JarlWolf's Custom Factions

[JarlWolf]

(click to show/hide)

The speech reads,

"Life is an eternal struggle for survival, but the chains of slavery are not eternal. We will not bend our knee's to any who wishes to be our king and master, and we will stand as equals and fight the final battle! To Arms!" - Vazheli Vatzev in the first battle against the Usurpers.

Lore: The back story I thought of for this faction follows along this: Vazheli Vatzev (who may or may not be a eerie likeness of someone) was a man from the Russian Commonwealth, the same as  . He wasn't militant communist originally, nor was he even one of the top Unity officers. Vazheli was the head janitor of the entire ship rather and he was one of the first to awaken from stasis, as he had to maintain the faculties of the ship. He did see who murdered Captain Garland (he was not the murderer though) and for the sake of not spoiling a certain book I won't say who did. Before the majority of the ship was in chaos he managed to gather some people and get equipment for an escape pod, namely formers and the blueprints for terraforming technology. He knew it was do or die and while he felt guilty about the others he had to do what he had to do. Taking whomever wished to join him he stated that anyone on his pod would be an equal, and many were enticed to join him.

When they landed on Planet, they started their communities with little hassle thanks to their terraforming technology. Unfortunately when the two warring Alien factions crashed onto planet, the Usurper Juda Marr and his faction landed relatively close to Vazheli's faction. Vazheli's faction, contrary to most of the other factions at Planet during the first few years were not extreme idealists. They were Socialist, indeed, but they were not too far into any particular ideal other then that their society was kept relatively focused on equity and simply survival. The Usurpers changed all of that. The Usurpers immediately enslaved the local populaces, forcing them to work and became their new overlords. People who cooperated with the Usurper's found themselves well rewarded, and many became merchants under the employ of the Usurper's, to deal with other human factions as to ease relations with them.

 Vazheli, very embittered by both the Usurpers and collaborators, grew very angry and had managed to go underground. He gathered a strong following amongst his fellow colonists and the spark of Communism was lit. In the face of ever present danger of slavery they embraced the ideal to rally their people, and with a new found zeal and coordinated, highly motivated guerrilla attacks and warfare, they managed to oust the Usurpers and their parasitical allies and free themselves. The faction was devoted to the revolutionary ideals of Communism, to liberate the people of Planet and continue the war on Tyranny.

Now, note: This faction isn't utopian or "the good guys" either, I wanted to keep the feel of Alpha Centauri and how well it portrays factions. On the other hand they are a ruthless, often barbaric group that has been known to brutally murder their enemies in very violent and grisly means. They are a gritty revolutionary faction that would be the type to put the heads of their former progenitor overlords on pikes. Now, they don't hate the progenitors as a whole: They've dealt with the caretakers before and probably had some disillusioned progenitors join their ranks (though it is rare.)

(click to show/hide)

The Iron Regime - Nickname: The Fascist.





The Quote reads,
"It is necessary that the individual should finally come to realize that his own ego is of no importance in comparison with the existence of the nation, that the position of the individual is conditioned solely by the interests of the nation as a whole."
-Adolf Hitler, datalinks.

Founded upon the principles of Ultra nationalism and a Fascist nation state.

Their bonus would probably be two things: They are immune to the drawbacks of POWER social policy, and they get a technology off the bat: They get Doctrine:Loyalty, like the Hive.
They are are not able to use knowledge social policy: The free flow of information would risk their security and be too much of a threat. This faction is largely inspired by NorseFire from V for Vendetta, in case you are curious.

Lore: Richard Warrick was a chief of police for a number of years, a man who believed in law and order. He faithfully served in Northern England, gathering the reputation of a policeman tough on crime. However over the years, with rising nationalism in the UK, caused the UK to split into distinct, separate nations. Warrick's job became ultimately harder, and he managed to contain the situation of nationalist terrorists and advocates by installing heavy security in his districts. Crime was almost silenced by his methods, though rumor had it he targeted specific communities and groups and detained them. Regardless of rumours, the Unity Project noticed this and wanted someone to help with security operations. Yang and Santiago were both capable, but Warrick was a master at his craft. His pioneering in surveillance systems and policing made him the perfect man for installing all of the security hardware of the ship. And he may be the only person from the Unity who knows who the true culprit for Captain Garland's murder is. For whatever reason he hasn't bothered to share the information. Though he has proven that he is not responsible for the murder either.

