Some help with a faction set

[Sigma]

So I've been testing this set in a few games a couple of things I've come across:

--The Technocrats are fairly weak until they gain access to the right social engineering. Right now I'm running Police State/Planned/Knowledge and it's a really powerful combination

--As planned, Satori seems to enjoy making friends with everyone, which puts them pretty squarely at the top of the leaderboards

-The Genome Syndicate is a.) really aggressive and b.) stronger than they look. The Morale boost means they fight very well and their extra talents make them really good builders. I've only just surpassed them as the Techies after cutting through half of the Advent's territory, and they've been in the lead the whole game so far.

-Apollonians is a really dumb name. I need to come up with something better. I thought of maybe "Apollomen"?

[Buster's Uncle]

The name is a classical allusion of course, referring to a learned and reasoning mode of thought, as opposed to Dionysian, or sensual and intuitive thinking.

It's really an excellent fit, provided one gets the reference and it falls on the ear right.

Hmm.  I don't know Objectivism well enough to have the terminology that fits pop into my head, but you might read the Wikipedia on it for inspiration?   Cato the Yonger led a movement the name of which escapes me atm, but he was Rand 2,000 literal years before Rand.  They talked about things like something being a Right Action.  You might google Cato and look into that for less obvious inspiration.

[ete]

All results seem fairly fitting, I guess the Technos having a poor start due to the Morale should be no surprise. Most of their bonuses are geared towards the long term. And yea, PS/Planned giving only -1 effic must be nice.

As for Genome, perhaps making their bio labs depend on the tech for bio labs would slow them a fair amount? And/or making them get fewer bonus talents, maybe Talent: 5 or 6? Alternatively, leave those and drop morale to +1?

[Sigma]

All results seem fairly fitting, I guess the Technos having a poor start due to the Morale should be no surprise. Most of their bonuses are geared towards the long term. And yea, PS/Planned giving only -1 effic must be nice.

When you combine it with Knowledge it's a net 0 for Efficiency, which is pretty amazing actually. I was really struggling until I unlocked Cyberethics and now I'm steamrolling Joaquin.

As for Genome, perhaps making their bio labs depend on the tech for bio labs would slow them a fair amount? And/or making them get fewer bonus talents, maybe Talent: 5 or 6? Alternatively, leave those and drop morale to +1?

I'll try playing as the Genarchs before I nerf them. I think the Authority may need a buff though, they seem to have a real hard time getting started. That may just be the AI not knowing how to play them though.

As far as the Biolabs are concerned, I thought that FACILITY is dependent upon getting the tech? Or is that FREEFAC?

[ete]

FREEFAC is the one which requires tech (FACILITY does not), now we have a handy reference: http://alphacentauri2.info/wiki/Faction.txt_editing_guide

And that's surprising about it getting 0 effic.. I'd have expected it to go like: -2 (Planned) -2 (PS) +1 (know) +1 (faction)=-2, then halve that number to get -1 still?

[Sigma]

FREEFAC is the one which requires tech (FACILITY does not), now we have a handy reference: http://alphacentauri2.info/wiki/Faction.txt_editing_guide

And that's surprising about it getting 0 effic.. I'd have expected it to go like: -2 (Planned) -2 (PS) +1 (know) +1 (faction)=-2, then halve that number to get -1 still?

Actually you are correct! My mistake. It's still not hurting too badly though. I imagine the omniscent AIs that manage the Technocrat government are steaming at trying to compensate.

[Buster's Uncle]

The Optimates was the Cato thing...

[Sigma]

I'll post a summary of my first major test along with some screenshots for everyone to check out before starting on the next test.

[Sigma]

Here is the Beta release of this faction set.

Changes:

-The Sons of the Advent have been renamed The Advent Pilgrimage, with their faction noun being "Pilgrims". Before they were simply called The Advent. This was done because there are two other factions that have nouns beginning with "A"-- the Apollonians and the Authority, in addition to a desire to reduce the number of factions with singlular nouns serving as plurals
(i.e The Authority, Satori and Leviathan).

-Leaderhead for the Technocrats has been revised.

Future Improvements:

-Technocrat bases need to be revised.

-The secondary and tertiary pcxs are incomplete for all factions.

-Balancing

[ete]

Cool, I moved the wiki page for you.

[Sigma]

Thanks to Yitzi for helping me fix the Pilgrim crash error! The set is now back in working order.

[Sigma]

Well this is an interesting development. I'm playing as the Leviathan Body on a Thinker level game, and suddenly the Authority went from the bottom of the barrel to a serious threat. It has to be because of Difficulty Drones. With their native +2 Police rating AND free Non-Lethal Methods, I'm willing to bet that they can police their way to social stability while every other faction with the exception of the Genarchs has riots when their bases exceed size 3.

In other matters, the Leviathan running Democratic and Planned is hilariously awesome, but on higher difficulties the drones are just completely unmanageable.

[Yitzi]

In other matters, the Leviathan running Democratic and Planned is hilariously awesome, but on higher difficulties the drones are just completely unmanageable.

You'll probably need to build every drone control facility you can and either set psych higher or make psych-based specialists.  (Which will detract from your productivity and growth potential; higher difficulties are supposed to be hard.)

[Sigma]

Yeah I'm managing it, and it's honestly pretty great. It fits the character of the faction too-- the citizens by nature are unsuppressable, and the only way to keep the nation stable is to provide the social services that the leadership promises. Mob rule, defined. I'm to go to war with the Authority, so we'll see how these ideas clash with each other.

[Sigma]

So I had to tweak the Authority's stats a bit because they are no fun to play as at basically any difficulty.

Now they're running +2 Support, +1 Police, -1 Research, -2 Planet. In other words they are sort of a modified, reverse Believers with a greater emphasis on defense and security rather than attack.