Idea: Alpha Centauri II: Mutant Factions

[brento1138]

Warning/Disclaimer: Don't get too excited. This is just a proposal. If anyone can mod, please reply here. This thread can be a discussion for creating this mod. The ACII mod will need multiple people... it's a big project obviously. I'd like it to be made for the people by the people. You can say that version 0.001 isn't even finished yet. Just a dream, hope to make it into a reality, since they probably won't ever release an Alpha Centauri II. Who knows, maybe the interest shown in this thread can show Firaxis or Sid that "Hey we can make easy money on this one."

What we're looking for:

- A map mod: change earth into Alpha Centauri's planet Chiron. This would include graphics and all other elements of a map, like resources.
- Units mod: crazy undertaking, but we'd need all units to be futuristic looking
- Science tech tree mod: Pretty self-explanitory. We need a ton of futuristic sciences. Was thinking we could just copy the original Alpha Centauri tech tree.
- Leaderheads: We have them now, not animated, just still graphics.

Questions for modders: can we do things such as:
- Xenofungus?
- Drone population and drone riots?


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ALPHA CENTAURI II: MUTANT FACTIONS

A Mod of Civilization IV

Alpha Centauri II: Mutant Factions (ACII) is currently a proposal to mod Civilization IV into a sequel to the original Sid Meir's Alpha Centauri (SMAC). ACII is based on a fictional attempt by human beings to colonize a planet in the Alpha Centauri star system.

The Storyline
In the year 2096, scientists discover a giant asteroid on a direct collision course with Earth. All research indicates that the asteroid would eliminate all life on Earth, or thrust the planet into another catastrophic ice-age. With the future of the human race (and all life on Earth) at stake, every nation on Earth unites to spread the human seed to a the one star system with the closest range to Earth: Alpha Centauri. Orbiting Alpha Centauri is an Earth-like planned named Chiron (often just called "Planet"). Rather than risk an attempt at only one spacecraft launch, a variety of nations and corporations (otherwise known as "factions") launch their own spaceships towards Chiron.

Although technology has advanced considerably, it is not known what effects a ten-thousand-year voyage to another star system would entail for the humans aboard the spacecrafts. Many theories and suggestions were developed, and each faction developed a different way to send their people into space. Scientists hoped that at least one of these methods would succeed. Many did, and many did not. However, each different way of preserving life aboard the spaceship allowed for different sorts of mutations for the inhabitants aboard.

Only fifteen factions ever made it to Planet. Nobody knows whatever happened to the other spaceships or how many were sent. However, many of the ships that made it to Planet were no longer carrying what we would term "humans" or "homo sapiens." Rather, the long voyage in space allowed for rapid mutations and changes to occur. Exposure to the elements of deep space (which had been unknown since the beginning of humantiy) had caused different mutations in each of the spaceships. For example, the Techites (before voyaging into space) had been cybernetically enhanced to withstand a long voyage. During the thousands of years in space, they had discovered new ways to enhance themselves to conserve energy, and survive the perils of deep space radiation. They changed from being 99 percent fully human to only 12% after their own scientists had found ways to improve themselves mechanically. Thus, the Techites were no longer humans, but self-named "Homo Techus." The Aquilaens, on the other hand, did not believe in merging machine and man, and decided to freeze embryos that would be awaken one hundred years before the voyage and raised by a mechanised nursery system and robots. The Aquilaens had no idea that the effects of deep-space radiation would mutate their cells rapidly; they developed amphibean-like traits and additional nocturnal behaviour. The United Nations of Earth, who believed strongly in natural living conditions, kept their spaceship-imprisoned citizens in a normalised state, with artificial gravity. The UNE changed very little in their physical appearance, yet gained in mental ability. They became more adept at maintaining social harmony.

 

[brento1138]

The Factions

THE ANTARCTICANS - Yankov Sevula - Agressive, Imperialistic
Originally an exiled race of humans formed from overthrown prison camps in Antarctica, the Antarcticans are a take-all race. The Antarcticans were not badly mutated during their frozen voyage in space, however, their kin developed with different physical traits which include a fur-covered body and deformed heads. Their blood contains a different chemical which stores heat, so Antarcticans do not get cold easily. This race is led by Yankov Sevula. Their founding base is New Antarctica.

THE AQUILAENS - Gombei Chingu - Spiritual, Agressive
An amphibious faction of humans. A highly mutated species, both in religion and appearance, the Aquilaens were originally a fundamentalist religious sect. The Aquilaens are strong in their beliefs and prefer to better themselves through conflict. They also see themselves as separate from humans, a large and distinct family, due to their in-space mutation. So they are a very independent race. Their founding base is Aquilae.

