Changes to factions - feedback wanted

[Doug325]

I was thinking of making the following enhancements to the factions and I am looking for feedback on the changes
(Changes shown by asterisks)

Believers
25% Bonus for Attack
+1 Probe
-2 Research
-1 Planet
* Free Rec Commons in each base
Likes : Fundy
Hates : Knowledge

Also Fundy changed from
+2 Probe +1 Morale -2 Research to
+2 Probe +1 Morale -1 Research -1 Economy

The rational for this is that a religous based group is liable to have fewer malcontents(drones). The changes make Fundy a little better to play. There would be a drop in Economy whgen the society becomes more religion based

Gaians
+1 Planet
+2 Efficency
-1 Morale
-1 Police
* Fungus +1 Nutrient, +1 Energy, +1 Minerals
* Free Recycling Tanks
Likes : Green
Hates : Free Market

Changes made for balance

Hive
+1 Growth
+1 Industry
-2 Economy
Free Perimiter Defenses
* Immunity from negative efficency
Likes : Police State
Hates : Democracy

The immunity from negative effiecency is a change made in one of the patches to SMAC

Morgan Industries
+1 Economy
-1 Support

* +1 Industry/-1 Planet
* OR Free Energy Bank
* OR 2% Interest on reserves

* Need Hab Comples to grow bases bigger than 5
* Likes : Wealth
Hates : Planned

Morgan Industries definitely needs to have it's pop limit raised from 4 to 5. With Ascetic Virtues, this makes the Morganites even with everyone else
I have changed thier agenda from Free Market to Wealth. Morgan's strength is that he can get the coveted +2 Economy by using Wealth rather than Free Market (with its severe Police and Planet penalties)
The other changes are for additional balance. I would like suggestions as to which enhancement I should chose

Peacekeepers
-1 Efficency
Can grow to 9 before needing Hab Complex
Talent for every 4 citizens
Votes count Double
* Impunity Democracy
Likes : Democracy
Hates : Police State

I chose to the PKs impunity to negative effects of Democracy (thier choice) for balance

Spartans
+2 Morale
+1 Police
-1 Industry
* Impunity Power
Likes : Power
Hates : Wealth

I chose to the Spartans impunity to negative effects of Power (thier choice) for balance

University
* +3 Research
-2 Probe
Drone for every 4 citizens
Free Network Node for every base
Likes : Knowledge
Hates : Fundy

I was planning on giving the UoP immunity from the ill effects of Knowledge, but then realized that the UoP was already at the negative end of the scale on Probe strength and the Negative of Knowldege was -2 Probe (so it doesn't really effect them anyway)

Any suggestions on these changes would be appreciated. (Are the factions balanced)

[Enigma]

All that I have to say is that the fungus bonuses AND the free recycling tanks are too big of a bonus for Gaians.

I also noticed you did not give any more bonuses to Yang, I say give him the police special ability free when he discovers the tech. This would really crack down on those drones, and seems to fit with the faction.

[Smeagol]

Doug,

Most of your changes look good, and remarkably are exactly the same changes I've considered making. I agree that the Gaians are a little too powerful with the recycling tanks and all those fungus pluses. I also like the Hive bonus recommended by Enigma, though I'm not sure the Hive really needs any more bonuses.

Besides that I think the university doesn't need to have +3 research instead of +2... they are powerful enough. I still think the Spartans are too weak... maybe give them a +1 support or something so that they can have unlimited support with Police State or Power. Maybe even free High Morale when they discover the tech, or a free bioenhancement center when they discover that tech. I don't recommend the free command center because then they'd be unstoppable early on.

Just my thoughts...

[korn469]

Doug how about this (if you have SMACX)...

Believers
25% Bonus for Attack
+1 Probe
+2 Support
-2 Research
-1 Planet
*nodrone 2
Likes : Fundy
Hates : Knowledge

keep fundy the way it is...

Gaians
+1 Planet
+2 Efficency
-1 Morale
-1 Police
* Fungus +1 Nutrient, +1 Energy, +1 Minerals
Likes : Green
Hates : Free Market

Hive
+1 Growth
+1 Industry
-2 Economy
Free Perimiter Defenses
Immunity efficency
*Free nonleathal methods upon discover of intellectual integrity
Likes : Police State
Hates : Democracy

Morgan Industries
+1 Economy
*+1 Efficency
-1 Support
+1 Commerce
100 extra energy credits
*Talent for every 4 citizens (maybe too much)
Need Hab Comples to grow bases bigger than 4
Likes : Free Market
Hates : Planned

Peacekeepers
-1 Efficency
Can grow to 9 before needing Hab Complex
Talent for every 4 citizens
*Robust: Support
Likes : Democracy
Hates : Police State

Spartans
+2 Morale
+1 Police
-1 Industry
Free prototypes
*free high morale upon discovery of intellectual intergrity
Likes : Power
Hates : Wealth

University
+2 Research
-2 Probe
Drone for every 4 citizens
Free Network Node for every base
*each base produces an extra point of research every turn
Likes : Knowledge
Hates : Fundy

[Doug325]

Thank you for your suggetions. Since these are the original factions I want to be able to use them in both SMAC and SMAX As a result I am using

Belevers : Free Rec Commons (For SMAX only nodrone 2 would be better although in that case you should also give Domai
nodrone 2

Hive : I gave them +1 Police in addition to immuinity effic (Wioth Police Stare they can get +3 Police which doubles police power)

Gaians : +1 Everything in Fungus
Morgans : pop limit 5
+1 Industry - they are a company
and -1 Planet that cares little for the environment
Spartans: +1 Support in addition to Impunity Power
PKs : Impunity Demo
Univ : +1 base/turn + Biogenics at start

Thank you for your feedback

[swisscheese4]

You should look at ShiNing1's Alpha Centauri (SNAC) modpack in the Apolyton CS: SMAC files thingy. He has done a very good job of modifing the original factions

here is an example of the changes to the believers

BELIEVE.txt

Vision:
The Believers, much maligned for their ugly leader and poor research, never the less
were a faction favoured by skilled players for their rush tactics and supremely effective
probe teams.

Little has been altered, save to bring them a little more back into the public domain (free
morale and probe for fundamentalist), and to scale back slightly their ability to create huge
legions within the first 50 turns.

The Believers are also affected by the inability of probe teams to steal technologies. As a
result, they have their attack bonus upgraded to +50%, making them quite spectacular when on
the offensive. Early rushes are advised, in order to net technologies from the captured bases
of opponents.

Favourite Techs:
* Non-linear Mathematics (lasers)
* Doctrine: Intelligence (probe teams)
* Cyberethics (Planetary Datalinks)

Changes:
* Added 'Impunity, Fundamentalist' (no research penalty from this government choice)
* Benefit from change of fundamentalist prereq to Social psych (alpha.txt change)
* Benefit from doubled fanatic attack bonus
* Changed 'social, ++support 'social, +support'
* Changed social focus from Probe to Morale (fight fight fight)
* Changed wealth interest to 1 and growth interest to 0
(now 1, 1, 0, 1, 0)

Datalinks Info:
^+50% bonus when attacking, from strength of belief
^+1 PROBE: {Devout followers difficult to brainwash}
^+1 SUPPORT: {Citizens eager to defend faith}
^-2 RESEARCH: {Suspicious of secular science}
^-1 PLANET: {Believe Planet is their promised land}
^Suffers no negative effects from Fundamentalist politics
^Accumulates NO research points until MY 2110
^{May not use Knowledge value in Social Engineering}


Read the readme file to see the full changes