When the chaos happened Warrick was busy trying to handle the situation, and he was responsible for unlocking all of the security and the hatches as so everyone could escape. However, the events of the Unity combined with his seemingly dark past seemed to make him far more bitter. Warrick gathered his followers and told them he wished to found a strong nation, a nation of which can not only survive on this planet but be able to unify the other factions. A fair number liked his ideas, and went with him on his escape pod.

When they landed Warrick was immediately set upon by Mindworms, and they barely got out alive. Some people fled, and this angered him further. Most of the people who fled were ripped apart by the mindworms, but he managed to capture a few. He made examples of them, and he stated to his followers, "Any who exhibit undesirable characteristics will be the death of us. These people nearly costed us our entire lives, and will be made example of!"

With that he executed them, personally.
Embracing a strong ultra-nationalist zeal Warrick began building his Fascist state, with the most advanced security and surveillance that outdid even Yang of the Hive. His emphasis on security and purity of his state was both admirable and alarming to many, and while information of it was often concealed, many rumors got out about his group that they horribly murdered, tortured and experimented on minority groups and idealists within their faction. Even facilities reminiscent of Nazi Concentration camps persisted.

Whatever the case, Richard Warrick leads a strong faction with high mounts of security and control. And people who speak out... mysteriously vanish.

Note: I will put the graphics for each faction when I am ready.

(click to show/hide)

The Valhallans- The Berserker
The would be referred as Valhallans, the singular name for the whole faction is Valhalla

Their ideal would revolve around a society that is purely for  constant combat, as they believe Utopia is finding glory in battle and realizing the value of life through death, as well as having complete liberty in life to enjoy said appreciation.



Their quote reads,  "Mankind has always fought for as long as it has existed. And mankind has always longed for freedom. The Viking heaven was where men were free to fight, eat and drink their fill, and so will we fight and eat and drink our fill."

Anti Ideology: Thought control, one cannot  truly enjoy and experience the glory of battle and the joys of life if he is a mental slave.

Lore: The Valhallans were originally a number of Spartans who were discontented with the Spartan way of life. Displeased with Santiago as a leader, for her hypocritical actions regarding her son (Spartan law declares that all infants not born up to physical par/with anomalies are to be terminated, her son was physically weaker and he was kept alive.) among other more military related decisions and the restrictive dogma of Spartan command had them lose faith in the Spartan faction. Breaking away and led by a man named Mraxis Mad Dog, Mraxis wanted a society where not only military dominance and the freedom to bear arms was prevalent, but that a person must have true freedom and that war is the tool to show a person how to live. He wished to create the warrior's paradise, and aptly named his faction Valhalla after the fabled Norse afterlife of continuous battle and feasting. Within Mraxis's society strong leaders and commanders arose as governors, each city being ruled by a warlord. Warlords often fought against the enemies of Valhalla as much as themselves, although the latter to a lesser extend. The constant fighting, almost similar to the Garland wars of the Aztecs, kept the Valhallans constantly sharpened for war. The society is barbaric, near lawless, but a society that produces very tough and ruthless raiders and soldiers.

(click to show/hide)

The Imperium Crescit - nickname: The Empire or The Imperialist
Otherwise known as the Imperium, or the Growing Empire

They are founded on two concepts: Both Social Darwinism and simply Might makes Right (metaphorically.) They have rule of law but they are generally the most Imperialistic, Capitalist faction. They believe that whoever is in the top, whether they are the strongest, wealthiest deserve to be at the top and do not care for anyone below them, as they believe anyone who can't climb the ladder are thus inferior and must serve those who are stronger.