THE CULT OF THE BELIEVERS - Miriam Godwinson - Spiritual, Charismatic
Originally a well-financed cult on Earth, the Believers are a fundamentalist religious faction wary of secular technology. Led by Miriam Godwinson. The Believers make planetfall with the technology Social Psych. The Believers' convictions give them a 25% attack bonus as well as increasing the morale of their Probe Teams and increasing the cost of their enemies' probe attacks. Their eagerness to defend their faith allows each colony to support up to four units without a cost of minerals. Because the Believers feel that Chiron is their promised land, ecological tensions are increased and production of resources in fungal squares is decreased. The Believers are also skeptical of secular technology, thus their research rate is decreased by 20% and they may not accumulate any research points in the first ten years on Chiron. The Believers prefer Fundamentalist government and may not use Knowledge as a social engineering choice, and for reason best known to themselves become very upset with neighbouring Democratic & Police states. While the game was being coded, this faction was named "The Conclave" before being changed to "The Believers" in the final release. Their founding base is New Jerusalem.

THE DATA ANGELS - Sinder Roze - Industrious, Protective
A faction of Earth's most educated and intelligent hand-picked by a rich computer manufacturing guru who paid to have himself, and themselves, sent into space. His vision was to create a framework for an advanced race of humans with telepathic enhancements aided with the use of head implants. Somewhat like the Techites, the Data Angels decided to retain their humanity as best they could. However, the race mutated to become unisex, neither male or female, yet both, being able to reproduce asexually. Their leader is Sinder Roze. The Angels make planetfall with the technologies Information Networks and Planetary Networks as well as a Probe Team. Because the Angels are highly motivated computer specialists, their Probe Teams gain a morale upgrade and any enemy Probe Team action costs double, while the cost of their actions are reduced by 25%; however because they are decentralized and have anarchist tendencies, they have a social engineering penalty. If any three factions of which the Angels have an infiltrator discover a technology, then the Angels will automatically discover the technology as well, due to their wide-ranged covert activities. Once the Angels discover Pre-Sentient Algorithms, a technology based on adaptive neural net heuristics, each base comes with a free Covert Ops Center. This raises the morale of Probe Teams and is supposed to make all colonies and units immune to mind control. The Angels may not use Power in social engineering as they prefer covert warfare over direct conflict. Their founding base is Data Central.

THE FEMALE DOMINION - Michelle Feyaz - Expansive, Philosophical
A faction that has eliminated the need for men, this race uses cloning and artificial insemination to produce children. They are led by Michelle Feyaz. The Female Dominion makes planetfall with the technology Cloning. The Female Dominion is expansive yet seeks knowledge before war. Their cities stay at relatively very healthy levels and enjoy a high birthrate due to artificial insemination with cloned "seed."

GAIA'S STEPCHILDREN - Deirdre Skye - Philosophical, Creative
A faction that values living in ecological harmony with Planet and abhors ecological destruction. They are led by Lady Deirdre Skye. The Gaians make planetfall with the technology Centauri Ecology. The Gaians' ecological safeguards allow them to avoid ecological damage and to capture native mind worms, and their experience with lifecycles and recycling gives them an efficiency bonus. The Gaians also receive one extra nutrient from fungal squares and their infantry units can move through xenofungus without movement penalties. The Gaians are pacifistic and freedom-loving, giving rise to their weaknesses: low troop morale and a lower police. The Gaians prefer Green economics and may not use a Free Market system in social engineering, and look upon Planned economics as little better. Their founding base is Gaia's Landing.

THE HOMINANS - Domai Tetorus - Aggressive, Industrious
An industrial, socialist-like civilization. The Hominans are a race that was badly mutated during the long voyage (due to cheap, cost-saving technologies), they actually devolved to a more primate-like form. These seven foot tall and physically strong creatures are led by Domai Tetorus. The Hominans make planetfall with the technology Industrial Base. Because the Hominans are composed of a physically superior but mentally inferior race, they are skilled workers and can complete units and facilities at 20% less mineral cost. Being of a lower mental capacity, though, their research suffers, making them discover new technologies 20% slower than the normal rate. The Hominans may not use Green economics in social engineering because they don't see the value in ecology based economics, while their eventual goal is to create a Eudaimonic society. Their founding base is Godo.

THE HUMAN HIVE - Hive Member 6041138 - Aggressive, Expansive
A totalitarian faction based on Communist/Collectivist principles. They are controlled by Hive Member 6041138 otherwise known as simply "The Queen." The Hive is not fully cyborg, but have destroyed all emotional parts of their bains and are "connected" through brain implants to the hive mind. The Hive makes planetfall with the technology Doctrine: Loyalty. The Hive has its growth rate boosted by 10% and its brutal serfdom decreases the mineral cost of units and facilities by 10%, however the lack of political freedom causes each colony to generate one less unit of energy per turn. In the original version of the game, the Hives' belief in the greater good greatly raised the morale of their army. The Hive favors the Police State government, may not use a Democratic government, and is wary of religious hyperbole. Their founding base, fittingly, is The Hive.

