Random Ideas

[Dalton]

Faction idea.

Faction: Rainbow Warriors
Gaian splinter group, with militaristic focus. (Think Greenpeace...)

Planet: +1
Morale: +1
Support: +1
Industry: -1
Research: -1

is intent on not letting Planet be destroyed like Earth was. Working with the Planet requires passive and unobtrusive methods, but dealing with humans requires direct and sometime hostile interaction.
The Rainbow Warriors take thier name from a famous ship an Earth environmental activist group used in the 20th century. With this ship they took the battle for the salvation of earth's ecosystem to the descecrators.
sees the attempts that were made as the model, but is convinced they did not escalate the engagement enough.

This faction is intent on projecting thier views on all of planet, hence the Support bonus. They feel they are the might of Planet and are prepared to defend Planet with their life (+1 Morale).
Due to the number of member of the faction involved abroad Industry and Research tends to lag.

...Dalton

[Velociryx]

I like 'em! I think a lot of people would be inclined to say that the -1 Research AND -1 Industry is too big a penalty, but I think that with an extra starting tech or some other smallish advantage, it could work out very well indeed!
-=Vel=-

[Dalton]

Just had another idea, when I went for coffee!

Founder: Elron Hobbart
Faction: Church of Pure Thought

The founder of the Church of Pure Thought isn't your typical founder of a religion. Instead of a true beliver, he is actually a shrewd business man who is leveraging the common persons need for belief in something greater than themselves into an amazing marketing strategy.

Commerce: +1 (focus is to make money)
Probe: +1 (lots of 'marketing' research)
Planet: -1 (Like Miriam, sees Planet as 'the promised land')
Support: -1 (Not overtly militaristic)

[Dalton]

Ha!

My comments are not included in the text! Netscape is reading my comments as html...

Don't use less than and greater than symbols to delineate personal comments. (The PBEM I belonged to used that convention...)

For the Rainbow Warriors I did not include a faction leader name. The sentences that don't seem to start correctly should have [fill in leaders name here] at the beginning of the sentence.
I was contemplating increasing the negative modifiers for the Rainbow Warriors. The Support can offset the Industry effects if you have a large army. The Planet and Moral modifiers make the faction a very strong military at the beginning, which is offset by a long term Research penalty.
The Planet and Moral modifiers are similar to combining the advantages of Deidre and Miriam. [shiver!]

...Dalton

[Velociryx]

I agree with your assessment, and a GREAT word play on the second faction w/ the leader name! LOL



-=Vel=-

[Dalton]

I gotta get some work done today, this is my last idea for now!

Cyborgs/Intelligent Robots

Dr. Otto Maton is a brilliant scientist with a big problem. He is afflicted with one of the very few degenerative diseases that 21st century medicine can not cure. Dr. Maton's last hope is to construct a new body for himself. With this goal in mind he has relentlessly pursued robotics and human-machine interfaces.
(the story goes here and there...)
Dr. Maton now is the cybernetic leader of a mostly robot faction. The few humans that live in this society are heavily 'enhanced' to facilitate interaction with thier robot worker/warriors.

I'm not really happy with the pros/cons of the cyborgs. Suggestions?

Research: -2 (very few human to do research)
Morale: +2
Police: +2 (robots don't revolt...)
Industry: +2 (no unions, work 24 hours a day)
Commerce: -1
Starts with a robotics tech (not sure which)
SE choices servely limited:
can not choose: Democratic, Free market, Green, Police State, Wealth, Eudimonia (sp?)

...Dalton

[Velociryx]

Just a free-form place for jotting down some ideas that might be cool for new factions, new "home made" landmarks and stuff like that.....I've been kinda thinking about updating the splinter factions I made earlier, and adding seven more to them.....gotta keep up with the Firaxins, and all that....

Random thoughts, ideas, musings?

