I still think so. Remember that the West as concept spans back to before the American Revolution.
'Former crews remind one of nothing so much as the track-layers for the Union Pacific and Central Pacific.
If I think that bandits would have a more difficult time of sustaining themselves independently, Planet would initially have the feel of a frontier society irrespective of the faction visited.
The Wild West, for me, evokes notions of man versus his environment, of progress versus tradition, of the strong versus the weak, of open versus closed, of good versus bad.
It is instructive to think about the experience of Western settlement not merely as a fight to outrun The Man, but to incubate a wilderness society to the point that it "discovered" the requirement for Eastern government. Consider that each faction begins with "Frontier" government in the original game.
I've made an online forum so that we can continue to discuss the simulation and aspects of faction development in real-time. Sign into
www.coldfront.net and type: /join #SMAC
I'd like to add Dreams of Earth to the list of interesting Network Node factions. I really appreciated the subversion inherent in building a faction that wants to remake Planet in Earth's image, eschewing productive industry on the one hand, but still committing environmental holocaust on the other.
What about a faction that simply wants to farm? A faction of ethnic or religious refugees co-opted into serving as colonists?
I like the idea of a mercenary faction, but probably as an NPC. I think the Freikorps name works. Still, I figured that Comprehensive Transport partially covered this ground.
I like the Vanguard of the New World. Sort of a variation on The Restoration.
What about a faction dedicated to the development of super-weapons and achieving a kind of anocratic situation between the primary factions? That was why I wanted to pull in COBRA or the Brotherhood of Nod. So far, I think that's what The Labyrinth should be about.
What about a faction more evocative of the USSR? How close does Yang get to standing in for the Soviet Union?
Should we add a tinkerer's faction, reflecting a fascination with machines, but only those under human control?
Do we go the obvious route and try for a society based on certain Greco-Roman principles? Do we just give some of those characteristics to
Estado Novo?
I like the Ishbu faction. Are they a reference to developmental statism (that is, the Asian tigers)?
What about a faction based on entertainment services, like the Magistracy in Battletech? Is that too much the sort of thing for Morgan to do?
