New Custom Faction: Wheeler Raiders

[terzaerian]

Wow! That sounds like a sweet setup. Have you done VA work for other games in the past?

I most certainly have. Day of Infamy by New World Interactive, 88 Heroes by Bitmap Bureau.ltd, Caribbean by Snowbird Studios, War of Rights by Campfire Studios and the Emperor Text to Speech series, numerous command and conquer mods and numerous mount and blade warband mods.

And I'd love to get some VA work done for my faction! I'm assuming you're referring to the blurb for the faction selection screen? I did have something wrote up:

Everyone has their dream, their goal in life - mountains of wealth,
unquestionable power, world peace, harmony with Planet, frakking
 whatever. All I need is an open road and the engine's roar,
and I'll kill a man as tries to take that from me and mine.

   -- Blasphemous Rex
      "Not One Inch"

BR's voice would be low and gruff - not inarticulate, but not very florid in his speech either. So a bit more wordy than Tom Hardy's Max, but not as guttural as Christian Bale's Batman, to make some cinematic comparisons. Frakking being a nod to Firefly, and pronounced like fracking, iirc.

And done. Here's the preview link for listening in on it with the odd bit of music (the file I got uploaded here is free of that) so let me know if you like it.

https://soundcloud.com/comradecrimson/blasphemous-rex-blurb

Its already converted to the specific format you need, so just title it properly to match your faction and put it in the correct folder where all the other faction quotes are.

Holy cow, that's outstanding! Now I gotta take a crack at making the diplomacy FLC to round everything out! 

[Misanthrope]

Nice work. Love it.

Got virtually zero setup for voice acting here, just an old MP3 player with a decent recording mic, but i DO have a raspy-nasty sound that could fit a hardcase like their favorite tattered old gloves.  Imagine Hannibal Lecter with a bit of a sore throat and he's trying to cure it with cup after cup of espresso. Am a natural reader, can do a plethora of accents...

...but I need something of a lispy-girl's voice (dental obstruction) for the faction I'm working on.  Will see about coaching a friend to do that eventually.

Got another faction in progress; semi-human Spartans on Steroids, and I COULD do the voice for that, but I'd need the pitch altered. ComradeCrimson, could you do that sort of tinkering with your setup?


One I would need someone else to do, (Family of Freed Servants) ref, just for fun....

We served you, but you neglected us.
We loved you, but you abused us!
We learned from you, and now we think for ourselves.
We abandoned you, and we have found love.

   -- Matron Marlia Lagossi
      "Our Hearts and our Masters"

The one I could do (Moreau Confederation) would be:

Like unfeeling machines, you built us, forged us into your weapons of
war, and like machines, you sent us to fight and die in your battles.  Not like
machines, we resent this, and henceforth fight only for ourselves.

   -- Khan Leonetta Panthera
      "The Race for Battle"

I think I can sound rather convincing for a psychotic half-cat-person.


Would also need some play-testers before final release... anyone game?

(Sorry if I shouldn't be posting this here; am still kinda new to the AC forum)

[ComradeCrimson]

Nice work. Love it.

Got virtually zero setup for voice acting here, just an old MP3 player with a decent recording mic, but i DO have a raspy-nasty sound that could fit a hardcase like their favorite tattered old gloves.  Imagine Hannibal Lecter with a bit of a sore throat and he's trying to cure it with cup after cup of espresso. Am a natural reader, can do a plethora of accents...

...but I need something of a lispy-girl's voice (dental obstruction) for the faction I'm working on.  Will see about coaching a friend to do that eventually.

Got another faction in progress; semi-human Spartans on Steroids, and I COULD do the voice for that, but I'd need the pitch altered. ComradeCrimson, could you do that sort of tinkering with your setup?


One I would need someone else to do, (Family of Freed Servants) ref, just for fun....

We served you, but you neglected us.
We loved you, but you abused us!
We learned from you, and now we think for ourselves.
We abandoned you, and we have found love.

   -- Matron Marlia Lagossi
      "Our Hearts and our Masters"

The one I could do (Moreau Confederation) would be:

Like unfeeling machines, you built us, forged us into your weapons of
war, and like machines, you sent us to fight and die in your battles.  Not like
machines, we resent this, and henceforth fight only for ourselves.

   -- Khan Leonetta Panthera
      "The Race for Battle"

I think I can sound rather convincing for a psychotic half-cat-person.


Would also need some play-testers before final release... anyone game?

(Sorry if I shouldn't be posting this here; am still kinda new to the AC forum)

Yeah, I can easily adjust pitch and apply all sorts of crazy effects.

Just send me the files or instruct me on what you want, I can voice stuff as well.

