My Custom Faction(s)

[MercantileInterest]

Hmmm... a city state...

Preposterously low efficiency. Perfect. Add extra talents. Sounds pretty good. You may want bonus support so you can actually support an army but mostly, I'd recommend forgetting social engineering in favor of a few free late game facilities, say a Temple of Planet to cut pollution and a factory to cause the pollution. If using Crossfire, perhaps the facility which counts as a sensor.

Nice concept. Never thought of a city state.

[ComradeCrimson]

Hmmm... a city state...

Preposterously low efficiency. Perfect. Add extra talents. Sounds pretty good. You may want bonus support so you can actually support an army but mostly, I'd recommend forgetting social engineering in favor of a few free late game facilities, say a Temple of Planet to cut pollution and a factory to cause the pollution. If using Crossfire, perhaps the facility which counts as a sensor.

Nice concept. Never thought of a city state.

Thanks. I'm going to look into facilities as a potential boon; I also thought of immunities too recently; though I need to figure out some things... as it stands I think that given that the Pathos Bastion isn't necessarily industrialist nor environmentalist and focused on human development I'd rather give them something directly benefiting the generation of specialists or empaths even.


As for my Thought Control Faction, here is my basis for it.

Named the United Army of Humanity, or simply, Unity.

It's leader?

Marshal Humphrey Rodderick, former UN peacekeeper.

Hailing from Santiago's Spartan faction, Marshal Rodderick had over time grown wary of Planet's increasingly hostile behaviour and was horrified by its raw power. Fearing for humanity's continued survival and not trusting it due to how it had split in discourse even on a mission integral to their species survival and haunted by the armageddon of Earth, Rodderick decided the best course of action was to ensure humanity's survival through his control of it, augmenting his own body to ensure his immortality by integrating himself within an advanced algorithm. The process complete, he learned of Santiago's betrayal of Captain Garland, revolted and took his faction of followers and nerve stapled them with specific inhibitors, and created facilities as to channel and direct the growth of his faction.

Intending to save humanity both from itself and from Planet, Marshal Rodderick strode forth to conquer humanity and submit them to his guidance and leadership and ensure humanity survives the onslaught of planet, aggressively terraforming it and trying to kill Planet mind before humanity is destroyed again.



Name for leader: Marshal Humphrey Rodderick

Background: UN Peacekeeping Officer

Qoute:

"Ever since the tragedy of Earth humanity has at multiple points nearly underwent extinction. Whether its from our own hands from the nuclear fires of our beloved and lost home world, or the hostile alien world that is planet, we face a dire situation. Our petty rivalries, pride and ego blinds us to the truth. Death is imminent if we do not unite; we must unite as a species if we hope to brave the storm of destruction."

-Marshal Humphrey Rodderick, Thoughts on Extinction.

Agenda: Thought Control (Only through total control of will can humanity be directed to save itself.)
Aversion: Democracy (Humanity cannot be trusted with itself.)

Starts with the Cloning Vats (Citizens produced to specification for conflict)

Starts with Free Punishment Spheres (Citizens completely subservient)

-4 Economy (Social interaction necessary for trade is severely lacking.)

-3 Planet (Planet senses hostile intentions)

Penalties to Values choice: Knowledge (The free flow of information leads to anarchy and self destruction)

AI Personality: Warlike

[vonbach]

At this point you might as well just write a scenario. Its insanely OP.
I understand you have a grand vision of what you want to do but one
of the secrets to artwork is knowing when to stop painting.

[ComradeCrimson]

At this point you might as well just write a scenario. Its insanely OP.
I understand you have a grand vision of what you want to do but one
of the secrets to artwork is knowing when to stop painting.

And another secret to artwork is to know when to keep painting and push for that final improvement. You can always paint over accidents or "mistakes" and make them into improvements. And that's coming from a guy who actually paints too 

(click to show/hide)

Por ejemplo

I am aware that this faction would be incredibly powerful. My aim is for something interesting to fight against or with; with this specific faction.


