BE factions for SMACX - a comunity project

[Yitzi]

Ok, let's start with the ARC.  Very much a focus on the business end of things, but not on trade/economy to the same extent as Polystralia.  So I wouldn't give them an ECONOMY or commerce boost.  The fact that their citizens are employees rather than subscribers to an economics-based ideology like Morgan's, also means they have very different penalties.  Instead, I'd give them:
Starts with Industrial Base and Industrial Economics
Free Energy Bank in every base (Commercial mentality)
60% hurry cost (Experienced businesspeople)
5% interest earned (Experienced investors)
70% probe team cost (corporate espionage)
Pays half price for terraforming (experienced at geoengineering)
Starts with 100 credits bonus
-2 EFFIC (overly centralized corporate structure)
-1 GROWTH (focus on the company leaves little time for family)
Prefers wealth and ECONOMY, cannot use power.
Erratic aggression, favors Build

Comments: Where most factions tend to run more science than economy, the ARC will tend to want to run a more even split, between the low efficiency, tendency to use probe teams a lot, and being very good at using their money.  Can be a serious economic powerhouse, but their penalties are fairly serious.

Next, Brazilia.  A clear military faction, much like the Spartans or the Believers, and in fact I'm putting their stats somewhere in between the two (more or less):

Begins with Doctrine: Mobility and Doctrine: Flexibility
+1 MORALE (well-trained troops)
Every unit gains the High Morale ability on researching Intellectual Integrity (well-trained troops)
+2 SUPPORT (experienced at logistics)
Gets a free command center in every base (Highly capable military leadership)
-2 RESEARCH (focus on military strength leaves little resources for long-term research)
Prefers Power and MORALE, dislikes Wealth.
Aggressive, favors Conquer

Comments: They'll probably play a lot like the Believers, but are stronger militarily (especially against worms) but lack the ability to get mind control immunity.  Definitely not someone you want to face as  .

And I think I'll continue in the next post.

[Yitzi]

Franco-Iberia: This is an interesting one.  They're clearly focused on culture, and culture doesn't really appear in SMAC/X as such.  So some other relevant boosts and penalties are necessary:
Begins with Social Psych and Ethical Calculus
+1 talent every 3 citizens (attracts elite individuals).
+100% votes for planetary governor or supreme leader (Cultural domination)
Revolting bases have a 75% chance of joining them (Cultural influence)
Free recreation commons at every base (Community-run cultural events)
Needs a hab complex to grow beyond size 5 (Followers require extra living space for cultural pursuits)
-1 SUPPORT (followers have expensive tastes)
Prefers Democracy and GROWTH, cannot use Fundamentalism.
Pacifist, favors Explore and Build

Comments: Essentially combining Lal's boosts with Morgan's penalties, this is an interesting faction.  They'll find it somewhat easier to pop boom than even Lal, due to more talents and the rec commons (and starting with more of the necessary techs), but where he has less need for hab facilities, they have more.  Their real advantage, therefore, isn't pop booms but rather social stability.  Probably a good faction for beginners, while still being powerful in the hands of a skilled player.

Kavithan Protectorate: An interesting one; essentially a benevolent cult.
Begins with Social Psych
-8 drones in every base (cult of personality prevents dissent)
Impunity to Fundamentalist penalty (syncretic religion)
+1 PROBE (Devout believers difficult to brainwash)
+1 nutrients and energy from fungus squares (tendency to adapt)
-2 ECONOMY (low focus on materialism)
90% offensive strength (tendency toward pacifism)
Prefers Fundamentalist and PROBE, cannot use Democracy
Pacifist, favors Explore and Build

Comments: Another faction big on social stability.  The offensive strength penalty will keep them from being major warmongers despite their love of fundamentalism, and the ECONOMY penalty will prevent them from benefiting much from Free Market, and but without having to worry about drone riots for a long time they can grow fairly easily, and their bonus fungus resources can give them a decent boost in the early game and make them a serious powerhouse in the late game.

Pan-Asian Cooperative: Between the science focus and condescending attitude (suggests a drone penalty), I can't see any way to justify different stats than the University.

[Flux]

Are we remaking some Beyond Earth factions for SMAX?
Count me in. I'll read this a little more and see where I can help.

[Yitzi]

African Union: The focus seems to be on morality, both between people and between humans and the planet.  So:
Starts with Social Psych and Ethical Calculus
+2 PLANET (Strong respect for native life)
Impunity to Free Market (Moral focus prevents normal results of greed)
-2 POLICE (freedom-loving)
-1 MORALE (dislike conflict)
+50% cost to hurry production (lack of desperate workers)
Prefers Green and PLANET, cannot use Police State
Favors Explore and Discover

Comments: His biggest advantage is the ability to run Free Market with no downsides.  Of course, for war he might prefer to run Green and play like the Cult.  Either way, his biggest problem, especially on higher difficulties, is likely to be social stability; while he has no pacifism drones even while running Market, he can't get police until late-game (Thought Control) either, unless he manages to grab the Ascetic Virtues.

Polystralia: Here's our  -equivalent.
Starts with Industrial Economics
+1 ECONOMY (love of trade)
+3 commerce
-1 INDUSTRY (tendency to focus on the economic "game" over practical production)
Prefers Free Market and ECONOMY, cannot use Planned
Pacifist, prefers Explore and Discover

Comments: He can out-Morgan Morgan, and without his downsides...but an INDUSTRY penalty is a pretty big deal.  You'll definitely need to make the most of his commerce boost to make this one effective.

