Faction Ideology in Social Engineering

[Tenchusatsu]

Originally posted by bobyk464

And on the lighter side - what about those Pirates? If we think of them as happy-go-lucky swashbuckling rogue privateers, then there's no organized government. You've got Frontier and Wealth. Future society? Who cares about the future? We're having too good of a time now... But the truth is rarely so glamorous - more realistically, they'd be run like a brutal organized crime syndicate. But I like to think Sven and his followers are better than that.

Pirates and Wealth? The idea of SE Wealth is to generate your own, not take that of others. So the Pirates would necessarily go for SE Power. As for government, I guess Frontier would make sense, given that there is no centralized government like you said. Economics? Either Simple or Free Market.

[bobyk464]

Good point.

[Nadexander]

Re: Faction Ideology in Social Engineering

Originally posted by Alynzia

In short, hippies, the lot of them! Not too sure about the future society choice, because cybernetic gives the +2 Planet rating. Would Deirdre hand over her administration to computers so she could spend more time dancing naked through the trees?

I think this has been mentioned before on the boards but it seems like it would more apropriate if cybernetic had the +2 Industry (precision and efficiency of cyborgs allow for more effective production) and eudimonia had the +2 planet (enlightened humans at peace with the universe are more likely to commune with nature). I think this a great change because it helps with game balance and also makes the roleplaying aspect more interesting.
In this light i think i can totally see eudimoniac gaians spending all day frolicking naked in the trees Now I can see where that +2 to population growth comes from.

This of course has no relevance to the game, unless you really like to get into character...

Of course! Thats the best part. Whats the point of playing Yang if you cant nerve staple captured bases

[EtheMind]

As far as the game goes, seems like it's not possible for the AI to effectively play the Peacekeeper

Pacifist settings might have helped. But if you want to conduct UN style Peacekeeping you can't really be a pacifist in the true meaning of the word. But it might have suited better than the Erratic, in sake of realism. In the end UN Peacekeepers are suppose to be something more than an ordinary faction, something which they aren't.

I usually choose the faction's agenda in SE, simply because what's the point of playing a role of idealist, if you don't play according to ideals. However, in most cases the best choice is to choose the faction's agenda even from the perspective of political realities. And most of the SE choices which would seem to support faction's original intentions seem to support the overall strategy. There's little point of playing Gaian's with Police State or Yang with Free Market. You need to make most of those faction bonuses, whatever they are.

[Alinestra Covelia]

I don't know why, but I always thought of Yang eventually aiming for a Eudaimonaic society at the end - his present state of self-denial and state-empowerment is akin to the Marxist ideal of Communist leaders.

In other words, the state control, like the idea of a "Communist leader" (essentially a self contradiction) is only an initial and temporary arrangement - the end result is one that can be directly achieved only after certain ideologies have been shed.

I got that impression of Yang - namely, that he practised the same asceticisms that he imposed on his people, purely so that when they had been sufficiently reformed, the state and human endeavor would be synonymous.

[korn469]

as for the spartans i think they would go

police state
free market
power (in war) knowledge (in peace)
then probably cyber

with the extra starting police stats and with a police state/fm/kno/cyber you have a faction that is really good at research and can still fight

[EtheMind]

I don't know why, but I always thought of Yang eventually aiming for a Eudaimonaic society at the end - his present state of self-denial and state-empowerment is akin to the Marxist ideal of Communist leaders.

Yang's high security police state with implanted Big Brother attitude is that far from communism. And the idea from trespassing into communism by using party dictatorship is the idea by V.I. Lenin.

Yang however practised full-blown totalitarian system in which The State, not the People, not All Workers of the World served as the final purpose. In fact Yang was an aristocrat who believed into elite individuals rather than masses. The very thing communism fought against. Considering the quotes of Yang about Drones it's easy to recognize the pity, fear and untrust he felt towards lower class.

The basic definition of totalitarian system is "The State is self serving purpose of existance, the absolute value behind all actions and motives". When looking back into this definition nothing falls better into category than Hive.

I say he goes for Thought Control.

[warmachine]

I think of the peacekeepers as essentially a fundamentalist group. They are so 'charter-thumping' and use that as a cover to hide their desire to convert everyone to their beliefs.

All the factions are guilty of advocating their own ideology. This doesn't make them fundamentalist. After all, the game is about 7 leaders who shatter their mission because they can't agree.

Lal's ideology is to convince different cultures to respect each other and to work in harmony. That's why the Peacekeepers get +2 population limit. He's also from a country composed of different cultures that are trying not to fight each other. Hence, the PKs avoid excessive police or monocultures - Democratic.

His dismay during Mind/Machine Interface suggests he favours individual over corporate power. The exploits of Free Market is right out. His advocation during Centauri Preserve and Centauri Psi suggests a planet friendly economy, though mostly to prevent Mind Worm attacks - Green.

He advocates free information and self-teaching, hence his opening speech and libraries as Recreation Commons - Knowledge.

Future society is less obvious, though clearly not Thought Control. Considering the society encourages Talents - Eudaimonic