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Following Tokamak’s and Smack’s leads, I decided to mosey on over to the Creation thread to start a running discussion for hammering out the details of the Splinter Mod, recently referred to as the Torture Mod….
Torture Mod Summary
Purpose – The very reason for the Mod’s existence is to address a number of severe game balance issues, and to provide a new platform for gamers to test themselves against. This new platform will be designed with all of the accepted “best strategies” and current game standards that I am aware of in mind, and to whatever degree I am able, those strategies currently viewed as most powerful and/or most favorable, will be hobbled, forcing players to seek out entirely new strategies.
In the same breath, a second goal of the Mod is to bring a greater sense of realism to the game. While it is true that no one really knows how difficult or easy it would be to start a colony from scratch on an alien world, I get the distinct impression that it would be substantially harder than has been presented in the game. Added to that is the fact that we have history as a guide. The history of the ill-fated Roanoke Colony is very much on my mind as I contemplate changes to the alpha.txt file which drives the game.
To that end, what follows is a summary of proposed changes, and numerous spots which are currently “blank” or “gray.” My hope is, that by posting the synopsis of proposed changes here, it will open up discussion on various specific parts of the game, leading to a much higher quality end-product than I could ever hope to get developing the Mod in a vacuum.
Having said all that, read on, and feel free to make your thoughts and opinions known! The changes below were taken from the thread begun in the Strategy section, and already include modifications made thanks to comments there!
Changes made to the following SE Table Entries:
Frontier: -1 Growth, -1 Research
Limited resources in frontier societies make growing a thriving community a daunting proposition. Additionally, with what resources that are available spent on meeting the bare necessities of the population, there is little left over for research.
Simple: -1 Support, -1 Industry
No formalized economic structure in place – Likely, the society relies heavily on a barter-based economy. The inefficiencies to be found in primitive economic systems are borne out by a decreased ability to support large numbers of field personnel, and by a fledgling or nonexistent industrial base.
Survival: -1 Research, -1 Support
With survival of the colony of paramount importance, resources must be carefully rationed. Thus, research—which may lead to fascinating but largely useless discoveries in a practical sense—and support for exploration—those colonists fit enough to explore are badly needed at home to keep things running—are curtailed.
Baseline tech costs are tripled.
Baseline SP costs are doubled, and costs for projects that provide free facilities are quadrupled.
Supply Crawlers have been removed from the game. Reasoning – The Supply Crawler is essentially a “broken” unit….cheap to build, carrying no support cost, and very easy to abuse (upgrading to expensive configurations that no one would actually build to use in order to speed-build projects). Even raising the price of the unit AND requiring support for each one built would only delay the game breaking situations it is possible to create with the unit. Add to that the fact that the Crawler is essential to most accepted Builder strategies, and one of the goals of the Mod is to do away with or substantially weaken currently relied on strategies, and the decision to remove was easy.
Clean Reactors have been removed from the game. Reasoning – Also a game breaker. +4 Support is unrealistic enough, but the ability to create an endless stream of units requiring no additional cost is obscene from a game balance standpoint. This one was an easy decision for me, because I rely on Clean Reactor Troops in my own SMAC/X games.
Nerve Gas has been removed from the game. Reasoning – the AI never uses it, giving a decisive advantage to players who do. Also, it is highly “in favor” with classic Momentum/Rush Style games. Removing it as an option forces rushers to come up with something new and different.
Choppers get a four (4) movement….price remains unchanged. Reasoning – Shining1 is a genius. The only thing I disagree with is his increase in baseline cost for the unit. By drastically reducing the number of moves, it’s utility is severely curtailed until the late game, especially in light of the slower tech discovery rate this Mod proposes.
Growth: Has been modified in two ways. First, a –3 Growth rating no longer prevents growth, but instead, gives the expected –30% slower rate. Also, +6 growth gives 60% growth in bases. The ability to “Boom” has been removed from the game.