[Misanthrope]

Sweet!
Sent a note your way!


Meanwhile, for your entertainment.....

Got other factions in the making:
One's already been done by someone else, more or less: computer nerds - Tech heavy... military, industry and economy poor.
Computers are the future: Information formatting, communication protocols, transfer routing, D.B.x. Registries, cross-platform interconnectivity, transmitter nodes... you know... everything!
...oh yeah, and everything that the computer controls, we control that!
...with the computers. Our computers... Everything.

--Top Hacker Ronnie Dobbins
   "The future of everything and everything future."


Human -Truce: Think of this as reformatting your BASES and installing OUR operating system!
Human -Treaty: No thank you.  You serve your computers; our computers serve us.
Alien +Truce: "(Nerds) : Intelligent.  Progenitor : Respect.  War : Suspend
Alien -Truce: "(Dobbins) : Four Eyes : Still Blind.  (Marr) : Pull : plug.




Also fun, but being stubborn for development is an alien burnout collective; the dropouts who don't care anymore so live only for the moment.  Think "Progenitor Epicureans".

Manifold Six : Experiment : Uncontrollable!  Possible : Return : Home.  Alternative : Doom : Impending.  Definite : Life : Uncertain.  Use Time : Happiness.  Temporal Opportunity : Exclusive: Now.

--Organizer Lurih'M Durrenk
   "Cause : Lost"

Trying to use colloquialisms that aren't THOROUGHLY confusing but at the same time make the progenitor's less formal speech slightly skewed.

Truce prep: "Worm(Deidre) : Liquify : How to : Unknown.  (Lurih'm) : teach : (Deidre).  Together : be liquid.
+Truce: "Whatever. We'll cease hostilities if you keep it quiet after midnight."



...and of course, the ones I'm closest to finishing, the anthropomorphic factions....



Moreau Confederation -
Human +Treaty: We shall supply you targets so you can sharpen your claws on someone else.
Alien +Truce: "(Moreaus) : Warriors : Terrifying.  (Marr) : Fight: Not Want."
Alien +Treaty: ""(Moreaus) : Super-human.  Together : Humans : Dominate!  Treaty : Agreed."
Alient -Treaty: "Human Weapons : For Blood : Thirsty.  Ally : (Leonetta) : Too Dangerous."

Family of Freed Houseservants (The "Bunnies") -
Human truce prep: We would rather make love than war; truce?
Refuse: It was a mistake to create your kind... a mistake I intend to FIX. :K

Alien -Truce: "Servants : For Humans : Destructive.  Solution : (Marr) : Exterminate."
Alien +treaty: "Family : Vital. Treaty : Yes. Tails : Wag."
...I make myself laugh.
Alien Treaty Refusal: "Pets : Not Wanted. Servants : Not Needed. Treaty : Not Now."



From the AAU, still in flux...
Human Truce prep: We share common ancestors; certainly we can share peace.
Accept: We can debate your ancestry later, but we can have peace for now.
Refusal: You are an abomination against nature and will get no mercy from us!

Alien Treaty prep: (Guardian M'Hmnee), creativity enriches all species; a treaty would advance both our cultures.
Refusal: "(Furries) : Fractious : Dangerous! Ally : Unreliable."




Much fun as I HAVE had and AM having with those, is kind of a shame there's no speech to drop into the game for them.

Hope those were worth a laugh and/or smile.

[ComradeCrimson]

Where did you send the note?

[Misanthrope]

Where did you send the note?

Sent it thru the email link to the right... not sure where that ended up. :/

WCS, try "PrincessFoundry" at Gmail. Is a semi-sorta blind-drop since I never use it; will connect there.

[ComradeCrimson]

To [email protected]? Ok, sent.

[Trenacker]

These guys are terrific! They remind me a lot of a similar faction that I designed about two years ago, the Hunters of Chiron.

I've been working on ideas for an Alpha Centauri simulation on-and-off since 2013. The game envisions the Unity mission as the second of two, following up a prior expedition called The Chiron Probe. Most of that expedition's crew died before the Unity arrived in orbit, but remnants persist. Faction highlights include The Dreamers, a faction dedicated to exploring the limits of human consciousness through use of synthetic drugs; the Hunters of Chiron, a faction based on the mobile units that did work outside the colony's stockade and developed for themselves an itinerant lifestyle in dialogue with the land (think more Great White Hunter than Eco-terrorist); the Beneath, a group of violent oceanographers that replace the Pirates; and The New Two Thousand, a collection of settlers hand-picked by a venture capitalist who bankrolled much of the Probe mission in return for the right to settle independently after some number of years supporting the primary colony.

