Some help with a faction set

[Sigma]

So I'm 100 turns into a game playing as Apollo Industries. I've changed their faction noun to "Olympians" because it sounds better than Apollonians and makes Roark out to be an even bigger blowhard, which is more fun. And with the changes I've made the Authority is actually quite threatening, which I like. I've had to make good use of the Olympian's hurry bonus. That and their Industry bonus are quite good at combating Drone issues just by building the necessary facilities quickly enough.

[Buster's Uncle]

A Randist faction IRL would be a lot like an internet forum - you'd probably get talent riots instead of drone riots. 

[Sigma]

Turn 2230 and things are getting veerrrry interesting. Power wise the game is basically at a draw between the Pilgrims and the Authority. The Pilgrims wiped out the Leviathan Body, and the Technocrats and Genarchs are looking pretty shakey. I'm holding my own; if nothing else, Apollo Industries can build, man. I'm running Demo/FM/Wealth and I can crank out a facility in 5-6 turns easy; prototypes in less than 10, and I don't have any bases bigger than 7. With Rec Commons/Holo Theater and some money funneled into Psych, I can sustain a base at size 7 without worrying about Drones at all.

Unfortunately my next door neighbors are the Authority and they've got Missile Penetrators; I'm the first on planet as far as I can tell who has Chaos Guns, which is helpful, but if push comes to shove I'm not sure how things are going to hash out.

[Sigma]

I figured the Genarchs out. I'm going to rewrite them almost entirely, with their new name, the Chrysalis Collective (Chrysalites for short). Their theme is going to be much less about genetic engineering and more on enhancing human evolution through all sorts of different medical means.

[Buster's Uncle]

More transhuman for the transhuman odyssey.  I like.

[JarlWolf]

And transhumanism is a very big subject of debate as well; of course lots of the arguments against it stem from economic disparities- the rich would monopolize transhumanist clinical immortality procedures, rule forever etc.

[Sigma]

So thoughts:

Giving -2 Support to the Technocrats hurts them pretty badly and makes them unable to weather any kind of persistent aggression. I think they pretty much need to keep the Morale penalty instead of House Satori. So instead, what if I gave Satori something like a -10% offense penalty to show their dislike of direct warfare over espionage?

[Nexii]

If you post the updated factions, I can add my 2 cents on a 'tier ranking' on how I'd rate them.

[Sigma]

I've attached the updated Zip of my Factions.

Changelog:

• The Genome Society has been renamed the Chrysalis Collective. Flavor text has been updated in several areas to reflect this. They are now no longer purely about genetics but all manner of biomedical enhancement of the human species.
• Apollo Industries has had their faction noun changed to "Olympians."
• Replaced Satori's Morale penalty with a -10% Offense penalty.
• The Authority's Hurry penalty has been moved to the Chrysalites. The Authority's Support rating has been increased to +2
• The Chrysalites have had their Morale bonus lowered to +1
• The Chrysalites no longer receive free Recycling Tanks
• Apollo Industries has their drone penalty changed to 1 Drone per 4 Citizens (previously 3)

So the Chrysalites have been nerfed fairly hard (hopefully not too hard though) while the Colonial Authority and Apollo Industries have been buffed. Satori's change should be largely lateral but testing will be needed to determine how it plays.

[Sigma]

And transhumanism is a very big subject of debate as well; of course lots of the arguments against it stem from economic disparities- the rich would monopolize transhumanist clinical immortality procedures, rule forever etc.

I'm actually glad that you pointed that out. The primary theme of this faction set is for each to provide its own answer to the question "Who and what should determine the future of humanity?" In that sense, all seven factions are transhuman, but in a different way.

The Technocrats believe that the future lies in technological singularity, where man and machine are united as a new creation.
The Chrysalites believe in a biological future, where mankind takes the reins of its own evolution.
The Authority believes that the future of humanity is entropy, and absolute law and order is needed to escape that.
The Olympians believe that the future lies in the hands of visionaries and industrialists.
The Pilgrims believe, or rather have faith, in a divine will that shall deliver those who follow it into the future
The Satori believe in a future of prosperity for those cunning enough to envision and seize it

And last of all, the Leviathan Body believes that the future is in the hands of the people, and that no matter what shape that future takes it is the only hope for humanity, as theirs is the only vision that embraces all of mankind, not an elite circle of demagogues. At least that's how they would put it.