-=Vel=-

[compugasm]

-----I would say that your research and morale penalties should be switched. While there aren't as many humans to do research, it seems like it takes an aweful lot of smarts to figure out how to put your body in a machine. The citizens can figure things out faster with their new brains. (Research+2)
-----Once you made the switch however, they neglect to mention in their advertisements machines never sleep, so your always tired. They also haven't developed senses of touch and taste yet. It does make the nutrient paste you eat more palateable though. Oh, thanks to tabacco industry coverups they inject you with a constant supply of Nicotine which not only eases your body transformation, but cements the dependancy on the implants. (Morale-2)
-----Beginning facility: A genejack factory which would follow your "work 24hrs a day" idea. Even though they have long work hrs, they are tired, therefore they are slow workers. (Industry+0 or -1) will balance the new factories.
-----SE Choices: Even though they are slow workers, robot people like order and neatness. Their tools and offices are neatly organized. So they get Green for the efficentcy. They don't like to waste space so they build upwards, not outwards with thier buildings resulting in planet not being as upset. Police for the disipline, and FM for creating a communication network where each individual can build his own website and sell books, Audio cassettes of Elron Hobbard, and naked pictures of Cindy Margollis.

[heardie]

Here is an idea for a sisters of jesus faction:
+1 ECONOMY: {Willinng sacrifice comfort for there beliefs}
-2 GROWTH: {Many young followers become atheists and do not follow there leader}
May noy use Power in Social Engineering: {Citizens try to obey commandments {"Thou Shalt Not Kill"}}
Mind Control Immunity: {Citizens strong in there beliefs}
Free Unity Rover at start: {Her Christian beliefs make it easy to brainwash people}
-1 MORALE: {Pacifist tendencies}
I also need some ideas for a military faction, of old war vetrans like names, modifiers, etc.
By the way Val can I have any of those factions on the genneral forums, I posted there but i dont know if you saw it. the addres is dheardie@hotmail.com

[heardie]

Here is an idea for a sisters of jesus faction:
+1 ECONOMY: {Willinng sacrifice comfort for there beliefs}
-2 GROWTH: {Many young followers become atheists and do not follow there leader}
May noy use Power in Social Engineering: {Citizens try to obey commandments {"Thou Shalt Not Kill"}}
Mind Control Immunity: {Citizens strong in there beliefs}
Free Unity Rover at start: {Her Christian beliefs make it easy to brainwash people}
-1 MORALE: {Pacifist tendencies}
I also need some ideas for a military faction, of old war vetrans like names, modifiers, etc.
By the way Val can I have any of those factions on the genneral forums, I posted there but i dont know if you saw it. the addres is dheardie@hotmail.com

[Dalton]

Originally posted by compugasm on 10-21-1999 05:53 AM
-----I would say that your research and morale penalties should be switched. While there aren't as many humans to do research, it seems like it takes an aweful lot of smarts to figure out how to put your body in a machine. The citizens can figure things out faster with their new brains. (Research+2)
'snip' (Morale-2)
-----Beginning facility: A genejack factory which would follow your "work 24hrs a day" idea. Even though they have long work hrs, they are tired, therefore they are slow workers. (Industry+0 or -1) will balance the new factories.
-----SE Choices: Green
Police for the disipline,
FM for creating a communication network

Good comments.

I think we have slightly different visions on how the society functions. (which is fine) Here's some more ideas for discussion:

My view was that 90%+ of the population was robots, with various levels of intelligence. With only 10% of the population with human components.
Creativity and the drive for finding the unknown (what is needed for research) are human characteristics. I did not imagine that the robotic portion of the population would have these qualities.
With this is mind I felt that there would not be a lot of research, the societys workers would be semi-intelligent robots, and the military would be intelligent and loyal robots. Using these assumptions you can see where my faction modifiers come from.

What might be better:
- SE must be Cybernetic and they start with this SE choice.
- Reduce the other modifiers.
- +25 defensive bonus - steel bones are much harder to break...

...Dalton

[DaveVegas]

With the believers already in the game, this faction does not make sense. I hate the Believers, I used to replace them with some other faction created, but, alas, I installed SMACX and now I have to play with them, bummer!
No offense I just would like some more original faction ideas. I am guilty too, I made a faction file about marijuana, and it has alreayd been done too.