THE HYBRIDS - Veliar Pramhaqi - Creative, Expansive
A faction of humans who had prepared to genetically alter themselves (based on the most recent scientific projections of what Chiron was like) to suit Chiron better. They are great thinkers, very creative, and well suited to the environment of Chiron. Their faction may grow quickly since they have relatively great health and a Chiron-loving culture.

MORGAN INDUSTRIES - Andre Richardson (left) Financial, Imperialistic or Vlad Mikirov (right) Aggressive, Expansive
A neo-liberal free-market capitalistic faction, and led by Andre Richardson. The Morgans make planetfall with the technology Industrial Base and an additional 100 energy credits. Because they are an industrial conglomerate, they receive an energy bonus in social engineering - an extra unit of energy in each colony, and one energy per square and even larger bonuses if this is combined with social engineering values such as Free Market or Wealth. However, because of the expensive tastes of its followers and the demand for creature comforts, Morganite units have high mineral maintenance costs and colonies cannot exceed population size four until the Hab Complex Facility is built (the default is seven). The Morganites receive extra energy from commerce due to their marketing expertise. They prefer Free Market economics and may not choose a Planned economy in social engineering, and find Green economics 'inefficient'. Their founding base is Morgan Industries.

THE SCHOOL OF CHIRON - Amila Jašarović - Philosophical, Organised
A faction that values knowledge and scientific advancement, although not necessarily ethically obtained. Led by Academician Amila Jašarović. The School makes planetfall with Information Networks, as well as another randomly selected technology. The brilliant researchers of the School allow them to discover new technologies 20% faster than normal, but the openness of their academic networks leaves them prone to infiltration from other factions. Every School base comes equipped with a Network Node, which boosts research by another 50%. Due to the School's lack of ethics, one in every four citizens is a drone. The School prefers the Knowledge value in social engineering and may not use a Fundamentalist government. Their founding base is University Base.

THE SPARTAN FEDERATION- Colonel Corazon Santiago - Aggressive, Organized
True to their name, the Spartan faction places the highest priority on strength, discipline and combat readiness. Commanded by Colonel Corazon Santiago, the Spartans make planetfall with the technology Doctrine: Mobility. Spartan units receive morale upgrades (making them better fighters) and their disciplined society is naturally tolerant of police actions. The Spartans' skilled military expertise allows them to build prototype units without extra mineral cost. However, the excessive labour developed to military production imposes a 10% penalty to industrial production. The Spartans prefer the Power social engineering choice and may not pursue Wealth, all the while remaining wary of those who don't choose an emphasis on Power. Their founding base is Sparta Command.

 

[brento1138]

The Factions: Continued

THE SYONITES - Alexander 1138 - Organized, Protective
The Syonites were formerly an enslaved civilization of drone-like humans who became independent halfway through their voyage in space, rebelling against their robotic overlords constructed by the Russian Federation. Commanded by Alexander 1138, their founding base is Syon.

THE TECHITES - Zanake Xiuhvah - Organized, Protective
No longer human in DNA structure, the Techites wish to stay physically machine and mentally human. Led by Zanake Xiuhvah. The Techites make planetfall with the technology Cybernetics. Because they are machines, they receive a technology bonus - a free science generating structure is automatically built in each colony. Unlike the Hive (a non-cyborg race) the Techites have programmed themselves to experience only pleasurable emotions, sensations, and aim to better their lives through technology. However, a small faction within the Techites who strive to be more like The Hive, create a small amount of inner turmoil which leads to a lessened effect of cultural institutes.

THE UNITED NATIONS OF EARTH - Takana Yume (left) - Creative, Charismatic or Jenelle Leonaire - Protective, Creative or
This faction works hard to keep the peace through diplomacy and to maintain the United Nations charter. Led by Commissioner Takana Yume, the UNE make planetfall with the technology Biogenetics. The United Nations style bureaucracy of UNE causes them to lose efficiency. The UNE does attract intellectual elites, causing every fourth citizen to be a talent. The UNE colonies may grow two sizes beyond normal population restrictions. In votes for Planetary Governor and Supreme Leader, theUNE's votes are double its population. The UNE's favor democratic politics and may not use a police state government in social engineering, neither are they keen on religious dogma. Their founding base is the United Nations Headquarters.