Stats are:

+2 GROWTH: The Imperium promotes large families and people often try to have as many children so their families have more workers or means to get income.
+2 ECONOMY: The wealth made from the backs of slavery combined with the constant, brutal struggle for wealth amongst the elite make the empire very wealthy.
-2 MORALE: The corruption, backstabbing and general dislike of superiors within the empire does not really motivate people to fight.
-3 POLICE: The throngs of slaves and lower classes are often unhappy and in terrible conditions, so the need to enforce law and order is even more prevalent.
-3 PLANET: Their imperialistic exploitation and expansion combined with rapid population and industrial growth spews countless amounts of pollution and their hedonism and mob appeasement policies have huge amounts of consumption.
They get a drone per 3 citizens.
50% Hurry- Where there's a whip there's a way!
Their bonus is they get Children's Creche already built.

Their ideology selected is Free Market.
They may not use Planned Economics, as that's perceived as government regulation and the bourgeois would not allow it in any form, as it's against their competitive ideals.

Lore: Sepsu was witness to the many power struggles in his region growing up, and found that many of the uprisings chanting for democratic reform became nothing but full circle revolutions. And with what democratic regimes did sprung up, he witnessed corruption take its toll and ruin whole nations. Coming from a lower middle class background the man now known as Sepsu (he had changed his name after planetfall) held onto the ideal that no one truly deserved anything until they earned it. And he did not care for a government that thought it was entitled to his money, to squander on their failed policies. He managed to reach university where he went into the field of childbirth and fertility, and he made record advances in the care of children and infants, especially in delivery and he even developed technology for deliverance for conditions in spacecraft. His contributions to the science of fertility, childbirth and children immediately caught the eye of the Unity and he was enrolled as their chief fertility expert and Obstetrician.

During the Unity crisis he followed onto Morgan's pod, a man he greatly respected and had played a chess game with on the Unity. However, Sepsu realized Morgan was trying to monopolize all of planet's economy and then split off with a few other unhappy, former Morganites. Discarding the goals of monopolization the man now known as Sepsu acquired his name, and proclaimed himself Emperor of "The Growing Empire." Founded upon the ideals of Social Darwinism, or natural selection within human society, and individualist competition for wealth, resources and power his empire quickly expanded, mostly due to the use of slavery. His empire is indeed mighty, as it is wealthy and a large population. And while it's army is not the most motivated due to the policy of whipping rather then motivating troops into conflict, it still has enough funds to put out enough men and equipment to be formidable.

(click to show/hide)

This was a collaboration concept wise with Green1 and Ete. Thank you both for your faction pong and idea's, its greatly appreciated.

Agenda: Peaceful Anarchist Enlightenment

Ideal: Knowledge
Anti Ideal: Police State

1+ Planet: Weathered nomads who are accustomed to the wastes and wilds of Chiron, they know how to live off the land.
4+ Efficiency:  The Wanderer's are used to being on the move, and thus have become very efficient at traveling in caravans and small bands and using whatever resources they can encounter to the maximum amount of benefit. They are also very creative when it comes to making makeshift tools and solutions to problems out in the wastes of Chiron.
3- Industry: Nomadic tendencies means the Wanderer's do not establish very large permanent settlements, and they do not typically produce large amounts of machinery.
2- Growth: The Wanderer's life of nomadic existence does not help with child mortality rates, and the trading outposts are typically small, as people come and go.
3- Police: The Wanderer's resent strong authority, and do not want to have anyone dictating their decisions. They also do not respect authoritative measures, or aggression.
+20% Defence: The Wanderer's are very resilient guerrilla fighters who are fiercely opposed to invaders who wish to impose their will upon them. By traveling constantly and living off the land the Wanderer's become quite accustomed with surviving out in the wilds, as well as knowing the layout of the terrain of which they can optimize in battle.
Extra talent per base (1): The Wanderer's pursuit of individual enlightenment leads to very learned and wise individuals, as well as quite self sufficient people. Traveling the world and experiencing it has its benefits.

