Discontents

[Othniel]

New Earth was successful, as were two others. Mankind had seeded the stars with its own kind, and were able to live where once was inhospitable. In progress were 5 more attempts to terraform other planets, including our own Mars and Venus. When Planetary Survey had discovered a new habitable world for humanity it was cheaper than ever to send out the willing. The call went out for new colonists to inhabit that distant world.

And it was answered enthusiastically, though not by those that were content. For the content had no reason to leave their own world. Aside from those seeking profit and those seeking to discover the unknown, the call was answered by cults, political dissidents, radicals, revolutionaries and the generally unsatisfied.  These sought to leave earth to live, or worship in their own way, in their own form.  Governments and the people of Earth were not unpleased to see them leave as they could better enjoy their contentment without those that would challenge it.

Excerpt from "Peace on Earth"- Hiram Disraeli, AP Op-Ed   

I've been really excited for Beyond Earth. Thats simple fact. However its approach when compared to SMAC is dull. In Civilization: Beyond Earth you have 8 factions. A few of them are geographical blocs, similar to the EU, others are ethnic unions. The one two different from these are the American Reclamation Corporation, and Kavithan Protectorate which is a mystery cult (not the historical usage here).  While these two are motivated by profit-seeking and religious freedom, the other's ideology is nationalism, or geographical unity.  Nationalism as a motivation is specifically disputed as being a factor in Alpha Centauri.

Likewise in Beyond Earth you approach the colony one by one, while in Alpha Centauri you are all aboard the Unity. With Unity broken the intimate crew became divided and the seeds of discord was planted, and ideologies came into conflict. Beyond Earth has no such sown strife, which in turn makes it less dynamic. Nationalism does lead to conflict, but its a conflict of control.

Affinities deal in approach and lifestyle, but they are closer to culture than ideology. The AI is said to respond to what you do and what resources are available when choosing their own affinity. This makes what they choose to be as a question of pragmatism rather than one of ideology. If I plant corn, and my opposition plants rice, it will change what we eat and how we work, but it is not an ideology.

These approaches differ wildly from each other, which allows two very different stories to be told. Beyond Earth is much more wide open and allows you to use its factions and affinities like paint brushes. You paint an open story, with headcannon as the means of structuring the world around you.  Things are informed of the context of your actions.  Alpha Centauri is more by the numbers. You project yourself into a strong personality and into a story with many parts. You experience the game more than you create.

My idea is to reconcile these approaches. It is unlikely to me that after the initial wave of colonization that it would be those that are content that would leave Earth. As I had wrote in my fictional excerpt above, its not the content that would leave their comforts. I think instead would see those with more interesting motivations attempt to colonize worlds as they became available. We'd see people with agendas, and goals for their people, and for their own freedoms and viewpoints take up their small congregations to leave the Earth and find some place they could call home. It would be like Utopian Communities of the wild west, those feeling religious persecution, cults, and others that would settle these worlds when it was no longer prohibitive.

And naturally these strong and radical discontents would clash with one another. Though not as intimate as the Unity, these could undergo the staggered start of Beyond Earth. They would have reasons to fight, agendas to fill, and things to do beyond homesteading and controlling resources. Small colonies, with a particular point of view clashing with each other; corporate and state ventures; and scientific outposts.

I'm intrigued and welcome the opportunities to play the base game, and enjoy it. However I see the differences, and see that there is less personality. For fun I'd like to experiment with creating factions for the idea I outlined above and I think it would be fun to discuss and comment on other people's ideas for factions within this second wave of colonies. Any ideas?

[Geo]

One remark on your 'its only the malcontents that leave'.
In BE, that depends from what sponsor state you hail. The Kavithan Protectorate's colonists go out driven by hope, fueled by their leader. The People's African Union goes to the stars out of desperation in a crumbling world. At least one expedition leader from the Pan-Asian Cooperation goes out to escape the centrism other leaders within the PAC like to embrace.
I can go on, but you get the drift.

[Othniel]

Yes, I get their motivations are more complex than I was making them here. Clearly Barra wants to discontinue the exploitation of his people, while Daoming is an explorer by nature. However I was making it clear that the malcontents weren't the ones leaving in BE, but instead that they would follow when it became more feasible to leave Earth. This is not a criticism of Beyond Earth's factions, but more an attempt to reconcile the difference of the approaches with my own idea. I like them.  I think the leaders have their own personalities that make them good strong minded leaders.  I don't want to say anything bad about them, and I apologize for me over-simplifying it.

But I also see a design space when I compare the two. I want to play in it. I want to explore it and see what I or the community can do with the potential that exists there. I supposed I failed in exposing that space.

[Buster's Uncle]

A lot's going to depend on how easy/hard BE is to mod, if playable custom faction creation is what you're talking about...

[Othniel]

It is a hope.  I wouldn't mind talking about "text only" incarnations though. I've kind of taken to Civ: BE as a writing prompt.

Civ: BE and Alpha Centauri are both about the first human colony, and thats fun and exciting in its own right. But what happens after we know we can be successful at colonization and find other targets? Who is it that will be drawn away from Earth? Its not only going to be malcontents for certain, but there will be people comfortable with Earth, and if they aren't pending disaster like BE and AC imply they do, well they seem likely to stay. Those who have a better chance elsewhere seem more likely to leave, which includes the religious, malcontents, the poor, the adventurous, the explorers, frontiersmen and more. Their story interests me, and I was hoping that it might strike a cord with someone else. In some ways I suppose their story is told by the Stations in Beyond Earth, but those feel isolated with minimal impact.

[Buster's Uncle]

You sound like fan fiction writer material - check out Planet Tales forum.  It all part of the same thing in the end, good modding being an artistic/creative exercise.

-If BE turns out to be not-too-difficult to mod, we have a strong circle of modders here, so that could definitely happen...

[JarlWolf]

I want to see more ideological based decisions and choices as well- more then just your background, I want policies besides the technological path you choose. I want to see social choice that could not only change your society in how it runs, but perhaps it can intertwine in different ways with your affinity. A police state under purity is going to look different then a police state under harmony. A communist workers civilization is going to appear different under Supremacy then it would Purity- just in how it operates. I'd love to see intertwining of these things and how different social policies play out- maybe it can operate like religions did in Civilization, where certain religions give you certain benefits, and you can spread your ideology to other factions and have benefits and hostilities in relations depending on whose what.

[BlaneckW]

I want to see more ideological based decisions and choices as well- more then just your background, I want policies besides the technological path you choose.

Too bad, you get the watered-down politically-correct fisher price toy.  Sid Meier doesn't like such discussions, they might be leading.

[JarlWolf]

One can always dream, and one can always attach home made rockets to said fisher price toy 

[BlaneckW]

Well, one can try.  I don't bother with the AC expansion.