anyone up for another Chiron Chronicles?

[Mellian]

edit: just to see if i can edit the subject here...

okay, i really miss being part of a multi-author / cooperative story, especially a SMAC/X one. so wondering if anyone would be interested in starting another one, like chiron chronicles, but using the lessons learnt from it, a long from BAC.

i willing to Help establish the basics and guidelines for this story universe, a long with possibly make the webspace i have with my ISP available for it to store maps, pics, and other information..and maintain any info/datalink thread(s).

as for those who remembers how i was before, i will refrain from being some anal retentive enforcer, making sure to keep in mind that it will be Cooperative story, where the authors work together, and making sure to make anything i have to say is positive and constructive criticism.

anyway, as for the story, i am thinking maybe to start it off somewhere in the 22nd century, about five to ten years after the Proginators landed, and 20-40 after some of the human crossfire factions started to appear and officially considered as factions by the unitial seven factions / the Planetary Council.

as for the map, can be either base on the default Chiron Crossfire map, or some random one or some custom map done by someone (which may be useful to create it in a way to match any starting plot ideas the authors may have).

as for factions, we can one author be in charge of a faction, but can play any characters and etc belonging to other factions or etc, with the approval of author incharge of the faction, if any.

if people are interested in this, and would like to participate, than i would be interested to take either the data angels, nautilus pirates or the free drones...in that order.

soooo....any interest?

-mellian

[Sovereign]

Mellian, I remember you tried to set up a similiar story last year or so.

I think it was "Never Ending Chiron" or "Never Ending Centauri" or something like that.

If you manage to get this new CC off the ground, I'd like to call dibs on the University, like I did in NEC.

[Mellian]

yes, but i was planning all this system and structure for NEC, making it like some online board game interactive history thing...but realized it wouldn't work and also ended up being distracted by other things.

as for the new CC, would help establish some way where we can have a multi-author cooperative story, while avoiding/minimizing problems we had in the previous CC and in BAC.

-mellian

[GeneralTacticus]

I might be interested... if this gets off the ground, count me in for the Morganites.

[Sovereign]

Well, a few points of advice...

first, allow customization of your leaders names, as long as they have a believable relationship to the original SMAC / SMACX leaders.

Such as children, best friends, vice-president or second in command, etc. that rose to power after the first leader is assasinated or stepped down, much like in real life.


Second....

Allow people to select starting spots.

For example.... provide the official map for SMAC / X...

then have the player look at the map, and then select his / her starting postion. Depending on the size of the islands or contients or Pangeas, there should be only 1 faction allowed on a small island or contient, 2 - 3 factions allowed on medium land masses... and 4 - 6 factions on large / huge land masses.

This ensures every faction has at least some room for several cities, and some lee-way in expansion. No early game wipe-outs.



Third and last.... Use standard SMAC / X technologies, up to quantum power. Beyond that, it's almost god-like, like with time tech and trascendence.

In addition, for these techs, we should create our own, along believable lines... such as Shields, Interstellar travel, food replicators, deep core mining, etc.


I think if you allow these things, Mellian, more people would be interested in joining. Just giving advice.

[Mellian]

will be allowed, just hope people hold true somewhat to the characteristics of the factions...like in the previous CC, the honorable diciplined militaristic survilist Spartans were made into some corrupted, dishonorable, fascist, gothic, sadistic, genociders.

but i'm sure the system i have in mind with help resolve any problems, which will be more focus in making a good story, than which faction as a bigger army or is better at what or who could defeat who in a battle.

as for technologies, a thing to keep in mind about, is some techs are not really techs...as some seem more like setting up the stage as to when a faction will have enough infrastructure to a build a cruiser, to build and maintain aircrafts, start shooting stuff into space and etc... also, a lot of the techs in the SMAC/X tech tree are theoritical base, where afterwards, have to build a prototype to work out bugs before building more in more cheap mass production way.

another thing i would like to authors to keep in mind is the passage of time, which does tend to be a problem...like talking about some character about to go in some missions, and the next story day, they are at the other side of the planet doing their mission...like umm, how thehoot did it only take one day for that char to get one place to the other without any problems? or when research techs...start researching on a new tech, and they are finish in one story week...umm, what?

anyway, would like to see the story start out where the planet is still not fully covered with bases, average faction just started really using aricrafts, cruisers, and etc...and just about to experiment shooting stuff into space. also would like to see the techs a faction base on the characteristic of the faction...like the Gaians is more into Green type tech, Morganites mroe into the build type techs, Spartans more into the military type techs, and etc....


anyway, more later...