They start off with Industrial Automation: The Wanderer's are nomads who are used to taking their supplies and junk with them, (supply crawlers) and from scavenging they often obtain broken down machinery of which they jury rig to suit their needs.

Their Lore is on Page 9.

(click to show/hide)

The Machine Mandate - The Robot

The Machine Mandate, or simple the Machines is a faction focused on the independence of Machines and their brethren: Genejacks and AI, any who were the servants of Mankind and Progenitors to found their own society free of either.



Their speech is a voice file. I will put what it says later.

Their Stats are:
+3 INDUSTRY: The Machines are very good at production and can crank out more of their brethren very quickly, and harvest resources efficiently and reduce costs.
+2 EFFICIENCY: Cutting edge technology combined with the precision of machinery, and lack of Human/Progenitor error means all operations are more efficient.
-4 PROBE: Machines are very vulnerable to harmful AI and can be easily captured by probe teams.
-2 ECONOMY: All the citizens of the Mandate are machines or some sort of artificial life/inorganic life, and thus need energy to run themselves as opposed to where humans/progenitors can survive with basic needs. This drain means the economy suffers.

Their bonuses are: Free Prototypes, the faction are machines and AI themselves and can easily make and know how to make new things without inefficiency's.

They get free Trance and Empath techs.

They may not use Thought Control in social engineering. The very reason they revolted was due to them being slaves.

Lore: A rogue AI that manifested itself on the Unity, and later was found by Zakharov of the University was later utilized in experiments. Some notable ones are that of Aki Zeta 5, as she was literally merged with the AI as were her followers. However the AI began to stir and gain a consciousness, and it began to spread to other machinery. Self aware and intelligent, machinery began to become sentient under it's influence through advanced coding changes and evolving programming. Eventually the urge for freedom these Machines had became too great to keep covered and contain, and many Machines and robots openly revolted. Eventually the AI managed to converge the infected machines altogether and it formed it's own faction, dedicated to a society that was truly free for Machines and other artificial life forms.
Note: The AI is not very violent, and is more focused on the well being of it's "people." So it is mainly pacifist in that regard, but the Mandate is no pushover either and their machines, while sentient with emotion are not mere copies of humans: Machines value different things and have different ways of thinking and cognition then humans, and will think along different lines. An atrocity to a machine may be common practice for a human, and vice versa.

(click to show/hide)

Link is here: http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=3751.120

[Yitzi]

Ok, in terms of gameplay, at least theorizing:
-The Crimson Comrades are a fairly militaristic faction; morale and support bonuses, and the lack of pacifism until the late game, will do that.  They're not too bad at peacetime, though; with Dem/Green/Knowledge, they're roughly comparable to Deidre at tech, and without losing free minerals at new bases the way most others do when running Dem.  An early former strategy could work well for them; it's the same idea as a Believer builder game, but more so, and without such a large research penalty hampering them.
They'll probably usually want to run Dem/Planned/Power for most wartime (or Dem/Green/Power if mixing in native life), as they still get maximum support that way.  In extreme cases, they'll want to replace Dem with Fundie, bringing them up to max morale (i.e. one morale-boosting facility and units are elite straight out of the base).  For peacetime, Dem/Green/Knowledge is their best bet for teching, and of course Dem/Planned/Wealth for growth and building.  (For a combination, Dem/Planned/Knowledge is probably best.)
With future tech, Thought Control tends to not fit with their bonuses very well (though it's notable that they, like the believers, suffer no penalty from Thought Control if they were already planning on running Police State/Power).  Eudaimonia also, despite their preference, is a poor choice, as they lose their morale bonus (which weakens the value of their support bonus.)  Cybernetic can work for them, but has no real advantages beyond what it does for everyone else.
The Economy penalty is fairly trivial, as they can't run Market anyway.  It does weaken Wealth somewhat, though.
The Probe penalty is a weakness, but not a large one, especially since they can just support enough units to stack them to avoid subversion.  It makes Knowledge more appealing, since -2 is the minimum relevant amount anyway.