Probes: The Probe has been moved to Information Networks. I can see the logic behind having Probes associated with Planetary Networks, but the logic runs counter to the actual game experience. The logic says that probes only begin infiltrating the datalinks of neighboring nations when they begin to interconnect across the planet. This would imply that a probe, sitting at his desk (or inside one of your own bases) could remotely connect to the rival faction’s datalinks and attempt to break in. This, of course, is not what the game experiences. Your probe has to get out and go to the target base with the express intention of infiltration. Given that, it makes sense in my mind that as soon as a faction has something to infiltrate (information networks), there’d very likely be someone who’s willing to try to do it, and this can be seen by looking at the history and development of the hacker culture here on earth. I’m also seriously considering removing the tech steal option from probes. This would profoundly impact the Momentum game, however, and I’m not sure if it can stand to be weakened further than it already has been. Also, moving Probes to InfoNets weakens PlanNets, which is a good thing, as the tech in its original form grants an SE choice, a secret project, and a new unit type….YOW!
Carrier Deck now becomes available with the discovery of _____(tech yet to be determined, but somewhere close to Doctrine: Air Power). Reasoning – Navy has typically been a “weak leg” of the SMAC game. This is a move to strengthen Naval options and operations, and also to bring a truly outstanding unit ability into the game much sooner.
Deep pressure hull now becomes available with the discovery of ____(tech yet to be determined, but somewhere close to Fossil Fuels). Reasoning – See Carrier Deck, above. It won’t make a bit of difference in SP games, but early subs in MP will add a whole new realm of uncertainty to the game, and require vigilant patrols.
Terraforming: I have always been fairly happy with when and where terraforming options become available on the tech tree. Unless someone presents a strong argument for shifting certain options forward or back, I’m inclined to leave the terraforming options as they are.
Secret Projects: A number of these will be disabled. The ones on the list are broken or distorted in my view, and a number of strategies are based solely around some of them. The current list of projects to be disabled or changed is as follows:
Weather Paradigm: Not disabled, but pushed back to Ecological Engineering. Note that this DOES remove some of the free terraforming effects from the equation, but it still retains value thanks to the shorter terraforming times.
Cloudbase Academy: Disabled. I don’t think there will be many disagreements that the CBA is one of the most overpowered project in the game, if not the king of the heap.
Empath Guild: Disabled. It has a distorting factor where votes are concerned, and free infiltration is, IMO, too powerful, especially when coupled with the huge commerce windfall that the winner of this particular prize will most likely get.
Planetary Transit System: Disabled to pull the teeth from the classic ‘borg strategy, and as a move to help keep Ashaandi’s group in check (see factions, below).
Cloning Vats: Disabled. Pop booming is another broken aspect of the game, and one I’m trying hard to limit with this mod.
Clinical Immortality: Moved forward to extend its game life. Current tech to move it to has yet to be decided.
The Space Elevator: See Clinical Immortality, above.
Singularity Inductor: See Clinical Immortality, above.
Bulk Matter Transmitter: See Clinical Immortality, above.
Telepathic Matrix: See Clinical Immortality, above.
Net-Hack Terminus: See Clinical Immortality, above.
OoO
The (Revised) Splinter Factions:
It is my hope to create seven unique and believable factions, each with a very different feel, and each providing a very different playing experience. While this is more-or-less true of the factions we’ve got now, I DO feel that more could have been done along those lines, and will attempt to pull it off here. The factions (or at least the latest iteration of them) appear below:
The Heretics of Chiron: +2 Planet -1 Research, -1 Industry. Starts with one scout patrol. Tech at start: Centauri Ecology. No SE aversions. Robust: Planet. Begins the game with one Alien Artifact (stolen from the Believers on their way out the door!) All troops come with built in Trance ability.
Design Notes: (More details on this group will be provided later…I’m at work and away from the files)
Splinter Group from the Believers and driven out by Miriam Goodwinson, who tolerates no dissention in the ranks, and branded them heretics and traitors. Like the mother faction, they suffer a research penalty (growing up in a right wing, fundamentalist state which frowned upon research…some habits are hard to break), and they DO get a morale bonus…not as good as Miriam’s group at combat, but certainly not slouches, either, but that’s where the similarities end. The Heretics have much in common with the Gaian faction, regarding Planet as sacred and not to be despoiled. In truth, they see the new world as their Eden. A paradise to be melded with rather than fought. Because of this almost mystical worldview of Chiron, the Heretics spend much of their time communing with Planet, which leaves less time mundane pursuits (research), and they would certainly do nothing that would blemish the pristine nature of Chiron (Industry).
