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On your remarks about categorizing/indexing - seemed like every third faction circa 2000 on Apolyton was a terraformer faction, no kidding.
And I'd just like speak up for a funny category. One of my very first custom factions was tarting up an old pothead faction with Gaian bases and Shaggy in as leader.
Terraforming FactionI'd like to play a "terraforming faction" as envisioned below. Has anyone already made one and if so, is it downloadable? If not, can you help me finish this one:The leader is formerly the Chief Geologist of the mission. Though an accomplished natural scientist, he has an engineering background as well, and a keen interest in fine arts. For some reason, I see him as a Frenchman."Frenchie" styles himself a "Sculptor of Worlds" or the "Architect of the Planet" and has a very definite vision of what Chiron should be made into. He sees his work as an artistic enterprise though also of tremendous practical importance. He is joined by people who share his vision, as well as "can-do" engineering types up for the challenge, and people with a pioneering attitude who want his help making the planet as inhabitable and bountiful as possible.Obviously, this faction gets a PLANET penalty (-2). But I think "Frenchie" should have the option of gaining respect for the native landscape/lifeforms and integrating them into his grand design (i.e., Green Economics is not a forbidden choice).The bonuses are harder to figure. I could justify a bonus for almost anything except ECONOMY and PROBE: +1 MORALE (hardy pioneering spirit); +1/+2 SUPPORT (for all the former units); +1 INDUSTRY (experienced in utilizing byproducts of terraforming and/or squeezing extra out of natural resources); +1 RESEARCH (natural science background and interest); +1 GROWTH (need more people to tame the land).My current thinking is +1 RESEARCH and +1 MORALE. Bonuses to GROWTH and INDUSTRY would then be a matter of social engineering, such as Demo/Planned. SUPPORT would be reflected in an immunity to the penalty from Demo or perhaps the total immunity like the Hive has with efficiency.Starting technology = Centauri Ecology. A second tech (a la SMAC-X factions), if any, would either be Biogenics (recycling tanks), Info Systems (computer modeling of geologic/climactic conditions), or perhaps most appropriately, Applied Physics (remember the Mining Laser?)Starts with a free former unit, maybe a Mining Laser.Maybe gets a free Recycling Tanks with every base.Gets the Terraforming Bonus (half-price for raise/lower terrain). Better if it got the abilities of the Weather Paradigm right away but this doesn't appear to be possible with the Faction Editor.Any suggestions on completing this faction or where to download a similar faction?
There already is a Terraforming faction out there, see http://www.sidgames.com/ac/filesdb/descript.cfm?ID=307 but that shouldn't stop you from making your own.
WOW, come back for a visit and looks like Omega had almost the exact same idea I had as far as factions are concerned I made one that is almost idealogically identical to what he discribes, If you are interested it can be dled at http://members.xoom.com/acchiron (it's a zoom site so you will have to type the link in manually) It is in the dl section under terraforming faction. It's a SMACX factionAll Customs graphics and blurbs (am sorta proud of it, lord knows I spend enough hours fine tuning it ) It even seems to have that little 'gothic, dark' feel of most the pre-packaged factionsbasically it gets-2 Planet+1 Industrya free formera free mining laserFree Super former and fugisidal tanks when you develop the appropiete techsreduced terriforming costFree Geosynchronous Survey Pods in every city20% hurry bonus (this is removed in my most recent version, wasa bit too much, although the dl still contains it, you can edit it out)Can't run GreenNo preferred SE settingSome design notes:The AI can play this faction fairly well (a big plus)This faction can both pop boom and run free market (a huge bonus I underestimated in the beta versions of this faction!)-2 planet is a real peneltyearly game hard to attack natives, you can lose fight with them!Seems to be harder to sucessfully move through fungusPollution in mid- and late-game can be a MAJOR problem (especially since no Green)Psi combat not a great option, as you never get a good planet ratingGoodies from fungus squares? yeah right Free recycling tanks in ealry Beta versions leads me to believe that a faction must have A HUGE amount of negitives to offset this!!With no preferred SE setting.. the AI tend to play this faction as a builder (which it was ment to be) and tends to help keep it from SOME Vendettas. As a result it builds lots of infrastructure, of the 'standard' factions (the only faction I have seen surpass it in infrastructure is the Drones)Can really put out some tech if left aloneOver all this is a fun faction to play (yeah like I'm not biased )It may still be a little on the strong side, but if so.. not but by a hair (It don't overwhelm other AI controled factions)
And this - there's nothing actually done besides collecting what I could find of the NN site, latest version, and thinking about how to implement. This isn't actually super high on my To-Do list. I'm all for it in the abstract, but not so much for wanting to right away.