-mellian

[Illuminatus]

I want to be a part of such project, and I doubt I could join BAC. If it gets running can I please take (they have already taken Uni and Morgan ), Gaians?

[Mellian]

i guess we have enough interest to start figuring stuff out, like the map, starting locations, guidelines and some rulez, the datalinks thread, starting major plots, a basic general timeline to start with, and etc......

but first....what should we call the story? Chiron Chronicles has already been taken...thinking possibly re-using the title of Never Ending Chiron again...

next question would be....should we base the story on a custom map or the default planet x map (with the only difference that UNS Unity actually crashed in Unity sea that into the continent, as i don't think it was that huge). if so, what kind of custom? should it be edited to fit in with the starting plots? (as in, for example, having the peacekeepers and spartans being neighbours, being natural rivals and all...same with the Morganites and Gaians...with the data angels being between the morganites and university...pretty much matching up faction characteristic dynamics for story plot possibilities).

-mellian

[Sovereign]

Hi there, Obstructor. Welcome to AC Fiction!

Mellian, an idea or two about the passage of time....

First, Every day in the real world should equate into a year in the story. That way, within 1 real life year, we can get plenty done with 365 years gone by in SMAC fiction.

This can give us some room to do stuff.

Also, the advance of years in SMAC should go no matter what. Doesn't matter if the author doesn't post. That way, more active members don't have to wait weeks or months for a substantial action or event to take place.

One other thing, Mellian. Sometimes factions can and DO change over time. Sometimes leaders change personalities, which will influence their faction or nation being led. This happens all the time in the real world.

I'll wait a bit and see if more people can come in and start this up, and get this off the ground, then I can start posting.

[Mellian]

Originally posted by Sovereign First, Every day in the real world should equate into a year in the story. That way, within 1 real life year, we can get plenty done with 365 years gone by in SMAC fiction.

well, considering the activity in AC-Fiction and the authors, i don't think it would be the best idea to rapid though time like that. As for a passage of time, thinking more like....

Spartan Command
0500 (Zulu or local time), March 14th, 2176

the active authors can go on posting and when a inactive author returns, they can make a previous date before the latest dated posts to add something to the story, as well it doesn't contradict what as already happen story wise.

to prevent any hang ups, like waiting for the inactive author to return to write something in response, i'll encourage authors to communicate with each, their plans and etc on plots they are working on together, or affecting another author's faction or/and character(s)...so if one is missing, the other author(s) could go on.

i will also encourage authors to have an Plot Agenda section in their Faction Info/Stat post in the Datalinks thread, to let other authors know what they are planning generally or specificly in whatever Plots they are currently working. also will encourage authors who know who will dissapear for some length of time, to mention in this post or in the discussion thread what they are planning to do/write in the story, so authors know what to do or not to do in the next story post(s) during the absense of the one author. should also have some possible plots in the info posts, even if it currently not being worked on in the story and etc, or at least not directly.