Slavic Federation: Looks a lot like  , actually, but with some different bonuses/penalties:
+2 INDUSTRY (hard-working)
Can exceed hab limitations by 2 (comfort of populace not important)
-2 PLANET (tendency to ignore Planet's needs in the name of progress)
Prefers Police State and POLICE, cannot use Green
Erratic aggression, prefers Build and Conquer

Comments: Fairly strong, but worms will likely be a problem.

[Yitzi]

Finally, everything above should be considered a work in progress, so if you have any changes to recommend, feel free.

[Othniel]

I wonder, how hard would it be to make a blind tech web with the virtues as your tech path? Might also be good to go back through the discarded quotes and see if they can be assigned an originating culture that adds depth to the sponsors.

[Yitzi]

Might also be good to go back through the discarded quotes and see if they can be assigned an originating culture that adds depth to the sponsors.

You can, but as far as I can tell the discarded quotes (mostly from the Uncle Nevercloned stories) have no clear originating culture.

[Othniel]

The Uncle Nevercloned are Northern Native American in culture which likely means that they are part of the ARC worker culture. Same with the adapted story of John Henry. These are examples of people fitting their own mythologies to their world. I find it very interesting actually that Tall Tales and Native myth are became part of ARC culture. That might mean that the ARC is like the railroad, and related corporations of turn of the century America. These worker probably find themselves in similar conditions. The ARC might find themselves more likely to have 'strikes' and attempts at unionization. They may be more likely to use Police State then, as this was common practice to keep workers in check.

[Geo]

If you could do the buildings and wonders too that would be good, but this should be enough to start with...

I'll do it. Already found the file.
Btw, for the tech web there's also pedia explanation/quotes like in SMAC, with no leader link. Do you need those as well?

[Yitzi]

If you could do the buildings and wonders too that would be good, but this should be enough to start with...

I'll do it. Already found the file.
Btw, for the tech web there's also pedia explanation/quotes like in SMAC, with no leader link. Do you need those as well?

If there's no quote from the leaders, it's probably not that relevant.

[Nexii]

Interesting factions Yitzi.  4 pacifist, 2 erratic, 1 aggressive is more peaceful leaning.  I'd note that all of them are probably slightly stronger than the default 7.  Relative to one another they seem quite close though.  I'd give Slavic a bit of a boost.  Maybe +2 IND and +1 POL, or PS IMMUNITY.  Green aversion and such a large -PLANET is kind of rough.  AU looks really powerful...FM with no -PLANET similarly is huge.  Maybe put AU's POLICE SE to -5.

[Yitzi]

Interesting factions Yitzi.  4 pacifist, 2 erratic, 1 aggressive is more peaceful leaning.

Well, there's only 1 military faction, unlike SMAC which has 2 plus Yang.

I'd give Slavic a bit of a boost.  Maybe +2 IND and +1 POL, or PS IMMUNITY.  Green aversion and such a large -PLANET is kind of rough.

Maybe just +2 IND; IND is really powerful, increased max base size is pretty good, and -PLANET can be worked around.

AU looks really powerful...FM with no -PLANET similarly is huge.  Maybe put AU's POLICE SE to -5.

Keep in mind, though, that they can't use police and have a net -1 SE bonuses (in comparison, most factions have net +1).  And when running Planned to pop boom or Green to make war with native life (because they've got a morale penalty), they have no bonuses other than +2 PLANET.

[Nexii]

Yes but don't undervalue SE IMPUNITY.  That's +6 overall SE when running FM (+3 PLANET, +3 POLICE, and +8 overall if you choose TC for some odd reason) over any other faction.  +5 in my SE set but pretty much similar.  AU I guess could have some other penalty?  Or perhaps impunity on Green or Democracy for AU, seems more fitting? 

Just +2 IND would still make Slavic competitive.  A bit weak late but the Free Drones were very strong with an arguably similar penalty and aversion.  +2 IND does get really strong when you run Planned/Wealth, which I imagine they would most of the time.

[Yitzi]

AU I guess could have some other penalty?  Or perhaps impunity on Green or Democracy for AU, seems more fitting? 

No, I actually feel that impunity to FM is best for AU; I see impunity as meaning not "they prefer this" but rather "there's a specific reason that the usual downsides wouldn't apply", which is not true for Democracy or Green for AU, but is true for FM.

But perhaps another penalty is necessary; what would you suggest?

[Nexii]

Yea it's that +2 PLANET with FM impunity, they go really strong together.  +20% ATK vs native outweighs the -1 MORALE, and +2 PLANET is still the minimum for ecodamage.  I don't think you'd switch to Planned often since you can GA pretty easy for the same +2 GROWTH.  Green perhaps now and then, since +40% PSI ATK is strong.  But realistically, you'd stay in FM even in war since the +2 ECON just lets you churn out more units with the extra credits.  So perhaps -2 MORALE levels for AU rather than -1 MORALE SE.  That or increased hurry costs to slow them down since they're going to be in FM a lot.  I can't think of too many other penalties that might be fitting and aren't already given to other factions.