming subversive alien trickery alien gobbledygook, M1 evolutionary agenda, M1 alien worshipping, M1 bit of Alpha's energy, M1 serving and protecting my brothers and sisters my psychic forces the Law of Mother Chiron #BASES The Enlightening Rebirth Mother Chiron Children of Chiron Brother Locust Unity Homo Chironae Hills of Fungus Crimson Allofungus The Calling The Dream of One Arms of Hercules Blossom Glory Ethereal Song Nessus and Pholus Evolution New Beginning Womb of Chiron Our Planet Sings Bosom of Chiron Beautiful Planet Mother's Voice Symbiosis Eurytion Hybrid Holy Verses #END #WATERBASES The Living Seas The Deep Waves of Fungus Our Mother's Ocean Purity of Unity The Shallows Saragasso IoD Sea #END #BLURB We have been blessed. We have heard the music. And now we are one. ^ ^ -- First Chosen Tobias Perry, ^ "We Are One" #DATALINKS1 ^LEADER: {Tobias Perry} ^BACKGROUND: {Greater New York Repulic, Unity Psychiatrist} ^AGENDA: {Elevate Humanity to the Next Level of Evolution} ^TECH: {+10% combat bonus due to Human-Native Symbiosis} ^ #DATALINKS2 ^+1 PLANET: {One with Mother Chiron} ^+1 PROBE: {Powerful Hybrid Mentality} ^-4 INDUSTRY: {Focus on the Land} ^-2 ECONOMY: {Hate Materialism} ^{+1 Nutrients, +1 Energy, +1 Minerals in fungus square} ^{May not use Free Market economics.} ^{Immunity to Mind Control due to Hybrid Central Nervous System} #FACTIONTRUCE #xs 440 #caption $CAPTION7 "These constant attacks only serve to harm our Mother. Please join us in a Blood Truce and keep Mother Chiron safe." "The bloodshed will end, my friend." "Never! Your genetic code goes no further, $NAME3!" #FACTIONTREATY #xs 440 #caption $CAPTION7 "I sense you are worthy to join us on our journey, $TITLE0 $NAME1. I suggest we sign a Treaty of Friendship, that we and you can further the evolution of man." "I agree. Walk with Planet, $NAME3." "No. Your mutant-kind cannot be trusted." # ; This line must remain at end of file
MajiK6pt5	posted 07-28-99 12:35 AM ET if that is the -5 industry that I think I see, you will surely die
korn469	posted 07-28-99 01:07 AM ET for starters, here are some tips i've learned. try to limit the faction's plus/minus in SE to 6 because that's all that will show up on the read out. in most cases for balance reasons don't give more than plus/minus two in one category. so with that in mind how about these changes -1 industry -2 econ +1 planet +1 probe free temple of planet and see if they are balanced...if they are too weak the add mind control. other than that they look interesting to play. kewl concept. korn469
akathisia	posted 07-28-99 08:28 AM ET I will try that. Thanks. BTW-Does anyone know how to LOWER the multiplier for Council Votes. I assume ACEdit lets you multiply by 2,3, etc. but can you get 1/2 votes (I don't think other factions would like this one too much) Also, is there a way of editing which factions this one can be friends with. Obviously, the Green SE will help with Diedre (this make sense) but I feel Miriam and the Chosen should HATE each other (both religious and fundamentalist {sort of} but different gods). I don't want to mess with alpha.txt if at all possible. I want this to be a simple faction to load on occasion. Not to re-write the game. -"From the building blocks of life a single-celled organism evolved...on two worlds. Billions of years have passed and now we are brought together to become one- the pinnacle of evolution." -First Chosen Tobias Perry "The Long and Winding Path"
akathisia	posted 07-28-99 08:30 AM ET Obviously, I have very little to do at work. Anyone know if SMAC can be installed on a networked NT?
korn469	posted 07-28-99 03:51 PM ET ok in answer to your question no you can't make a faction be friends with one faction and hate another...right now they will like deidra and hate morgan. if you want them to hate miriam put in fundamentalism for their aversion. you can't lower the number of votes a faction has. SMAC can be installed on windows NT but it messes with things...it crashes continously, and in my friends case it really messed up NT one other thing. when creating a faction look on the social engineering table and look at the max/min for SE stats. if you gave a faction a +10 police and a -10 indistry it would be the same as +3 police (the max for police) and -3 industry (the minimum for industry) korn469
akathisia	posted 07-28-99 04:21 PM ET korn, that's true about the SE scale of values. However, if you want to make it impossible (or at least, very difficult) for a faction to EVER have a good rating in one of the SE choices, a very high negative seems the best way to do it. I think its better than just banning a gov't style (no Free Mkt, etc.) Though I may be insane...this is the first Custom Faction that I've gotten this far in balancing well.
Lord Beselwick	posted 07-31-99 05:27 PM ET Akathisia, I think your faction sounds cool. So let me begin. Try to Pact with Deirdre early on. Two Planet lovers make a good team. Also try to Pact with someone like Yang or Santiago. It doesn't hurt to have a powerful friend. However build up at least a large Psi Corps. Because when it comes time to evolve I don't think they'r going to do it willingly. And boost the Planet rating. Try at least + 2 Planet. So when you use Green it should make you almost one with Planet. Tally Ho, Lord Beselwick
akathisia	posted 08-01-99 10:32 PM ET Here is the most recent faction details. I figured out the problem I was having with runaway energy profits (SMACEdit by default gives +1 in the energy interest box) It seems pretty well balanced in my games as human. AI handles it not too bad. Survives to the end most times. The +1 Planet is good enough I think, it gives 25% mindworm and Green gives another +2 Planet to 75%. I usually have an early and long-standing Pact with Diedre until she stabs me in the back. The High Planet and extra 10% Psi combat put an end to her being a problem rather quickly. ^+1 PLANET: {One with Mother Chiron} ^+1 PROBE: {Powerful Hybrid Mentality} ^-1 INDUSTRY: {Focus on the Land} ^-2 ECONOMY: {Hate Materialism} ^{Additional 10% combat bonus due to Human-Native Symbiosis} ^{May not use Free Market economics.} ^{Immunity to Mind Control due to Hybrid Central Nervous System}
Zakharov_54	posted 08-02-99 06:06 AM ET You were saying how you wanted to lower coucil votes. What you might try is using a decimal or a negative number.
Big Mad Drongo	posted 08-04-99 02:17 PM ET I tried using decimals but it doesn't work, dunno about using negatives tho'
akathisia	posted 08-04-99 02:26 PM ET I had problems getting decimals or negatives to work. The most recent attributes I posted seem to make the faction pretty balanced (at least in my games) Now to design the artwork with PSP 6.0. I'm trying to get rid of the blue background around my bases and faction logo. Otherwise, the PCX seems to be working fine. Any experience with the blue background appearing an dhow to fix it? I think I used the transparency function right (though obviously I didn't) akathisia