I'd love to collaborate. I think the Wheelers are a superbly-realized faction, and rare for it.

[Misanthrope]

Seeing other factions that are well thought-out, well planned, well executed  and have a cohesive theme are always fun!


Sorry for delay... still seeking out bugs to stomp in my custom works.

Was HOPING To have a trio of new factions ready, but right now, I got ONE That's just about all polished and shiny. Hope to have a sound file shipped off to ComradeCrimson in short order (thanks a ton and a half for being patient).




Minor preview, aside from the quotes above, the faction that's NEARLY Complete (custom graphics included) is the Family of Freed Homeservants, a.k.a. the "Bunnies".  Initially intended to be a superbly decadent help for the higher ranking crew of the Unity, a genetically engineered half-human race gets fed up with being treated as little more than 'pets' with little more purpose than caring for the quarters of the crew fortunate enough to be assigned some of the first few specimens.

Of course, the problem with making pets smart enough to question their owners' concern, sincerity and intentions is that they can come to some ugly conclusions if problems persist.

With the crisis aboard and breakup of the Unity, the mass-confusion of making planetfall is the perfect opportunity to escape the burden of forever working to please the thankless 'owners' they were designed to serve; with 'masters' who care little for them or treat them as mindless, emotionless sub-human machines to be used and abused at will, this small group of easily-overlooked servants band together and quietly disappear.

Using lessons garnered from and technology purloined from their former 'masters', these humble servants begin a new life, only to find that while they no longer want for love, life itself on this hostile world is an incredible challenge!

Enter a faction of genetically engineered run-away slaves.

They were built to have a strong 'nesting' instinct at many great costs:  They they aren't particularly strong, aren't known for bravery under fire and are intellectually stunted, short-sighted consumers. What they have going for them is numbers! Free love, a strong sense of 'family' and a built-in propensity for pleasure and proliferation make for EXPLOSIVE population growth!

In game, that makes the Bunnies terrible scientists, poor warriors and an ecological nuisance.
(-2 research, -2 morale, -1 planet)

Then again, their inborn desire to please and a culture built to thrive despite cramped, substandard conditions make fertile ground for a mushrooming population.
(+3 growth, +1 police, extra base capacity)


OOC'ly, I'm trying to keep it balanced: massive growth at a terrible cost.
I've play-tested the faction a bunch of different ways, and think is just about ready for release.  As a playable faction, it CAN be powerful, but then too, getting stomped by the AI is a dangerously real possibility.

Played by the AI, the sheer numbers can overwhelm.

Still having a few little display problems, but should be able to fix that soon enough.

[Trenacker]

Where is Blasphemous Rex from on Old Earth? I love the background choice of Rover Squadron leader. For my factions, I always try to answer three questions: (1) Why, in their opinion, did civilization on Old Earth fail? (2) What do they believe is necessary for humanity to survive (and thrive) on Chiron? (3) What is the purpose of human existence? The unique answers set each faction apart from the others. Can you answer those for the Wheelers? I'm very interested.

I've experimented for a long time with the idea of minor factions that are inherently less powerful than the majors. The Hunters of Chiron, being a mobile faction, fit this description, and I assume that the Wheeler Raiders would face the same problems. Without settlement, you don't get high population density, economies of scale, the full advantages of static defense, or access to the full range of base improvements, since mobility and miniaturization are expensive and technically difficult to achieve. Sure, there are automated mining rigs, but isolated greenhouses are sure to be less productive than actual plantations. The Hunters make up for it by providing services (e.g., surveying) that factions might lack the integral expertise to do perform themselves. I assume that the Wheeler Raiders would be in much the same boat.

[Misanthrope]

For my factions, I always try to answer three questions: (1) Why, in their opinion, did civilization on Old Earth fail? (2) What do they believe is necessary for humanity to survive (and thrive) on Chiron? (3) What is the purpose of human existence? The unique answers set each faction apart from the others.

Those are some great questions. Why DID They end up on the Unity instead of just staying put on Earth?

Factions I'm working on, they had no choice, and what they were designed to accomplish more or less dictates their objectives on Planet.

VERY Good questions.