[ete]

I think Satori got a pretty notable buff there. -10% offense means they're a bit worse once they hit elite and in specific situations right at the start, but at every other stage their units are much stronger on the defense and a fair amount better on the offense too. She'll not exactly be a great rusher with the change, but will be _much_ more able to hold her own if attacked, and significantly more capable of taking the fight to the opponent with only a modest economic+tech lead. I'd say even something like -20% offense, -10% defense would not be too unfair to them.

I like the new Chrysalites flavor . Maybe the Chrysalites will be overly nerfed here. Halved one of their main bonuses, removed an important early game bonus, and dumped a significant penalty on them (edit: looked at the files, only 110 not the full 125, less bad). I know they were good before, but all three seems potentially too much to me.

Also, do consider Robust Ind as a possible alternate buff for Authority. I'm not sure if they'll need an extra buff with the changes you've made, but having Power give +2 Support, +2 Morale, -1 Industry is a pretty cool proposition and gives them some unusual SE options. I don't think it will make a massive difference to their overall power, but it's potentially fun and unique+fits with flavor well

[Nexii]

They're not wildly off, but I'd rank them roughly in 3 tiers:

Good: AUTH*, GENOME**
Average: TECHNO,  PILGRIMS, SATORI***
Somewhat Weak: LEVIATHAN, APOLLO

* Noted their free ability is NLM - but Repair is 21, should be 22
** Bio lab will be from start of game
*** Is their aversion PS or Planned?

I would say that LEVIATHAN and APOLLO need stronger upsides due to fairly painful penalties. I'd try Leviathan at +2 GROWTH and APOLLO at +2 INDUSTRY.

More considering the default SE set than the one I play with of course.  I feel AUTH would have extremely good expansion speed with PS.  Played right that is, they would be probably the strongest for vs AI play on Transcend.  Same with GENOME, Talent/4 is really good and they don't have a huge downside.  Not sure I'd really nerf the two I consider top, they're not necessarily ahead by a huge margin, depending how you mod (and for vs AI or HvH play).  Satori for example probably becomes really strong in human games since the AI is quite aggressive.  PILGRIMS would be stronger in my set, since Fund got boosted, AUTH would have a harder time with the ecodmg from --PLANET, etc.

[ete]

Bear in mind that abilities start at 0 not 1, so unless you've accounted for that it's probably right. Are you sure about bio lab being from start, because the http://alphacentauri2.info/wiki/Faction.txt_editing_guide#FREEFAC says otherwise. And Satori's aversion is Planned. Actually a notable penalty, missed that on my most recent roundup of likely strengths.

And for Apollo, Hurry+Ind is really synergistic: assuming heavy rushing (so where it counts) and before any SE choice for each 3 units or facilities a normal faction makes, they get 4. Once Wealth and Planned become available this difference becomes huge: a normal faction running wealth+planned has a "production power" of 1.25 mins, these guys have 1.68 when rushing and 1.42 otherwise. Since minerals are the foundation of drone control facilities, research facilities, terraformers, new colony pods (partially), secret projects, extra crawlers, army units, ect.. this is a big deal. Their penalties are nasty all together, but their bonuses are really cool.

Edit: Fixed the numbers above.

[Nexii]

Yea had read it as FACILITY which was from SMAC and required the tech.  I did try AUTH in a test game and it came up as Repair.

Also Planned + Wealth is only +2 IND by default, not +3 (though I do play with Planned at +2 IND).  By default Apollo only has 11% more production power (10/9), and 14% more at Wealth+Planned (8/7).  This is decent but doesn't really offset the extra drones.  The HURRY is more or less offset by the -EFFIC.  If you play expansionist style early, you'll only make about 85% the energy of other factions - which hits both research and energy to rush with.  The default Planned is really painful especially on a faction with -1 EFFIC to start, and will stop them from doing much rushing.  Likely Demo/FM/Wealth would be a better pick.

[ete]

Right about facility and the ability.

ah, thanks. Fixed the numbers in the above post. It's still a fairly impressive difference (especially for AI at high levels which cheats by giving itself a large +IND), though it is true that effic losses reduce your free energy for spending which offsets it somewhat. Not being able to run planned without demo and having iffy efficiency even with demo/planned is an issue.. but I'm hesitant about moving to +2 IND. The Drones have -2 Research for just that (and one less drone), which is probably comparable to the effic hit and drone issues these guys have. +2 IND with a hurry bonus sounds scary. If they get a buff, which I'm not sure either way whether they could do with, maybe moving their hurry to 80% would be a better option?