Faction Colors and Customizing Factions

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Author Topic:   Faction Colors and Customizing Factions

Arnelos posted 11-10-98 07:00 AM ET
Since the customizing of factions will allow for the changing of many of the file formats involved in personalizing the factions in the game, including the AI, wouldn't it be possible to restructure the factions to fit different colors, thus making the color gripe by many prospective players irrelevant?
FIRAXIS, do you have an answer on this?
Thanks
MikeH II posted 11-10-98 07:23 AM ET
Good point. I still want to know how they are solving the problem with the faction messages (between players) being hard to read because they are in the faction colours. If you have black and white factions along with other colours there aren't that many background colours which will work.
I don't really understand the "this faction should be this colour" arguments, mainly because I think the colours FIRAXIS have chosen fit the factions well.
Spoe posted 11-10-98 04:24 PM ET
You know, I don't really care what colors the factions are as long as I can distinguish them. Being red-green color blind sucks. For example, in Civ 2, I can't tell the difference between the Zulus and Carthaginians(to pull an example from my current game) without staring intently at the screen very closely. They are almost exactly the same color to me(the Carthaginian color looks a touch darker to me is all).
SnowFire posted 11-10-98 05:55 PM ET
So you think that the Hive should be blue, MikeH? Sigh... I agree, hacking the colors would be nice.
Here's the official list so far as I remember it:
Peacekeeper- Purple
UoP- White
Hive- Blue
Gaia- Green
Spartan- Black
Conglomerate- Yellow? Not sure...
Believer- Orange
It should be noted that the only color everyone agrees on is Green for the Gaians.
Brother Greg posted 11-10-98 07:14 PM ET
How could the peacekeepers not be white? White is the colour of peace (the white dove), and the UN building is white from memory. Oh, injustice, oh travesty, oh Cindy (Uh, just ignore that last one)...
And I'd make the Spartans Red, cos it's such an angry colour...
Brother Greg Woodstock,
Peacekeeper,
Defender of the Sacred NIM,
Chevalier of the order of Azugal,
Hammer of the Spartans.
CEO Landon posted 11-10-98 08:13 PM ET
I agree with Spoe-
I don't care what the colors represent, just make them easy to distinguish for us red-green color blind folks. Its bad enough having to have your wife screen your wardrobe...
DJ RRebel posted 11-12-98 01:04 PM ET
You would think the conglomorite would also have a viable bit for green as they represent money !!! (Even if there will be no money on SMAC)
DJ RRebel posted 11-12-98 01:06 PM ET
Yes .. and I also assumed that the Spartans would be red !!!
But I really would like for us to be able to chose our own colours, this was one of the few features sorely missed in the Civ2 !!!
SnowFire posted 11-12-98 01:29 PM ET
Okay, here's the colors that I thought would best represent the factions:
Peacekeeper- Sky Blue
The PK's want to remind everyone that they're the UN, keeping true to the original goal. Why be purple?
UoP- Dark Blue-
A good color for science.
Hive- Black
Pure Evil. The color Black.
Gaia- Green
Enviormentalism's color.
Spartan- Red
The color of revolution and radicalness. Also the Spartans are not afraid to spill their own blood for the cause.
Conglomerate- Yellow
The color of gold.
Believer- White
The Belivers are pure- to a fault. White is the color of purity, and they see themselves as avenging angels clad in white probably.
Roland posted 11-12-98 01:33 PM ET
Where's the pink faction ?
Seriously, good choice of colors. Just the color of science is hard to tell, well, dark blue is fine. I like it.

Now: additional colors for custom factions:
PINK!
Rang posted 11-12-98 03:40 PM ET
Yes, the PK is the core of the UN mission's remnants, but it is NOT the UN. The UN would be analogous to the Planetary Council. The PK is a partisan faction, just like the others. Otherwise, who would play it? Their goals may be the pursuit of peace and justice, but they will have grudges, allies, enemies, and everything else that makes them a faction.
