Which faction would you be?

[Hierophant]

Actually it's not that hard to invent good new games. I read an article by someone who had a simple evolutionary algorithm look for new ideas for games, and found one pretty easily. I can imagine an AI would have quite a field day at it, especially since it could deal with complexities we simply cannot.

My favourite would be a eudaimonic faction which wants AIs as leaders, ala Culture by Iain Banks. However, as you said, that doesn't really make sense as a setup from the beginning of the game. Besides, it probably wouldn't really be that much different from other factions. I like the original seven because they are all highly distinctive and interesting (apart perhaps from the Peacekeepers, who are not that developed as an ideologically). I think some of the expansion factions are good, some are not so distinctive (just admixtures of two original ones).

[EmpathCrawler]

I like the Gaians at a personal level (Deirdre sound like a cool person and I like Green ideas in general), but would you like to live around mindworms all the time? I don't know. They might even get as bad as Cult of Planet!

I'd feel safer living around tamed mind worms than I would in a faction with negative PLANET getting attacked by them!

I like the original seven because they are all highly distinctive and interesting (apart perhaps from the Peacekeepers, who are not that developed as an ideologically). I think some of the expansion factions are good, some are not so distinctive (just admixtures of two original ones).

The Peacekeepers adhere to the original mission goals which is itself an ideology. They're space centrists! I never got into the SMAX factions. I think the Free Drones and Data Angels were maybe more interesting ideas that could have benefited from some lore. They rest were gimmicky or hackneyed sci-fi ideas.

[Nexii]

I'd be worried about the mind worms getting loose. I imagine they're kept in the brood pits away from the common workers.

I think all of the expansion factions could have been good but there was little lore to make most of them believable or relatable the way that the original 7 were. What made the originals good was that all were compelling in a way, even if you didn't see yourself as wanting to be a member of that faction. I'd have liked to see ones that were more about Eudaimonic and Thought Control rather than the aliens. Aliens to me were strange because the original was so focused on humanity. Yea drones were tagged Eudaimonic but I got more of a socialist/communist vibe, one that goes more in the Planned economics box. Which is fine since that one needed filled.

That might be my next little project. To make two opposed factions, one Thought Control and the other Eudaimonic. Perhaps the TC faction wants to become machines with the remaining humans brainwashed for whatever menial tasks remain. Eudaimonic I'm a bit less sure on. I think a bit different take than just another soft/hard environmentalist (Gaia/Cult) or humanitarian (PKs). Maybe more extreme views than Yang on bioengineering, a sort of post-humanist view. That we have to genetically alter ourselves to evolve as a species.

[bvanevery]

So to me that doesn't really go with bonus research so much as productivity gains, finding improvements in existing processes.

I dunno, they'd probably split atoms just fine.  They just wouldn't invent an iPhone.  Not interested in how people feel about stuff, what's 'cool', what their image is.

It might be a master at chess but it would have a hard time inventing chess.

I don't know why you draw such a distinction.  Chess is just a collection of rules for moving pieces on a grid.  It did not come into existence overnight, fullblown as someone's concept.  It's a game that evolved from previous games.

I've been trying to conjure up ideas for 2 more factions to replace the aliens.

No harm trying!  They're expendable.

[Geo]

I like the Gaians at a personal level (Deirdre sound like a cool person and I like Green ideas in general), but would you like to live around mindworms all the time? I don't know. They might even get as bad as Cult of Planet!

I'd feel safer living around tamed mind worms than I would in a faction with negative PLANET getting attacked by them!

I'd be worried about the mind worms getting loose. I imagine they're kept in the brood pits away from the common workers.

Not to worry, those broodpit boils aren't 'tamed' in the stricter sense of the word, they are bonded with a human.
And as long as that trusted human doesn't go bonkers...

That might be my next little project. To make two opposed factions, one Thought Control and the other Eudaimonic. Perhaps the TC faction wants to become machines with the remaining humans brainwashed for whatever menial tasks remain. Eudaimonic I'm a bit less sure on. I think a bit different take than just another soft/hard environmentalist (Gaia/Cult) or humanitarian (PKs). Maybe more extreme views than Yang on bioengineering, a sort of post-humanist view. That we have to genetically alter ourselves to evolve as a species.

To me it sounds alot like a Democratic and Police State faction coming to blows.

[Nexii]

To me it sounds alot like a Democratic and Police State faction coming to blows.

Yea I created them in my other faction thread. Both can go PS and Democratic, even if that's a bit odd. I guess they're more forward looking. The TC society you'd be slave to a robot more or less. Probably wouldn't be so fun but who knows, maybe they'd be benevolent.