Originally posted by heardie on 10-21-1999 08:30 AM
Here is an idea for a sisters of jesus faction:
+1 ECONOMY: {Willinng sacrifice comfort for there beliefs}
-2 GROWTH: {Many young followers become atheists and do not follow there leader}
May noy use Power in Social Engineering: {Citizens try to obey commandments {"Thou Shalt Not Kill"}}
Mind Control Immunity: {Citizens strong in there beliefs}
Free Unity Rover at start: {Her Christian beliefs make it easy to brainwash people}
-1 MORALE: {Pacifist tendencies}
I also need some ideas for a military faction, of old war vetrans like names, modifiers, etc.
By the way Val can I have any of those factions on the genneral forums, I posted there but i dont know if you saw it. the addres is dheardie@hotmail.com

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

[heardie]

Dave you make a good point but this is for a Mod so there is no believers, and believe it (no pun intended) some people do like the believers,m myself included, for a good challenge

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

[dante^]

Hi all. This is my first post so please bear with me. I've been playing around with an idea for a new faction, maybe a splinter faction of the Believers. This faction is maybe something like a cross between the Hive and the Believers, like lots of government propaganda to control the people together with the beliefs of the Believers. No name yet but maybe you guys can help me think of one.

Game Specifics:
+2 Growth : Society encourages rapid growth
-2 Research : People suspicious of secular science
-1 Support : Cult-like society unable to support large standing army
Free REC COMMONS at every base : Citizens indoctrinated with government propaganda
Can exceed HAB COMPLEX limits by 2

Agenda : Thought Control
Aversion : Eudaimonia

Is this faction too strong? Too weak? Comments please. I'm STILL waiting for SMACX cos I live in Singapore and I have absolutely no idea when the game will be available here. Thanks for reading!

[BusterMan]

Hmm.. atheists crossed with hard-core christians? How?

[StargazerBC]

Hehe. My custom faction:

Terran Confederacy

No +'s or -'s. All it gets is 25% to attack and double votes ::Grins:: 25% attack because of city-state self sufficient militas. Double votes because of equal representation. . .as in I don't like the idea of computer players being governor--veto power. This faction replaces Miriam. Sometimes I think it's over balancing already since it basicly means I double my chances of being governor (a huge huge advantage to me) AND an attack bonus to boot. Although, I classify myself as a builder.

Anyone else trying to play a neutral faction?

[dante^]

Busterman: Well, I didn't mean for them to be atheists! What I meant was this faction is similar to the Hive in the way that the government indoctrinates the people with propaganda so that the people would not question their rule. That's why each base comes with a free Rec Commons, reducing the number of drones(dissidents) in the population. That's also why their Social Engineering agenda is Thought Control. And what I meant when I said that they were similar to the Believers was that they are a religious faction which encourages large families, hence they have +2 Growth and can exceed Hab Complex limits by 2. And like the Believers, they are suspicious of secular science, resulting in they -2 Research. Sorry if what I said made you misunderstand!

Anyhow, I made this faction with ACEdit, (don't have the SMAC-X faction editor yet ) and replaced Morgan with them. On a huge map of planet, TI of course, I started off pretty well, expanding rapidly. I had the lead in population and wealth although my technology sucked. I managed to get elected as Planetary Governor(rush-built the Empath Guild to prevent the Gaians from getting it, they were Potent at that time). I found out that my tech was about the same as Miriam, who was also on the same island as me! I was on the island that had the Freshwater Sea and Pholus Ridge, btw. As soon as I was elected Planetary Governor, Miriam came calling. She wanted to extort money from me, which I reluctantly gave to her to prevent a war because I only had one or two Plasma Sentinels in my bases as garrison. I was running Dem/Planned to get to Pop Boom and the -3 Support really sucked. Soon, Miriam started to send Missle Infantry into my territories. I told her to get lost(she was starving one of my bases out) and she declared Vendetta. Probe Teams were useless as she was running Fundy. I soon got my ass kicked by Miriam.

In conclusion, I was getting tech at a reasonable rate despite the -2 Research due to my large population. In hindsight, I could have built Children's Creches and switched away from Demo to avoid the -2 Support.

