Roundhouse discussion of a new Alien faction

[VoodooChild]

The following is a custom faction that I have been thinking about. The premise is that one of the aliens splinter groups has decided the best way to deal with the human presence on Planet is to eliminate them through ecological catastrophes. Then after the human blight has been eradicated, restore Planet to her former glory. They feel the best way to do this is from the sea since one of their major weapons will be rising the sea level. Also since they know beforehand that Planet will actively resist them, they have hypnotic trance for all their units.

+1 Industry (Naval units cost more)
+1 Support (Far flung empire)
-1 Growth (The sea is bountiful)
-1 Green (Planet senses dark intent)

As far as the aliens go, the +1 net social modification is maintained because -1 Growth is not really a penalty for a sea faring faction.

Free Techs
Level 1 - Progenitor Psych
Level 1 - Centauri Ecology
Level 2 - Field Modulation
Level 2 - Doctrine: Flexibility

A blending of both Alien and Pirate free techs, this faction gets a level 2 Pirate tech in place of two level 1 supporting techs that the other Aliens have.

Free Units
extra Sea Colony Pod (ala Alien late start)
Isle of the Deep (ala Alien Battle Ogre)

Free Unit Abilities
Hypnotic Trance (ala Pirate Marine Detachment and Alien combat modifer)
Deep Radar (ala Alien ability)

I would like to have all the usual Alien perks, but I have a few questions about some additions.

Is there a way to code all map tiles revealed? If I have to, I will give these Aliens a Geosynchronous Survey Pod for each city since I will miss prepping bases with sensors. I just don't like the 4 maintenance cost of those bad boys (unless it comes free, anyone?) But this might make up for the huge advantage that I want next. The reason for this is to quickly locate future city sites without the usually tedious exploration which I personally don't enjoy.

Also how does the Hive get its no inefficiency, I would like to transfer this ability for my aliens since their cities will be spread out across the map.

I realize that the special abilities of this faction are way over powered for an already "easy" single player game, but I wanted to try this type of tactic (Victory through ecological catastrophes). So whenever I play with this faction, I will forgo abusing the AI and just play by my own set of "rules". Thank you in advance for any answers or advice.

[Mech Assassin]

Ok, so I don't know about revealing the map, but the AC readme says that the alien factions "possess the physical scan of the planets surface".
Also, no ineffectivity is given with faction editor "Immunity: Effec"

[Mech Assassin]

Also I think that the Scan is with "Alien Faction" line in Rules part.

Hope that helped.

[Sindai]

First off: About coding map tiles revealed. I am almost certain it can't be done by editing the faction abilities. The aliens get a "physical scan", but that's simply what ALL the factions get ANYWAY unless you have "No Unity Survey" turned on.

Secondly: Nope, luckily for you, buildings given for free as a faction ability do NOT require upkeep. And, interestingly enough, Punishment Spheres given for free don't halve a base's labs output either.

Third: Just add IMMUNITY, EFFIC, to the .txt file to duplicate the Hive's ability.

Although be warned: This *doesn't* mean that they never has ANY inefficiency (ie: no energy loss and no beuracracy drones.) It just means that they can never have NEGATIVE efficiency. If you want a huge, sprawling empire, you'll still need to run democracy, green, knowledge, and the like....

Finally: This is a really interesting concept, and certainly would be fun to play *against*. All of Sven's growth, plus an industry bonus and the alien advtanges....extremely strong.

[Maniac]

I've read somewhere you can't give space facilities such as Sky Hydroponics Lab as a free facility. Probably then the same counts for Geosynchr. Survey Pods. So I guess you'll have to miss your 25% Defence bonus.

[networknode]

I like the sound of this faction, have you tested it out? I'd like to post it on my site too if that's OK.

------------------
–III THE NETWORKNODE III–
Custom Factions for SMAC & SMACX
Submit your own Faction!
www.civgaming.net/citizens/networknode
networknode@lycos.net