Feedback requested for new factions:

[Marid Audran]

OKAY! At first I couldn't load it either; same Terranx crash. So then I re-designed the Mercant.txt from scratch in Facedit. It seems that while you can cut-and-paste Base names and Diplomacy sentences in the .txt files, if you do the same with Datalinks blurbs, and don't write them initially in the framework of Facedit, it can cause severe problems.

Now the mercant.txt loads just fine; I've attached it (cleaned up, Progenitor diplomacy included) in an updated zip.

(Good lord, even when I've banished them from existence the Progenitors cause me problems)

[Mongoose]

That did it! I'm about 40 turns into a game. Too early to draw any conclusions yet. Just changed to WEALTH.

One thing so far... Unit colors are the same as the PK. (at least to my eyes) Any way to differentiate that?

Base graphics are cool.

[Marid Audran]

Glad it loaded fine, ditto that things are indecisive at this point (shows that they being overpowered isn't at once evident).

Yes, they do use the Peacekeeper colors. I'm not sure what the tag for that is. The original faction that used the graphics, O.E.D., was a sort of aquatic version of the Peacekeepers in ideology, so that explains it (the Agrarians use the Morgan colors).

Yes, I like the base graphics too. Rather fitting for a Mercantile.

[Marid Audran]

Well, parked into a mid-game with the Agrarians, I thought I'd share my preliminary analysis, and such. It's probably going into a vacuum, but I found the experience interesting and still welcome feedback.

Speaking of which, Mongoose, did you finish that Mercantile game? If not, how far along did you go? Was the +1 Economy for an aqautic faction a deal-breaker, or what?

It is a violent game, that much is evident in my Agrarian test. All the factions ended up on one huge supercontinent on a 20% water world, so there are no isolated island nations or natural borders. Sort of brutal free-for-all. My immediate neighbors were an always bellicose Sparta. Not a good thing; I'm up against the best-trained force of soldiers on Chiron (+2 morale) with the worst-trained force of soldiers on Chiron (-2 Morale).

I was lucky to steal Nonlinear Mathematics from Santiago and prototype a quick Impact Infantry w/Alien Artifact before she overran one of my bases with a battle Ogre she found, as well as her general army. I was struggling to get some forces up and running just to stay alive and man the borders. To that end, after some deliberation, I built the Command Nexus (over the choice of the Human Genome Project or Weather Paradaigm) to neutralize my atrocious morale. Until I built it, most of units spent their time in green or very green morale modes. Even afterwards I wasn't getting troops much better than hardened, in tandem w/high morale and Fundamentalism. A factional deficiency definitely leaving its mark on my operations.

Eventually after Gatling became the mainstay weapon on Chiron (and out of Santiago's hands) I overwhelmed and eradicated her faction. The pre-planning of it took awhile though, with my inferior military. After she was gone, I concentrated on the rest of my infrastructure and growth at home. After a quick immediate pop-boom from Demo/Planned and I researched/traded/stole most of the techs needed to get by, I went into Police State/Planned while I filled in the edges of my territory.

Contrary to what the thought of a -4 Efficiency rating might do to you (send you into convulsions), This SE setting actually fit Agrarian needs quite nicely at this juncture. True, I was getting absolutely no money or research done (except a small pittance from HQ). But I had a +3 police rating, which was all the drone control I needed to reign in my sized 7-9 core bases and slowly ascending outer ones. With non-lethal methods and police, I could potentially qwell up to 12 drones! +2 support was also excellent for pumping out formers and supporting these police. My industry was good, and I still had a +4 growth rating, +6 where Creches were concerned. I don't think I've ever been so comfortable in Police State before, except as Yang.

Who, by the way, was intent on making life uncomfortable for me. Yang, to my north and west, had eradicated nearby neighbor Zak, Miriam to my east and south, had eradicated Morgan. So much for my builder neighbors. I have Lal as a pactmate, though his HQ was taken by Santiago before her defeat, and his economy sucks for it. He has two lone bases which aren't building a new HQ, which serve mostly as decent-sized probe factories for token resistance against Yang/Miriam. In peacetime I took the time to construct the Citizens' Defence Force, needing all the defence I could get in this borderless plain.

War eventually broke out with Yang, impossible to appease even in Police State and his two-tech demands for a truce are outrageous. I had to switch over to Fundy/Green to start a military campaign with some semblance of funding. Unfortunately, my super-drone control went with it, and more energy allocation is going to psych, and citizens to doctors, than I care to. The war hasn't gone well and Yang has taken two bases with coordinated stacks. I've gotten a rover/infantry force up and running to protect my remaining borders, which are always busy. Money is very scarce and I have to rely on probes to bleed some out of Yang (!). One of Yang's cities has the Virtual World in it, which would do wonders for me, but it's hard to coordinate a strike force needed to take it when so many of my forces are wrapped up in defence.

And more will be needed since Miriam (impossible to appease even in Fundy) recently declared war on me as due to the same reason; I not willing to cough up two techs for "peace." Both Yang and Miriam occupy vast stretches of land on this Pangea, but Miriam even more so, and will be even more dangerous. I need to scramble some more units to defend more weak links in my limitless colony perimeter. Though things look grim at the moment, I'm hoping when I finish researching Advanced Military Algorithims the Power SE choice can turn the tide. Missle weapons and Silksteel are the arms of the day for now.

Things have been uniquely challenging with the Agrarians so far, their growth and police boons coming at a heavy morale price, which can really work to your detriment when sandwiched betwixt Yang and Miriam. All that easy pop can turn against you too, without proper drone controls reigning things in. The -1 Planet was more of a nuisance really, eco-pops coming in a bit earlier. As an aside the free fungicidal tanks didn't work; when Synthetic Fossil Fuels came in, all of my infantry and rovers got free "fungicidal tanks," but my formers didn't. I'm going to have to find a benefitical workaround, like a free super-former or something. I'm actually thinking, additionally, of ditching the -1 Planet setting for something else, like -1 Industry and giving the Agrarians an inherient 20% psi-defence. Not so much as to further cripple them as give native life a realistic alternative for these farmers in terms of battle. Second rate to Dee and Dawn perhaps, but doable; accelerated starts with the Agrarians reveal the AI giving them an inordinate number of pre-gen worms, probably to offset their hideous morale. Might as well work that angle.