(Rising Tide) No speculation on Hybrid Affinities and New sponsors?

[Makenshi]

One thing I'd like to see more is stuff like "Federation" in the names of the factions. Not just in the official name, but in the name shown every time; I know it is called Commonwealth of the Pacific, but in the end what we see all the time is just Polystralia... and that sucks.

Federation, Protectorate, Corporation, Union, Cooperative; such stuff is cool and shouldn't be hidden. Also, some factions should be called Dominion or Initiative. Like "Al-Falah Dominion" or "Franco-Iberia Initiative".

 

[Galgus]

In casual conversation I don't think anyone would refer to them by such full names, though.

Typically you hear "America" or "the USA" rather than the mouthful that is "The United States of America".

 

[vahouth]

Maybe we'll see a Graeco-Roman science faction?

 

[BevHeartMuncher]

What I'd most like to see is a 'savage' kind of faction. Some group of pirates or someone who hijacked a Seed ship or crudely assembled it from whatever they could take, and come to the new world with a huge disdain for the privileged, and a strong sense of freedom and patriotism.

We already have Brasilia as the war faction, but they tend to more fill the role of necessary roughness on the new planet to make sure they survive. Someone like a space Monteshaka with extra bonuses from killing things , who wants to go around just take whatever they get their eye on, I.e a much less organised 'nation' colony.

Basically just space Monteshaka

 

[Karl0413]

What I'd most like to see is a 'savage' kind of faction. Some group of pirates or someone who hijacked a Seed ship or crudely assembled it from whatever they could take, and come to the new world with a huge disdain for the privileged, and a strong sense of freedom and patriotism.

We already have Brasilia as the war faction, but they tend to more fill the role of necessary roughness on the new planet to make sure they survive. Someone like a space Monteshaka with extra bonuses from killing things , who wants to go around just take whatever they get their eye on, I.e a much less organised 'nation' colony.

Basically just space Monteshaka

Maybe a Caribbean based Pirate or PMC faction?

 

[Minor Annoyance]

The Carribeans haven't been known for pirates for 200 years and it will be at least 500 when the game starts. Space Carribeans being pirates makes as much sense as ARC having slaves, or Polystralia being a penal colony.

 

[SupremacyKing2]

Maybe a Caribbean based Pirate or PMC faction?

Well, launching a seeding mission to another planet would be a very difficult and costly undertaking. You need to make sure that your faction is plausible as a spacefaring civ. I am not sure a bunch of islands in the carribbean would have the resources to realistically launch a space flight to another planet.

 

[Karl0413]

Well, launching a seeding mission to another planet would be a very difficult and costly undertaking. You need to make sure that your faction is plausible as a spacefaring civ. I am not sure a bunch of islands in the carribbean would have the resources to realistically launch a space flight to another planet.

The Carribeans haven't been known for pirates for 200 years and it will be at least 500 when the game starts. Space Carribeans being pirates makes as much sense as ARC having slaves, or Polystralia being a penal colony.

I was just going by the fact that at least one other civ is aquatic based and if it is like the North Sea Alliance, it probably comes from a sea-faring culture area on Earth. The Indonesian Archipelago along with Australia and New Zealand is taken up by Polyastralia. China and Indo-China are PAC. Japan and Korea are part of the PAC, or at least I thought they were. Britain, the Dutch and Scandanvia are North Sea Alliance. The US is in the ARC. Most of South America is Braslia. Most of Arabia is Al-Falah. Kavithan Protectorate encompasses the Indian Subcontinent. Slavic Federation is Russia and Eastern Europe. Franco-Iberia is France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and North Africa. People's African Union encompasses most of Africa.

There is limited options for the other two factions if they are going by geographic area. So where is a naval combat focused civ going to come from? Central America and the Caribbean is definitely one of the options left and the one that kind of stands out if you want to make a naval themed civ.

 

[Cyon]

Well, launching a seeding mission to another planet would be a very difficult and costly undertaking. You need to make sure that your faction is plausible as a spacefaring civ. I am not sure a bunch of islands in the carribbean would have the resources to realistically launch a space flight to another planet.

Obviously a pirate faction would steal a ship from another seeding faction!

 

[GoodSarmatian]

I still think there could be an North American faction. ARC is not it. Arc is a corporation.
But I also think it's more likely there will be a floating "libertarian" "utopia" civ consisting of the super rich and not corresponding to any borders. Apart from being aquatic, they could also a one city civ like Venice with a very powerful bonus to make up for it.

It's also very likely that one of the two unanounced sponsors will be diplomacy/trait focused and I think a UN led mission would be very fitting. Call the capital Unity.

 

[Veras]

The Carribeans haven't been known for pirates for 200 years and it will be at least 500 when the game starts. Space Carribeans being pirates makes as much sense as ARC having slaves, or Polystralia being a penal colony.

Just create a convincing background to justify it. I tried to do that on the first page of the thread. A Pirate and somewhat rogue faction is one of the most frequent of the fan requests, and it seems that Firaxis is paying attention to that. Besides, Rising Tide water gameplay almost DEMANDS a pirate faction, is just too good of an opportunity to miss. And I think the Caribbean would fit it perfectly.