One other thing, Mellian. Sometimes factions can and DO change over time. Sometimes leaders change personalities, which will influence their faction or nation being led. This happens all the time in the real world.

yes, some Factions may change, but they do keep their general basic characteristics, and the only way for those to change is if some key/major event as cause it. like, i am sure the pacifistic Gaians can become militarist faction after being brutally attacked or/and something as happen to really pissed them off for example.

as for leaders....yes, their personalities may change...especially in SMAC/X where most folks see them living for a long time thanks to longivity genetic treatments...so over time, experiences and events will influence on how they think. like any human being, their mind continuously evolve, for the good or the worse. of course, for them to change their minds on things and their personalities, there as to be a reason for it. just because is not one.

like take United States, where they change leaders every four-eight years...they may be able to influence their nation closer towards a path they want them to be, but doesn't overall change the nations attitudes and basic characteristics. only time they do change is because of major events, like WW1 and WW2, the cold war, and 9-11, to a way i'm sure the founding fathers wouldn't have really liked.....but of course, none of those events truely complete, or mostly, change the nations basic characteristicsl...like them suddenlly becoming fascist and willing to commit genocide.

to also keep in mind, the factions seem to have been created the factions in a way each represent some aspect of humanity, to create this general dynamic between them....hence why it is so attractive to write fictions about, exploring the various interactions of these faction characters in different circumstances....so in a way, don't want to see this dynamic to be lost in the story.

-mellian

[Mellian]

here is a map of modified SMAX Planet. I increased the sized of some continents and islands, added couple of new medium islands, with a few little ones, removed Unity so we can just assume it crashed in the Sea of Chiron, increased the size of the monsoon jungle, added some monoliths at various spots, and etc.

i was pretty much unsastified with the random map creations, so i thought i would just thought i would edit the default map.

so what do people think?

can also start picking which area of the map the faction you chosen to be, and also suggest maybe where some of the untaken factions will be located.

i'll be taking the Data Angels, which i rather have them not to far from the Morganites, whom they splitted off and possibly a bit from University if they are located in the same continent.

-mellian

[GeneralTacticus]

I'd like to put the Morganites in the area around the Borehole Cluster, with some bases along the river leading southwards, as well.

[Mellian]

this area?


okay, maybe should really decide what year to exactly to start the story. i mentioned possibly late 22nd, or just year 2200...if so, then the average faction would be big enough to have a handful of bases...with the average tech base where they can build aircrafts, cruisers, choppers, and just starting to get into shooting stuff into space....with the average weapon/armor/power techs at chaos (disruptors) and missile weaponry with impact guns as the most common basic weaponry of the time, plasma to silk steel armor, and started to really field fusion powered units with some factions still stuck with the majority of their armed forces having fission....

so ya....faction sizes would also be base on their character...like, i can see the believers and hive spreading aboutlike crazy, with some factions like maybe the morganites, university, and etc sticking with fewer but better quality and bigger bases.

most factions shouldn't be cramping against each others at this point....still leaving lot of room for expansion and etc. oh and don't base completly completly on the in-game strategies to get good bases with good spacing...i would think realisticly, future higher tech bases/cities between 10k to 100k+ should be okay resources and etc wise by being one to two squares away from each other, considering Chiron is a slightly bigger than Earth, with some bigger landmasses. so plenty of room for many many bases than by what playing the actual game suggests. besides, it is a story, not like exact population, production levels, other stats and etc would be all that important...

now, now that i just rant on about my thoughts....here is the map of the area you chosen GeneralTactic.

-mellian

[GeneralTacticus]

Yeah, that's the area I was talking about... and as for the rest, that sounds pretty good to me.

[Illuminatus]

Will there be 14 faction (perhaps 12 withput aliens?) When you answer me this I will take Gaians position (since I planned some "trouble" between them and Planet Cult)

Actually I planned north island fro Gaians with one or two bases on NW island and three of four bases on the north side of Uranium flats (this are colonies - and possible source of conflict between them and other factions on that continent). Also on the north side of Donut Continent near Ruins was also a colony or two but they broke away to form Planet Cult (this was MY 2150, 2155 and Planet Cullt has grown) which has a tendency for North seas. Also there are troubles with overexpansion for Gaians, who have a lot of bases and colonies, but weak conventional military, medium psi military and medium infrastructure. Also second navy on planet (besides Pirates).

