Favorite fan-made people?

[MysticWind]

Remember back in the community's heyday, with the loads of mod factions and fanfiction?

Were there any fanmade faction leaders or characters that were particularly good? Storywise, were there any great mod factions that fit well into SMAC's setting?

[gwillybj]

SMACFacPack by Adam Gieseler and Nathan Weismuller.
A set of seven new factions for SMAX; includes an entertaining backstory.

[Hydro]

I've really enjoyed the SMAnica Mod. It has seven reasonably thought out faction leaders to add to the 14 of SMAX.

Bree – Bre Ata: sea Gaians (Progenitor experiment), start with IoD
Atlantians – Elevea: roughly speaking, sea Peacekeepers
Cenaturi Republic – Briens; nationalist shopkeepers (anti Morganites)
Emapth Collective – Leatt; egalitarian psi adepts (anti Planet)
Genesis – Chaue; human-centered scientists
Templar – Silvera; totalitarian psi adepts (anti planet)
Ghosts – Delan; super spies (Progenitor experiments)

Most of these are somewhat derivative of the primary SMAC factions, which might be expected since the SMAC and then SMAX covers a lot of ground.

What is appealing about the SMAnic mod is that it plays so much different than SMAC/X.

I seem to recall seeing a backstory on each faction but I can’t seem to find it now. Maybe Maniac could help on this. I'll post to his mod thread to rattle his cage.

Hydro

[Maniac]

I seem to recall seeing a backstory on each faction but I can’t seem to find it now.

Nah, there isn't any. These new factions were just to try out new game strategies, with only a thin layer of ideology.

SMAniaC made sea bases more attractive (I hope), so I added the Bree, Atlanteans and Ghosts to have some more variance in the sea. Ghosts aren't a Progenitor experiment btw.

The Genesis focuses on the genetics theme. AFAIK this doesn't exist in the original 14, so I guess this one could be called kinda new I guess.

Psi attack and defense are made available earlier in SMAniaC, so I wanted to have some factions who were good at human psionics without necessarily being Planetfriendly. Hence the Empaths and Templar.

The Centauri Republic was just added in the end to reach the magical number of seven.


In other words, feel free to let your creative juices flow.

[Hydro]

How strange!

Maybe I was making up a bit of backhistory as I was playing the mod?

Anyway, that does nicely explain why I wasn't able to find a summary.

Hydro

[Googlie]

Hydro:

Here's a challenge ........... put your creative writing talents to use and develop a backhistory for each!!!!!

[Hydro]

Actually, I’ve already started something along those lines. I was planning on using some of the SMAniac factions in my a new bit of fiction entitled Awakening. It wouldn’t be a back story per-se but more of situational, kind of my take on how the factions came to be and why they operate. I was hoping to use that as a backdrop for a SMAniac scenario, too.

Alas for good intensions. Since then I’ve gotten sidetracked by multiple Gal Civ II AARs, a new SMAniac PBEM story with my old friend MasterBuilder, an unpleasantly busy work schedule, and of course the fact I try to keep what passes for a personal life in the mix somewhere.

Anyway, thanks for the vote of confidence! I probably will take up the challenge…

Hydro

[MysticWind]

Cool. Personally, I think I'm going to revive my "Datalinks of the Second Ship" sometime soon.

[Maniac]

I'll be certainly following your PBEM story Hydro!

PS: do you have Civ4?