 

[Galgus]

I still think there could be an North American faction. ARC is not it. Arc is a corporation.
But I also think it's more likely there will be a floating "libertarian" "utopia" civ consisting of the super rich and not corresponding to any borders. Apart from being aquatic, they could also a one city civ like Venice with a very powerful bonus to make up for it.

It's also very likely that one of the two unanounced sponsors will be diplomacy/trait focused and I think a UN led mission would be very fitting. Call the capital Unity.

ARC is a North American faction, it simply isn't funded by a North American government.

From the trailers, if I recall correctly, Americans cheered it as their seeding operation when it launched.

And Rapture was an isolationist objectivist city, not a libertarian one.
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That said, I had hopes that Al Falah, having a culture of living in their spacecraft, would be a one city faction.

I'd give them a similar method of play to Venice in having many trade routes, but allow them to found Outposts that would function like stations they could trade with.

Outpost trade yields would be based on the resources and improved tiles around them.

The idea would be to build a megacity around the spaceship and funnel resources into it, rather than the traditional spread out method of colonization.

Based on their leader profile I could even see a ban on international trade routes with the faction.

 

[altayrneto]

I must be honest, I can't see a pirate faction in Earth building/stealing a space ship, managing to launch it and starting a entire planetary colonization process - Just for attack and loot in another planet. But, I thought of another scenario: And if some faction (released or not iet) had sent their ships, with instructed people and specialized equipment, and during the voyage to the new planet, a rebellion happens and the rebellious leader take the command of the mission just in name of his/her own benefit. I think that could be a japanese faction. And the other one could be a German/Greek nation focused in maritme commerce and diplomacy.

 

[bite]

I would be shocked if one of the next two are not a Japan/Korea sponsor, for the last one there are only a few sort of areas left, unless it is another no state entity like the ANC, there is the Caribbean, North America, Germany and the Greek side of Europe (Franco-Iberia having everything from Portugal to France and Italy, the current Latin Union, NSA having the British Ilse, Scandinavia and possibly the former Lowlands and the Slavic Federation taking Eastern Europe).

 

[GenyaArikado]

They need to save some for the Orbital layer xpack.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

I've gotten the impression that Japan and Korea are under the sphere of the PAC.

Personally, I think one of the remaining sponsors will be along the lines of a nation state like many of the current sponsors while the other will be a wild card non-state like the ARC.

Two BERT sponsors are water-based and two are land-based. We already know one of each.

Therefore, I am guessing that the land-based one will be from Central Asia. It will reflect a more nomadic and militaristic style with a Mad Max style dystopian theme. It will have some sort of movement bonus to rover units. The back story is that they stole a ship from the Pan Slavs.

I then guess that the water-based sponsor hails from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It will be a conglomeration of dissidents from the U.S., the PAC, and Polystralia living on floating cities made of garbage in the central Pacific. They will get a bonus to food from deep ocean tiles.

 

[Westwall]

I would be shocked if one of the next two are not a Japan/Korea sponsor, for the last one there are only a few sort of areas left, unless it is another no state entity like the ANC, there is the Caribbean, North America, Germany and the Greek side of Europe (Franco-Iberia having everything from Portugal to France and Italy, the current Latin Union, NSA having the British Ilse, Scandinavia and possibly the former Lowlands and the Slavic Federation taking Eastern Europe).

I would also be surprised if Japan isn't a TBA sponsor.

Korea is highly unlikely because PAC already has cities with Korean names, but curiously there are no cities with Japanese names. I believe the devs have even made a point of noting that PAC only encompasses much of the East Asian mainland, with no mention of Japan whatsoever.

Japan being an island nation would also fit in with what they said about having two specifically naval sponsors.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

I would also be surprised if Japan isn't a TBA sponsor.

Korea is highly unlikely because PAC already has cities with Korean names, but curiously there are no cities with Japanese names. I believe the devs have even made a point of noting that PAC only encompasses much of the East Asian mainland, with no mention of Japan whatsoever.

Japan being an island nation would also fit in with what they said about having two specifically naval sponsors.

Another point in favor of Japan is that one of the new wonders is named after a Japanese sea monster. Akkorokamui

 

[Westwall]

Also they did say the two remaining factions would be a bit "out there."

Given Japan's current population trends, it'd be neat if we got a heavily robotics-dependent sponsor, although that lore wouldn't really gel with the randomness of the affinity system, especially if they ended up going the Harmony route.

 

[DefiantMars]

Also they did say the two remaining factions would be a bit "out there."

Given Japan's current population trends, it'd be neat if we got a heavily robotics-dependent sponsor, although that lore wouldn't really gel with the randomness of the affinity system, especially if they ended up going the Harmony route.

Harmony has some robotics technologies, thought not quite to the same mindset or extent as Supremacy: Swarm Robotics, Swarm Intelligence, Nanorobotics. They exist but Harmony prefers Genetic modification. As for Purity, that one is a bit tougher. I suppose they could adopt more of an "engineering" or "non-AI" focus. Though that might be a shaky approach.