I am still willing to balance it a bit though for a more balanced version of the faction; so give me suggestions. I could always make their planet rating even worse at -5 so they get demon boils getting thrown at them, which would be fun to see.

I intend to make a Lets Play of this so yeah, it will be a unique scenario in a sense. I'll likely be playing with the City State faction, import factions I like and roll with it; I saw some rather interesting factions floating about on this site so I'll likely dabble in a few.

[vonbach]

Sorry its simply way to OP. No drones and starts with arguably the best wonder in the game.
Whats the point?

[ComradeCrimson]

Sorry its simply way to OP. No drones and starts with arguably the best wonder in the game.
Whats the point?

What would you suggest then to make this faction then?

Say we remove the Cloning Vats.

What would you say would suit this faction better to make it more balanced?

In my playthrough its meant to be very, very powerful. I think a massive research penalty could work.

Here's some revised stats I've thought of for now.

Agenda: Thought Control

Adverse: Democracy

-3 Research

-5 Planet

-3 Economy (or possibly -4 Economy)

Free Punishment Spheres

Penalty to Knowledge

2+ Support

Thoughts? Keep in mind with the Punishment Sphere's and -3 Research and penalty to knowledge, their research is going to be abysmal, especially with a bad economy.

[Nexii]

Not sure if I'd rank CV as the best, it's up there but there are better wonders.  +6 GROWTH isn't that hard to hit for most factions especially by the time CV becomes available.  But having CV available from the start really changes things.

ECON -3 and below doesn't work that well because it means 0 energy in any base square, thus very RNG on whether you get a river tile / monolith / E resource bonus.  Otherwise you end up stuck on 0 energy and tech for a long time.  That being said lately I also mod to allow formers without Centauri Ecology but Centauri Ecology is required for Farm, Forest, Fungus remove.  So that factions like this can 'work' as you can still build solars on no tech and at least not get stuck for many turns.

[ComradeCrimson]

Not sure if I'd rank CV as the best, it's up there but there are better wonders.  +6 GROWTH isn't that hard to hit for most factions especially by the time CV becomes available.  But having CV available from the start really changes things.

ECON -3 and below doesn't work that well because it means 0 energy in any base square, thus very RNG on whether you get a river tile / monolith / E resource bonus.  Otherwise you end up stuck on 0 energy and tech for a long time.  That being said lately I also mod to allow formers without Centauri Ecology but Centauri Ecology is required for Farm, Forest, Fungus remove.  So that factions like this can 'work' as you can still build solars on no tech and at least not get stuck for many turns.

Planet pearls would give them some income due to the negative planet summoning up throngs of mindworms.

What would you suggest for this faction? I'd like to give them Cloning and Punishment spheres off the bat and I am willing to give them hideous energy/research penalties and planet penalties in return for it. In game I intend them to be a terrifying Big Brother type regime that sends hordes upon hordes of soldiers at your base, their own bases rapidly growing in population, and conquering other cities and immediately neutralizing any resistance with complete efficiency. Low tech level but breeding like rabbits and sending hordes of soldiers without any discretion. Almost similar to the Death Korps of Krieg really if were running 40k comparisons here.

[Nexii]

0 income isn't as much of a problem (though for maintenance it can be)
What the problem can be is having 0 labs, and thus unable to get Centauri Ecology to even start terraforming.  It's a bit of a game flaw IMO which is why I mod as described. 
For CV this is +6 GROWTH (or more) equivalent, plus you can run TC early with no negatives.  That's about +12 SE worth right there.  Punish spheres are probably worth a few SE but not a lot.

So probably ~12 in SE downsides
-5 RESEARCH
-3 PLANET
-4 ECON
I'd say that -5 RESEARCH is by far the worst of those penalties.  25 turns of no research.  Overall they would be really random.  If you can trade for Centauri Ecology or find it you'd do well; otherwise you'll be so far behind that it might be hard to ever catch up.

