Who would you join?

[Frankychan]

Whose the 4th person who Voted for the benevolent Chairman Yang? And whose the lost soul who voted for the accursed Sister Miriam???

Ah, you guys don't play true to the faction, since I haven't played SMAC in ages (due to the fact that my cd-drive is broken), this is what I normally play for Human Hive (I don't really play other factions)

Police State
Planned (Green if SMAC version isn't patched)
Power
Thought Control

I also had at least 3 clean police units in my bases to prevent the drones from "expressing their free will".

But I see Yang as having strengths and "setbacks" instead of weaknesses.

To combat setbacks, I pump out massive units and bully my nearest neighbor to give me my desired tech or else its Hive-takeover time.

[waab]

Ohh a community were everybody is working for the common good. Or communism

[Jethro83]

Originally posted by frankychan
Whose the 4th person who Voted for the benevolent Chairman Yang? And whose the lost soul who voted for the accursed Sister Miriam???

So, someone voted Miriam. I'm not surprised with that though. Remember though that most of the factions build Gattaca style socieities where the genetically superior (and those who undergo gene therapy) are dominant. To be what is known as a 'godchild', as in their genes aren't tampered with in that way, they would be considered second class citizens (and would also be rounded up and killed in the case of the Spartan socieity).

Since the Believers harbour a deep mistrust in all things secular, their faction is somewhat of a save haven for those who weren't genetically altered, as there is no such thing as designer babies, gene therapy or any other Gattaca sorts of goodies within their bounds. I can imagine common drones of the University who were displaced by genetically superior uberpeople, marching out and heading straight to New Jerusalem to find a better way of life there. To some people (particularly at that time into the future), religion is so trivial that if they have to buy into that crap to survive without having their bodies tampered with by mad scientists, so be it.

Ah, you guys don't play true to the faction, since I haven't played SMAC in ages (due to the fact that my cd-drive is broken), this is what I normally play for Human Hive (I don't really play other factions)

Police State
Planned (Green if SMAC version isn't patched)
Power
Thought Control

I know I don't play true to the faction. The problem with being true to the faction is in being inflexible. Rather than picking a single agenda and sticking with it through and through, I prefer flexibility, and what serves the best interests of the faction.

For instance, when I play the Spartans, I wouldn't go Police State, Simple, Power and no future society as their true to faction model would probably be. Instead I like to go...

- Police State (extra support helps you maintain more of those superior trained Spartan units)

- Green (Combat inefficiency, withstanding the worm onslaught, nuff said)

- Knowledge (When the Spartans have superior weaponry, they can be practically INVINCIBLE!!!)

...early on, and before the Living Refinery and Cloning Vats secret projects and Eudaimonic society. Thereafter:

- Democratic (Since I get +2 Support from Living Refinery, there is no longer any compunctions against this one. It also helps to increase growth rate even later on when nutrient output is HUGE)

- Planned (Just because we're armed to the teeth, with a bloated defence budget doesn't mean we can't build something even resembling industry).

- Power (with the Cloning Vats in place, there's no longer any compunctions against Power. Besides, with the energy output at this point, the labs already work fast enough)

- Eudaimonic (Since I can run a Power society with impunity, there's no longer any compunctions against this choice, which immensely tops up Industry and Economy)

I could also be known for running a Fundamentalist Peacekeeper state, a Green Morganite economy, a Democratic Believer faction, and a Planned economy Gaian faction (even though Dierdre believes Planned to be drowing the planet in human waste). If you simply run the faction true to the faction, there are advantages of other models that you simply miss out on.

To combat setbacks, I pump out massive units and bully my nearest neighbor to give me my desired tech or else its Hive-takeover time.

Definitely a good option. Though I like to do that kind of thing with the Believers a little more than the Hive, only more subtle. They already have increased Probe Rating (which is further increased with Fundamentalism), so I make use of it (having more probes than troops sometimes). The Hive's setbacks can be combatted with the proper Social Engineering choices that may not be true to the faction.