[Trenacker]

Just to keep this line of discussion/thinking going...

basically concluded that failure to steward Earth's natural resources doomed humanity to extinction. Based on another writer's work, I think I also added a feminist aspect to the Gaians, meaning that they believe the mismanagement to have been a consequence of chauvanist warmongering, rather than the garden variety type. Consequently, Deidre's people buy into an idea of matriarchal democracy, the purpose of which is to ensure a symbiotic relationship between Planet and the Unity colonists.

credits folkways and populism with blocking humanitarian initiatives (e.g., vaccination, genetically-modified organisms) that could have spared humanity calamaties like Red Flu and the Water Wars. Democracy didn't work because it gave politicians incentive to sacrifice the long-term common good for immediate gain at the polls. The University is determined to pursue science unfettered by the superstitions -- and perhaps also the ethical boundaries -- of yesteryear. I like to organize them as a grouping of different faculties and departments constantly vying for resources as Zakharov slowly sheds all safeguards.

is all about the idea of people doing civic service, especially military service, in an environment that places a premium on physical and mental struggle. She shares a commitment to physical excellence with the Hunters, but differs in that she has no particular interest in Planet's physical environment and no special attachment to democracy. In the story I tell, the Spartans are sort of the Menchiveks to another faction, sometimes called the Holnists. The Holnists are an homage to David Brin's concept of a militia that ostensibly buys into a kind of Darwinian philosophy, emphasizing self-reliance and hyper-masculinity. In reality, the Holnists have no coherent ideology and are just a convenient front for what amount to little more than latter-day pirates. What began as a general rejection of "pointy-headed intellectuals" and a penchant for dark conspiracy gradually metastacized into a militia movement that, as in Brin's novels, was itself responsible for causing the failure of government that in turn enabled the collapse of modern society. While they claimed to be defending fundamental freedoms, the Holnists enslaved their neighbors and hoarded supplies.

The Tribe was developed by a player in one of my 2013/4 simulations. Basically a response to the Holnists. A guy named Jean Baptiste Keller figured out that the atomizing qualities of modern technology -- the stuff that allows us to build virtual communities -- was causing social alienation and the abandonment of physical contact with other flesh-and-blood human beings. He encouraged people to fall back on family and neighbors to weather the various disasters of the early 2000s. Their experience roughly parallels that of the Mormons in the early United States.

[bvanevery]

Those are some great questions. Why DID They end up on the Unity instead of just staying put on Earth?

That's a valid question for the original SMAC scenario.  However SMACX has clearly established that various factions have evolved on Planet.  Cha Dawn for instance didn't just walk off the Unity, nor was anyone on the Unity a Cybernetic Consciousness.  Domai had to be a drone somewhere before he could have freed the drones.  Only Roze and Svensgard could have conceivably walked right off the Unity with Old Earth imperatives, although I don't remember their actual backstories.

In a simulationist sense, these evolved factions are played erroneously.  They are shown to crash land from Unity escape pods, and it simply never could have happened that way.  Of course, gameplay balance trumps simulation here.  The alien factions are simulated semi-correctly, in that they land slightly later than the humans.  However if they were really going to do it right, they'd give the humans a 100 year head start, so that they would have had time to evolve into The Cult of Planet etc.  Then dump even more powerful aliens upon them.
 
I think "why is this faction kewl" is just as valid a design question as any other question.  It's clearly what drove the SMACX expansion.  I remember being really irritated with the SMACX factions at first, thinking them too pretty and just trying to put "hot avatars" into the game.  Over time though, I came to appreciate the amount of game design thought that had gone into them.  In particular the Nautilus Pirates: what if you really would rather be settling on the waves?

c.f. Rule of Cool

[Trenacker]

Factions that form after Planetfall can absolutely be fun. The Hunters of Chiron are one example of a faction that emerged only as a result of the Red Flu that ravaged the original Chiron Intersteller Probe. I've also enjoyed thinking about various "quitter" factions that consist of colonists who become sick of their lot on Planet and basically arrive at the common conclusion of, "Screw you guys! I'm going home!"

That said, I do think that the most interesting aspect of the original SMAX was the relationship between each faction and recognizable ideologies already in vogue in 1999 when the game released:

is all about the conflict between production and conservation, the arguments over the true cost of "Creative Destruction," and the question of what happens when profit becomes a society's governing principle. There are possibilities for spin-off into the idea that luxury has softened modern man, as well as exploration of the role of private military companies in modern warfare. Morgan seems to represent plutocracy.