[ComradeCrimson]

0 income isn't as much of a problem (though for maintenance it can be)
What the problem can be is having 0 labs, and thus unable to get Centauri Ecology to even start terraforming.  It's a bit of a game flaw IMO which is why I mod as described. 
For CV this is +6 GROWTH (or more) equivalent, plus you can run TC early with no negatives.  That's about +12 SE worth right there.  Punish spheres are probably worth a few SE but not a lot.

So probably ~12 in SE downsides
-5 RESEARCH
-3 PLANET
-4 ECON
I'd say that -5 RESEARCH is by far the worst of those penalties.  25 turns of no research.  Overall they would be really random.  If you can trade for Centauri Ecology or find it you'd do well; otherwise you'll be so far behind that it might be hard to ever catch up.

What about a -5 Planet over a -5 research? Keep in mind Punishment spheres also halve research at bases.

[Yitzi]

Sorry its simply way to OP. No drones and starts with arguably the best wonder in the game.
Whats the point?

It also is horrible at teching, and has no MORALE bonus for an early rush, so if you can get enough of a tech advantage to outweigh its production advantage it can be beaten, and might even be underpowered.

[Nexii]

Well they would have TC off the start, so that is a MORALE boost (or in my set 2 IND / 1 POL), but whatever you set TC to it's a big benefit getting it early.

[ComradeCrimson]

Well they would have TC off the start, so that is a MORALE boost (or in my set 2 IND / 1 POL), but whatever you set TC to it's a big benefit getting it early.

Last I checked they don't actually get it in any of my versions I've posted here.

They got Cloning Vats and Punishment spheres as free project and free building- they don't have the techs for them necessarily.

They also don't have Will to Power to start off with. It's just their preferred ideology.

I'll post my revised stats for both factions as well as expansion to their backstory and other stuff. I might come up with a third faction; though I doubt I'll make too many more as I do got to make graphics for these babies.

[ComradeCrimson]

After much thought, here is the stats for both of my current factions.


The Páthos Bastion

First and only city name:

Komunumo

Leader: Statesman Maccus McKenzie

Background: Famous Actor, Unity Recreation Coordinator, Elected city governor of "Komunumo."

Agenda: Planned

Aversion: Thought Control

Qoute:
"One of the single most important things that matters in a person's development is the surroundings they live in. The neighbourhood, community that people live in can be a real defining impact on a person and their development... and whilst not the sole factor, a community can either inhibit or exhibit the talents and promise of their people. Simply put, we should make a nice place to live."

-Statesman Maccus McKenzie, Let's make a community.

3+ Talent "Cultivation of talent and skill through state programs and communal support, as well as wealthy patrons."

9- Efficiency "Extreme autonomy makes standardization beyond the first city an utter nightmare."

+25% Defensive Bonus "Citizens are empowered to defend their beloved city state."

Free Tech: Industrial Automation


The United Army of Humanity

Leader: Marshal Humphrey Rodderick

Background: Former UN Peacekeeper, former Major under Santiago

Agenda: Thought Control

Aversion: Democracy

Qoute:

"Ever since the tragedy of Earth humanity has at multiple points nearly underwent extinction. Whether its from our own hands from self inflicted Armageddon, or the hostile alien world that is planet, we face a dire situation. Our petty rivalries, pride and ego blinds us to the truth. Death is imminent if we do not unite; we must be unified as a species if we hope to brave the storm of destruction."

-Marshal Humphrey Rodderick, Thoughts on Extinction.

Starts with Cloning Vats- "Citizens are produced to specification for wartime measures."

Free Punishment Sphere for every base- "Citizens are kept obedient through nervous tissue implants from birth."

-5 Planet "At war with Planet."

-3 Research "Lack of free will restrains growth of ideas."

-4 Economy "Eradication of free will makes others reluctant to trade with."

Penalty to Knowledge "The Free flow of information leads to anarchy and self destructon."

1+ Support "Utilitarian focus."

[Yitzi]

I just realized a potential problem with using EFFIC to limit to one base: EFFIC does not affect energy income from specialists.  So -EFFIC is better than nothing...but the faction can be played with more than one base.

Not sure if that can be fixed without .exe modding.