The robust Planet rating limits the ecological damage that a switch to Market causes (not sure how the game rounds, so I don’t know if they’ll wind up with a 0 or 1 here), making defense against native life a much easier proposition. Add to that the free ability of their troops, and you get a fairly “worm-proof” faction, going a long way toward eliminating that as a viable avenue of attack against them, and it plays into their faction story as a whole. This latest “tweak” to the faction also addresses some previously expressed concerns that the faction was overpowered in the early game (they used to start with a pair of mindworms!). They’re still strong, but their built in troop ability is defensive in its nature, and they now have to take the time to find and capture worms, rather than starting with them, which should provide at least a bit of slowdown.
OoO
DataPirates – Led by Doctor Lawrence (Psycho) Freeling: +2 Probe, +1 Efficiency, -2 Police. Tech at start: Information Networks, Doctrine: Mobility (all those computer racing games!) Begin with 1 Former, Impunity: Knowledge. All troops come with built in polymorphic encryption built in.
Design Notes: Splinter group from the University. Hacker/punk sub-culture that thrived in the University’s easily-to-infiltrate society. Essentially, I see these guys as being brats…lol…smart as hell (probe rating and their ability to find shortcuts to arrive at end results leads to the effie bonus) but essentially lazy (thus, no research bonus for them at all). They’d rather steal tech than work for it, and because of that, they’re understandably police shy. For the most part, their modifiers (both positive and negative) center around relatively low-powered segments of the game though (exception made for the small efficiency kick), and my initial reaction was that the DataPirates were something close to the Mod’s “baseline” faction, but then I took a look at their stats, just considering Knowledge (not taking any other SE settings into account) +2 Research, +2 Probe, +2 Efficiency. Pretty heinous stuff, but (hopefully) not unbalancing. The polymorphic encryption for their troops is a minor ability, and only helpful in limited situations, but still intriguing.
OoO
The Circle of Ashaandi - Led by Harrand Ashaandi: -3 Support, -3 Morale (Support hit comes from the inner-circle’s lavish lifestyle….soaks up resources, leaving relatively fewer available to support the actual running of the empire – Morale hit comes from troops serving out of fear. Also the fact that Ashaandi’s troops are not considered shock troops, but assassins…good at sneaking around, but lacking in hand-to-hand prowess.), Sharetech 3, Punishment Sphere in Every Base. No SE Aversions (but their native support hit means you’d have to drag them kicking and screaming to Dem!) Tech at start: Biogenetics, Applied Physics. Begins with one Former. All units come with “Blink” built in (Troops are actually assassins, good at infiltration as mentioned above).
Design Notes: Breakaway group from the Hive. Should be a MOST interesting faction to play. No drone riots, EVER, regardless of…well, anything, and no need for control facilities. All this comes with a hefty price tag, however. While Democracy is not outright banned, running it would severely hinder the faction’s ability to do….much of anything requiring large numbers (or even medium sized numbers) of units. Also, expansion in the early game will have to be done with a great deal more care than the norm, considering that each unit requires two minerals for support. This should create a durable, but slower growing faction, in the same vein as the Pirates from Crossfire. The free spheres are nice, in the sense that Ashaandi’s group essentially plays a simplified game…one devoid of having to worry about balancing drone issues, but the 50% research penalty makes them the hands-down worst researchers in the game. As people begin to explore and make contact, the Sharetech ability will begin providing help, but with the slower moving tech tree, this might take a while, leaving the Assassins on their own for a number of years. I see them as having a relatively small army (no kidding, with their heinous support costs!), but one that is utterly devastating on the attack, with the ability to simply bypass base defenses. That, coupled with the fact that they can run Market and sneer at the drones should make the faction viable. When the faction reaches the point when they see their support drop to “only” –3, watch out! Suddenly their support costs are halved, and they can begin to field an increasing number of troops. In MP, either kill them early or make alliances against them!
I was a bit leery of giving the group Biogen at start, which also gives them access to the HGP, but considering the nature and starting condition of the group, I doubt it’s something they’d be interested in, even from a denial standpoint. Gunning for it would tie up one of their (relatively fewer anyway) bases, further hobbling their early game expansion. Only play testing will tell for sure, but my early impression is that the HGP will be pretty much ignored by the group.
OoO
Honshu’s Militia - Led by General Honshu himself: +2 Morale, Votes halved in Planetary Council, Robust: Morale, -1 Efficiency, -1 Economy (training troops and keeping that wicked army up to date drains a great many resources from the economy, holding it down). Honshu begins with a rover, despite not having the tech for it. Tech at start: Doctrine Loyalty. No SE aversions.
