A New Faction Set Approaches!

[Rainbow Lizard]

Hello people who reside in this forum. I am a prismatic reptile, as some of you may know, and I am working on a set of seven custom factions for SMAC/X. I currently just have possession of SMAC, so I cannot set faction colors or certain text file bonuses, but I will soon. These are the factions.

• The Zephyr Legion, an honorable faction based on airborne warfare, with a classic Japanese architectural and cultural choice. Bonuses are +1 Morale and Police, but -2 to growth. They start with Doctrine: Air Power. They use power as their value, being a military faction.
• The Hack Kings, a utilitarian faction that wishes everyone to be happy and utilises virtual reality. They start with +1 Research and Support, but -2 Morale. All of their bases start with a Recreation Commons and a Hologram Theatre, minimizing drone activity, but they have no free techs. Aversion is Thought control and they gravitate towards Eudaimonia. They play like a cross between the Angels and Peacekeepers.
• The People of Knowing, a scientific faction made by the goal to achieve omniscience, and do not care about anything else. They have an amazing +3 Research and any 3 bonus techs. However, they have Zakharov's drone problem and a -1 to Industry, Growth and Planet. They will frequently attack the Hack Kings due to their opposite ideas of a future society. They can go a peaceful or military route.
• The Paladins of Thor, a warlike faction based on the vikings of old, with the military to boot. They have a +2 bonus to morale and a +1 to growth, as well as the +25% Morale bonus from the fanatic special rule, as well as having the Doctrine:Mobility . However, they suffer from a -2 to research and a -1 industry. Thy value power but neglect knowledge. They are incredibly deadly in combat, but next to useless trying to be a peaceful builder thanks to the lack of research, and remain rather low-tech.
• The Guild of Psychics, a mystical faction that is known for their erratic nature. They boast a +2 bonus to Probe, a +1 bonus to growth, but a -1 to economy. They also have an immunity to mind control and the free tech Social Psych. They dislike Free Market's mean nature but enjoy Planned economics. And of course, they have a +50% bonus to Psi attacks. They are incredible at covert ops, but rarely make enough energy to mind control, leading to the use of Mindworms.
• Golden Future Corp., a Tycoon faction like the Morganites, but a little less greedy and a little more Canadian. They feature a +1 to both Research and Economy, but suffer from a -1 to morale and planet. They start with the tech Industrial Base, and get a free Energy Bank at every base. They are very peaceful, preferring wealth as their value and preferring peace to war.
• The Fungal Clan, a Green faction very sensitive about the environment, who are also willing to fight. Bonuses undecided, but +2 to Planet is a definite.

I need help with for the art of all but the Paladins and Hackers. Any help will be appreciated.

[Rymdolov]

Sounds like a bunch of strong factions. Could be good for people who want a challenge, perhaps. If they use your factions as opponents, I mean.

I like the ideas. Most of them seem unusually original to me.

[Buster's Uncle]

Good ideas, and you've done some nice fleshing out. 

Hmm.  Maybe the Hedonists?  They're really rather like the Morganites, but concerned with the ends of living well, not the means of wealth.  Morgan's caught in a sort of dominance game with the world, after all, using money as the measure of winning.  The Hedonists would be pretty good trading partners and nieghbors, I thnk, until they see a resource bonus right over the border with you...

[Rainbow Lizard]

A nice idea, BUncle, but they wouldn't explicitly state that they were hedonists. Anyway, I find my designated tech partner to be the Hackers.
By the way, what do you think of a faction who believe that the Planet is going to kill them if they use too much tech, and therefore are ultra-planet based? They are oddly correct.

[Buster's Uncle]

I don't see why not.  Darsnan did that with some alternate Progs years ago, mind you, who were stranded on a planet that was seeded with tech-eating nanobots, but the idea is still original to you.  Planet doesn't really care for all the metal and lubricants, I think, and may very well be more likely to mindworm attack a recon rover than just a fellow on foot with breathing gear, especially if he's wearing clothes/shoes made of native materials to improve his smell - and fungal gin on his breath only helps.

[JarlWolf]

That's sort of what the Planet Cult's idea is, be attuned to the planet and to accustom itself to the Planet's will.

It also explains why their industry and such is so low as well.

[Buster's Uncle]

It's definitely got some parallels.  Might could be a splinter group - "We like the harmony with Planet, but maybe with less random violence and no religion or Cha Dawn."

[Buster's Uncle]

Say, Spectrum Iguana, I just noticed your edit in Graphics where you added the attachment - paladin.png is a servicable faction graphic as-is when you finish, but it's my duty as a teacher to tell you how to make it even better.

The bases have the same sort of problem as the last set you made yourself; nothing really wrong, but an overall low-res sorta look.  You need to fix the perspective on the roofline and do something to enhance the lighting from the right. 

I think all your at-rest logos are too dark to look good in-game.  You also want to put some careful thought into how the symbol looks a little like a swastika; it fits teutonic Vikings well, but you know that Hitler ruined using the symbol for everyone forever.

Your leaderhead is too happy-looking, I think, and looks too much like a processed photo still.  A little work blurring together the colors of the facial skin, especially on the cheeks ought to fix the latter (you want to reduce the detail of his face except for the actual features) - maybe a background change would help, too.  Changing his eyes to look into the camera is not tough to do; just select the darks of his eyes and move them right until they look right.  The smile is tougher.  You can't really see his mouth much, but the lines in the cheeks around the mouth give it away, as does the way the cheeks bunch up under the eyes.  Move those lines in and down, and he'll look more serious and dangerous.

Of course, it's your faction and you don't have to do anything I say.  Please yourself.

[Rainbow Lizard]

Thanks for the advice. I'll get to work.

[Buster's Uncle]

Good man.  I'll look forward to it - you're a quick study and you have talent.

[ariete]

The Zephyr Legion and The Paladins of Thor sounds good for me ...  (my passion)

7 new factions dedicated at the war concept was a project I had in mind at the time when I joined the forum (kingdom of cartel, federation armada and union were examples of what i tried to create), 2 alien faction in civil war i think it can't miss ... excuse me if i used your thread for a parenthesis of my personal consideration

[Pickly]

Zephyr bonus ideas:

Doctrine: Mobility as a startng technology makes sense from a story point of view.
Free Aerospace complex would certainly make sense as a bonus, if you added a lot of negatives to make up for it
+1 morale for being military oriented
-1 or 2 efficiency (to represent the "honor" system getting in the way of effective work.)
-1 industry perhaps, for similar backstory reasons as the spartans
Free promotion for needlejets may also work, although I'm not sure if this would eat too much into the other advantages from flexibility of special abilities.
-1 support may work, if this society is based on an "small number of elite pilots" mentality (Therefore each pilot would require a lot of resources, grooming, etc.)  If not, just ignore this.
+offense, -defense could fit, if you assume the culture emphasizes being aggressive heavily, also seems it may fit with air units well without helping ground as much.
Probe I could see being + or -, depending on what the "honor" means in your idea of this faction.

Hope these ideas help.

[Rainbow Lizard]

Here's the new Viking Leaderhead. Is it any good?
Pickly, I like the ideas, but it would make them a bit underpowered, especially compared to people like the Paladins.

[Buster's Uncle]

It's much better.  Probably good enough if you can make him look at the camera.  Try lightening a few pixels at the left corner of his eyes.  They're too dark as is.

[ariete]

i don't like (if i can ...), few space contest for leader. if you looking for you can found better for my advice
i found this nice alternative for the logo, but your is already cool


... maybe kilkakon appreciate this for the leader