New Faction: The Machine

[wheathin]

For those interested, the PS *does* affect tech. It just doesn't get displayed anywhere.

Interestingly, the faction (now with -1 Ind, -1 Pla, and -1 Sup) is underpowered compared to the SMAX factions. In two all-computer test cames, the Machine got rolled twice. Both times, it quickly expanded to about 8 bases. It got Synthmetal, but did not get the Perimeter defenses up fast enough. Neighbors rapidly acquired Impact lasers and swamped the Machine, pushing back to two or three size-7 perimeter defended bases. About that time, Machine scientists discovered level 3 armor, so the hemorraging stopped, but the damage was done.

Interesting Problem for the AI - it doesn't know it has no drones!
It built Rec Commons and the HGP! It was trying to build the VW. No wonder it got crushed.

[Flubber]

So the AI was no real test of its abilities. If instead of the HGP and the rec commons they had instead built the perimeters they might have been ok and just the fact that the AI would research rec commons early is stupid. You know you are a slow researcher and the greatest vulnerability is early before your drone immunity really matters. I think with these guys I would beeline to impact while popping out pods.

Did you play them on a small or tiny map because their advantages get bigger and bigger as the map gets larger when you meet later and drone control requires some drain on the resources of others. The third and 4th and 5th citizen actually working a square should compensate for both the industry and support penalties AND will go a long way to compensating for the research penalty.

I think the faction you have there now would be competitive to very strong in the right hands on a standard or larger map. There is really no impediment to ICSing with it indefinitely and even if the 40th base and beyond do not produce any energy, so what-- typical builds for that base could be unit, former, crawler, crawler , crawler . They could crawl a few minerals to get production going and then start pumping out the units OR start crawling food to grow the thing to become an all specialist base.

No drones EVER ???? The possibilities are mindboggling.


I admit I am intrigued by this faction and would like to play them a bit to see how my theories stand up. Now, do you have a file on these guys that can be installed or would I have to tinker in the manner you outlined above. I am new to custom factions although I have been playing for a while.

[Shai-Hulud]

You could post your faction as an attachment. If you think it's reasonably balanced. I'd be interested to try it out too.

[wheathin]

I played on a large planet, but it had a few very large continents (I had minimal erosive forces) so the Machine shared space with at least one other faction. That led to early contact.

The faction is strong in the hands of a human player.

I'll post it tomorrow, after I tweak the file one last time (I may give it Conquest and not Builder priorities to get it to do more military research and less facility building). You'll have to cut'n'paste it into a text file and add it to your alphax.txt.

[GeneralTacticus]

I played this faction on Transcend a while ago, using the original stats except using +1 GROWTH not +2, and MAN they were powerful. The fact that I could ignore Drone control meant that I had way more resources to use, and use FM without trouble, despite the fact that I had modded the game so that the + or - from PLANET was double, I had no trouble until Deirde declared war, and even then it was only from those ****ing worms. At the time she still had Synth/Laser guys.

[Shai-Hulud]

Was that tomorrow wheathin?

Anyway. Why don't you just send it as an attachment? That would save everyone's time, right? Why do people insist to use this copy-paste method? Is there something I've missed?