Design Notes: Breakaway group from Santiago. The only faction in the game that starts with a tech that has an attached SP—well, at least an SP that the faction in question would be interested in obtaining! Odds are good that they’ll get the Command Nexus, and if they do, they’ve got the hands-down best troops on Chiron. The hit to efficiency hurts their expansion slightly, and until they get Industrial Automation, they won’t make much money, but the fact that they can run Wealth with only a minor, “inconvenience” penalty makes the acquisition of IA extremely important to them. I see this group as the diametric of Ashaandi’s. Good, solid troops against slinky assassin type troops, and neither of them are particularly adept at research, though Ashaandi’s Sharetech surely gives him the edge there. As an aside, would their immunity to Morale hits make them immune to that funky smax gas that lowers morale??? Initially, I gave this group a Unity Chopper at game start, but considering the new limitations on that unit, I felt they would be better served by a Rover. Thoughts on this?
OoO
The Humanists - Led by “Mother” Hannah Washington: +2 Support (very team spirited society),
-2 Morale (not much attention paid to training troops for war), free Children’s Creche with tech, Not allowed to run Police State or Power . Begins with Social Psych, 1 Scout, and 1 Former.
Design Notes: The only faction in the game that starts with a support value of 0—given the way I intend to change the default SE settings--and this is an important edge, IMO. Add in the fact that they still get free minerals when switching to Dem, and they can expand almost as well as Ashaandi’s group (not quite as well of course, cos the drones WILL eventually catch them, but not bad at all. The free facility comes pretty early in the game, and is not terribly expensive to build manually, but I thought it was a nice perk for the group, and it undoes their morale hit from the moment they get Ethical Calc. The inability to run in a Police State stems from their PK origins, and plays well with the faction’s beliefs (essentially, while Lal is a humanitarian, “Mother” Washington is a humanist….similar but not the same. Still, they both have low regard for Police states and those who use them). The inability to run Power was added out of necessity, to prevent the group from getting to +4 Support. This is still possible in the late game (Living Refinery(?), but by then it’s impact won’t be as crushing.
OoO
(to be continued)
-=Vel=-
Torture Mod Summary
Purpose – The very reason for the Mod’s existence is to address a number of severe game balance issues, and to provide a new platform for gamers to test themselves against. This new platform will be designed with all of the accepted “best strategies” and current game standards that I am aware of in mind, and to whatever degree I am able, those strategies currently viewed as most powerful and/or most favorable, will be hobbled, forcing players to seek out entirely new strategies.
In the same breath, a second goal of the Mod is to bring a greater sense of realism to the game. While it is true that no one really knows how difficult or easy it would be to start a colony from scratch on an alien world, I get the distinct impression that it would be substantially harder than has been presented in the game. Added to that is the fact that we have history as a guide. The history of the ill-fated Roanoke Colony is very much on my mind as I contemplate changes to the alpha.txt file which drives the game.
To that end, what follows is a summary of proposed changes, and numerous spots which are currently “blank” or “gray.” My hope is, that by posting the synopsis of proposed changes here, it will open up discussion on various specific parts of the game, leading to a much higher quality end-product than I could ever hope to get developing the Mod in a vacuum.
Having said all that, read on, and feel free to make your thoughts and opinions known! The changes below were taken from the thread begun in the Strategy section, and already include modifications made thanks to comments there!
Changes made to the following SE Table Entries:
Frontier: -1 Growth, -1 Research
Limited resources in frontier societies make growing a thriving community a daunting proposition. Additionally, with what resources that are available spent on meeting the bare necessities of the population, there is little left over for research.
Simple: -1 Support, -1 Industry
No formalized economic structure in place – Likely, the society relies heavily on a barter-based economy. The inefficiencies to be found in primitive economic systems are borne out by a decreased ability to support large numbers of field personnel, and by a fledgling or nonexistent industrial base.
Survival: -1 Research, -1 Support
With survival of the colony of paramount importance, resources must be carefully rationed. Thus, research—which may lead to fascinating but largely useless discoveries in a practical sense—and support for exploration—those colonists fit enough to explore are badly needed at home to keep things running—are curtailed.
Baseline tech costs are tripled.
Baseline SP costs are doubled, and costs for projects that provide free facilities are quadrupled.
