Alpha Centauri 2

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri & Alien Crossfire => Modding => Topic started by: JarlWolf on July 03, 2013, 10:23:57 AM

Title: My custom Faction- The Crimson Comrades
Post by: JarlWolf on July 03, 2013, 10:23:57 AM

EDIT: Never mind, I still need help with loading in the graphics and uploading.
EDIT: Making progress, I'll be able to implement non buggy graphics with it soon.

Edit: I just have to put in the voice blurb and then this is complete entirely.


Lately I've been working on my pet project and personal faction, the Crimson Comrades. I do realize that yes, the Drones are  a similar faction, I found they were more of industrialist egalitarians then real Communists/Socialists. So I decided to put in a hardcore Socialist/Communist revolutionary faction, one full of grizzled revolutionaries and Proletariat, men and woman hardened both through society and war following the actual ideal closely.

(http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m494/JarlWolf/CrimsonComradesACFaction_zpsc61732af.png)

(http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m494/JarlWolf/ACFaction1_zps937bc584.png)

Note, as for Social ideal it was between that or planned. I figured Eudaimonic would make more sense, as the ultimate goal of Socialism/Communism is to create a Utopian society of cooperation, community and equality and the general well being and welfare of all.

(http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m494/JarlWolf/ACFaction2_zpsa1791076.png)

The speech reads,

"Life is an eternal struggle for survival, but the chains of slavery are not eternal. We will not bend our knee's to any who wishes to be our king and master, and we will stand as equals and fight the final battle! To Arms!" - Vazheli Vatzev in the first battle against the Usurpers.

The back story I thought of for this faction follows along this: Vazheli Vatzev (who may or may not be a eerie likeness of someone) was a man from the Russian Commonwealth, the same as  ;zak;. He wasn't militant communist originally, nor was he even one of the top Unity officers. Vazheli was the head janitor of the entire ship rather and he was one of the first to awaken from stasis, as he had to maintain the faculties of the ship. He did see who murdered Captain Garland (he was not the murderer though) and for the sake of not spoiling a certain book I won't say who did. Before the majority of the ship was in chaos he managed to gather some people and get equipment for an escape pod, namely formers and the blueprints for terraforming technology. He knew it was do or die and while he felt guilty about the others he had to do what he had to do. Taking whomever wished to join him he stated that anyone on his pod would be an equal, and many were enticed to join him.

When they landed on Planet, they started their communities with little hassle thanks to their terraforming technology. Unfortunately when the two warring Alien factions crashed onto planet, the Usurper Juda Marr and his faction landed relatively close to Vazheli's faction. Vazheli's faction, contrary to most of the other factions at Planet during the first few years were not extreme idealists. They were Socialist, indeed, but they were not too far into any particular ideal other then that their society was kept relatively focused on equity and simply survival. The Usurpers changed all of that. The Usurpers immediately enslaved the local populaces, forcing them to work and became their new overlords. People who cooperated with the Usurper's found themselves well rewarded, and many became merchants under the employ of the Usurper's, to deal with other human factions as to ease relations with them.

 Vazheli, very embittered by both the Usurpers and collaborators, grew very angry and had managed to go underground. He gathered a strong following amongst his fellow colonists and the spark of Communism was lit. In the face of ever present danger of slavery they embraced the ideal to rally their people, and with a new found zeal and coordinated, highly motivated guerrilla attacks and warfare, they managed to oust the Usurpers and their parasitical allies and free themselves. The faction was devoted to the revolutionary ideals of Communism, to liberate the people of Planet and continue the war on Tyranny.

Now, note: This faction isn't utopian or "the good guys" either, I wanted to keep the feel of Alpha Centauri and how well it portrays factions. On the other hand they are a ruthless, often barbaric group that has been known to brutally murder their enemies in very violent and grisly means. They are a gritty revolutionary faction that would be the type to put the heads of their former progenitor overlords on pikes. Now, they don't hate the progenitors as a whole: They've dealt with the caretakers before and probably had some disillusioned progenitors join their ranks (though it is rare.)

Title: Re: My custom Faction- The Crimson Comrades
Post by: JarlWolf on July 04, 2013, 08:29:31 PM

Here is the faction files itself for download. I put them all in a folder, all you have to do is export them to the main directory where your TerranX/ other faction files is located. Use FaceEdit to load the faction by typing in CRIMSON COMRADES and pick the FCL file. Then save it as such, and then a screen will pop up asking if you want to load it. Click yes and load it in your game. I may come up with a better version with voice files but this has everything important in working order:

Fully complete graphic set, with leaderheads, faction logo's and other things.