[Frankychan]

Well...LordAzreal,

I tend to have a natural aversion toward religious fundamentalists, and Sister Miriam is the "garlic" to my "vampire". I hate with a passion, religious fundamentalists and even though I may outwardly seem the paragon of civility, I inwardly detest these individuals. I truly believe Yang is better than Miriam because IMHO, Yang seems more rational than Miriam in terms of scientific achievement. (One just needs to look at The Believers stance to the UoP to see this viewpoint).

As to your other points, I can see how you can see the faults of playing the faction "true-to-its-doctrine", but I like to have the challenge of implementing the factions die-hard views and seeing if their way is the so called right way.

So far, I haven't seen much detriments of running the Human Hive way (after the patches), and still side with the benevolent Chairman Yang. After that would be Lady Deidre Skye (cause she's a babe!).

I tried playing Morgan both true to his belief's as well as trying to counterbalance his detriments and couldn't do it.

.....maybe I'm just too much of a power-monger to play Morgan?

[Jethro83]

Originally posted by frankychan
I tend to have a natural aversion toward religious fundamentalists, and Sister Miriam is the "garlic" to my "vampire". I hate with a passion, religious fundamentalists and even though I may outwardly seem the paragon of civility, I inwardly detest these individuals.

Indeed it would be good to release the hounds on Jehova's Witnesses when they come to the door. Those who would try and force people to join their flock are people who I also find detestable.

I truly believe Yang is better than Miriam because IMHO, Yang seems more rational than Miriam in terms of scientific achievement. (One just needs to look at The Believers stance to the UoP to see this viewpoint).

EVERYBODY is more rational than the Miriam and her minions in terms of not just scientific achievement, but EVERYTHING. That's why those fearing artificial change in the human genepool end up joining the Believers in the long run. Why they are so scared of becoming something more than they currently are, I don't know.

As to your other points, I can see how you can see the faults of playing the faction "true-to-its-doctrine", but I like to have the challenge of implementing the factions die-hard views and seeing if their way is the so called right way.

I guess I could try that all out. But I believe that taking any doctrine to the extreme isn't exactly right. There needs to be room for change when needed.

So far, I haven't seen much detriments of running the Human Hive way (after the patches), and still side with the benevolent Chairman Yang. After that would be Lady Deidre Skye (cause she's a babe!).

The only difference to how I run the Hive, and the true to Yang's doctrine model is that I choose Eudaimonia over Thought Control. I can see no thorns in Yang's side with a true to the faction Hive, since the only penalty of thought control is support (which is nullified by the Cloning Vats). I could also use that extra morale from Power instead of nullifying it with Eudaimonia to wage war with greater success.

As for Dierdre, I'm guessing her agenda would be Democratic, Green, Knowledge and Eudaimonia. With penalties in Morale (innate, as well as extra from Eudaimonia), Police (also innate), Support (from Democratic), Probe (from Knowledge). Quite difficult to wage war, as the only units you can get with clean reactors totally suck due to the low morale. Worms are Dierdre's best weapon, but they will cost quite a bit to support. And unless they can build the Hunter Seeker Algorithm, they are going to be fodder for enemy probe teams, and will be hard pressed keeping their technology out of enemy hands. Not only that, but actions from friendly probes will be less successful and more expensive, making mind control base subversion no good an alternative.

I tried playing Morgan both true to his belief's as well as trying to counterbalance his detriments and couldn't do it.

.....maybe I'm just too much of a power-monger to play Morgan?

I've had the same problem. I've found the best way for me is to go Fundamentalist and use the superior probes to procure research data and subvert bases with mind control (which Morgan can easily pay for). When they send troops to retaliate, mind control them, and dismantle them to get a facility built. Even then I have trouble.

