Oceanic Pack - 7 Aquatic factions [input requested]

[ete]

I kinda tried to do this before, but the thread kinda got side tracked into other people's factions and sorting out old network node graphics, which while good things don't do the main thing I was aiming for: Making a set of balanced, competitive, and interesting aquatic factions to add to the pool.

This time I'll be a little more focused.

There are plenty of graphics resources from here which will provide the bulk of art, but if other artists want to join in and make custom things that would be very welcome.

Let's make seven factions. All fairly balanced against each other, and at a reasonable level with the official factions. I think there's a good chance an environment with multiple sea factions in it likely massively shrinks the Pirates main benefit (starts in a place he can be sure of not having early competition), so the Pirates should be not treated as a perfect example of aquatic balance. Nor should aquatisized official factions be considered balanced by default. Each bonus and penalty matters a different amount at sea from the amount it matters on land, so some official factions with just start at sea added may be overpowered, and others may be underpowered. Playing a few games with the current 18 aquatic factions (pirates+13 aquatisized official factions+the four other here) is a fun experience which will help inform your balance suggestions.

I'm looking for ideas, feedback and assistance (esp. art) at all stages. I'll be organizing this and overviewing balance, but I hope this will be a community project with people adopting and testing factions.

If we end up with >7 factions I'll narrow it down to an official seven in the ocean pack then make an extended edition which includes all known finished and functional aquatic factions, including those that don't make the 7 cuttoff.

[ete]

Current factions:

Ideas:
- Native faction
- Economy focus

- A faction with free Repair Bay and Carrier Deck
- A faction with free AA (stops humans running over AI so easily once you get air)
- Some factions with free Deep Radar (it's free anyway at sea, but they don't clog up their ability slots if it's from faction power)
- Faction with Slow Unit imposed on all units as a penalty (on land would make someone just never use rovers, at sea it's different). Likely combined with significant combat bonus, like Morale or Offense.

unlikely ideas

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used ideas

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- A faction with a significant (+2/+3) FungMins bonus, but no other fungus bonus (Free Bio Lab+Brood Pit for actually scary natives early?)
- A faction with Impunity Power

A Cthulu themed water faction.  Though I'm sure there's one out there somewhere.
+1 POLICE
+1 PROBE
-1 GROWTH
-1 RESEARCH
-50% probe cost
Impunity Fundamentalism
Aversion Democratic

Concepts in discussion



Factions in testing

Centauri Armada / Centaury Flotilla - Military Terraformer

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Leader: Admiral
Ideology: Power
Anti-Ideology: Green
Erratic
Tech: CentEco

+Support
-Planet
Naval Yards
Fungicide Tanks
Sea Former

Notes:
They lack a clear combat ability like most other factions do, but they also lack clear weaknesses except their inability to deal with the planet's ecosystem in a non-aggressive manner. The Free Naval Yards give them a Morale advantage to compete with the Triton Monarchy, though if the TM can nab the Maritime Control Center they they will surge ahead.

The Praxis Harvesters - Native industrialists

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Tech: Industrial Base OR Biogenetics

+Industry
+2/3 FungMinerals
+10-30% Psi Combat
-1/2 Planet (?)
Conventional Combat penalties (30-50%)
-Morale (not a serious military force) OR -Support (?)
Free Fac: Biology Lab or Brood Pit (?)
Slow Unit (?)

Notes:
Pragmatic biotech users. No love for Planet, but prefer not to fight on the front lines or do the heavy work and have discovered how to extract massive resources from fungus.

Designed to fulfil a new native niche: building rather than capturing native life.

The Seastead Accord - The Seasteaders

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A loose collection of micronations and colonies with different styles of government united in the desire for freedom of choice in government and exit rights, and bound by mutual defense treaties.

Ideology:
Anti-Ideology:
Leader: Freeman <something>
AI: peaceful, Explore/Build
Tech: http://alphacentauri2.info/wiki/Sentient_Econometrics (?)

Bonuses:
+1/2 Growth
Something to allow them to have lots of bases, possibly free HQs, Paradise Gardens, or +2/3 Efficiency
Free Perim Defenses (?)
NODRONE, 1-2 (?)
A research bonus (?)
A bunch of robusts (?)
Free facility?