Gameplay tests were done, and the results I can say that the faction is not overpowered. I will say that its unique and that its a very versatile faction. If you want greater detail and to get spoilers as to how they are I can message you about the results of the testing.

And while not currently implemented, this faction WILL have a voice blurb as well. Probably in a future update.

Enjoy the faction, report any problems/issues.

You will need some form of file opener, like Jzip or 7Zip to open it. I can upload the faction files separately but this way its all in one thing for you to unload.

There is instructions in the file folder if you need to backup your graphics, in case they don't load for the faction.
Instructions for that provided both in Russian and English.

Title: Re: My custom Faction- The Crimson Comrades
Post by: Kilkakon on July 05, 2013, 03:42:37 AM

Do you want me to give you some help with anything?

Title: Re: My custom Faction- The Crimson Comrades
Post by: JarlWolf on July 05, 2013, 03:51:58 AM

Yes: If you can teach me how to add the voice blurb, I'd greatly appreciate it. If you want, I can add in an easter egg in your honour...who knows.

Like when you select the faction in the faction selection menu, you get a faction's quote. I have an audio file for use, just I don't know how to hook it up so it plays when the faction is selected.

Title: Re: My custom Faction- The Crimson Comrades
Post by: Kilkakon on July 05, 2013, 04:04:16 AM

Voices should go into the voices subdirectory. :) The game will automatically play the blurb if it is the same filename as the faction.

In theory, this should be "crimson comrades.mp3". I'm not sure if the game likes the space or not, but worth trying either way. :)

Title: Re: My custom Faction- The Crimson Comrades
Post by: JarlWolf on July 05, 2013, 05:22:10 AM

Tried it, and it doesn't really work. Named it proper and everything.

What does happen is when I select my faction there is this sort of faint, reoccurring sound that sounds like scratching and white noise. And nothing resembling the sound file itself. I tested the sound file itself in other applications, it works fine.

Title: Re: My custom Faction- The Crimson Comrades
Post by: Kilkakon on July 05, 2013, 05:26:51 AM

Did you include a copy of the sound in the zip? I can have a go at it tonight if you like. :) I'm at work myself.

Title: Re: My custom Faction- The Crimson Comrades
Post by: JarlWolf on July 05, 2013, 05:29:44 AM

Not in the current version, I an reupload and sneak it in though.

Edit: Both the old upload on this thread and this upload on this post contain the new version.

Title: Re: My custom Faction- The Crimson Comrades
Post by: Kilkakon on July 05, 2013, 05:32:37 AM

Alright--well a seperate attachment here still works. :)

Title: Re: My custom Faction- The Crimson Comrades
Post by: JarlWolf on July 05, 2013, 05:51:28 AM

Let me know how it goes. The voice clip might be a bit cheesy, and I wanted a bit more of a lengthy speech, but you can only put so much into the blurbs before you run out of space.

Title: Re: My custom Faction- The Crimson Comrades
Post by: Kilkakon on July 05, 2013, 04:26:11 PM

I would maintain that the graphics could use a little going over, but otherwise here is your updated faction. :)

The problem with the sound is that it was stereo and 44010Hz. It needs to be Mono and 22050Hz.

I've also made a few minor tweaks to your text file, mainly things like removing the Hive adjective (changed it to Crimson) and a grammar mistake or two. Hope that's okay. :)

I changed the internal filename to crimson as well, just as a precaution (normal factions are just one word internally).

Hope that helps :D

Title: Re: My custom Faction- The Crimson Comrades
Post by: JarlWolf on July 05, 2013, 09:02:32 PM

The graphics you gave me is bugged, but the voice file works well. If you can do a fix up of the graphics, it'd be appreciated. It's annoying having to reload graphics through GIMP each time, so if there is a way to get that out of the picture (pardon the pun) it would save many people a lot of time and energy.

As for the changes to the text and such, I liked the changes. The only thing I changed is the blurb as it's a quote, and it's quoting what I said so it has to match.

Edit: I managed to get a fixed copy working, I just need to tinker with it. The sound when selected with this makes this faction much more epic, you hear the voice speak and then... URRRAAAA!!!!!!!!