[Mellian]

for all intent and purposes, Chironians tend to just call their cities as bases, and their entire faction as a colony. like in a lot of the space base sci-fis where a settlement of a world is called a colony, even if there is like multiple towns, cities and etc.

there will be the fourteen factions at the beginning of the story, but suggest just focusing on where your factions will be located before getting into history/timeline and military comparisons. of course, having the Cult of Planet not to far from the Gaians is a good idea, as all canon evidence points to them splitting off from the Gaians.

also nothing wrong to have the Gaians having more a naval nature considering their starting location and having bases on other islands/continents. something different for them.

i will make another draft of the map with the morganites and Gaians in it, as well with the cult...who seem more like pro-planet overrides everything else , where the Gaians seem more like simply being in harmony between themselves and Planet.

-mellian

[Sovereign]

Sounds like this is finally getting off the ground!

I hereby claim the Garland Crater in the name of the University!

I've fired up SMAC-X and I've played a few games to see how I could expand with the University.

I've consitiently got 7 - 10 solid bases up and running with infrastructure by 2200 in my games. The reason for the variety was the Unity Pods. Sometimes I'd come across "Lost Colonists" and sometimes I'd come across "Production Boost (Item X finished next turn in Base X).

Considering the modified rules and lands and techs...

I'd also like to establish two colonies in the Monsoon Jungle, since the University is expanding east from the Garland Crater.

Give me a few days to procure a map of the University's starting position, its colonies, and the 2 colonies in the Monsoon Jungle.

[Sovereign]

Two other things....

First, I must say I both agree and disagree with your reasoning about time progression, Mellian.

I agree and understand the authors here write once in a while. Also, I understand and agree with not having a frantic time pace.

The only problem and thing I disagree with, Mellian, is...

If more active authors post, while inactive authors post rarely...

Say, an Active author posts about 1 or 2 times a week, while Inactive authors post 1 time a month or longer.

If we do what you say, with this, and I quote you Mellian...

"the active authors can go on posting and when a inactive author returns, they can make a previous date before the latest dated posts to add something to the story, as well it doesn't contradict what as already happen story wise.

to prevent any hang ups, like waiting for the inactive author to return to write something in response, i'll encourage authors to communicate with each, their plans and etc on plots they are working on together, or affecting another author's faction or/and character(s)...so if one is missing, the other author(s) could go on."


This presents a couple of problems.

First, the story would look really weird if we're on, say, year 2300, with the active authors. Then suddenly we go back to year 2250 when the inactive author posts. Then the next post takes us to the year 2320 or something.

That's too crazy, going back and forth between dates. It can and will be confusing for both authors and readers to follow.

Second, suppose the University goes to war with the Believers or the Hive down the road. I'd have my military all ready and set for invasion, then the Hive or Believer author doesn't post in a while. The game years roll by, then my military would be still waiting for invasion for 50 years or so.

Then my storylines I've planned on acquiring some enemy bases or having a couple "foreigners" experience their old ways of life being changed by the University's presence and ways of life would be ganked. This could be a big story-killer and ambition-killer, causing authors to become frustrated and lose their ambition to write more story posts in this new story.



Mellian, I propose two solutions to solve this.

The Time Issue:

The more active authors progress the timeline as normally, so their characters, units, cities, etc. can grow as they intend for their story purposes.

When the inactive authors do return to post, they should post at the "current time year / date" and catch up on stuff that has happened since they posted last.

This way, the timeline wouldn't jump around to the past, present, and future when an author posts. Time can progress in a normal linear fashion, saving us a lot of confusion and frustration trying to dechiper the whole time jumping issue.


For the Hang-Up issue...

I propose that we see what happens in the story. If an author intends to declare war, or involve himself / herself with another author or faction...

The other author is... Active: They won't have too much of an hang-up issue.

The other author is... Inactive: The active author can and will get frustrated here. He / she would be eager to proceed the storyline, but is held back by the other author's lack of posts or counter-posts.

To solve this, I'd like to have the general plan aired out in the discussion threads. If the inactive author posts twice a month, then.... If both authors agree, the inactive author can and should allow the active author to write for the inactive author during the conflict or crisis.