Supply Crawlers have been removed from the game. Reasoning – The Supply Crawler is essentially a “broken” unit….cheap to build, carrying no support cost, and very easy to abuse (upgrading to expensive configurations that no one would actually build to use in order to speed-build projects). Even raising the price of the unit AND requiring support for each one built would only delay the game breaking situations it is possible to create with the unit. Add to that the fact that the Crawler is essential to most accepted Builder strategies, and one of the goals of the Mod is to do away with or substantially weaken currently relied on strategies, and the decision to remove was easy.
Clean Reactors have been removed from the game. Reasoning – Also a game breaker. +4 Support is unrealistic enough, but the ability to create an endless stream of units requiring no additional cost is obscene from a game balance standpoint. This one was an easy decision for me, because I rely on Clean Reactor Troops in my own SMAC/X games.
Nerve Gas has been removed from the game. Reasoning – the AI never uses it, giving a decisive advantage to players who do. Also, it is highly “in favor” with classic Momentum/Rush Style games. Removing it as an option forces rushers to come up with something new and different.
Choppers get a four (4) movement….price remains unchanged. Reasoning – Shining1 is a genius. The only thing I disagree with is his increase in baseline cost for the unit. By drastically reducing the number of moves, it’s utility is severely curtailed until the late game, especially in light of the slower tech discovery rate this Mod proposes.
Growth: Has been modified in two ways. First, a –3 Growth rating no longer prevents growth, but instead, gives the expected –30% slower rate. Also, +6 growth gives 60% growth in bases. The ability to “Boom” has been removed from the game.
Probes: The Probe has been moved to Information Networks. I can see the logic behind having Probes associated with Planetary Networks, but the logic runs counter to the actual game experience. The logic says that probes only begin infiltrating the datalinks of neighboring nations when they begin to interconnect across the planet. This would imply that a probe, sitting at his desk (or inside one of your own bases) could remotely connect to the rival faction’s datalinks and attempt to break in. This, of course, is not what the game experiences. Your probe has to get out and go to the target base with the express intention of infiltration. Given that, it makes sense in my mind that as soon as a faction has something to infiltrate (information networks), there’d very likely be someone who’s willing to try to do it, and this can be seen by looking at the history and development of the hacker culture here on earth. I’m also seriously considering removing the tech steal option from probes. This would profoundly impact the Momentum game, however, and I’m not sure if it can stand to be weakened further than it already has been. Also, moving Probes to InfoNets weakens PlanNets, which is a good thing, as the tech in its original form grants an SE choice, a secret project, and a new unit type….YOW!
Carrier Deck now becomes available with the discovery of _____(tech yet to be determined, but somewhere close to Doctrine: Air Power). Reasoning – Navy has typically been a “weak leg” of the SMAC game. This is a move to strengthen Naval options and operations, and also to bring a truly outstanding unit ability into the game much sooner.
Deep pressure hull now becomes available with the discovery of ____(tech yet to be determined, but somewhere close to Fossil Fuels). Reasoning – See Carrier Deck, above. It won’t make a bit of difference in SP games, but early subs in MP will add a whole new realm of uncertainty to the game, and require vigilant patrols.
Terraforming: I have always been fairly happy with when and where terraforming options become available on the tech tree. Unless someone presents a strong argument for shifting certain options forward or back, I’m inclined to leave the terraforming options as they are.
Secret Projects: A number of these will be disabled. The ones on the list are broken or distorted in my view, and a number of strategies are based solely around some of them. The current list of projects to be disabled or changed is as follows:
Weather Paradigm: Not disabled, but pushed back to Ecological Engineering. Note that this DOES remove some of the free terraforming effects from the equation, but it still retains value thanks to the shorter terraforming times.
Cloudbase Academy: Disabled. I don’t think there will be many disagreements that the CBA is one of the most overpowered project in the game, if not the king of the heap.
Empath Guild: Disabled. It has a distorting factor where votes are concerned, and free infiltration is, IMO, too powerful, especially when coupled with the huge commerce windfall that the winner of this particular prize will most likely get.
Planetary Transit System: Disabled to pull the teeth from the classic ‘borg strategy, and as a move to help keep Ashaandi’s group in check (see factions, below).
Cloning Vats: Disabled. Pop booming is another broken aspect of the game, and one I’m trying hard to limit with this mod.