Title: Re: My custom Faction- The Crimson Comrades
Post by: Kilkakon on July 06, 2013, 12:49:06 AM

Are you on a Mac or something? The graphics worked right out of the box for me. :)

Either way, it seems to be all good now, so yay. :D Enjoy it Jarl~

Title: Re: My custom Faction- The Crimson Comrades
Post by: JarlWolf on July 06, 2013, 01:09:22 AM

Quote from: Kilkakon on July 06, 2013, 12:49:06 AM

Are you on a Mac or something? The graphics worked right out of the box for me. :)

Either way, it seems to be all good now, so yay. :D Enjoy it Jarl~

Windows 7 Computer, but I managed to get it all working. I can upload everything in a new file if you guys want.

Title: Re: My custom Faction- The Crimson Comrades
Post by: Kilkakon on July 06, 2013, 01:11:40 AM

Strange, as I didn't touch the pcx files at all. Oh well. :D Yeah probably a good idea to do that. :)

Title: Re: My custom Faction- The Crimson Comrades
Post by: JarlWolf on July 06, 2013, 01:58:02 AM

It's a weird bug and I won't even begin to understand it. What I do understand is how to fix it and not rip out my liver in the process.

New updated version with all the fancy new things added.

Title: Re: My custom Faction- The Crimson Comrades
Post by: JarlWolf on July 06, 2013, 05:35:50 AM

I may do more factions as well: I wanted to add in different sort of hard liner factions to make Alpha Centauri even more grittier.

My idea's on that included:

A Fascist faction, following the ideal of founding a society on the principles of Ultranationalism and Fascist principles.

The reasons for that:
+4 POLICE= High security and a very authoritarian regime, surveillance everywhere.
+2 EFFIC= The economy is very organized and motivated
+1 MORALE= Very patriotic soldiers combined with very ruthless national military means a motivated army.
-2 TALENT= The persecution and purging of individuals with ideals or characteristics deemed undesirable by the state reduces creativity and cultural development. (Note: This faction is not Ethnocentric, they don't persecute people based on race, more so on ideals or if they have certain alterations to their bodies, I.E cyborgs etc.)
-1 GROWTH= The constant purging and warfare leads to the population being culled every so often.  (Debating whether or not to reduce it to -2 Growth.)

Their bonus would probably be two things: They are immune to the drawbacks of POWER social policy, and they get a technology off the bat: They get Doctrine:Loyalty, like the Hive.
They probably wouldn't be able to use Knowledge, and would have a penalty for Democracy.

Another faction I thought of:

The Valhallans, an Anocratic faction

Their ideal would revolve around a society that is purely for  constant combat, as they believe Utopia is finding glory in battle and realizing the value of life through death, as well as having complete liberty in life to enjoy said appreciation.

Their stats would be:

-4 POLICE: Very barbaric and chaotic society
-2 EFFIC: Being an anocracy warlords constantly fight each other for bouts of glory, leaving little time for economic management.
+5 MORALE: Constant warfare breeds very hard, tough individuals that are nearly the perfect warrior
+1 ECONOMY: The constant raiding, pillaging and resulting trade ends up in a very lucrative society, if you can survive it.
15% reduction in research speed. Lack of organization doesn't lead to good development.
Their bonus would be:25% Offensive bonus, and they are able to steal a tech. They are loot, pillage and conquer. Razing settlements to the ground isn't a bad strategy for them either, due to the bad POLICE.

Anti Ideology: Would probably be Thought control, as it removes enjoyment/personal will.



I will come up with some stories and lore for each eventually, but for now I am just happy I got one faction working.

Title: Re: My custom Faction- The Crimson Comrades
Post by: Green1 on July 06, 2013, 10:59:30 AM

Jarlwolf, the faction as you loaded it on the AAR is working.

As far as crashing, sometimes if you put a faction that is not there in Alphax or misspell it, the game crashes.

Yitzi had that problem with his first patch.

Title: Re: My custom Faction- The Crimson Comrades
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 06, 2013, 02:39:37 PM

That locks it up during setup, though.


Interesting faction ideas - and I'm lovin' the avatar.

Title: Re: My custom Faction- The Crimson Comrades
Post by: JarlWolf on July 06, 2013, 10:14:53 PM

Quote from: Green1 on July 06, 2013, 10:59:30 AM

Jarlwolf, the faction as you loaded it on the AAR is working.

As far as crashing, sometimes if you put a faction that is not there in Alphax or misspell it, the game crashes.

Yitzi had that problem with his first patch.