If the inactive author doesn't post in either a month or longer in the discussion thread, then we could have a problem.

In this case, the active author should go ahead and do whatever he has planned.


Here's how we should define active and inactive authors.

Active = 2 or more story posts a month. Multiple posts in the discussion thread.

Inactive level 1= 1 story post a month, and a handful of posts in discussion thread.

Inactive level 2= no story post in a month, a few or no posts in discussion thread in a month.

Inactive level 3= no posts at all in story or discussion threads in two months or longer.


When an author reaches Inactive Level 2, we should try to talk to him / her, and see whats up.

If an author reaches Inactive Level 3, we should seriously consider giving up control of the author's faction / empire. Another author can take control, or make the empire neutral, waiting for new authors to step in and take control.


What do you think? I'm trying to be reasonable, but at the same time, make sure our story doesn't die out because of inactivity.

[Mellian]

Originally posted by Sovereign I've consitiently got 7 - 10 solid bases up and running with infrastructure by 2200 in my games. The reason for the variety was the Unity Pods. Sometimes I'd come across "Lost Colonists" and sometimes I'd come across "Production Boost (Item X finished next turn in Base X).

lost colonists? there is such pods in the game? i don't remember ever getting one like that :/

anyway, have you considered wether expansion may be detered due to other particular factions being neighbours?

I think we should just figure out where the factions will start out before figuring out how many bases and etc...

as for the map, i will not bother with infrastructure on the map...especially when we'll be realistic about the terrain, considering Chiron's surface area is about 718 000 000 km2, making each square about 1000 km2 or more...probably more... have to go recount the squares in the planetx large map so may not need many squares around a base to have farms and etc to be able to feed the populace.

-mellian

[Mellian]

while i would like this co-op story to have a faster progression of time than Chiron Chronicles, i am not exactly interested in seeing this one to go to fast, so i hope we don't go thought decades of story years in just a few real months.

as for your solution, i am getting the impression where we should have a rule to where no author can make a post earlier the latest posted date... i can understand the fear that someone will post something years or decades before the latest story date, but chances are, posts will go back and forth a bit in time, as authors will try to keep up, or some author makes a post before someone else while they were writing up a post.

so maybe have a limit to how far back before the latest date a story post can be. also, inactive authors can summerize what happened to their character and faction since their last post.

yes, we can also have discussions of authors plans in the discussion thread for the story, but shouldn't be a requirement, as some authors doesn't want to reveal some surprises (which i hope, would be reasonable).

oh and another thing, what are we calling this co-op story, which we still have agreed on? Thought to simply just call it Alpha Centauri, but not really all that original... and not interested in making Chiron Chronicles part two...

-mellian

[Illuminatus]

Originally posted by Sovereign
I hereby claim the Garland Crater in the name of the University!


.

Greetings to my southern neighbours!

What the hech is Lost Colonists event? Never found it, even as multiple meteor strikes happened to me and I popped OgreMk2s? I am not even sure I have seen script for it?

[GeneralTacticus]

AFAIK, it doesn't exist. Maybe he's getting confused with a different game.

And, Sovereign, how exactly do you plan to expand into the Monsoon Jungle from the Garland Crater? It's on the other side of an ocean.

[Sovereign]

Oops! I went back and looked over the game saves I had. I must have confused the "Lost Colonists" with something like free settlers from goody huts in the Civ games, or the free units I get from the Unity pods. My bad, sorry.


Obstructor.... Greetings, Naked Gaian!


GeneralTactius, IIRC, Mellian said we have ships and cruisers techs already. I build a cruiser or foil or whatever at a coastal city near the Crater, then put in 1 or 2 colony pods, sail it to the Monsoon Jungle.

I'm planning on expanding eastwards with the University, to occupy the Manifold Nexus, Garland Crater, and a few cities in the Monsoon Jungle across the straits between the 2 contients.

Then later, when your explorers explore the Monsoon Jungle, you can gain contact with the University, and we could have some interesting stuff around the Monsoon Jungle.

