faction specifics

[CptHowdy]

haven't gotten to far into my first game but are there any faction specific units, research, buildings etc?? or does everyone have access to all the same things and factions are pretty much just to add some backstory? any point in picking one over the other? is replayability limited to different maps and a random tech tree?

[tombo]

i think its covered/addressed over on Slitherine web site.

[CptHowdy]

ORIGINAL: tombo

i think its covered/addressed over on Slitherine web site.

any specific thread you had in mind? i don't see any threads that seem to cover my question. i see a faction balance thread with 159 views and two replies[:(] i don't think their forums are anymore active than the ones here so maybe they should combine them. i did buy the game from the matrix site so i am using these forums.

[tombo]

cpt...
it was the Faction balance i saw. forums are somewhat quiet too.

ive been waiting to buy...want to see how the devs respond to issues, etc.

[Flaviusx]

There are no faction specific units or buildings, just the starting bonuses they come with. It's more like SMAC than Civ5 in this respect.

[CptHowdy]

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx

There are no faction specific units or buildings, just the starting bonuses they come with. It's more like SMAC than Civ5 in this respect.

ahh I see. they dedicated the whole manual to telling us these great stories about each faction but their only difference in game is a starting bonus. hopefully future content will make them less generic. thanks for all the replies.

[Flaviusx]

The factions play very very differently. You do not need faction specific buildings or units to lend a sense of individuality.

Like I said, SMAC didn't have faction specific buildings or units either -- but you sure could tell the difference between the Morganites, the Gaians, the University, etc.

Faction specific units and buildings are more properly part of the Civ franchise. I enjoy these in that franchise but don't really miss them at all in Pandora. If anything, the faction specific bonuses are possibly over the top, but they are certainly distinct. They are not generic at all.

Also, you have to remember that units are heavily customized in both SMAC and Pandora. It's a different design philosophy than in Civ, where every archer is like the other guy's archer or rifleman or whatever, excepting the occasional civ specific unit. In Pandora, like SMAC, you design your own units a la carte based on your desires and available tech. So adding civ specific units is redundant here.

What I do miss a lot are the world wonders.

[CptHowdy]

so how do the greenies play differently from the warmonger? greenies can research nukes correct? I don't see anything in their background that would permit them to use such a weapon, besides last ditch self preservation. I started my first game as the research nation. why would I even think about a research pact with another nation? it shouldn't even be an option but I can do it. this it what I mean by generic. at the end of the game what make my nation different from any other? we have researched everything, we can all build the same buildings, we all get the same operations. so you can design a unit? i can make my unit just like everyone elses or i can make a unit that counters theirs exactly and they can do the same to me. nothing faction specific there just individual taste. if everyone can research everything, can build the same units, build the same buildings, use the same operations, use the same diplomatic options then in the end there really is no difference. some nations should never start a war, some should be totally defensive, some should just try to overwhelm with cheap throw away units, some should go for more technologically advanced troops but have less of them, some might wage war at the drop of a hat, some would never use nukes or other weapons of mass destruction, some would. some nations should gain most of their tech through subterfuge, bribes etc... others can just buy whatever they want.

[Flaviusx]

Well, the Gaians in SMAC could build planet busters to their heart's content. The University could make research pacts with anybody it cared to.

I mean these kinds of objections folks are making would apply to SMAC just as much as Pandora. I'm wondering how many folks around here are familiar with the classic game that Pandora obviously took inspiration from. I think Pandora has shortcomings myself, but mostly insofar as it strays from the SMAC formula. Militant ecologists? No problem. That's straight out of the Alpha Centauri playbook.

[CptHowdy]

not drawing comparisons to smac because i never played it. haven't played civ 5 either. militant ecologists? that's great as im sure there would be some who would rather kill a person than cut down a tree but do they play that way in this game?? i doubt the greenies in this game would use a nuke unless they have tech that cleans up nuclear waste. do they have that sort of tech? do they make better pollution processors? have they developed plant life that grows at an accelerated rate? do their formers plant forests or process fungi better than anyone elses?

[eyegore]

Well, for example as the ecologists you do produce less polution and you get extra bonus's from forests. So it is totally unneccesary to build mines or farms...your do just fine planting forests...and later when you can grow your own fungus your get bonus's from that as well. Add to this less alien aggression.

