The Strategist community faction project

[Buster's Uncle]

It's all good.

[Buster's Uncle]

I will say this: come up with a base that suggests chess in a subtle way, not an obvious one, and not too subtle, and I'll say yes.  It's that simple.  vyeh and I wanted crenelated towers from the beginning - I'm kinda thoroughly married to SOMEthing along those lines, and rather in love with my wife.  Sorry to be so difficult, but I'm very invested in this one.  It's not just any faction graphic to me.


I thought it would be of interest to post samples of the other two times I used the same fellow as a faction leader, at Darsnan and Maniac's requests.  Let's see what I can find on my hard drive in a quick search...

Yes.  As you see, I did make some modest efforts to make them not-identical, though there were limits to what could be done without changing him into someone other than who my collaborators wanted.  I honestly think these are a bit crap, but Darsan and Maniac were very happy.

[Kilkakon]

I like the Templar one!

[Buster's Uncle]

Darsnan wanted those black eyes, but I wish I'd gone with a different background color for the Emapthi.  Looks sloppy.

[Kilkakon]

I must say, nice work on us on managing to recreate the last two posts almost exactly. XD

[Buster's Uncle]

[shrugs]  We are great - and still think the same thing as yesterday.

[Yitzi]

Constant maneuvering and gamesmanship, hm?  I'm not much for the art/naming/quotes, but here's a rough draft for faction characteristics, with an aim toward both balance and theme:
-Favored ideology is free market.  Free Markets are all about competition.
-Disliked ideology is planned, for similar reasons.
-Starting tech is Doctrine:Mobility.
-Free command center in every base (plethora of strategists and tacticians)
-Social benefits/penalties:
   -1 efficiency (heavy competition and maneuvering comes at the cost of the whole)
   +2 probe (hacking is a form of gamesmanship)
   -Impunity to democracy and wealth (culture of competition means they never "go soft".)

The result will probably be someone on the militaristic side, but with heavy probe use, sort of a cross of the Spartans and Data Angels.

[Buster's Uncle]

We certainly don't want something as obvious as a second Spartans, but Strat's a big Sun Tzu guy, and definitely believes in intelligence.  Maximum flexability to choose any winning strategy successfully is the way to go.  These ideas have some promise. 

Kil?

[Kilkakon]

Did you see my suggested stats on the first page?

[Yitzi]

I saw those (if they're the ones Buncle quoted in the first post), and don't really think it fits that well.  Efficiency I could see going either way (competition can help or harm efficiency), and maybe they should get a morale boost for being good strategists (but I think free command centers make more sense), but I don't see why an economy or support penalty, and a probe penalty makes no sense at all; strategists will be acutely aware of the value of information and misinformation.

What I would really like to give them, but don't think it's possible, is free Antigrav Struts with no prerequisite.  (Naturally this is pretty powerful and would have to be balanced with appropriate disadvantages.)

[Buster's Uncle]

I believe Kil was talking about this post: http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=2378.msg8814#msg8814

[Yitzi]

Ok...I still think a Probe penalty is completely absurd.

[Buster's Uncle]

I tend to agree.

But making it balanced as both a playable faction AND a good AI opponent is tricky.  It's like how I always complain in making badges and smilies - 20x20 pixels isn't much to work with.  We've only got 8 faction stats to work with.  And the faction must have negatives to be balanced, or it will be no fun. 

I hope you'll keep chipping in; I'm only really interested in the storytelling/personality elements, and Kil needs/wants input.  That goes for everyone.

[Kilkakon]

Yeah I am happy to see the probe penalty go. It was a legacy from the old faction set.

[pentalarc]

Okay, just taking a quick glance now, and I thought I would make some comments.  I think that part of what would make a strategists' faction different and effective would be flexibility, the ability to adapt quickly to changing situations and to use the correct approach to each situation.

As such, what about things that reflect this, and allow the player to use a flexible strategy with the faction?

How about decreased hurry costs for one thing?  They would be used to and adept at switching to more effective strategies. 

I agree that the probe penalty may not be a way to go.   

One thing is that many factions have a political bent.  (not a bad thing in and of itself)  However, I think that this one wouldn't   I think they would adapt political strategies and plans in the same manner.  Thus, I think that they should not be able to use fundamentalism, as it is probably one of the least flexible settings, and I think that flexibilty is the key.

So how about:

+1 Efficiency (Flexibility and adaptable doctrine)
+1 Research (Flexible research and willingness to try new things)
-1 Economy (Less interested in luxuries)
-1 Growth (elite and relatively closed society)
75% hurry costs
Cannot use Fundamentalism

Sorry, I could have been clearer on explaining things, but quite tired, busy day at the new job.

Pentalarc