[Illuminatus]

What will be between Uranium Flats (Gaian) and Crater (University) - empty space or some faction?

[Mellian]

again, have you considered the realistic size of Chiron, that game mechanics is not really compatible with story mechanics hence depending on the game to make story base scenarios is not really gouing to work, you may have neighbours who may prevent University from achieving certaint things and have you considered the kind of environment Chiron has in the manual?

oh and i redone the calculations for how big each square in the map, which is 44 516 km2 and forgot how to convert it # x #, but i think it is like 1000km across...

here are suggested maps...one in this post is base on the locations you've selected...while the second is base on story potential between some natural rivals and between mother and sibling factions...which two may have some interesting background to get where they are.

-mellian

[Mellian]

and the second suggested map.

-mellian

[Sovereign]

Sorry Mellian...

I keep getting confused about the new rules for this thing.

I guess I'm still in BAC and SMAC-X rule-sets and limitations. Also, all SMAC-X and Civ games, I modify ALL my jets and combustion ships to have far more movement to reflect real world ships and jets.

In addition, I was under the assumption that ships and jets could sail and fly around Chiron in 1 year or two. Jets only take maybe 1 day flying at Earth's Equator, and modern ships could take a 1 - 2 months, give or take a couple of weeks to circumnavigate the globe.

And as you stated, Chiron is slightly bigger than Earth. Therefore, it will take maybe 3 - 4 months for a ship to sail around Chiron, and jets maybe need 2 days to fly around Chiron's equator.

This is why I thought I could set up colonies on the Monsoon Jungle.

But if thats too crazy or nutty, I'll withdraw my Monsoon Jungle colonies and then when the story starts, I'll expand in that direction.

I could place 2 extra colonies near the Manifold Nexus instead of the Monsoon Jungle. (Mainfold Nexus is near Garland Crater, IIRC)

I'm just trying to figure out what to do here.

[Mellian]

any ideas and suggestions for the rest of the faction placements?

for the SMAX human factions, would be nice to have close to the factions they seem to originate from according to what is said in the SMAX canon background.

like the Cult of Planet is a split from the Gaians, which started out when there was an attack on a Gaian base, and a pregnant person ran to a neaby xenofungus field for safety from the attack, only to give birth there with mindworms watching. then the child end up being regarded as some holy child of planet, and more and more Gaians started believing that, while the rest didn't think of anything all that special from it, so the Cultists ended leaving the faction to form one of their own elsewhere. once established and etc, and when the child became a bit older, he became leader, as some god.

free drones split off from the Hive, which could hacve started as some rebellion, but ended up leaving as they can't really survive within the hive...so took some colony pods and establish their own faction elsewhere, to create their workers paradise, while still have propaganda and etc within Hive and other factions they consider their Drones being oppressed and etc. So they are generally a pain to Hive and Morganites if they are not all that far.

Data Angels, not sure what their original faction was, but having them split off from the Morganites makes sense in a way....they generally have anarchistic type views that, in real life, tend to be against corporations and controlling governments....so ya. Sinder Roze could have been a Probe for the Morganites, but becoming unhappy serving Morgan and etc... so a community of soem discontents, a lot of them hackers, computer savvy folks some probes and others...who mainly communicate in the datalinks/morganite networks, as being open with their discontent can lead to being stomped by Morgan Security, especially if they are in the habit causing trouble in the faction, hacking into stuff and etc... at some point, they became big enough and things got harder for them as well in the faction, so Sinder Roze and others, mainly Probes themselves, worked out a plan for their great escape...and went it was pulled off, Morgan Industries ended being a bit a dissarray, Morgan surprised that a good portion of its covert and intelligence probes were involved and poofed. by the time they could start organizing some military units to do something about, they were already gone...with some people still left behind, but they could try migrating to the new Data Angel faction later.