Clinical Immortality: Moved forward to extend its game life. Current tech to move it to has yet to be decided.
The Space Elevator: See Clinical Immortality, above.
Singularity Inductor: See Clinical Immortality, above.
Bulk Matter Transmitter: See Clinical Immortality, above.
Telepathic Matrix: See Clinical Immortality, above.
Net-Hack Terminus: See Clinical Immortality, above.
The (Revised) Splinter Factions:
It is my hope to create seven unique and believable factions, each with a very different feel, and each providing a very different playing experience. While this is more-or-less true of the factions we’ve got now, I DO feel that more could have been done along those lines, and will attempt to pull it off here. The factions (or at least the latest iteration of them) appear below:
The Heretics of Chiron: +2 Planet -1 Research, -1 Industry. Starts with one scout patrol. Tech at start: Centauri Ecology. No SE aversions. Robust: Planet. Begins the game with one Alien Artifact (stolen from the Believers on their way out the door!) All troops come with built in Trance ability.
Design Notes: (More details on this group will be provided later…I’m at work and away from the files)
Splinter Group from the Believers and driven out by Miriam Goodwinson, who tolerates no dissention in the ranks, and branded them heretics and traitors. Like the mother faction, they suffer a research penalty (growing up in a right wing, fundamentalist state which frowned upon research…some habits are hard to break), and they DO get a morale bonus…not as good as Miriam’s group at combat, but certainly not slouches, either, but that’s where the similarities end. The Heretics have much in common with the Gaian faction, regarding Planet as sacred and not to be despoiled. In truth, they see the new world as their Eden. A paradise to be melded with rather than fought. Because of this almost mystical worldview of Chiron, the Heretics spend much of their time communing with Planet, which leaves less time mundane pursuits (research), and they would certainly do nothing that would blemish the pristine nature of Chiron (Industry).
The robust Planet rating limits the ecological damage that a switch to Market causes (not sure how the game rounds, so I don’t know if they’ll wind up with a 0 or 1 here), making defense against native life a much easier proposition. Add to that the free ability of their troops, and you get a fairly “worm-proof” faction, going a long way toward eliminating that as a viable avenue of attack against them, and it plays into their faction story as a whole. This latest “tweak” to the faction also addresses some previously expressed concerns that the faction was overpowered in the early game (they used to start with a pair of mindworms!). They’re still strong, but their built in troop ability is defensive in its nature, and they now have to take the time to find and capture worms, rather than starting with them, which should provide at least a bit of slowdown.
DataPirates – Led by Doctor Lawrence (Psycho) Freeling: +2 Probe, +1 Efficiency, -2 Police. Tech at start: Information Networks, Doctrine: Mobility (all those computer racing games!) Begin with 1 Former, Impunity: Knowledge. All troops come with built in polymorphic encryption built in.
Design Notes: Splinter group from the University. Hacker/punk sub-culture that thrived in the University’s easily-to-infiltrate society. Essentially, I see these guys as being brats…lol…smart as hell (probe rating and their ability to find shortcuts to arrive at end results leads to the effie bonus) but essentially lazy (thus, no research bonus for them at all). They’d rather steal tech than work for it, and because of that, they’re understandably police shy. For the most part, their modifiers (both positive and negative) center around relatively low-powered segments of the game though (exception made for the small efficiency kick), and my initial reaction was that the DataPirates were something close to the Mod’s “baseline” faction, but then I took a look at their stats, just considering Knowledge (not taking any other SE settings into account) +2 Research, +2 Probe, +2 Efficiency. Pretty heinous stuff, but (hopefully) not unbalancing. The polymorphic encryption for their troops is a minor ability, and only helpful in limited situations, but still intriguing.
The Circle of Ashaandi - Led by Harrand Ashaandi: -3 Support, -3 Morale (Support hit comes from the inner-circle’s lavish lifestyle….soaks up resources, leaving relatively fewer available to support the actual running of the empire – Morale hit comes from troops serving out of fear. Also the fact that Ashaandi’s troops are not considered shock troops, but assassins…good at sneaking around, but lacking in hand-to-hand prowess.), Sharetech 3, Punishment Sphere in Every Base. No SE Aversions (but their native support hit means you’d have to drag them kicking and screaming to Dem!) Tech at start: Biogenetics, Applied Physics. Begins with one Former. All units come with “Blink” built in (Troops are actually assassins, good at infiltration as mentioned above).