THE XENOCUBES - Som D'agar - Financial, Industrious
A faction (composed of many united factions) that bases itself upon production and financial gain only. The name "Xenocube" is based on the faction's philosophy of simplistic oneness in financial and industrial gain. Led by Som D'agar, the Xenocube society favors giant industrial cities that can generate lots of trade. Their prime mission is to simply produce lots and make energy credits so that they may oneday leave Chiron and find a more suitable homeland. They have an increased amount of financial activity in their cities and enjoy double production speed of industry-based base improvements.

THE ZORKTRONIANS - Dian Ilyana Rondeau - Charismatic, Protective
A race that bases itself upon peaceful co-existence with other races, and eventual mental unification with the Planet. The Zorktronians are a well-rounded collection of all planetary races, believing strongly in multi-culturalism and a free-thinking society. Led by Dian Ilyana Rondeau. The Zorktronians make planetfall with the technology Defense Shielding. Because they are very proud of their ideas, they receive a protection bonus - double production of all defense based improvements.

 

[brento1138]

Victory conditions
There are several victory methods available in Alpha Centauri.

Domination

This is awarded when you have a 25% lead in population over your best competitor, and 65% of the global land mass.

Cultural

You can achieve this by having three cities with a 50,000-point Culture rating.

Military
A military victory occurs when all factions are annihilated or have surrendered to one player. If cooperative victory is enabled then there may be up to three pact brothers and sisters who can share the victory (excluding those who have surrendered).

Diplomatic

A player achieves diplomatic victory by uniting the Planetary Council behind him or her. To do this, the player must get a certain percentage of the votes, by population, at Planetary Council. The percentage varies based on difficulty level, up to 75% at the highest difficulty (transcendent). Since it is difficult to maintain good relations with all Factions (especially in large games), this is possibly the most difficult victory condition to achieve

Transcendence

The transcendence victory (replacing the space-race) is achieved by building the Ascent to Transcendence secret project, which becomes available after the Voice of Planet secret project has been built (by any faction). This concept of a post human era is very closely related to the idea of the technological singularity. After this project is built the human inhabitants of Chiron leave their material bodies to merge with the emerged planet intelligence.

Social Engineering (replaces Civics)
Social engineering is another decisive game element reflecting human nature. Here, political, economic, social and future society models may be chosen. Each choice has its benefits and drawbacks. When combined, these models shape the faction's overall society. The aspects of social engineering affect a diverse range of gameplay elements, ranging from contentment and growth of the populace, unit morale and fighting strength, to the amount of energy credits received, among other things.

Politics (replaces Government) represents the method your society uses to make political decisions.
Frontier is the default system. This represents the informal government used in the young colonies, before the settlements reach a substantial size, which require a more sophisticated government system.
Police State is the system in which the government employs expansive police powers to discipline the citizens and keep them in line. The leader has great power over the military and the citizens, but economic efficiency is decreased.
Democratic is the system where the citizens take part in the government by electing their representatives. The stability this government type offers increased growth and efficiency, but the citizens become suspicious of large military deployments.
Fundamentalist is the system where the government is controlled in large part by a religious leader or sect. This government type provides loyal citizens, and tends to make the citizens more resistant against enemy brainwashing. However, scientific research suffers greatly under this government.
Economics represents how your society manages its resources.
Simple is the default administration. It represents the informal, ad hoc economic system, which is utilized in the early years after Planetfall.
Free Market is the system where the market forces are released. This system generates a great deal of wealth, at the expense of severe environmental damage and unhappiness of people who are suddenly rendered poor by unscrupulous moguls.
Planned is the system where the market is controlled by comprehensive government regulations in accordance with an overall economic plan. This benefits the production and growth, at the expense of efficiency.
Green is government with nature preservation as its primary goal. Extensive recycling increases the efficiency and reduces ecological damage, but growth is sacrificed due to deference to native life.
Values (replaces Legal) represents which value system your society is based upon.
Survival is the most important value in the early struggles of surviving on the foreign planet.
Power is the value of having a strong leader with power to enforce his will with an accordingly large military, but industry suffers as greater resources are allocated to the faction's military.
Knowledge is the society value where science and knowledge are highly prized. It promotes free flow of information, which increases scientific progress but tends to render the player's society more vulnerable to probe attacks.
Wealth most highly values the acquisition of wealth and material goods. The benefits for the economy and for industry are apparent; the morale of the society suffers, however, due to the introduction of greed as a primary motivating factor.
Future society (replaces Labour) represents advanced social engineering models, which can be used very late in the game after extensive research and much experience with social engineering.
None is the default future society. This represents that the player's society has not yet developed a future society.
Cybernetic is the future society where artificial intelligence has taken over the menial tasks of society, allowing humans to devote their time to creative pursuits. Its downside is that civil unrest is often caused as human laborers are replaced by machines.
Eudaimonic is a system of virtue in accord with accumulated individual excellence: the citizens of this society achieve ultimate happiness by striving to fulfill their greatest personal potential; however, such societies tend to have pacifist tendencies and as such the military tends to atrophy.
Thought control is the future society where mind-control methods are used to completely subjugate the citizens of the player's society to the will of the governing forces; however, this requires a massive expenditure of resources of all kinds which must be diverted from the military budget.
Religion: NOT FINISHED. Suggestions welcomed.