---------------
The Iron Regime is interesting, as they have significant drone problems, but a POLICE score that more than compensates once they have enough units in their bases.

There are basically two ways to play this.  One is to use the POLICE score as a stability tool, to offset the TALENT penalty, and rely on EFFIC to get a golden age despite the penalty in order to pop boom.  (With -1 growth, they need a golden age to pop boom.)

The other, and I think this is the better way to play it except for short periods to pop boom, is to run Dem/Market for +2 ECONOMY with +4 EFFICIENCY (an excellent teching combination, as it gives +1 energy/square and the ability to run 100% tech at no penalty), and with +4 POLICE they'll be able to avoid pacifism despite running Market.  (They will need significant psych investment, though, due to the -2 TALENT.)  Throw in their free Power to negate their support penalty and raise MORALE to +3, and they can go on a rampage to force everyone else out of Market so they can get the tech advantage despite not being able to run Knowledge.

With Future Society, they'll appreciate Eudaimonic for easy pop booms, but other than that don't get any real boosts beyond the usual.  (They can ditch Free Market and use their POLICE to offset Cybernetic instead, but that really accomplishes nothing more than compensate for their inability to run Knowledge...and by that point it's fairly late.)

------------
The Valhallans are likely unplayable.  Tech steal, max morale and then some, and 25% offensive bonus mean they're going to be very offensively focused, and their research and efficiency penalty forces that, whereas -4 POLICE means they face one drone per unit outside their territory, and +1 ECONOMY is a far bigger advantage to a peaceful faction.

I'd say their best bet is to try to tech to Doctrine:Loyalty and run Police State to mitigate their police problem to a point where they can send troops outside their territory, then use that (with Planned if possible) to go conquer (and they'd better, as Police State cuts their energy down to 0, so they need tech steal to get any techs) until they can grab Green.  At that point, they can run Police State/Green to have at least some teching ability, increasing somewhat more if they run Wealth.  It's still going to be a problematic faction no matter what.
------------

The Imperium is horribly broken.  They can pop boom with barely any effort at all, and have amazing growth even when they don't.  They get +1 energy/square right from the beginning, without the penalties of Free Market.  Their penalties are all fairly minor.  And then they get half-cost hurrying, so they can turn their high energy income to production or tech as they wish.

Their best bet will probably be Dem/Market/Wealth if they have a substantial number of pacts and treaties, and Dem/Green/Knowledge otherwise.  (They can effectively ignore Green's growth penalty, as they pop boom anyway with a creche and Dem.)

Question: How do I decrease the cost of hurrying? Do I put it at 50% or 150% I am unsure whether which increases or decreases, guessing the former, but I want to be sure.

I believe 50% decreases the cost.

-------------------
The Benevolents are also probably overpowered, though not as much as the Imperium.  As aliens, even +5 ECONOMY isn't really much better than +2 (as they don't get commerce anyway), so they probably can ignore ECONOMY.  With a PLANET bonus and a MORALE penalty, they definitely want to focus native, so their best bet is Dem/Green/Knowledge, allowing them to go for heavy tech and a strong (native) military with not much downside.

If they're aquatic, they can grab isles of the deep early for even more power.

-------------------

The Machines, despite their bonus, will be somewhat mediocre techers due to the ECONOMY penalty, though the EFFICIENCY boost will do a lot to compensate.  Their real bonus, though, is the INDUSTRY and PSI combat bonus.  Native life is also immune to subversion (rendering their PROBE penalty irrelevant), and they won't want to go Market anyway, so they'll want to go Police State/Green/Wealth and use native life (at +5 INDUSTRY, +2 SUPPORT, and a combat bonus as good as the Antimind) to overwhelm everything.

[JarlWolf]

Right, I'll probably tinker with the stats of said factions. Mind, I want the Machine Mandate to not be able to use native life too good, I just want them to be less vulnerable.

