The AI

[ellie]

ai and factions

I swear the one faction who always does well is deidres!!.

Ive found a nice balance now

i gave each faction 1 more growth efficiency and research (edited factions).

And put them on the ultimate builders map.

As a result sven is expanding like mad and the data angels are kicking the usurpers butts!!!.

Its nice to not be flying away with it, would have preferred to have another difficulty level where the ai plays "smarter" tho.

And biggest annoyance, once you are unsurpassed its almost impossible to keep peace. The only long lasting pact ive ever kept (kept it from 2150 till the end!!) is with the consiousness, she seems really easy to get on with.

Ellie

[Kirov]

Instead of giving bonuses to the AIs, you can try the "switch the faction" challenge. Every 50 or 75 years switch to the worst faction in the game. Imagine to be defeated by the same faction you have been previously playing... I found this challenge very amusing.

Oh, and IMHO, Hive is very good faction with his bonuses and EFFIC immunity. With Police State and Planned he has no penalties besides -2 ECON (-1 Energy in every base, what a hit *rolleyes*). The only problem is that he can't choose FM, but bigger bases mean more specialists, as Alinestra pointed out.

[Major Guz]

The hive can choose FM, but not democracy politics.
Deirdre is the one not able to choose FM (for the -3 planet i guess).
But I indeed like the hive for its impunity for inefficiency (making run under PoliceState/Planned very attractive).

[Kirov]

Of course, Hive can *choose* FM, but it would be very, very stupid, leaving him with 0 ECONOMY. To get that wonderful +2 ECON bonus he would further have to pick Wealth and trigger GA... Pointless.

[Jamski]

If you want to do that, why play with the Hive? Although it can be fun to play every faction against its type.

-Jam

[Jac de Molay]

More coughing*

Morgan is THE builder faction. If you can't win with Morgan then forget it.

*Coughs to death*

-Jam

PK's are better IMO. You can pop-boom at will, push pass those hab limits in no time, then switch over to FM. The +1 econ you pick up from Wealth is not as useful if you're hampered by hab limits. Lal can do just about anything morgan can do, and is not nearly so hampered.

[Capt Dizle]

In my opinion the Hive, Believers, Spartans and Morgan are map dependant factions. Morgan needs an isolated position to perform at his best. The other three needs someone close by to pick on.

This leaves the University, the PKs and Gaians as the most balanced as each can fight or build effectively.

To make a more challenging game custom place your faction of choice in the middle of a continent surrounded by warlike factions and set up the others in isolated spots.

And add a little rule like, blind tech stag, can't keep captured bases or build colony pods until you a)reach turn 100 AND b)discover IA. That leads to a more interesting game for sure.