Design Notes: Breakaway group from the Hive. Should be a MOST interesting faction to play. No drone riots, EVER, regardless of…well, anything, and no need for control facilities. All this comes with a hefty price tag, however. While Democracy is not outright banned, running it would severely hinder the faction’s ability to do….much of anything requiring large numbers (or even medium sized numbers) of units. Also, expansion in the early game will have to be done with a great deal more care than the norm, considering that each unit requires two minerals for support. This should create a durable, but slower growing faction, in the same vein as the Pirates from Crossfire. The free spheres are nice, in the sense that Ashaandi’s group essentially plays a simplified game…one devoid of having to worry about balancing drone issues, but the 50% research penalty makes them the hands-down worst researchers in the game. As people begin to explore and make contact, the Sharetech ability will begin providing help, but with the slower moving tech tree, this might take a while, leaving the Assassins on their own for a number of years. I see them as having a relatively small army (no kidding, with their heinous support costs!), but one that is utterly devastating on the attack, with the ability to simply bypass base defenses. That, coupled with the fact that they can run Market and sneer at the drones should make the faction viable. When the faction reaches the point when they see their support drop to “only” –3, watch out! Suddenly their support costs are halved, and they can begin to field an increasing number of troops. In MP, either kill them early or make alliances against them!
I was a bit leery of giving the group Biogen at start, which also gives them access to the HGP, but considering the nature and starting condition of the group, I doubt it’s something they’d be interested in, even from a denial standpoint. Gunning for it would tie up one of their (relatively fewer anyway) bases, further hobbling their early game expansion. Only play testing will tell for sure, but my early impression is that the HGP will be pretty much ignored by the group.
Honshu’s Militia - Led by General Honshu himself: +2 Morale, Votes halved in Planetary Council, Robust: Morale, -1 Efficiency, -1 Economy (training troops and keeping that wicked army up to date drains a great many resources from the economy, holding it down). Honshu begins with a rover, despite not having the tech for it. Tech at start: Doctrine Loyalty. No SE aversions.
Design Notes: Breakaway group from Santiago. The only faction in the game that starts with a tech that has an attached SP—well, at least an SP that the faction in question would be interested in obtaining! Odds are good that they’ll get the Command Nexus, and if they do, they’ve got the hands-down best troops on Chiron. The hit to efficiency hurts their expansion slightly, and until they get Industrial Automation, they won’t make much money, but the fact that they can run Wealth with only a minor, “inconvenience” penalty makes the acquisition of IA extremely important to them. I see this group as the diametric of Ashaandi’s. Good, solid troops against slinky assassin type troops, and neither of them are particularly adept at research, though Ashaandi’s Sharetech surely gives him the edge there. As an aside, would their immunity to Morale hits make them immune to that funky smax gas that lowers morale??? Initially, I gave this group a Unity Chopper at game start, but considering the new limitations on that unit, I felt they would be better served by a Rover. Thoughts on this?
The Humanists - Led by “Mother” Hannah Washington: +2 Support (very team spirited society),
-2 Morale (not much attention paid to training troops for war), free Children’s Creche with tech, Not allowed to run Police State or Power . Begins with Social Psych, 1 Scout, and 1 Former.
Design Notes: The only faction in the game that starts with a support value of 0—given the way I intend to change the default SE settings--and this is an important edge, IMO. Add in the fact that they still get free minerals when switching to Dem, and they can expand almost as well as Ashaandi’s group (not quite as well of course, cos the drones WILL eventually catch them, but not bad at all. The free facility comes pretty early in the game, and is not terribly expensive to build manually, but I thought it was a nice perk for the group, and it undoes their morale hit from the moment they get Ethical Calc. The inability to run in a Police State stems from their PK origins, and plays well with the faction’s beliefs (essentially, while Lal is a humanitarian, “Mother” Washington is a humanist….similar but not the same. Still, they both have low regard for Police states and those who use them). The inability to run Power was added out of necessity, to prevent the group from getting to +4 Support. This is still possible in the late game (Living Refinery(?), but by then it’s impact won’t be as crushing.
(to be continued)
-=Vel=-
Or maybe I'm just not noticing what's not working.
- especially in MP. 
- IMO future societies should simply be bonuses, as they don't come until the late game.
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