[Cthol]

How about Robots (the name isn't very good)

Research -2 (robots not very intellegent)
Effiency -1 (they are a bit simple)
Support +1 (robots dont need money or food)
Immune to mind Control
Police +2 (efficient Cops. has no need to riot)
+25 % attack. Good Killers
SE = no Democratic (atleast)

------------------
Cthol
Datalinks

[NotLikeTea]

"The Terra-Nova Project"

"The Unity was not a research vessel. We did not travel for 40 years to come to Chiron and cower underground. We came on a colony ship, to create a new world. And this is what we shall do."
- Chief Jonathan Candau
"The Terra-Nova Manifesto"

Basically, the terraformer faction that Firaxis was considering. Would gain forming bonuses (this can be set), and former special abilities free with prerequisite techs. Would suffer from a planet penalty, as they wish to resape Planet, rather than be shaped by it. Would never refer to it as "Planet" only as "Chiron".

[BusterMan]

dante: you should probably factor in a -1 or -2 efficiency rating because of the Hive's inefficiency in controlling its people. fanatic caombat bonus too?

-Parker

[DaveVegas]

Why not create the faction? Only thing is, you will not be a BIG power nation with -Indust. Unless you plan to tinker with other bonus items. Just a thought.
I am trying to find someone to test my faction. I want it to be balanced. Not to strong, as to spoil game. I have played it to death. Need someone else different game play? Interested? 11/10/99 it will be sent here first, then about 4 other sights. Called Herer.zip. About the Author Jack Herer. There is a lot more, but....

Originally posted by Dalton on 10-19-1999 01:51 PM
Faction idea.

Faction: Rainbow Warriors
Gaian splinter group, with militaristic focus. (Think Greenpeace...)

Planet: +1
Morale: +1
Support: +1
Industry: -1
Research: -1

is intent on not letting Planet be destroyed like Earth was. Working with the Planet requires passive and unobtrusive methods, but dealing with humans requires direct and sometime hostile interaction.
The Rainbow Warriors take thier name from a famous ship an Earth environmental activist group used in the 20th century. With this ship they took the battle for the salvation of earth's ecosystem to the descecrators.
sees the attempts that were made as the model, but is convinced they did not escalate the engagement enough.

This faction is intent on projecting thier views on all of planet, hence the Support bonus. They feel they are the might of Planet and are prepared to defend Planet with their life (+1 Morale).
Due to the number of member of the faction involved abroad Industry and Research tends to lag.

...Dalton

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[AlexanderIII]

>If we're looking at factions, then what about the Neo-Romans, led by Gaius Flavius.

Some good ideas there Herewiss, but bare in mind you can't have more than 8 combined society effects, bonus facilities or starting units. See the 'red' changes possible in ACEdit, that'll give you a fair indication of what counts towards the maximum of 8. Keep it simple; I usually stick to no more than 4 society effects, 6 in rare cases.

[herewiss]

If we're looking at factions, then what about the Neo-Romans, led by Gaius Flavius.


-1 Econ (slave labor)


-1 Efficiency (far flung bereaucracy)


+1 Morale (doughty troops)


+1 Support (excellent logistical skills)


+1 Police (Empire)


+1 Growth (immigration, moving to cities, etc.)


-1 Planet (mild exploitation, eco ignorance)


-1 Probe (cosmopolitan pop easy to inflitrate)


0 research (smart but not curious)


+2 industry (heavy builders)

While this may seem unbalanced, I'd also add a 1/2 psych modifier clause. Meaning that everything you use to control drones is only half as useful. This means that the Neo-Romans would have to invest in bread and circuses :-) more heavily than everyone else. Do you think this might balance it out a little?


I have no idea how you'd do this, but I'd also like to give the Neo-Romans a bonus in road/mag-tube building. But I'm guessing that's written into the program as unmodifiable per enhancement.


I think they'd also get a Commerce boost because of the vastness of their empire or something.