Penalties:
Default max pop 3 or 4.

Notes:
Each base would grow fast, but because they're tiny you have to build a lot more infrastructure per unit population, so needs to be more valuable some other way.

The Triton Monarchy - The Neoreactionary

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A neo-reactionary faction with the idea that returning to extremely centralized royal power is the best for the people.

Ideology: Power? Thought Control? Police State?
Leader: King Colton (Bradley? Rex?) I
AI: Aggressive, Conquer/Build

Bonuses:
Impunity, Power
Free Perimeter Defenses (?)
+2 Police (?)
IMMUNITY/ROBUST, Morale.
Deep Radar
Unity Gunship (?)

Penalties:
Aversion Democratic
-1 Efficiency
-1 Research, or larger TECHCOST
Maybe an economic penalty, like negative energy interest (a portion of wealth squandered by rulers), though it does not affect humans that much.

Notes:
They'd have no good political choices, but two amazing values choices with the negative effects of Power removed and Wealth either removed or halved. With -1 effic and no Demo they'd struggle with running Planned or even FM later on, and often be forced into Green.. which would kill their Growth with no Demo to correct it. Or just accept massive inefficiency, use police to control things, and steal all their research.

The Ascetic Virtues would be a huge SP for them, giving them double police power without crippling themselves via inefficiency with PS.

Covenant of the Deep

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Leader: Deacon
Ideology: Fundamentalist
Anti-Ideology: Free Market OR Wealth
Aggressive
Tech: High Energy Chemistry (?) Social Psych? Progenitor Psych?

Bonuses:
+1 Planet (Obsessed with native life)
Ability: Deep Radar
Ability: Nerve Gas Pods
Starting IoD?

Penalties
-Economy (Nobody wants to trade with them) OR -Growth (Creepy faction has limited following)
Votes 0.5
Drone 5 (?)

Notes:

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#BLURB
Men have longed followed the idiom that knowledge is power. This cannot be denied.
But these same men do not follow this idiom to its final conclusion: that knowledge,
like power, will cast men undeserving of its burden into corruption, and in this
manner fell our first home. The lesson painfully learned is this: the power of the
mind to change the world must be guarded as jeaously as the power to split atoms, for
from the first arises the second.
 ^
 ^        —Caliph Saeed Alizadeh,
 ^           “Planet Theory”

#DATALINKS1
^LEADER: {Caliph Saeed Alizadeh}
^BACKGROUND: {Iranian Islamic Republic, Unity Education Specialist}
^AGENDA: {Golden Age of Knowledge}
^TECH: {Doctrine: Flexibility, Choose 1}
^

#DATALINKS2
^+2 RESEARCH: {Hierarchy of scholars and academics}
^+1 PROBE: {Protected networks and trained infiltrators}
^-1 INDUSTRY: {Labor neglected in favor of research}
^+10% Hurry Cost {Understaffed factories}
^Does not experience negative effects of Knowledge Values
^All units gain Algorithmic Enhancement upon discovery of Nanominiaturazation
^{May not use Fundamentalist Politics}

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^Free Heavy Transport, Repair Bay, and Carrier Deck with the required technologies
^+1 ECONOMY & +1 Commerce rating: {Vast trading network}
^-1 GROWTH: {Hard to raise a family while constantly sailing for trade}
^-1 PROBE: {Open borders for trade easily infiltrated}
^{May not make Planned choice in social engineering}

Notes:

Ready for use:

[ete]

(this is absolutely not a hint about my plans for group AAR #3. shhhh.....)

[Dio]

What about a faction that lives primarily on organic living bases and does extensive biological engineering of both earth and native plants to meet their tool and construction needs? Perhaps this faction would be the one to get the slow penalty since most of their vehicles would be organic in nature?

[ete]

hmm.. that has potential. Perhaps free Aquafarms? How would the bio-vehicles advantages be represented though? Maybe some ability, like Clean Reactors?

And what do they have as a philosophy driving them? Could be.. a drive for efficiency, but not out of "let's be nice to Planet" morals, but simple optimization and preference for not screwing up the place their civilization has to live on forever?

Also, since the biotech to do that is unlikely to be available right off the bat, perhaps have that coming in later and starting instead with a philosophy that leads to that kind of development?

