I'm moving the Strategist custom faction project to WPC so I can get Darsnan's comments.
I'd appreciate it if we could keep a serious tone (yeah, Buster's Uncle is a key participant in this project and it would only be doing unto him what he has been doing to others to fill this thread with posts ...)
Background:
CFC Alt. official factions in progress post #21 (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=7995387#post7995387)
CFC Alt. official factions in progress post #22 (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=7996167#post7996167)
Summary: Buster's Uncle had an idea for an original faction: the Strategist. He quoted Captain Picard on the Romulans: "It's always a game of chess with them." His idea is about constant maneuvering and gamesmanship.
"... And the bases would be simple towers ..."
My interest is in a collaborative effort to design a faction with a distinct personality that would be interesting to play and would also be interesting as an AI opponent.
I see 3 areas that create personality:
(1) Graphics -- obviously the leader head, but I am also intrigued by the idea of crenelated towers for the bases.
(2) Quotes -- the words the AI uses.
(3) Faction Characteristics -- I'd like to see something distinct from the current SMAC and SMAX factions. Three factions have efficiency modifications (-1 for PK; +2 for Gaians; +2 for CyCon). It should be balanced.
Buster's Uncle has produced a leaderhead from a picture of N*matt (put an 'e' in place of the '*') and a sketch of a base graphic that is basically a cylindrical tower crenelated at the top.
skreblios contributed a file attached to this CFC post.
Hydro has offered to draft some quotes for the faction file.
Ironwood proposed the start of the faction characteristics.
Here is a draft of the faction characteristics:
Efficiency: +1
Morale: +1
Economics: -1
Probe: -1
Support: -1
Agenda: Thought Control
Aversion: Democracy
Starting tech: Information Networks
Aggression: Erratic
Priorities: Build, Conquer
Agenda: Thought Control (Future Society)
Aversion: Democracy (Politics)
Questions:
(1) Is this faction balanced with the original SMAC 7?
(2) Is this faction distinct from any of the SMAX 14?
Jotting down what I do know/free associate as I write may help jump-start me or Hydro.
Hmmm. He’s smart. I mean, the original looks very intelligent- not something I’d have articulated as a reason for wanting to use this portrait because I hadn’t thought of it that way in so many words, but it was there- he looks smart.
He isn’t a charisma leader, exactly. He couldn’t have gotten where he is without some people/management skills, but they must have been acquired later than most people learn them, through hard work and deliberation around college age. Because as a boy, he played chess while others where doing what most kids do. I don’t know if he plays much anymore, ‘cause he has trouble finding opponents who can engage him at all. He’s like when Bobby Fischer told Dick Cavett in an interview that he likes “crushing the other guy’s spirit.,” and computers are just toasters. He plays the game of nations like he’s freakin’ Napoleon looking for that challenge.
His dad was a clown out of The Great Santini”, a harsh taskmaster, impossible to please. His mother was loving, but could be cold, and didn’t protect him enough. There were siblings, but they don’t much inform his character, except they sometimes let down his need of them, only accentuating his paranoid tendencies.
Chess never made anyone crazy, IMHO, but it is attractive to some crazy people. (The same argument I make and recommend in defense of D&D.) Bobby Fischer would have died homeless and broke without chess, instead of (grudgingly) admired, rich, and indoors.
But Strategist isn’t crazy; he just tends to see every situation as an adversarial zero-sum game where someone has to loose- not him. He seeks power over his surroundings to feel safe, and as an exercise in implementing his strategic ideas, and for something to do- though he’s never admitted that last to himself. He’s bright enough that he’s easily bored, and imaginative enough to have boundless ambition.
He wants to rule the world, not realizing how much he’d hate having no more worlds to conquer.
I don’t know how all that informs his point of origin, though. Maybe it’ll bounce off one of you guys hard enough, or your bounce-back will off of me.
Okay, just taking a quick glance now, and I thought I would make some comments. I think that part of what would make a strategists' faction different and effective would be flexibility, the ability to adapt quickly to changing situations and to use the correct approach to each situation.You are entirely clear to me, and I totally agree about flexibility and all you say. Strat is an uber-pragmatist playing 'chess' with the whole world.
As such, what about things that reflect this, and allow the player to use a flexible strategy with the faction?
How about decreased hurry costs for one thing? They would be used to and adept at switching to more effective strategies.
I agree that the probe penalty may not be a way to go.
One thing is that many factions have a political bent. (not a bad thing in and of itself) However, I think that this one wouldn't I think they would adapt political strategies and plans in the same manner. Thus, I think that they should not be able to use fundamentalism, as it is probably one of the least flexible settings, and I think that flexibilty is the key.
So how about:
+1 Efficiency (Flexibility and adaptable doctrine)
+1 Research (Flexible research and willingness to try new things)
-1 Economy (Less interested in luxuries)
-1 Growth (elite and relatively closed society)
75% hurry costs
Cannot use Fundamentalism
Sorry, I could have been clearer on explaining things, but quite tired, busy day at the new job.
Pentalarc