Aversions and preferences is something else though. I _think_ they wouldn't like Fundy (anti-christian);-) But I never play Fundy so I'm not sure how hard a blow that would be. Preference? Wealth? Planned? I'm not sure.


I'm a little at sea over starting techs and possible free base facilities too.


Well that's basically it. I _hope_ I'm not making a hopelessly overbalanced faction, but I did want to create something historically accurate (or close to). All comments would be appreciated.

------------------
"As an adolescent, I aspired to lasting fame, I craved factual certainty
and I thirsted for a meaningful vision of human life--so I became I
scientist. This is like becoming an Archbishop so you can meet girls."

Matt Cartmill

[Tim_Hobbit]

"I _think_ they wouldn't like Fundy (anti-christian);-)"

"Fundy" isn't about Christians per se, it is about religon. The Romans were very religous. They had a very advanced complicated religon.

Tim

[SEE]

Originally posted by Tim_Hobbit on 11-04-1999 01:27 PM
"I _think_ they wouldn't like Fundy (anti-christian);-)"

"Fundy" isn't about Christians per se, it is about religon.
Tim

Well, the standard flavor text the computer players will use assumes that you're a fundamentalist of a monotheistic religion with an all-powerful masculine deity.

Which has really been bugging me, since the faction I'm currently testing is supposed to be a fanatically religious group that believes in acheiving collective godhood through symbiosis with mindworms. (That is, they're trying to achieve Transcendence). (So, Fundie/Green/Knowledge -- they get impunity from the Fundie research penalty.)

So, I've got a Fundie group, but their religion is such that they and the Lord's Believers should be archenemies, hating each other more than either of them hate anyone else on Planet. But the diplomacy engine assumes that any two Fundie groups get along...

[Sangajin]

make a xenomorph faction, that is, a faction based on the aliens from the Alien series, must have extensive knowledge on the xenomorph.

[Kinjiru]

Wow, almost an eight year gap between posts in a thread. Wonder if that is a Poly record?

[Darrell01]

I was thinking of making a really vanilla faction.

Colonial Confederation

"The true key to humanity's survival is flexible adaptability. The be flexible is to have a core center to beliefs able to be implemented with any challenges that appear. This is how we are to survive."
-- John Fillmoore, "The Last Colony"

Robust Police State
Robust Fundamentalism
Robust Power
Robust Green
Robust Free Market
Robust Planned
Free Tech: Centauri Ecology
Free Unit: Supply Crawler

I have reservations about the robust Free Market Planned and Green, but that all comes up to +1 of whatever SE you are losing, with the exception of Free Market which you are given a lot. I like Police State and Fundy because people tend to not use them a lot. Power I'd give it instead of Knowledge and Wealth. The tech because its not immediately offensive and the crawler for fun.

Yes! This thread has been bumped!

[Quadhelix]

Unified Talents

Leader: High Talent Philip Anderson
Background: Unity Personnel Officer
Agenda: Objectivist Meritocracy
Free Tech: Social Psych

+1 Research (Intellectual elite)
+1 Economy (Powerful business interests)
-2 Police (Mistrust of authority)
Robust Probe (Highly individualistic)

Preference: Free Market
Aversion: Fundamentalism





Haven

Leader: First Citizen Ricardo Vega
Background: Unity Chief of Psychiatry
Agenda: Immigrant Democracy
Free Tech: Ethical Calculus

-1 Probe (Open society)
-1 Morale (Pacifist tendencies)
-2 Economy (Poor economic infrastructure)
Free Hab Complex at each base with discovery of Industrial Automation
Can exceed Hab Complex/Habitation Dome limit by 2

Preference: Democracy
Aversion: Power





Technocrat Union

Leader: Controller Akio Yuuhi
Background: Unity Security Technician
Agenda: Technocratic Authoritarianism
Free Tech: Applied Physics, Information Networks

+1 Research (Strong technology base)
+1 Police (Strong political control)
-2 Growth (Little freedom)
No penalties for Fundamentalist politics
Robust Support
Free Genejack Factory with discovery of Retroviral Engineering

Preference: Thought Control
Aversion: Democracy