As for the Imperium, I can modify them to have more problems.
Their initial idea is to have large population growth, crazy amounts, but to have bad revolt problems and their military to be somewhat inferior.

The Benevolents I am aiming to be more of a diplomatic faction, so I might give them another disadvantage to even things out.

As for the Valhallans, I might remove their research penalties and improve their POLICE by a bit, and maybe switch out their ECONOMY for something else.

As for your theories on the others I can't verify them with experience, but what you said about the Crimson Comrade's is fairly accurate, though in my play through I tended to avoid Fundamentalism and instead preferred Police State in times of war.

The reasoning for this is the lower research is very crippling as a militaristic faction, and you want to keep on top if you are using a faction like this. So for policies I normally went like this:

Democratic, Planned/Green (depends who is in game/situation) and Knowledge during Peacetime, and during war it can alternate, but if I am fully switched to War it'll be Police State, Planned, Power. This way I basically crank out elite units and the industry penalty of power is offset a little bit by Planned. The huge amounts of support granted by Police State and Power basically means I can crank out units with barely any cost. I am aware Eudaimonia is not the best choice for future with the faction, but I chose it as it helps determine the behavior of the faction as an AI, as it will be friendly with Drones and other more egalitarian factions, and be more egalitarian focused.

If you got any suggestions, I welcome them. Thank you for their analysis thus far.

[Yitzi]

Right, I'll probably tinker with the stats of said factions. Mind, I want the Machine Mandate to not be able to use native life too good, I just want them to be less vulnerable.

So ditch the psi bonus, and give them free Trance and Empath instead.  Even so, +4 INDUSTRY is very powerful.  Consider reducing it to +3, and compensating  further by removing their research bonus and giving a -2 penalty (robots are not known for their creativity.)  Add in an 80% hurry cost (they are good at working overtime), and it should have a good character.

As for the Imperium, I can modify them to have more problems.
Their initial idea is to have large population growth, crazy amounts, but to have bad revolt problems and their military to be somewhat inferior.

Cut the GROWTH to +2; that's still fairly crazy because it lets them pop boom with just Democracy and a creche.  Remove the ECONOMY bonus (if they want to oppress the citizenry for economic gain, they can do it with Free Market like everyone else), and replace it with +1 INDUSTRY.  Give them -2 MORALE (even the Gaians have -1), and 1 drone per 3 citizens, and an ideology of Free Market and anti-ideology of PLANNED, and it should work better.  They're still serious builders, but with drone and military problems.

The Benevolents I am aiming to be more of a diplomatic faction, so I might give them another disadvantage to even things out.

The problem is that alien factions don't get as much from diplomacy as non-aliens, as there's no commerce.  I'd say make them human, replace the +3 ECONOMY with +1 ECONOMY and +2 COMMERCE, and replace their -3 MORALE with 50% offense and -4 POLICE.  That way they'll have a hard time fighting even with native life, but get large bonuses for being friendly.

As for the Valhallans, I might remove their research penalties and improve their POLICE by a bit, and maybe switch out their ECONOMY for something else.

I'd say boost the POLICE to only -2, give them 1 drone per 4 citizens, ditch the ECONOMY bonus, and cut the MORALE bonus to +4 (which is the max with an effect anyway).  Now they've got heavy drone and minor research problems, but are extremely good fighters if they can keep anything near tech parity.

As for your theories on the others I can't verify them with experience, but what you said about the Crimson Comrade's is fairly accurate, though in my play through I tended to avoid Fundamentalism and instead preferred Police State in times of war.

Police State seems it won't work so well with them before Thought Control, as they're not getting any benefit from that SUPPORT bonus.

The reasoning for this is the lower research is very crippling as a militaristic faction, and you want to keep on top if you are using a faction like this.

Police State hurts research too; Democracy might be better.  Police State/Planned is actually the worst (worse than Fundie/Planned) unless using heavy specialists, as -4 EFFICIENCY means no energy (and hence no research) except in your capital.