The Datalinks
A crucial part of the game is the Datalinks, an information system that contains any and all information that you may need. It is similar to Civilization's Civilopedia. Most important is the tech tree, which shows a complete system of all technologies available in the game, along with prerequisite technologies and all benefits the technology gives (new chassis, weapon, armor, reactor, or special ability types, along with new terraformer abilities, base facilities and secret projects, bonuses to xenofungus squares, social engineering choices, etc.) In all technology trades the game allows you to consult the Datalinks to find exactly what is being offered (or demanded).

In addition, the Datalinks store the quotes involved with all technologies, base facilities, and secret projects.

Terrain
The game is represented on a three-dimensional map of the planet surface, upon which bases are built and units deployed. Local features of the terrain influence the amount of resources a base harvests from any particular square. For example, rocky squares yield minerals but no food unless cleared, while river squares produce extra energy. The altitude of terrain influences how much energy can be harvested there, can create rain shadows downwind, etc. Terrain can be enhanced and altered (including raising and lowering altitude) by units equipped with a terraformer module. The terrain also affects combat. For example, defending units receive a +50% bonus in rocky squares, while artillery units receive bonuses when attacking from higher elevation. By the end of the game, the world should be terraformed as to completely resemble Earth.

Units and combat
A unit is made up from different parts such as chassis, weapon, armor, reactor, and special ability slots. As new technologies become available, old designs may be brought up to date and existing units upgraded.

Generally, only friendly units (your own or those of an ally) can occupy the same square. Enemy units must be eliminated in order to move into their square. Combat is usually initiated when a unit belonging to one faction attempts to enter a square occupied by a unit/units of a hostile faction. Many factors affect the outcome of combat, including:

The attacking unit's weapon rating;
The defending unit's armor rating;
The hit points of both units, determined by the type of reactor used;
The morale status of both units;
Any attack or defense modifiers brought about by base facilities, Secret Projects, faction abilities and terrain effects.
Researching certain new technologies unlocks progressively better equipment (weapons, armor and reactors). Possessing certain support infrastructure (such as Command Centers), creating units with certain special abilities (such as High Morale), and having a positive morale rating in social engineering will all confer morale bonuses to new units; conversely, a negative morale rating will incur morale penalties on new units. Also, gaining access to the mysterious alien monoliths that dot the planet or defeating enough enemies to gain experience will upgrade an existing unit's morale.

Native Life
Adding to the trouble of the human factions is an indigenous semi-sentient fungus (called xenofungus) that spans the planet. Concentrations of xenofungus can spawn more aggressive native life forms known as mind worms (replaces barbarians). Xenofungus acts as the planet's immune system, and will react against heavy industrial pollution by growing over terraformed sites and concentrating multiple hostile mind worm units against offending cities. In accordance with its semi-sentience, the fungus can grow and reclaim land when the player, either through terraforming or industry, is seen as adversely affecting Planet's ecosystem.

Moreover, mind worms can be captured by factions with a deep understanding of Planet's fragile ecology and used as instruments of war and police.

It is discovered that Planet's ecosystem is an increasingly sentient hive mind. However, contrary to the concept of a benevolent Mother Earth, the planetary mind is suspicious of humans and abhors their technological intrusion on its ecological balance, often using violence to try to destroy colonists that it perceives as a threat. Quotes by faction leaders scattered throughout the game reveal that all of them, with the notable exception of Lady Deirdre, consider the planetary mind to be untrustworthy, dangerous or even evil, although the Transcendence victory condition allows the player to unite human consciousness with Planet's mind, thus 'civilizing' it, achieving the next step in human evolution, and granting vast psionic powers to Transcended humans.