IMHO Morgan is a powermonger who has huge trouble holding the supreme executive power he expects, as the decadence of his people (innate negative support value) and the ruthlessly exploited and p-offed drones (negative police from Free Market) undermine his authority very easily.

[dunk]

I would join Lal.

I'm ignoring all the times he's attacked me in the game (since I haven't played AC if I'm on the Unity) and all of the books (since I've never read them).

Reading the Datalinks on the factions, The Peacekeepers embody what I beleive the world here on Earth should become. Prefferred got: Democratic.

The Hive, which I am surprised to read some of these posts defending Yang, is simply scary. Remember that only Yang is in charge and you would have to do anything he says. I don't want to live in a police state, regardless of its professed goals or motivations. Preferred govt: POLICE STATE, I don't care how noble or how eloquent Yang's little quotes are, he's a dictator and you'd find that out as soon as you disagreed with any one of his desicions.

The Morgans wouldn't be too bad, seeing as how it would be similar to what we have in the USA now.

The Gaians would be ok. Living in a nice, clean environment would be nice. Living with Moon Unit wouldn't though.

The University is a little frightening to me as well. I would assume most of the research would be done for its own sake, but the potential misuse of things like cloning, gene splicing, and other current cutting-edge technlogies makes me a little leary of a "mad scientist".

The Beleivers go right out the window. No thanks. My spiritual beleifs are my own to discover, not anyone else's.

The Spartans are frightening too. I don't want to live in a society where active military service seems compulsory.

That's my opinion. I think a lot of people forget that they're probably not going to be in any position of power within these factions, simply a normal citizen, as you are in this life.

[Phil_de_geezer]

Aaarrrghh!!! The Believers are catching up with the Hive! Oh, the shame, i can't bear it!

[Clear Skies]

Someone really ought to make a SMAX version of this poll... Wonder how many people would join the Consciousness? Do they come across as too Borg-like in the game?

[Adalbertus]

I'm ignoring all the times he's attacked me in the game (since I haven't played AC if I'm on the Unity) and all of the books (since I've never read them).

Are you really sure? The projected launch of Unity is in 2060. 58 years from now. Unless there are no particularly important advances in Longevity Treatment, or I'm as longliving as Konrad Adenauer, I probably won't make it to Unity (being 92 at that time). On the other hand, there are some 22 year old fans of SMAC (and perhaps even younger) who might have a chance to participate as Yang or Morgan. (According to some obscure sources, including Apolyton, Yang is born exactly 60 years after beginning of WWII, or is it exactly 31 years younger than I, anyway, he should be around 3 right now. Zak should be 8 years right now, Morgan -3, Lal -4. At least Zak might already be fan of SMAC (or soon be). Who nose?

[waab]

Originally posted by dunk999
The Morgans wouldn't be too bad, seeing as how it would be similar to what we have in the USA now.

Morgon most be the worst choice:
We have just raped mother earth, now let us rape our father. That is Morgan.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by waab


Morgon most be the worst choice:
We have just raped mother earth, now let us rape our father. That is Morgan.

Cry me a river tree-hugger!

[waab]

Originally posted by Sikander


Cry me a river tree-hugger!

ehh sorry didn't understand what you mean really...

[RGBVideo]

Uni - because I like Uni... (ahhaha! Ok, bad joke of funnish language)

Science is goooood for you... : )

[Jac de Molay]

Pah! Uni are nothing but unethical baby-cloners.

Dave

[Lazerus]

Ah i'd love to be in chairman Yangs position as a dictator, im just a megalomaniac i know. However i'd still join the Hive even as a worker, since every1 knows the hive will conquer planet

Police,Planned,Knowledge,Eudaimonic, If the Hive manages to keep pace with the other factions for the first 30years then its game basically cos nobody can stand in the way once its boomed and begins the juggernaught campaign.

I nearly always go for formers first then straight for planetary networks to get planned society for that great early +3 pop growth and +2 industry total.