Also, purple is the color of royalty, authority, etc. The picture of the PK headquarters looks a bit like a sultan's palace.
Medivh posted 11-12-98 05:07 PM ET
And their HQ in New York looks a bit like morgans industrial main building ( or would have looked that way ).. the PK are the decendants of the UN thus they would keep their proud ideals ( colour, code, and so on ).
Purple... yeah, I would say custom... would fit the name hive ( organic 9 well mybe to much warhammer 40k and Tyranids.. long time ago..
Larry Boy posted 11-12-98 07:10 PM ET
I've always been partial to having a certain color for a certain faction... For those who are red/green color blind, if the shades are really different, or one is lighter, or more towards a different color is it easier to see? What shades of red, and green are the most distinguishable?
My Color Choices:
Peacekeeper: White
UoP: Blue
Hive: Grey
Gaia: Green (possibly more toward the yellow side if it would help?)
Spartan: Red
Conglamorate: Orange/Yellow
Believer: Purple
Spoe posted 11-12-98 07:19 PM ET
Eh, for me, I am not too horribly color blind. Just enough to be annoying. One combination that is horrible for me is the one I mentioned above. Yellow with either orange or yellow-green can give me problems, and purples often look blue. I have little trouble distinguishing really bright, pure versions of colors, such as fire engine red and forest green, though under certain lighting conditions I might have trouble with them. Usually my problems arise from mixed colors(such as orange). As basic table of how the mixed colors look to me would be:
Orange -> Yellow
Yellow-green -> Yellow
Purple -> Blue
Aquamarine -> Blue
Victor Galis posted 11-12-98 07:22 PM ET
I agree with Snowfire's faction color choices.
Spoe posted 11-12-98 07:29 PM ET
Larry Boy: I meant to add that in your scheme, the main ones that could give me trouble would be UoP/Believer and depending on the exact shades Gaia/Spartan or Gaia/Conglomerate.
Snowfire's colors look doable for the most part, though the Green/Red could cause problems.
This is why I would like custom colors. It's hard for people that aren't color blind to figure out what it would look like to someone that is, so if we can modify the colors that are troubling us it would work out better.
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Author	Topic: Faction Colors and Customizing Factions
Arnelos	posted 11-10-98 07:00 AM ET Since the customizing of factions will allow for the changing of many of the file formats involved in personalizing the factions in the game, including the AI, wouldn't it be possible to restructure the factions to fit different colors, thus making the color gripe by many prospective players irrelevant? FIRAXIS, do you have an answer on this? Thanks
MikeH II	posted 11-10-98 07:23 AM ET Good point. I still want to know how they are solving the problem with the faction messages (between players) being hard to read because they are in the faction colours. If you have black and white factions along with other colours there aren't that many background colours which will work. I don't really understand the "this faction should be this colour" arguments, mainly because I think the colours FIRAXIS have chosen fit the factions well.
Spoe	posted 11-10-98 04:24 PM ET You know, I don't really care what colors the factions are as long as I can distinguish them. Being red-green color blind sucks. For example, in Civ 2, I can't tell the difference between the Zulus and Carthaginians(to pull an example from my current game) without staring intently at the screen very closely. They are almost exactly the same color to me(the Carthaginian color looks a touch darker to me is all).
SnowFire	posted 11-10-98 05:55 PM ET So you think that the Hive should be blue, MikeH? Sigh... I agree, hacking the colors would be nice. Here's the official list so far as I remember it: Peacekeeper- Purple UoP- White Hive- Blue Gaia- Green Spartan- Black Conglomerate- Yellow? Not sure... Believer- Orange It should be noted that the only color everyone agrees on is Green for the Gaians.
Brother Greg	posted 11-10-98 07:14 PM ET How could the peacekeepers not be white? White is the colour of peace (the white dove), and the UN building is white from memory. Oh, injustice, oh travesty, oh Cindy (Uh, just ignore that last one)... And I'd make the Spartans Red, cos it's such an angry colour... Brother Greg Woodstock, Peacekeeper, Defender of the Sacred NIM, Chevalier of the order of Azugal, Hammer of the Spartans.
