Polystralia and Hutama info

[SupremacyKing]

I think ARC is more 'expansive development' faction. (Workers and settlers)
SF would be more 'exploration' factions. (Explorers and satellites)

I see ARC as the industrious faction that will build stuff faster.

 

[Karl0413]

Ok, I am now torn between playing as Brasilia or Polystralia first. Also, we were right. That was Hutama's concept art up on the Firaxis bulletin board. Too bad this came out when it was midnight where I am at.

 

[SupremacyKing]

I have no idea which ideology I think Hutama naturally prefers. I can take a pretty good guess at what most of the leaders might prefer, but I'm having a bit of trouble figuring him out. He seems like the most likely candidate for favouring Harmony so far (aside from Samatar).

Hutama likes people and seems to prefer the human touch so I don't see him wanting to go all cyborg. So, I don't see him going Supremacy. But I would see him going purity because of that.

 

[Lord Shadow]

Based on all the available information on the other factions, I believe the Slavic Federation (especially with a Gagarin-like figure) might be the SCIENCE! faction.

Perhaps a nod to SMAC's University and Zakharov.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

I see ARC as the industrious faction that will build stuff faster.

That would be the PAC (specifically they have a production bonus)

ARC would fit more with a workers and settlers bonus, since the 'reclamation' is their original core business of reclaiming damaged land.

 

[SupremacyKing]

Based on all the available information on the other factions, I believe the Slavic Federation (especially with a Gagarin-like figure) might be the SCIENCE! faction.

Perhaps a nod to SMAC's University and Zakharov.

I think PAC is the science faction.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

I think PAC is the science faction.

No PAC is the production faction. Although they may 'like' science, their bonus is to production. (the first of only two factions with a confirmed bonus)

 

[SammyKhalifa]

Maybe they will be very aggressive but also so inept not to pose a threat.

Anyway, maybe I am wrong, but I have a feeling the Slavic Federation is shaping to be the faction with the most oppressive/bleak society. Because we already got pretty much every other sci-fi society trope in the other factions.

I took them as being an exploration civ in the vein of Buck Rogers and other traditional sci -fi.

 

[awesome]

I hope he does a haka dance if you make him mad

 

[Martinus]

Could be, but "space exploration" just doesn't mesh with any conceivable trope relating to the Eastern Europe region (and I'm Polish so I am not biased against Slavs).

So far Firaxis has been consistently interpreting (or perhaps creatively reinterpreting) the national/cultural feel of each sponsor nation - so ARC is channeling the "Wild West" and the "Oregon trail" in space; the East Asians are smart and industrious; PAU is channeling Mandela and the decolonization movement; the Khavitan Protectorate is channeling India as the craddle of several of the world religions; Franco-Iberia is channeling French cultural snottiness and elitism; etc.

On the other hand, other than Sputnik and Gagarin (which were also not as much inspired by any explaratory zeal but more by a propaganda war with the US), neither Russia nor any other Slavic nation has a strong discovery tradition. If you think about the region, the tropes that come to mind are either those of an oppressive Stalinist society or strong, almost xenophobic traditionalism and/or political anarchy (the Polish liberum veto).

 

[Ivan Hunger]

So here's what we no so far, from my understanding.

Confirmed UAs:

Franco-Iberia - Free techs from virtues.
Slavic Federation - Longer satellite duration.

Partially Confirmed UAs:

PAC - Undefined production bonus.
Polystralia - Undefined energy bonus.

Unknown UAs:

ARC - Their playstyle involves grabbing lots of land and strategic resources.
PAU - Their playstyle involves grabbing lots of tiles and using military defensively.
Kavithan Protectorate - Probably something affinity related, given their obvious cultural focus on religion.
Brasilia - Almost certainly something military related.

 

[Lord Shadow]

Could be, but "space exploration" just doesn't mesh with any conceivable trope relating to the Eastern Europe region (and I'm Polish so I am not biased against Slavs).

So far Firaxis has been consistently interpreting (or perhaps creatively reinterpreting) the national/cultural feel of each sponsor nation - so ARC is channeling the "Wild West" and the "Oregon trail" in space; the East Asians are smart and industrious; PAU is channeling Mandela and the decolonization movement; the Khavitan Protectorate is channeling India as the craddle of several of the world religions; Franco-Iberia is channeling French cultural snottiness and elitism; etc.