Excellent news! Does the sound file and such work as well with it?


It's not so much game crashing that has been the issue for me, its more so the graphics for said faction don't load. All it does when that happens is the game loads, I can play, it's just the buildings are gaian, the faction colour is clear/transparent and it generally looks funny.

Quote from: BUncle on July 06, 2013, 02:39:37 PM

That locks it up during setup, though.


Interesting faction ideas - and I'm lovin' the avatar.

Thanks. Though, it got a bit "squished," I'll have to garner enough points again to make a more compatible version.

Title: Re: My custom Faction- The Crimson Comrades
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 07, 2013, 12:22:29 AM

Hmmm.  That's what it does when there isn't any art.  There's definitely something strange going on with your .pcxs.

Title: Re: My custom Faction- The Crimson Comrades
Post by: JarlWolf on July 07, 2013, 04:25:00 AM

Indeed. I have a method to fix it though, with the GIMP backup I supplied so its fine if it does that. It only ever does that I notice if I edit or change something in Face Edit or something similar. It doesn't keep constantly reverting so it's not too much an issue.


Also, I got more faction idea's, I am thinking of making an entire set of factions to play as, each with their own ideology: I am also trying to aim them to be different from the original SMAC/SMAX factions so its a different experience while still retaining a similar atmosphere and experience. Even for ideals where in real life I find abominable and I hate, for example, Fascism, I will still try to portray them both in a negative and positive, realistic light. Every faction has it's benefits and drawbacks in that regard. The only faction type I seemingly can't do is an Alien faction, but that might just be a toggle for the "Alien Faction" thing in Face Edit.

Title: Re: My custom Faction- The Crimson Comrades
Post by: Green1 on July 07, 2013, 05:04:06 PM

Antimind is a good start. I have adapted it to my regular rotation. I would like another alien so i can have four. None of the network node ones seem to do it for me. There are the Manifold Seekers in there, but for some reason, the AI sucks with them. They never get more than one base and get clobbered by even Morgan.

Title: Re: My custom Faction- The Crimson Comrades
Post by: JarlWolf on July 07, 2013, 08:28:02 PM

I can make an Alien faction, the real task with them is producing an ideal that will make them fun and interesting. I generally want to make them different to any of the current ones, so I'll need to know what is available to you so I can differentiate them enough.

Give the Alien factions and their basic stats and ideals and I'll figure something out for you.

Title: Re: My custom Faction- The Crimson Comrades
Post by: JarlWolf on July 08, 2013, 04:56:07 AM

Going to make a new thread, and just compile my faction idea's there so it's less messy.

Title: Re: My custom Faction- The Crimson Comrades
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 08, 2013, 05:17:55 PM

A little non-art advice - Facedit is extremely buggy.  It is capitalist robber baron bossman oppressor-pig evil, and, I'd bet, what causes the strange problems you're having with the art files.  It tends to screw things up if it even runs.

You'd be a lot better off googling AcEdit (if it'll work on your machine) to make your faction .txt, and adding the alien diplomacy and installing the faction manually.

Title: Re: My custom Faction- The Crimson Comrades
Post by: Kilkakon on July 11, 2013, 04:01:47 PM

It also ruins the pcx files rather regularly.

Title: Re: My custom Faction- The Crimson Comrades
Post by: JarlWolf on July 11, 2013, 09:59:58 PM

I can't seem to get AcEdit working sadly. Won't install on my system. It's fine though as I know all the horrors of Face Edit so I can handle it; I just have to replace my PCX files after each time I save.

Title: Re: My custom Faction- The Crimson Comrades
Post by: Kilkakon on July 12, 2013, 02:55:17 AM

If you want to get your hands dirty with text files, there's always the help files that I have handy.

Title: Re: My custom Faction- The Crimson Comrades
Post by: Green1 on July 13, 2013, 11:23:52 AM

If they ever remake Alpha Centauri, I really hope that they take ques from Stardock's Fallen Enchantress. That faction editor is a thing of beauty. It is not a separate program, but an integral part of the game. Hell, even powerhouses like Civ 5/4 do not have user friendly customization. You have to be a serious hardcore modder and mess with xml. But, then again Stardock is known for that. You can do a ton of things with it. It also enforces a sense of balance. It is VERY user friendly. Even my daughter could do it. (She is addicted to that game - too bad no multiplayer)

But, AC is what it is.

Hell.... let Stardock redo Alpha Centauri!!!!!