Favorite factions...

[WotanAnubis]

Originally posted by Mr. President
I used to like to rebel against the way Deirdre is portrayed in the books and by, well, the green lobby, and ally with Emperor Yang.

Actually, you're following the book perfectly. If I'm not mistaken, the second book does have the Gaians forming an alliance with the Hive.

[Mr. President]

Heh, I forgot about that.

[Commy]

ANGELS
ANGELS
ANGELS
ANGELS

I just don't think anyone likes the Angels as much as I do...

And anyway...

Angels fans: how do you deal with the Probe rating wrap-around?

Both my idealogy and playing style has me do democracy, free market, knowledge, and eudaimonia...

One reason I like the angels is because I love doing knowledge but hate having negative probe...while probe is probably not that important of an advantage, I just can't stand having negative probe...don't know why...

With the free covert ops you get +2 probe...+3 isn't really worth striving for, because you can just build the hunterseeker algorithm...true, it can be bypassed in SMAX, but it is extremely difficult, and impossible in the early game...

As for you Hive fans...SUPPORT THE FREE MARKET!!!!!!!!

[Senethro]

Pah, noobiversity clearly in the lead now. I don't like them just be cause, like the Hive, its nearly impossible to play them incorrectly. While the Hive is just a cancer that ICSs across the land powered by +3 growth and Industry the university is "Generic Faction +1". They can do everything, and do it with faster research than anyone else.

(Having said that, I use all 5 of the top voted factions shamelessly. With a little bit of Deidre on the side)

[Maniac]

Since this is a thread about favourite factions...

if you voted for the Morganites, Spartans, Angels or Gaians in this poll, check out the Alpha Centauri Democracy Game here on Apolyton! Then you can play your beloved faction in a team with other like-minded people.
I would especially want to recommend the Spartans as fun.

Currently there's a peace conference going on between the Arcadian Alliance (Sparta and the AIs University and Peacekeepers) and the Axis of Weasels (as Sparta calls them) of the Corporation (Morgan) and the Gaian Union. So it's an interesting time to join!

[Frankychan]

Originally posted by Commy
ANGELS
ANGELS
ANGELS
ANGELS

I just don't think anyone likes the Angels as much as I do...

And anyway...


Both my idealogy and playing style has me do democracy, free market, knowledge, and eudaimonia...

One reason I like the angels is because I love doing knowledge but hate having negative probe...while probe is probably not that important of an advantage, I just can't stand having negative probe...don't know why...

With the free covert ops you get +2 probe...+3 isn't really worth striving for, because you can just build the hunterseeker algorithm...true, it can be bypassed in SMAX, but it is extremely difficult, and impossible in the early game...

As for you Hive fans...SUPPORT THE FREE MARKET!!!!!!!!

Blegh...Free Market and the Hive go as well together as a laxative and standing in an hour-long line.

Hive=Planned. Anyone who disagree's with me deserves a trip to the [SIZE=1]punishment spheres[SIZE] Recreation Commons!

[Senethro]

I once had a funny Police state/Planned/knowledge/creche game with the Spartans using ICS. That was a rover rampage and a half... Other than that, I've not seen much Planned lately.

[Chaos Theory]

Planned is a very good SE choice. Industry is very appealing, and if you can handle the drones, growth is extremely helpful early on. --Effic hurts, but is worth it. The real downside of Planned is that you can't run Free Market at the same time.

[Mr. President]

Actually, I use Police State / Planned as the Gaians (present tense now that I've figured out that you need to uninstall the Windows XP compatibility patch to play on Windows XP ). +2 Efficiency is tech.

[Sebed]

Originally posted by Chaos Theory
The real downside of Planned is that you can't run Free Market at the same time.

it's true indeed...
I voted for Morgans - i really like them and i'm able to play them well...
but i must agree that best choices is Hive or Drones...
especially Drones have a good adventage to be more flexible than Hive - it's easier to change your style of play if you play Drones...
and i reallly don't understand why Uni has gained so many votes - it's really difficult faction to play especially if you play against experienced players - you are piece of cake which is usually taken by the faster opponnent...