Bases
Your civilization starts out with Bases which can mature into a city. Bases, like cities in the earlier Civilization games, are the center of the game. A base is essentially a self-contained city that can be built and captured, as well as destroyed (either intentionally through war casualties, starvation, abandonment by constructing a colonizer at base size 1, or weapons of mass destruction, or unintentionally through ecological disruptions or being overrun by native mind worms). A base collects resources from the surrounding environment, using the manpower of the local population, or mechanically through resource crawler units. Mineral resources are used in building units and maintaining their upkeep, or can be converted to energy credits. Nutrient resources feed the local citizens, with more nutrients harvested leading to a higher rate of population growth. Energy collected from boreholes or solar collectors are piped into three priorities: PSYCH, ECONOMY and LABS. PSYCH represents how much energy is being used in improving the living standard of the inhabitants. ECONOMY represents how much energy is diverted into energy credits. LABS represents how much energy is being diverted into powering research. The output of all three can be enhanced by facilities or by special inhabitants called specialists. Energy credits created by the economy are the currency of the game. It can be used in hurrying production orders, commencing secret projects, or as an object of barter in diplomatic encounters. Some covert missions or prototype construction also require energy credits. Depending on a faction's social policies and the individual base's distance from the capital, a portion of collected energy can be lost to inefficiency.

Citizens are the inhabitants of a base. One citizen represents 1,000 inhabitants. It takes one citizen to harvest the resources of one square. New citizens are produced when a base has accumulated a set quantity of excess nutrients. The amount of nutrients needed to create growth becomes higher as the population multiplies. Social engineering choices or facilities can help reduce this required amount during each stage of growth.

Bases build all of the faction's units, and by extension, new bases. A new base is created when a previous base builds a unit equipped with a colony pod module and the unit is deployed at the desired location. Building new units require a set amount of minerals, depending on how complex or advanced the unit is. Each turn, minerals processed by citizens are added to the current task until it is completed. This process can be hurried by spending energy credits. New technologies are researched in a similar manner. LABS output from every base is accumulated each turn until it fulfills the required cost to research the technology. All of these aspects can be enhanced by facilities and other factors.

A base can also build facilities and secret projects. Facilities, which are analogous to the buildings of the original Civilization games, creates or alters some function of the base it is located in. Similarly, Secret Projects are comparable to the Great Wonders of the original Civilization. They are expensive and can only be built once, but usually have dramatic benefits ranging from free facilities to social engineering effects and special unit abilities.

Diplomacy
When two factions have established contact, they can engage in a variety of diplomatic actions. New technology, energy credits and bases can be bargained for or demanded with the threat of force. Factions can sign treaties and pacts, declare war or ask for a temporary cessation of hostilities. Treaties lead to commerce between faction bases and an increase in income for both factions. Pacts allow units to enter allied held territory and bases, and doubles the commerce modifier between the two factions. Computer controlled factions will remember past dealings, betrayals and atrocities , and will base their reactions (modified by the leader's personality) to the player's diplomatic overtures accordingly.

Once one human faction has made contact with all other human factions, it can choose to convene the Planetary Council and elect a Planetary Governor. Thereafter, factions can periodically convene the council (at most once every 20 years for each faction; the Planetary Governor only has to wait 10 years) to make proposals such as electing a new governor, salvaging the Unity fusion reactor core, or creating a global trade pact. With the exception of the Planetary Governor or Supreme Leader elections, each faction has one vote, with the governor holding veto power. In Planetary Governor or Supreme Leader elections, each faction casts a number of votes that is based on its total population and modifiers from secret projects.

Society
NOT SURE IF WE CAN DO THE FOLLOWING. ANYONE KNOW HOW TO MOD IN DRONES??
Despite being set in the future, the problems of human society still plague the inhabitants of Chiron. Reflecting this are the existence of drones in the population. Drones represent the undereducated, discontent segments of society. When the number of drones overwhelm the number of well educated citizens, called Talents, a drone riot occurs. During a drone riot all productive activity within the base are suspended. If not stopped, prolonged drone riots will eventually escalate in severity until facilities are destroyed, or in extreme cases, the entire city defects to another faction.

Drone riots can be suppressed through the use of in base military units as police. The amount of suppression allowed depends on the degree of tolerance the society, under current social engineering models, has for policing.

Religion
Not finished yet. Suggestions? Ideas?

 

[Chamaedrys]

Religion
Not finished yet. Suggestions? Ideas?

the civs/fractions have all a very specific way of life and world view, so religions are redundant.

 

[micmc]

the civs/fractions have all a very specific way of life and world view, so religions are redundant.

remember within CIV4 at least, unless as I was scanning this was just a smac expansion, rather than using civ4 to "produce" it, I just missed it....anyway

religion within CIV4 is mostly a trade/espinoage advantage, with just enough flavor (buildings mostly) to keep things both historical and interesting....

so you could make Barter, & Sin, & Scratching-your-bottom, "religions"..which I just want to read the line "Deidra has learned to scratch her botom"....but everytime she did scratch her bottom, you'd make +1 gold on the effort....

don't get hung up on RW vrs GW meanings to some concepts cuz, well, very rarely can you shoot up vegas and run over hookers and not get 3 points on your DL, so real-world meanings sometimes don't translate into what happens in-game.