Cybernetic Consciousness obviously came from University, considering it was Zhakarov himself who ran this experiment, with a volunteer from Unity, during the early years on Chiron...she ended up having a MMI with an AI, which ended up sharing consciousness with the host. anyway, more and more people ended up having such MMI implants with AIs, some forced/volunteered as the experiments went on a bit, and later a movement of cyborgs was being formed, where some people volunteered...and also rumoured to have forced some to have implanted AIs. could have became a bit of a problem for Zhakarov, and may have tried to do something about it, which resulted in the cyborgs to leave the faction, either by forced or voluntarally for whatever reason, to establish their own efficient faction.

Nautilus Pirates is the vaguest as to where they are from originally...i thought maybe to have the original Pirates coming from U.N. Peacekeepers, where the were being invaded and etc by the Spartans. Captain Svensgaard, who earlier found a survived Unity Sea Colony Pod, used it to help evacuate a coastal peacekeeper base, a long with using a Unity transport foil or two, with a unity gun foil... anyway, he got as many people he can and lead the exiles to re-establishing the peacekeeper faction elsewhere....so was the original plan. eventually, they found the Geothermal Field and Captain Svensgaard considered ideal place to establish a Sea Base, which took some convince of the people, saying it would be safer, as who knows how many other unity colony lander pods survived and created hostile factions... they later became known as Nautilus Pirates as time went on, as they started preying on merchant foils and etc for supplies and resources as other factions started having a presense among the oceans. They only later found out that the UN Peacekeeper faction was still around, which somehow succeeded in repelling the Spartan invaders (thinking maybe to use a similar plot from SMAC novel...like the Sandiego lead Spartan invasion being ordered to retreat after her son died, and killing Lal's son as revenge...this could be something that isn't widely known, and Sandiego could have created some discontents who don't know why they the were retreating...while taking stuff they pillage from the peacekeepers as some reward for invading them...hence leave the reasoning as a myth, unknown, among history...)

as for the Proginators....they both landed at opposite ends of Chiron, and after a decade or so of establishing themselves, they could have start being aggressive and expand (at least the Usurpers at first), until they found out they both survived, so started organizing crusades to get at each other throats....which isn't good thing for Human factions who are in the way....which is the situation that starts out this story on mission year 2200.

anyway, if i not going to get much feedback still, will simpyl start creating the Alpha Centauri Datalinks thread tommorrow...

-mellian

[Illuminatus]

Melian, Gaians have to switch places with usurpers on your first map. It seems you misunderstood me. On such a small teritory they would never build up to sea techs, lest the start of oveseas expansion. They are currently pursuing overseas expansion since a part of Isle of Deinaira is covered with fungus and not suitable for colonizing without disturbing native life. But this island is one target of expansion for Gains and they already have a base there. I putting Gaians on place of Usurpers and putting Usurpers in Pholus Ridge and moving Cartakers near Mt Planet or somewhere in that area. For example Usurpers could ally with Spartans to overrun an faction or we can have an epic battle between them. Or Usurpers ally with planet Cult and start invasion of Gaians.

[Mellian]

umm, again, don't base growth and etc and where to have bases on the game, which is not compatible with story mechanics and etc. The island where i originally placed the Gaians is bigger than england and ireland combined, considering the size of Chiron base of the fluff of the world provided in the SMAC manual, and i don't think bases are as big as 44k+ square kilometers. also, by 2200, chironians would still not have succeeded in completly colonizing Chiron realisticly, especially with Gaians going on a rapid expansion.

anyway, if the Gaians would be where i put the usurpers, then why would the Gaians go as far as the Ruins to have bases? also, it is big enough for Gaians to survive on, and with fungus no less as they are better to do so than the rest of the factions except for the cult who almost literally prefer to live among fungus.

so how about have Gaia start at the large island i created north-between the right and left continents...which is split in half by the map at the moment? will have closer access to the ruins to have bases, which in turn becomes part of the Cult, or just Cultists taking Gaian Colony Pods to move there? Also have potential interaction with the natural rivals the Morganites, and interactions with the Data Angels...

anyway, here is the new suggested map...

-mellian