[Sigma]

How does the cost of Foils compare with the cost of Rovers? Would it be a good idea to include with this an alphax that adjusts the costs of sea units to make them more affordable?

As for factions, I can definitely pitch in for this. Let me give it some thought and I should be able to have something compelling tomorrow.

[ete]

hm.. I think we should balance them with respect to default alphax settings. Maybe an alternate alphax could be included, but it would be a secondary thing as far as I'm concerned. And cool, I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

[Buster's Uncle]

I don't think art will be a problem...

[Buster's Uncle]

...I'd just point out that Maniac, not an artist, used to make up his own faction graphics via cut-and-paste from old Network Node factions, and Darsnan designed the Harmonists, a splinter Gaian faction, sorta the same way, sending me a picture to turn leaderhead, and telling me what NN factions to take what element from.

I believe GeoModder made a few in the old days that way, too.

We can toss off a lot of reasonably decent graphics in a hurry the same way, using my goodie files.  Tell me what you want, and I'll see what I can do.  We'll probably need to make up a lot of logos, but no sweat there.

I'm not likely to take a lot of initiative, mind, but will take requests...  It'll happen more promptly the more preferences I have to work with - I can do a straight copy/paste job in minutes if I don't have to look around...

[ete]

Okay, noted. When we've got some ideas of what the factions are going to be like, we'll call you with a set of things to include/ideas for what things should look like.

[Buster's Uncle]

[ete]

Okay, let's sketch some out.

The Seasteaders

Based off the current seasteaders: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasteading http://www.seasteading.org/?intro=close

Heavy libertarian influence, focus on new and diverse forms of government. Quite decentralized, with ideas about self-sufficiency.

I'm thinking options for the main bonus could be Clean Reactors, free HQ, or perhaps too optimistically, Paradise Gardens. I'd also consider high efficiency.

Minor bonuses include small research bonuses (not necessarily +RESEARCH)

Possible penalties include.. -POPULATION (citizens leave crowded settlements). Simple economics, if that works correctly (may need to give them a tech for a different one, which is badish at the start, like FM or Green?). Not sure what else right now, ideas welcome.


The New Monarchy

A neo-reactionary faction with the idea that returning to extremely centralized royal power is the best for the people. Leader would be King <something> I.

Major bonus ideas: Impunity, Power, free Perimeter Defenses, +2 Police, IMMUNITY/ROBUST, Morale.

Minor bonuses: Deep Radar, Unity Gunship

Penalties: -Research, or larger TECHCOST. Aversion Democratic. Maybe -1 effic. Maybe an economic penalty, like negative energy interest (a portion of wealth squandered by rulers), though it does not affect humans that much.

They'd have no good political choices, but two amazing values choices.


Name Undecided

An industrial native faction. Not caring for the environment because of fluffy ideals, but because it's the most effective way to live in the ocean.

Major bonus ideas: +2/+3 Fung Min, Free Bio Labs and/or Brood Pits, +1 Industry.

Minor bonuses: small Psi bonus (+10%?), robust planet

Penalties: Significant conventional combat bonuses (-30-40%?), possibly the Slow Unit thing if not used elsewhere, Hurry penalty, aversion FM. No +Planet, they have to run green to capture.


All are only rough sketches, not all ideas will be included. Feel free to make suggestions, I'll incorporate some as I refine them.

[Sigma]

Okay, let's sketch some out.

The Seasteaders

Seasteaders are a pretty obvious route to go. They're basically Libertarians: I'm on a Boat, so there's a lot of easy baggage that comes with it. How about instead CR, HQs or Gardens they get the Perimeter Defense. The natural argument here is that, as they are intensely protective of their floating city states, they naturally lean towards turning them into floating fortresses.

I agree with giving them a RESEARCH bonus, maybe RESEARCH, 2, which did a pretty good job at buffing my Apollo Industries faction without tipping them over completely. The argument here being that they don't necessarily have the best scientific minds, but they do have the least regulated scientific minds so they're able to keep up.

-Growth is also the obvious way to go, but maybe offset it with a -2 Pop bonus, meaning that they are slow to grow but are arguably the best at constructing aquatic habitats. So while it will take them longer they have a higher ceiling.