[CptHowdy]

ORIGINAL: eyegore

Well, for example as the ecologists you do produce less polution and you get extra bonus's from forests. So it is totally unneccesary to build mines or farms...your do just fine planting forests...and later when you can grow your own fungus your get bonus's from that as well. Add to this less alien aggression.

good info. that is the kind of stuff I wanted to know. how are the factions different besides a starting bonus. thanks for your input.

[Dragoon.]

ORIGINAL: CptHowdy
i doubt the greenies in this game would use a nuke unless they have tech that cleans up nuclear waste.

Let's role play.
So there is this beautiful planet untouched by sentient being for thousands of years. Maybe because it was left alone the planet is now such a wonderful place, and then comes mankind and ruin everything.
(Which we actually do, because after terraforming takes place the planet looks like crap.)
Obviously the human race is a destructive race, an abscess on the world that must be cleansed once and for all for the sake of the planet, for every planet!
Thus we need to so use nuclear weapons to wipe out any sign of human life, to ultimately save the planet. The last of us will serve as guardians until we become one with the planet itself.
In the thousands of years to come Pandora will heal the wounds caused by us. Aeons from now when wind, water and dirt has claimed the last traces of humans incursion on this world, this planet will get his beauty and innocent back and we have found redemption for the sins of our forefathers. That is what we fight for, for what we stand, for what we will die for. Terra Salvum

[CptHowdy]

ORIGINAL: Dragoon

ORIGINAL: CptHowdy
i doubt the greenies in this game would use a nuke unless they have tech that cleans up nuclear waste.

Let's role play.
So there is this beautiful planet untouched by sentient being for thousands of years. Maybe because it was left alone the planet is now such a wonderful place, and then comes mankind and ruin everything.
(Which we actually do, because after terraforming takes place the planet looks like crap.)
Obviously the human race is a destructive race, an abscess on the world that must be cleansed once and for all for the sake of the planet, for every planet!
Thus we need to so use nuclear weapons to wipe out any sign of human life, to ultimately save the planet. The last of us will serve as guardians until we become one with the planet itself.
In the thousands of years to come Pandora will heal the wounds caused by us. Aeons from now when wind, water and dirt has claimed the last traces of humans incursion on this world, this planet will get his beauty and innocent back and we have found redemption for the sins of our forefathers. That is what we fight for, for what we stand, for what we will die for. Terra Salvum

that's good so why bother to try and colonize? we know the other factions are going to rape the planet so let em kill each other. we nuke from orbit and then land on the planet and try to clean it up.

[Dragoon.]

Because human are hypocrites of course.
Like the priest that has an affair. The investigator that steals. The female rights activist that goes to a strip club. The police officer that drives over the speed limit. The president that spies on his allies. The communist that enjoys silk bedsheets and 40 year old whiskey.
The face of virtue is the mask of a sinner. The lies we tell our self to escape truth over the monsters we really are. Nobody think they are a bad person. They all do it for the greater good. Divine Ascension.

[eyegore]

Well the whole premise is silly if you look at it logically anyway. this goes way back to SMAC as well...where the entire notion is everything is honky Dory until humans show up. Historically this is nonsense. When America was settled do you think it was the pilgrims that destroyed the old forests? It was the natives....they were down to 5 percent. You know they are still at five percent...and that is because we showed up, passed laws to protect the forests. Otherwise, The natives , who were burning other tribes out--would have eventually burnt all of them down....or in other words if we weren't here, neither would the forests be here.

Let's not forget technological progress....it is later acknowledged through research as anti-pollution tech...but in all honestly who thinks that likely will be long old tech before we ever land on another planet? The way it is now cities turn into Detroit dumps by turn 30...which is about 2 and half years. I mean really? It's modeled as if this is the turn of the century industrial age....and who among us really thinks a 2014 Chevy is the same polluting beast that a 1950 Chevy was? In another 100 years they'll likely be completely pollution free.

Not to mention we have expanded the forests, cleaned the air and water from the old pollution of the early century by leaps and bounds already. The whole premise is better suited for the Fanatics, not the Ecology group if you look at it realistically.