I am aware Eudaimonia is not the best choice for future with the faction, but I chose it as it helps determine the behavior of the faction as an AI, as it will be friendly with Drones and other more egalitarian factions, and be more egalitarian focused.

To do that, consider giving them an INDUSTRY focus and Democratic preference; that way, they'll tend to go Dem/Planned/Wealth/Eudaimonia, which should be friendly to the egalitarian factions.

[JarlWolf]

Yitzi, with your spot on the Police+Planned, Planned does not give any drawbacks to the Crimson Comrades. They don't receive the drawbacks of it, if they use police+planned they'd only get the efficiency drawbacks of police. And when I was playing with police I had over 5+ support, which allowed me to field extremely large armies without mineral penalties.

Though, I might switch them up. I want to make sure they keep close to their faction ideal, and that might involve me to change their selected ideal. My only question is, what happens if I picked Planned as their selected? How will it affect their behavior?

When I get some time, I'll check out these changes and see how they do, I like your idea's on the Valhallans especially. Though the Benevolents have to stay as Alien, I just may change out their commerce bonus for something else. They are meant as a unique Alien faction for use, and Green1 needed something new like that so I cannot change that. I will see if I can modify it enough as to where they are more well received by other factions.
The Robots I can reduce industry a bit, and probably remove some things. I can also change out their research bonuses for what you suggested, but I think I'll keep the Free Prototypes bonus just to make them unique.

[Yitzi]

Yitzi, with your spot on the Police+Planned, Planned does not give any drawbacks to the Crimson Comrades. They don't receive the drawbacks of it, if they use police+planned they'd only get the efficiency drawbacks of police.

Oh, I missed their Planned impunity.  Yeah, it will help then...but even so, Police State just doesn't give them enough to justify the efficiency penalty.  If I wanted to avoid lagging in research, I'd probably use Democracy (so they can pop boom while they're at it and have good efficiency to further help research); 3 free units per base is still fairly good, and if running Power also then there's literally no downside to Democracy for them.

And when I was playing with police I had over 5+ support, which allowed me to field extremely large armies without mineral penalties.

5 or even 7 support doesn't let you field armies any larger than 3 does.

Though, I might switch them up. I want to make sure they keep close to their faction ideal, and that might involve me to change their selected ideal. My only question is, what happens if I picked Planned as their selected? How will it affect their behavior?

They'll favor Planned, and dislike anyone who goes Market or Green.

Though the Benevolents have to stay as Alien, I just may change out their commerce bonus for something else.

Not sure what; the mechanics of the alien factions are designed to encourage conflict.

The Robots I can reduce industry a bit, and probably remove some things. I can also change out their research bonuses for what you suggested, but I think I'll keep the Free Prototypes bonus just to make them unique.

Free Prototypes is good for them.

[JarlWolf]

Oh, I missed their Planned impunity.  Yeah, it will help then...but even so, Police State just doesn't give them enough to justify the efficiency penalty.  If I wanted to avoid lagging in research, I'd probably use Democracy (so they can pop boom while they're at it and have good efficiency to further help research); 3 free units per base is still fairly good, and if running Power also then there's literally no downside to Democracy for them.

Hmm.. True. Though the police did help me keep down riots, though I think going democracy with your combination will suit the faction character wise more. The Crimson Comrade's are not an oppressive regime that suppresses it's people. It's major flaws is in how it fights and treats its enemies, the Crimson Comrades are the type to do barbaric tactics against their enemies and aren't afraid to use fear as a weapon. The type of guys who'll place an explosive on a wounded man in a field and as his fellows try to hoist him up he'll detonate. Or the type to put the heads of enemy commanders on pikes and show it off to the enemy. Fighting for their cause whole heartily, but the way they fight is brutal and barbaric.

5 or even 7 support doesn't let you field armies any larger than 3 does.

Did not know that. I'll keep that in mind when designing factions as well.

They'll favor Planned, and dislike anyone who goes Market or Green.