 

[woodelf]

The religion mechanic can get in the way I've noticed. Don't force the game to use it, but if you find a need for it then great. I've seen a few mods stumble with this.

Obviously, I'll be watching this one. I think this is at least the 3rd SMAC-type mod so I'm hoping one of them gets finished!

 

[Chamaedrys]

remember within CIV4 at least, unless as I was scanning this was just a smac expansion, rather than using civ4 to "produce" it, I just missed it....anyway

religion within CIV4 is mostly a trade/espinoage advantage, with just enough flavor (buildings mostly) to keep things both historical and interesting....

so you could make Barter, & Sin, & Scratching-your-bottom, "religions"..which I just want to read the line "Deidra has learned to scratch her botom"....but everytime she did scratch her bottom, you'd make +1 gold on the effort....

don't get hung up on RW vrs GW meanings to some concepts cuz, well, very rarely can you shoot up vegas and run over hookers and not get 3 points on your DL, so real-world meanings sometimes don't translate into what happens in-game.

The point with "religion" is that to civs how have the same religions share values and lifestyle. And having something common makes it easier to get along with eachother, so the citizens are more happy when their goverment have their "religion" and the ai LHs are more friendly if you have their "religion"...

Now, it's just some xml to change the religions into ideologies, lifestyles or aims or whatever,

but the AC fractions can not change to "free religion" and accept ideologies that are in conflict with their philosophy. Just imagin' pacifistic Spartans, hedonistic Hive, ecological Morgans or fascistic UN!!! that doesn't make sense!

So, if "religion" (ideology, lifestyle,..) is used:
- we must make sure that some religions are forbidden for some civs.
- "religions" that are in conflict with the philosophy of a civ cause unhappyness, or some other sort of trouble
- an inquisitor or better a NERV-CUTTER to get rid of unwanted ideas.
- teaching the Ai to use this

 

[micmc]

again it is a very linear, logical way of thinking...but with civ-religions you don't have to be, at least by what you are restricted to gameside.

off the top of my head, coming up with 7 'religions' that would fit into (most) smac ethical factions

--Archvists, historians, everybody likes seeing thier name in the paper. thier (self appointed) "job" is to make sure later generations don't end up reinventing the wheel colonywise...what is learned on ALpha Centuri will become the blueprint/battleplans/coperate strat for future colonies.

--life recyclers, basically making sure every piece of poop ends up being a delicious meal for a bacteria which will feed plankton which will feed fish which will become more poop....you can take it both from a destructor and preserver viewpoint

--automaniacs, making as much drudge work *possibly including warfare* into automatic systems, to free up human hands and minds for more essential uses towards the factions ethical foundation.

--music makers, putting the new world orders onto a gold record and giving it a spin, perfecting that part of the brain which is both mathmatical and creative to achieve harmonal responses only found in emotional responses to music

--Tough Lovers, either munich leather bars, or a sect dedicated to discipline of whatever ethical basis a being adheres to...making sure that 100% is always given rather than slacking off.

--Mythras, or the bullhorners, or maybe even disciples of the smoking room...a small powerful sect which believes whatever the means to achieve power used it is most important the 'wrong sorts' of people never achieve it, even within one's own faction. in modern terms, 'he may be a yank, he maybe a jew, he maybe an aarrdvark, but he's still an oxford man'. (insert cabal of choice btw, its the nice thing about being paranoid it's like lego's all of it can fit together with a little patience *grin*)

--The F---bunnies, 'if we can beat em up, we'll breed em out.'...a sect dedciated to whatever a being's ethical status, they should be breeding as often as possible making sure there are enough babies in the world. you can kill elephants, you can make dodo's exstict, but ya can't get rid of roaches...People shoudl become like roaches.

that's just from the hip, and it's been years since I've played SMAC, so if the ideas violate any basic ethos's then I'll stand corrected, the point is not all religions come from old men in great white beards...some religions, like um, say video games, become religions so quietly nobody notices them for a generation or two that X% of the population no longer talks to Y% of the population because X'ers are stupid nintendo guys, and Y are PsP'ites but all the X'ers wear X gear and all the Y's only like Y products.

 

[Chamaedrys]

1.

again it is a very linear, logical way of thinking...but with civ-religions you don't have to be, at least by what you are restricted to gameside.

the limits of the Ai are the limits for the game and for all modifications of the game.

2. What do you thing about this:

the Talents of SMAC were nothing more than the very happy citizens from Civ2.
Now we've got Civ4 with it's Great Persons. I think we should mod the GPs into Talents. There for we need new specialists:

Empaths and Transzendants produce points for Empathic Talent

Technicals and Engineers produce points for Industrial Talent

...and so one

 

[Leif]

Well, Religion could be replaced by Interaction as in how the nation treats others or Genome as in what type of genes the people living have there and how they get along with others (as in the current Rowanoke mod)

 

[brento1138]

You can see why, now, I haven't done anything with religion. It was because I think the relgion element should be changed to something else. I liked some of the ideas stated above... keep the ideas coming.