[Chaos Theory]

The Uni can be very good in the early game. They can dash for impact weapons and plasma steel, yielding pretty tough 4-3-1 troops with normal morale. I've run over a few early neighbors like this, even in multiplayer.

Another option for the Uni player is very early Wealth + FM (Wealth in ~2115, FM as soon as possible afterwards) for extremely fast tech and a good energy flow, possibly yielding PTS + VW. Get both and you have a huge edge. Get just one and you have a substantial edge.

[Sebed]

Originally posted by Chaos Theory
The Uni can be very good in the early game. They can dash for impact weapons and plasma steel, yielding pretty tough 4-3-1 troops with normal morale. I've run over a few early neighbors like this, even in multiplayer.

i can agree...
but just imagine that Hive or Drone gets this techs at the same time (i don't care if it's simple trade or stealing) - they can easly outnumber Uni military units and result of war is well-known...

Another option for the Uni player is very early Wealth + FM (Wealth in ~2115, FM as soon as possible afterwards)

i'm little confused - i thought FM goes before Wealth, but perhaps i make terrible mistakes - who knows

for extremely fast tech and a good energy flow, possibly yielding PTS + VW. Get both and you have a huge edge. Get just one and you have a substantial edge.

it's true, but it's kind of universal true - no matter what faction you play it's just true...

[Ka Plewy]

but just imagine that Hive or Drone gets this techs at the same time (i don't care if it's simple trade or stealing) - they can easly outnumber Uni military units and result of war is well-known...

That will not happen, very often (if at all) that another faction besides Morgan (Roze, too, I guess) is sitting at or near Zak's tech level. Early production of Hive & Drones can be counteracted by Uni's getting to IA and crawlers. Depending on map size, of course.

i'm little confused - i thought FM goes before Wealth, but perhaps i make terrible mistakes - who knows

It does, but a good Uni player under directed research and a popping a nearby monolith or being on a river will get to AI by earlier than 2140. He's recommending the early switch to FM, I think, because since you won't be a large empire by the time you discover it, you'll be able to handle drone problems, and you'll vastly improve your research rate. I could be mistaken, though.

it's true, but it's kind of universal true - no matter what faction you play it's just true...

No, for Uni, it's a huge game winner. One colony pod will create 3 pop, which won't riot, and can zoom to the second (third?) b-drone limit.

For the fast tech, and the VW/PTS abuse I won't play Zak unless I want to try something out, he's almost too good. Probably the reason why he's very popular on this poll, and why many experienced players consider him a bot of a noobish faction.
Edit: typos

[Chaos Theory]

The Hive or Drones won't have much of a production edge on the Uni, and they'll be horribly behind in tech, the former because of very low energy flow, and the latter because of 10 turns without research, higher research costs, and .8 normal tech points after 10 years. This is too early for much stealing, and what neighbor would trade the Hive a weapon in the early game?

FM is accessible before Wealth, but if the Uni beelines for Wealth, they'll get it around 2115, which is about the same time they can get 40 credits together for an SE switch. It's better to go Simple/Wealth than FM/Survival, at least in this case.

If the Uni gets the VW and the PTS, all their bases of size 3 or below will not riot for anything short of pacifism, and of course all new bases will be size 3. No amount of bureaucracy will ever result in drones in those bases. Throw on a rec commons to get to size 4, and use specialists at size 5 and up.

[foxfire4321]

Pirates would be my number one choice. I always like to get my little aquatic empire running early and then just blast everyone out of the water who dares to venture onto the high seas. The biggest drawback is the lack of development (in an unmodded game) for deep ocean territory... you would think that the Pirates should be able to eventually work the whole of the oceans.

For classic games I go for the Giaian faction and really push the ecofriendly motif (with early move towards aquatic bases)

Either way I aim for the Geothermal Flats first and spread out from there.