I find that +Drone penalties are a natural fit to Libertarian ideologies.

For other bonuses, +Industry could work (Libertarianism and "Captain of Industry" mentality go hand in hand together), but as someone who used to live in New Hampshire, the Tax Evader State, I'm thinking something a little more militant might be in order, maybe +Support.

So how about:

The Seastead Federation
+Industry/+Support
-Growth
Research 2 (+Labs per base)
Free Perimeter Defense
Bases can reach size 9 without needing a Hab Complex
Extra Drone per/4 citizens

Ideas for Leader Title: Freeman

The New Monarchy

An excellent counterpoint to the Seasteaders. How about instead of New Monarchy we go with "Triton" or "Neptune Monarchy" as it has a more evocative, nautical feel to it. I feel like all the factions we create for this set should evoke the sea in every aspect of their character.

Agree with +Police, Impunity Power, Robust Morale (Monarchies would want Wealth as much as Power).

Also agree with -Efficiency for a strongly centralized Monarchy being a bit of a cludgy fit for an oceanic empire.

If we move the Perimeter Defense to the Seasteaders, I think we can leave the rest as is.

[ete]

hmm.. I see the Seasteaders quite differently, I think. Partly to intentionally differentiate them from your libertarian faction. I imagine them very much about experimentation and exit rights, which is definitely libertarian, but slightly different from the classic of just reducing/removing government oversight, since some colonies may in fact be socialist or even communist, it's just about letting people pick what they want and frictionlessly move. If anything I'd imagine them to have fewer drones via NODRONE, due to the whole "if you don't like it, you leave"/"vote with your boat" thing meaning that rather than dissatisfied citizens causing disorder, they just move to a different colony which suits them better. Each colony would have almost totally independant government and they's only act as a faction due to a strong mutual defense treaty.

I'd also imagine they grow.. maybe not faster than usual, but not slower than other oceangoing factions. Trying lots of things quickly lets you settle on what works to raise populations, and the idea of colonies splintering after a certain size based on different ideologies points more towards lower not higher pop limits. Similarly splintered and diverse small colonies don't seem like great +Indust. +Support is plausible though, as is Research. I'm struggling a bit to come up with good ideas for penalties which fit with my idea of the faction.

I like the title Freeman though.


The Triton Monarchy sounds much better. Let's go with that.

[Sigma]

hmm.. I see the Seasteaders quite differently, I think. Partly to intentionally differentiate them from your libertarian faction. I imagine them very much about experimentation and exit rights, which is definitely libertarian, but slightly different from the classic of just reducing/removing government oversight, since some colonies may in fact be socialist or even communist, it's just about letting people pick what they want and frictionlessly move. If anything I'd imagine them to have fewer drones via NODRONE, due to the whole "if you don't like it, you leave"/"vote with your boat" thing meaning that rather than dissatisfied citizens causing disorder, they just move to a different colony which suits them better. Each colony would have almost totally independant government and they's only act as a faction due to a strong mutual defense treaty.

I'd also imagine they grow.. maybe not faster than usual, but not slower than other oceangoing factions. Trying lots of things quickly lets you settle on what works to raise populations, and the idea of colonies splintering after a certain size based on different ideologies points more towards lower not higher pop limits. Similarly splintered and diverse small colonies don't seem like great +Indust. +Support is plausible though, as is Research. I'm struggling a bit to come up with good ideas for penalties which fit with my idea of the faction.

I like the title Freeman though.

I see where you're coming from and I agree with it. I was reading them more as Rapture, when what you're proposing is more of a loose Confederacy of individuals who share an overarching desire for freedom and independence but not specific ideologies.

With that in mind, a novel approach might actually be +Growth but -Population. They are quick to grow with the influx of individuals who chafe under the "oppression" of other factions, but the logistic limitations of a Seastead coupled with ideological inflighting would mean that while they grow rapidly they rapidly reach a point where competition for limited resources makes further growth unfeasible, thus encouraging expansion. I'd argue that even a penalty as severe as Pop, 3 would work to that end.

Coupled with P.Defense, you get a very scattered faction of small but well defended, independent settlements. I like it.

Other names: Seastead Confederacy, Seastates