On the other hand, other than Sputnik and Gagarin (which were also not as much inspired by any explaratory zeal but more by a propaganda war with the US), neither Russia nor any other Slavic nation has a strong discovery tradition. If you think about the region, the tropes that come to mind are either those of an oppressive Stalinist society or strong, almost xenophobic traditionalism and/or political anarchy (the Polish liberum veto).

Russia played a huge role in the space race for way longer than it was Stalinist. I very much doubt that'll be brushed aside in favour of some cliché. The devs have been quite smart in the portrayal of factions so far.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

I think PAC is the science faction.

No PAC is the production faction. Although they may 'like' science, their bonus is to production. (the first of only two factions with a confirmed bonus)

Well, there's different kinds of the science faction or the money faction. Franco-Iberia has a culture focus but their major ability (I'm now assuming there are smaller boosts apart from the UA) is essentially a science bonus and they are canonically very high-tech. The SF ability was described as longer satellite duration. That makes them very flexible in gameplay terms and should correlate with a focus on space exploration in the lore.
About the tropes: How far back to we need to go ? Slavs aren't really associated with exploration like the Spanish or English, but the USSR has made large technological advances in a very short time and put the first satellite in orbit. If you consider that some of the most famous Slavs were scientists or engineers (Curie, Mendeleev, Tesla...) some science related boni aren't unreasonable. Or if you think that Franco-Iberia, PAC and ARC are already enoughscience civs you can dust off some cold war tropes and give the SF minor bonuses to espionage.
Come to think of it, regarding the expanded role of espionage in BE compared to Civ 5 it is strange that none of the announced seven factions seem to focus on it.

 

[bouncymischa]

I find it somewhat amusing that the thread discussing revealed Polystralia information is going off-topic into discussion about the Slavic Federation. I'm a little puzzled as to why the various possibilities for the depiction of the Slavic Federation seems to be such a hot topic...

 

[Lancor]

I find it somewhat amusing that the thread discussing revealed Polystralia information is going off-topic into discussion about the Slavic Federation. I'm a little puzzled as to why the various possibilities for the depiction of the Slavic Federation seems to be such a hot topic...

Because vocal minority or just people. ;D
"Russia" is just popular it seems.

So far we barely know anything about the gameplay and specific faction boni.
As much as I like these small teasers, I hope we get some hard informations soon.

 

[Karl0413]

Because vocal minority or just people. ;D
"Russia" is just popular it seems.

So far we barely know anything about the gameplay and specific faction boni.
As much as I like these small teasers, I hope we get some hard informations soon.

Yeah, the faction that we know the most about (their specific bonus and gameplay style) would probably be Franco-Iberia. Followed by factions whose gameplay style we know quite a bit about but don't know their faction unique bonuses are PAU, ARC and Brasilia.

 

[Liex]

Q: We’ve talked about Polystralia’s strengths, what are its weaknesses?

Miller: It’s important to us that there aren’t any systematic weaknesses when you’re selecting a Civ. We want it to be a choice between a big list of very good things, so what you don’t take with you is the penalty for what you do. But there are certainly a few ways you could take Hutama down if he were your neighbour: military might, perhaps – if you roll up with some tanks that’ll do the trick. Covert operations are also a good strategy, so if you invest heavily in covert subterfuge, that’s also an avenue that’s pretty effective. But Polystralia can invest in that as well.

I believe this confirms that those faction weaknesses are related to AI behavior only. That's good!

 

[poom3619]

I find it somewhat amusing that the thread discussing revealed Polystralia information is going off-topic into discussion about the Slavic Federation. I'm a little puzzled as to why the various possibilities for the depiction of the Slavic Federation seems to be such a hot topic...

Maybe because it's now only faction we know nothing more than it's name, leader and UA (which oddly revealed early) It's also side effect of few topics pointed at them. (SF being Soviet Russia, SF not being Russian underling and it's epilogue)

 

[Martinus]

Also, given the Polish website preview, I think many people were expecting the Slavic Federation reveal this week, so that got them thinking about the faction.

 

[Lord Scrambles]

Also, given the Polish website preview, I think many people were expecting the Slavic Federation reveal this week, so that got them thinking about the faction.

I'm 84% sure that the Polish website was supposed to reveal the SlavFed but the unpleseantness at the Ukraine prevented them from doing it