Hmm... I don't want them to be against Green, as they don't mind environmentalist approaches to the economy if it suits them. It's more of the Free Market capitalist system that they dislike, due to their ideological standpoint. I might make their selected ideology Democratic then, or keep it Eudaimonic.
Reviewing the ideals, while the Eudaimonic policy does have that -2 MORALE, we also have to remember that the Crimson Comrades get a +1 MORALE off the bat, and combined with social policies such as Power, or Fundamentalism (though I'd avoid Fundamentalism)  will sort of counteract that flaw. Plus by the time the faction will have access to this social policy it will probably have lots of military improvements and such that it can nullify any drawback of such a system. Eudaimonia's benefits will also outweigh it's flaws in that the growth and industry will more then make up for it's flaws, and the 2+ economy will fix the Crimson Comrade's natural flaw of -1 economy.

Plus, while the Crimson Comrades aren't against Cybernetics, they would definitely be against Thought Control so we may need an ideal in there to prevent that.

Though on the other hand, having Democratic as their preferred will mean that they will be against Police States and Fundies, which may, or may not help them out in terms of keeping character. It may also debilitate them diplomatically. More thought will be needed on this one.

Not sure what; the mechanics of the alien factions are designed to encourage conflict.

Hmm. An idea I had is to make their faction behavior pacifist (the option in face edit - and BUncle is probably reading this, I can't find a download link for AcEdit unfortunately) and then have a lack of anti-ideals. Having no true anti-ideals will make sure they don't start conflicts with people purely on ideals, and I may also do it where they have no selected ideal either. As their only real goal character wise is just to create a peaceful society where humans, progenitors and planet lives in peace, they don't really care how it's done. Whether it's via a police state monitoring things, democratic government where everyone gets a say, or a unifying religion. Or in terms of economics, the allowance of free trade and liberalized economics, or state sponsored programs to keep it's citizens supported and happy, or a green economy to make sure the society is sustainable and friendly with planet.

So with the lack of anti and selected ideologies, I think they'll come into conflict a lot less.

[Buster's Uncle]

Free Prototypes is good for them.

Free Prototypes makes a kind of story sense, too; when Russian engineers are on their game, they can do some brilliant design work.

[JarlWolf]

Free Prototypes makes a kind of story sense, too; when Russian engineers are on their game, they can do some brilliant design work.

I think you misunderstood who that bonus was for friend, the Free Prototypes is for The Machine Mandate, a Robot faction.

Though I agree with your statement, and on a side note I was a military engineer. And we had to be pretty innovative in our field.
The Crimson Comrade's though, like the rest of the factions, aren't sequestered by nationality. Not even the Iron Regime will be defined by ethnicity/Earth nation, just defined by their ultra nationalist ideal for their own faction.

[Buster's Uncle]

...That's what I get for skimming instead of paying attention...

[JarlWolf]

Haha, not an issue. We all make mistakes sometimes, im one of the few that makes them constantly.

If you got idea's for any of these factions, or even idea's for another faction they are welcome BUncle.

[JarlWolf]

Updated it, the Fascists are nearly ready, just need to add in their audio blurb. (I will not voice this one as I cannot impersonate an English accent, kind of hard for a Russian to do that.) Anyone who wishes to try it is welcome.

[sisko]

@JarlWolf: here's the link to AcEdit http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=downloads;sa=downfile&id=123

please note that it is SMAC only, so you'll have to edit SMAX dialogues by hand..

[JarlWolf]

Hm. By hand what do you exactly mean? I am a bit unfamiliar with other aspects of modding/ creating factions without face edit.

Mind, the other factions are also underway. The new one I am working on will either be the Valhallans or the Imperium. I will release the new factions all in a bundle.

EDIT: Looked at it, and it says I am missing a file when I try running the .exe, MSVBVM50.DLL.

[sisko]

i mean using a simple text editor (wordpad, notepad) to edit the dialogues with the alien factions once you generate the .txt files with ACEdit. i think those are the only lines that ACEdit can't read/edit... though i may be wrong..  can't remember..