Does anyone know more info about the other proposed AC mods?

 

[woodelf]

The Roanoke mod is based here and also has a thread in the main C&C here.

The C4:AC is found here.

Roanoke is alternate based SMAC and the Apolyton guys are remaking SMAC with the Civ4 engine. Yours is somewhere in between.

 

[Leif]

Work with the Roanoke guys, they're all friendly and quite willing to accept any and all advice and help.

 

[brento1138]

Work with the Roanoke guys, they're all friendly and quite willing to accept any and all advice and help.

Well, I think it would be better to just have one big project rather than a bunch of small multiple projects. So working with the Roanoke guys is an excellent option... good to see others out there are already working on this project

 

[woodelf]

It looks like Roanoke is in need of a new Project Leader so if you spoke with Padmewan I'm sure he'd see how easily you two guys could combine mods or cobble together something.

I'd always be around to assist.

 

[Tholish]

Don't get excited?! Those are awesome static leaderheads and made up civs. I think Roanoke should incorporate them immediately.

Religions just seem like too powerful of a tool to just waste. In my mod (Solaria0_8) I'm trying to use religions to represent Life Forms.
Unfortunately, with only XML you can't track how many religion members of each type there are in your population. So all I know is that a city has Cyborgs in it, but not how many. If citizens (ie the landworking peasants, not specialists) had some kind of religion identifier that might do some good.

Roanoke has already done a lot of work. With their permission you could just raid it extensively for all kinds of units and terrain and stuff to cobble together a 0.01

Nothing's wrong with multiple projects if everybody can cross raid, that way we each work on our strengths yet make our distinct individual product.

PS Have you thought of raiding MOO3?

 

[micmc]

I like those ideas Tholish, and it lends itself to really nice "religion" as weapon things I'm playing with at the moment....

so the cyborg faction...could infect the human faction with a comp. virus, (represented in game terms by a religion-only unit, "force building" a building inside human cities that does -x% science....

I would give the competeing civ's a building that would conteract the "virus" (which had the virus building as a prereq.)

I've been experimenting with non-python/sdk stuff after reading the "bad people mod"...forgive me for naming the creator by name but it slips my mind at the moment...so far the AI uses some of the "religion as weapons" units, more testing is needed to make sure it's a 100% level playing field.

 

[Henrik]

Why is it inconceivable that religions would form under these circumstances? Make up some and make them spread much slower atleast the ones during the early game. While I normaly encourage any use of the game mechanics for alternative things I really don't see the need here.
Using religions for small, slow spreading, secteristic movements would work nicely in this enviroment imho.
This way all cities/bases wouldn't even have religions (one could do without the missionaries if one wanted) but some would, which would make for an interesting game aspect imho.

Using religions for ideologies would be nonsencial as the factions allready represent ideological divides.

 

[brento1138]

Tholish you have very good ideas. In a way, I think that in a new Alpha Centauri game, we wouldn't really see new "religions" emerge per se but some other kind of way of life that makes one civilization incompatible (at first) with another that follows it.

Religion makes people happy in Civ right? The happy people end up taking over more land, working harder, and doing better stuff. Thus, their empire gets bigger and grander. Once they've discovered multiple religions, maybe they can build more temples, get more happy, produce even more... and once free religion takes hold, your society is doing superb. So, let's see that equation again, more simplified.

Religion + People = Happy People

Happy People = More productive society

Now...

In Alpha Centauri, rather than simply making people happy, why don't we make them more mentally "productive." Perhaps there are protein strains they must adapt themselves to... elements in the new world they need to scientifically adapt to survive and function better mentally to succeed in their evolving world. We would see a new equation.

Type of Energy consumption discovered = Better physically and mentally fit people

Better physically and mentally fit people = More productive society

See? We don't really need "relgion" per se, but we can use the relgion and the AI as a modified tool (really only in name) to act exactly like the one in Civ, but just change around some titles, and make it "look" more like science than relgion.

This would perhaps mean that temples and such could be replaced with protein manufacturing plants, nutrient facilities, mental enhancement centres, etc. etc. There's a whole list we can come up with if we are creative... replacing things that make people "happy" with mental enhancements which are perhaps incompatible (frequencies may disrupt others, cause havoc) with other enhancements. Until, of course, the final enhancement (replacing free religion) is discovered, a technology that allows multiple mental or physical enhancements.

However, now, it all makes me really wonder if a cyborg or lizardman would attend mass... would it? Heheheh...