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positives and negatives
Well, if anybody has good ideas how to balance SE picks please write it here.
Many people like to create factions but ask others if they're ballansed. Let try to make some criteria.
1. Analisis of SMAC factions.
1.1. Gaians. +2 effic, +1 planet, -1 police, -1 morale, aversion: FM.
+2 effic ballanced by FM aversion and -1 police. High efficiency allows you to waste less money and have more bases w/o drone problems. Planet bonus leads to concentrating more on native life than conventional troops and give a bonus in early exploration. Fungus bonus and early exploration bonus are strength of Gaians.
1.2. Hive. +1 growth, +1 industry, -2 economy, immunity to effic, aversion:democracy, free Perimeter Defense.
Most difficult faction for analisis. Wrost penalty is their aversion: no easy pop boom and no high efficiency. So, they always have more drones when expand compare to Gaia. Well, Police/Planned combo and no efficiency penalty gives them +2 police, +2 support, +3 growth and +2 industry. Excellent but... -2 economy. They really need their support and industry to be on pair w/ others in tech (formers and base facilities for cash and research). But Hive has one more handicap: FM. This is absolutely wrong economical choice. So, to finish, Hive need support, industry, police and growth to be on pair w/ other factions. Positives of Hive are safety and high production.
1.3. UoP. +2 research, -2 probe, NN and extra drone for every 4 people, aversion:fundy. Most people don't like Fundy and think that this is good aversion. Maybe. But this is better choice for war compare to Police, if Power is availible. Boost in both, morale and security, is prohibited for UoP. But they have fastest research and best techs. So they can build more advanced probes due to techs that enchance probe morale. Extra drone make getting techs bit difficult but not significantly on highest levels. Major advantage of UoP is their free NN. This bonus bit smaller due to extra drones.
1.4. Spartans. +2 morale, +1 police, -1 industry, free prototypes, aversion: Wealth. Only one thing is bad but really bad about them: Spartans never have good industry. But they need less troops in bases during war time, no need in expensive prototypes and elite troops from the early game. Major advantage is fast exploration and smaller army compare to others.
1.5. Morgan. +1 economy, -1 support, bonus in trade and penalty in base size, 100EC and planned as aversion. It's only faction that can get +2 economy w/o expensive penalties of FM. But but.. Only one free unit is pain for early exploration. They defenitely need their 100EC to get fast start. Small bases mean expensive building (Habitation Facility) very fast. They really need trade bonus to be on pair w/ others huge bases. And they need money to cover all this clean units. Only advantage is happy citizens (w/ 20% psych) while research is still fast.
1.6. Believers. +2 support, +1 probe, -1 planet, -2 research, fanatics, no research for 10 years, aversion: knowledge. When you talk about most hated faction it is near always Miriam. Why? She's not designed to be builder. Her bonus is only one: support. Two more units than everyone else means she always has huge army in field. +25% when attack and +1 probe covered by -2 research and -1 planet. She is aggresive explorer. Planet dislikes her a bit and this hurts when fighting native life. But in conventional warfare Believers are better than any other faction. Believers are best users of Fundy and Demo, third best after Hive and Gaians in using Planned, third in using wealth (after Morgan and Hive). So, they are very flexible warmongers.
1.7. Peacekeepers. -1 effic, extra talent, double votes, large bases, aversion: Police State. Their talent and high pop limit is important coz' the more bases they have the more drones they have the less energy production in new bases. Large bases also good coz' Peacekeepers can't rely on support from Police State. Lal's strength is information. Easy elections, extra cash, know everything about everyone.
In general, every single faction in SMAC is very balanced and have some minor advantage that can be important for particular game settings, like Spartans' speed on small maps, Gaians worm with abundant native life, ect.
Next part will be concentrated more on single picks like how to balance +1 support or -3 planet and so on.
P.S. Comments are very welcome. If someone wants describe SMACX factions, welcome.
Many people like to create factions but ask others if they're ballansed. Let try to make some criteria.
1. Analisis of SMAC factions.
1.1. Gaians. +2 effic, +1 planet, -1 police, -1 morale, aversion: FM.
+2 effic ballanced by FM aversion and -1 police. High efficiency allows you to waste less money and have more bases w/o drone problems. Planet bonus leads to concentrating more on native life than conventional troops and give a bonus in early exploration. Fungus bonus and early exploration bonus are strength of Gaians.
1.2. Hive. +1 growth, +1 industry, -2 economy, immunity to effic, aversion:democracy, free Perimeter Defense.
Most difficult faction for analisis. Wrost penalty is their aversion: no easy pop boom and no high efficiency. So, they always have more drones when expand compare to Gaia. Well, Police/Planned combo and no efficiency penalty gives them +2 police, +2 support, +3 growth and +2 industry. Excellent but... -2 economy. They really need their support and industry to be on pair w/ others in tech (formers and base facilities for cash and research). But Hive has one more handicap: FM. This is absolutely wrong economical choice. So, to finish, Hive need support, industry, police and growth to be on pair w/ other factions. Positives of Hive are safety and high production.
1.3. UoP. +2 research, -2 probe, NN and extra drone for every 4 people, aversion:fundy. Most people don't like Fundy and think that this is good aversion. Maybe. But this is better choice for war compare to Police, if Power is availible. Boost in both, morale and security, is prohibited for UoP. But they have fastest research and best techs. So they can build more advanced probes due to techs that enchance probe morale. Extra drone make getting techs bit difficult but not significantly on highest levels. Major advantage of UoP is their free NN. This bonus bit smaller due to extra drones.
1.4. Spartans. +2 morale, +1 police, -1 industry, free prototypes, aversion: Wealth. Only one thing is bad but really bad about them: Spartans never have good industry. But they need less troops in bases during war time, no need in expensive prototypes and elite troops from the early game. Major advantage is fast exploration and smaller army compare to others.
1.5. Morgan. +1 economy, -1 support, bonus in trade and penalty in base size, 100EC and planned as aversion. It's only faction that can get +2 economy w/o expensive penalties of FM. But but.. Only one free unit is pain for early exploration. They defenitely need their 100EC to get fast start. Small bases mean expensive building (Habitation Facility) very fast. They really need trade bonus to be on pair w/ others huge bases. And they need money to cover all this clean units. Only advantage is happy citizens (w/ 20% psych) while research is still fast.
1.6. Believers. +2 support, +1 probe, -1 planet, -2 research, fanatics, no research for 10 years, aversion: knowledge. When you talk about most hated faction it is near always Miriam. Why? She's not designed to be builder. Her bonus is only one: support. Two more units than everyone else means she always has huge army in field. +25% when attack and +1 probe covered by -2 research and -1 planet. She is aggresive explorer. Planet dislikes her a bit and this hurts when fighting native life. But in conventional warfare Believers are better than any other faction. Believers are best users of Fundy and Demo, third best after Hive and Gaians in using Planned, third in using wealth (after Morgan and Hive). So, they are very flexible warmongers.
1.7. Peacekeepers. -1 effic, extra talent, double votes, large bases, aversion: Police State. Their talent and high pop limit is important coz' the more bases they have the more drones they have the less energy production in new bases. Large bases also good coz' Peacekeepers can't rely on support from Police State. Lal's strength is information. Easy elections, extra cash, know everything about everyone.
In general, every single faction in SMAC is very balanced and have some minor advantage that can be important for particular game settings, like Spartans' speed on small maps, Gaians worm with abundant native life, ect.
Next part will be concentrated more on single picks like how to balance +1 support or -3 planet and so on.
P.S. Comments are very welcome. If someone wants describe SMACX factions, welcome.
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