CEO Landon	posted 11-10-98 08:13 PM ET I agree with Spoe- I don't care what the colors represent, just make them easy to distinguish for us red-green color blind folks. Its bad enough having to have your wife screen your wardrobe...
DJ RRebel	posted 11-12-98 01:04 PM ET You would think the conglomorite would also have a viable bit for green as they represent money !!! (Even if there will be no money on SMAC)
DJ RRebel	posted 11-12-98 01:06 PM ET Yes .. and I also assumed that the Spartans would be red !!! But I really would like for us to be able to chose our own colours, this was one of the few features sorely missed in the Civ2 !!!
SnowFire	posted 11-12-98 01:29 PM ET Okay, here's the colors that I thought would best represent the factions: Peacekeeper- Sky Blue The PK's want to remind everyone that they're the UN, keeping true to the original goal. Why be purple? UoP- Dark Blue- A good color for science. Hive- Black Pure Evil. The color Black. Gaia- Green Enviormentalism's color. Spartan- Red The color of revolution and radicalness. Also the Spartans are not afraid to spill their own blood for the cause. Conglomerate- Yellow The color of gold. Believer- White The Belivers are pure- to a fault. White is the color of purity, and they see themselves as avenging angels clad in white probably.
Roland	posted 11-12-98 01:33 PM ET Where's the pink faction ? Seriously, good choice of colors. Just the color of science is hard to tell, well, dark blue is fine. I like it. Now: additional colors for custom factions: PINK!
Rang	posted 11-12-98 03:40 PM ET Yes, the PK is the core of the UN mission's remnants, but it is NOT the UN. The UN would be analogous to the Planetary Council. The PK is a partisan faction, just like the others. Otherwise, who would play it? Their goals may be the pursuit of peace and justice, but they will have grudges, allies, enemies, and everything else that makes them a faction. Also, purple is the color of royalty, authority, etc. The picture of the PK headquarters looks a bit like a sultan's palace.
Medivh	posted 11-12-98 05:07 PM ET And their HQ in New York looks a bit like morgans industrial main building ( or would have looked that way ).. the PK are the decendants of the UN thus they would keep their proud ideals ( colour, code, and so on ). Purple... yeah, I would say custom... would fit the name hive ( organic 9 well mybe to much warhammer 40k and Tyranids.. long time ago..
Larry Boy	posted 11-12-98 07:10 PM ET I've always been partial to having a certain color for a certain faction... For those who are red/green color blind, if the shades are really different, or one is lighter, or more towards a different color is it easier to see? What shades of red, and green are the most distinguishable? My Color Choices: Peacekeeper: White UoP: Blue Hive: Grey Gaia: Green (possibly more toward the yellow side if it would help?) Spartan: Red Conglamorate: Orange/Yellow Believer: Purple
Spoe	posted 11-12-98 07:19 PM ET Eh, for me, I am not too horribly color blind. Just enough to be annoying. One combination that is horrible for me is the one I mentioned above. Yellow with either orange or yellow-green can give me problems, and purples often look blue. I have little trouble distinguishing really bright, pure versions of colors, such as fire engine red and forest green, though under certain lighting conditions I might have trouble with them. Usually my problems arise from mixed colors(such as orange). As basic table of how the mixed colors look to me would be: Orange -> Yellow Yellow-green -> Yellow Purple -> Blue Aquamarine -> Blue
Victor Galis	posted 11-12-98 07:22 PM ET I agree with Snowfire's faction color choices.
Spoe	posted 11-12-98 07:29 PM ET Larry Boy: I meant to add that in your scheme, the main ones that could give me trouble would be UoP/Believer and depending on the exact shades Gaia/Spartan or Gaia/Conglomerate. Snowfire's colors look doable for the most part, though the Green/Red could cause problems. This is why I would like custom colors. It's hard for people that aren't color blind to figure out what it would look like to someone that is, so if we can modify the colors that are troubling us it would work out better.