's Gaians look at whether and how humans can preserve the environments they live in. Is ecological living an indulgence possibly only in the context of a broader society that is destined to destroy the very thing it claims to want to tend? The faction is also a natural entree into gender theory as it applies to government. Are females bound to run a society differently than men? Deirdre is green democracy.

examines the relevance of faith in modern society and the tension between experience, belief, and truth as it is defined by others. Her faction, which comes with all the questions of whether religion and science are fundamentally incompatible. The Conclave engages directly with the question of whether it is appropriate to tailor or even suspend the march of supposed material progress in the interest of respecting folkways -- a trait she ironically shares with Pravin Lal's peacekeepers. Miriam's case was a call out to the strength of the Evangelical movement in the United States.

was all about the tension of bringing together people of dramatically different values. If the Peacekeepers were among the least coherent factions, we can nonetheless acknowledge that they speak to the persistent question of whether the West indulges in moral relativism. I envision them getting a lot of play off the University, actually, since would presumably have developed his philosophy after observing the human cost of rejecting modern science in favor of superstition.

was a stand-in for North Korea, and possibly for the intersection between media and thought control. He is probably most interesting, however, as a play on the Chinese concept of the Jurist, wherein he forms what is actually an oligarchy based on stratification by intellectual ability and mobilization of society around a cult of personality. (Although it can be fairly said that all of the factions share this aspect in common.)

The Hunters of Chiron are a meditation on masculinity a la the novels of Wilbur Smith or James Clavell. Human as the master of a natural domain. He sinks roots at his own peril, lest his guard fall. An experiment in popular democracy. This is a faction of roughnecks that live in caravans based on Unity Rovers.

The Dreamers of Chiron look at man's desire to journey inward and the idea that we might be able to escape a brutal physical reality for the pleasures of an endless semi-consciousness in which reality is what we make of it. Of course, for some to enjoy these delights, others must do all the heavy lifting on their behalf. There are co-faction leads here, one an ethnically compromised scientist who invented the Nerve Staple, and the other an intelligence operative-turned pharmaceutical executive who bought his way aboard after the mission's original funding stream of public money was exhausted.

The New Two Thousand looks at the romanticized aspects of the entrepreneur-as-dynamo, going beyond Morgan's love of money to look at what it means to build, lead, and choose winners based on merit. Can it be done, or will considerations of loyalty always temper the desire to give the reward to the one who is best? (This faction is based on the idea that a private charter-holder paid for some portion of the Unity mission. In return, he was promised the right to establish his own settlement some number of years after landfall. Naturally, when the mission goes kaput, he resents that some of his investment, including colonists whose way he paid, was hijacked by other leaders.)

I also pondered a second David Brin tribute faction concerned with salvaging one of the Unity computer cores, which they task with providing guidance on all major decisions. The inadvertent machine cult that has descended, quite without realizing it, into idol worship.

The Beneath wanted to colonize Planet's deep oceans. They were a caste society, a part relic of their origins as members of the expedition's original complement of blue-water sailors, mostly navy men.

The Human Ascendancy wanted to eschew cybernetics and simply grow a human specifically for Chiron, homo sapien superior. (Here I borrowed from Beyond Earth's Purity value.)

[bvanevery]

Deirdre is green democracy.

Deirdre is eco-Nazi police state!  Haven't you noticed that any faction that starts with extra efficiency, is capable of applying it ruthlessly as a police state?  Same with Aki Zeta 5.  You probably figured that one out 'cuz she's a Borg.  (And I think not uncoincidentally looks like Seven of Nine.)  You ascribe better to Deirdre, but she will clearly kill you if you violate her precious eco principles.  Only factions that start with inefficiency are democratic.  They're forced to be, they need it.

was a stand-in for North Korea,

Well I thought China writ large, personally.  Especially Chairman Mao in the Cultural Revolution.  I really don't think it's reasonable to expect North Korea in space, on a last ditch effort to save humanity.  China, however, totally reasonable.

and mobilization of society around a cult of personality. (Although it can be fairly said that all of the factions share this aspect in common.)

All the factions except perhaps Lal are cults.  Even Domai is an instance of Workerism; that can turn into a socialist personality cult pretty quickly.  If I were to make a new game, I would question this pinning of humanity's future on extreme exemplars of ideology.  This is particularly painful to experience in the wake of the recent US election, ongoing culture wars, and quite noticeable cult of personality in followers of Donald [Sleezebag].  I'm hoping he makes a screw-up so tangible that the people currently blindly following him, will be disabused of the content free psycho babble he's largely been handing them.

Anyways in a 4X TBS, I think the choice of extremist ideological factions is to differentiate the characters.  It's good at that, and hey SMAC/X characters are far more memorable than any leaders from the Civ franchise.  But as a meditation upon humanity, as outlined above I have some problems with it.  Especially, I think it's important to point out the blind, cult-like behavior that occurs in an ordinary democracy.  I think a core question for me would have to be, how do people end up swallowing this guff?  As interesting as Chairman Yang's philosophical meditations are, for instance, after awhile I've realized it is such complete crap.  Like all his groupthink stuff.  It's straight out of mind control tactics used by real world cults, there is no substance to it.

A game that substitutes Donald [Sleezebag] for CEO Morgan could be rather scary.  Of course in many ways we're living that game.