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so a buddy and I went mad in the alpha.txt, and here's what we came up with:

Police State, DocLoy, ++POLICE, ++SUPPORT, --EFFIC
Democratic, EthCalc, ++EFFIC, ++GROWTH, --SUPPORT
Fundamentalist, Psych, +MORALE, ++PROBE, --RESEARCH
Simple, None,
Free Market, Indust, ++ECONOMY, ++INDUSTRY, -PLANET, --MORALE
Planned, PlaNets, ++GROWTH, +SUPPORT, +POLICE, --EFFIC
Green, CentEmp, ++PLANET, ++EFFIC, +MORALE, --GROWTH
Survival, None,
Power, MilAlg, ++MORALE, +SUPPORT, -INDUSTRY, -ECONOMY
Knowledge, Cyber, ++RESEARCH, ++EFFIC, --PROBE, --POLICE
Wealth, IndAuto, +INDUSTRY, +ECONOMY, -MORALE, -SUPPORT
None, None,
Cybernetic, DigSent, ++EFFIC, ++INDUSTRY, ++RESEARCH, ---POLICE
Eudaimonic, Eudaim, ++GROWTH, ++ECONOMY, ++PLANET, --MORALE
Thought Control, WillPow, ++POLICE, ++MORALE, ++PROBE, ---SUPPORT

The Lord's Believers, The Fundamentalist, Believers, M, 2, Miriam, F, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1,
TECH, Psych, SOCIAL, --RESEARCH, SOCIAL, +PROBE, SOCIAL, ++SUPPORT, SOCIAL, -PLANET, FANATIC, 0, TECH, 1,

Gaia's Stepdaughters, The Green, Gaians, F, 2, Deirdre, F, -1, 0, 1, 0, 1,
TECH, Ecology, SOCIAL, -MORALE, SOCIAL, -POLICE, SOCIAL, ++EFFIC, SOCIAL, +PLANET, FUNGNUTRIENT, 1, UNIT, 7, TECH, 1,

Human Hive, The Despot, Hive, M, 1, Yang, M, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1,
TECH, DocLoy, FACILITY, 4, SOCIAL, ++GROWTH, SOCIAL, --ECONOMY, DRONE, 4, POPULATION, -2, TECH, 1,

Morgan Industries, The Mogul, Morganites, M, 2, Morgan, M, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0,
TECH, Indust, FACILITY, 7, ENERGY, 200, SOCIAL, +ECONOMY, POPULATION, 3, COMMERCE, 1, SOCIAL, -GROWTH, TECH, 1,

Peacekeeping Forces, The Humanitarian, Peacekeepers, M, 2, Lal, M, -1, 1, 1, 0, 1,
TECH, Biogen, TALENT, 4, SOCIAL, --EFFIC, VOTES, 2, SHARETECH, 3, IMMUNITY, SUPPORT, TECH, 1,

Spartan Federation, The Survivalist, Spartans, M, 2, Santiago, F, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0,
TECH, Mobile, FREEPROTO, 0, SOCIAL, +MORALE, SOCIAL, +POLICE, PSI, -25, TECH, 1,

University of Planet, The Scientist, University, M, 1, Zakharov, M, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1,
TECH, InfNet, TECH, 2, SOCIAL, ++RESEARCH, SOCIAL, --PROBE, SOCIAL, -SUPPORT, PSI, 20, FACILITY, 8, [/i]

not that Im suggesting you post your mods, or anything.

Peacekeepers. Fucking UN ingrate cocksuckers.

I was playing a themed game where I was the good guy. Had both alien factions conquering the world. So I build up a massive army and go to eradicate the alien menace. But in keeping with my theme, whenever I recapture a base that the aliens had taken, I return it to whoever originally had it. Mostly that involves returning Peacekeeper bases, because the little weenies had been getting stomped the most.

(Okay, I will admit to selling everything I could before returning the bases... I needed to finance my war machine somehow.)

So what happens? They start demanding techs and tribute on top of it. I ignored 'em, and like to think that I came down harshly on them after I got elected to run the whole show.

Uh, sorry about just venting like that. Lal always pissed me off, even worse than Miriam did.

For mods, I had a buddy who would create custom alien factions, but I don't have any of them handy.

ja, I usally give back cities, tho I redraw the map quite extesnively. I like having equal number of cities trading partners, but I keep them very low level - by the time i finish conquering them, they have no industry, so the allies arent a threat.

3 pact brothers, all submissve and trading, si goood. . .

Petrosjko wrote:Uh, sorry about just venting like that. Lal always pissed me off, even worse than Miriam did.

Muahahaha! My forces of redundant bureaucracy shall defeat your forces!

Yes, I like Lal and the PKers. Peacekeepers is an awesome name for my army. Does anyone else think there's an uncanny resemblance between Lal and current Secretary-Generaly Kofi Anan?

Petrosjko wrote:Uh, sorry about just venting like that. Lal always pissed me off, even worse than Miriam did.

Yeah, I find Lal and Miriam to be two of the worst to get along with. Both are set to the edges of tolerance, they are set to be pretty intolerant of any idealogical differences.

I found that late-game the biggest threat was usually the Gaians, though. That ability to assimilate mindworms into their army usually gave them an edge over the other NPC factions. Santiago could be a pain, but she usually would get waxed fairly early, and I often ended up collecting her as a protectorate while confronting the main threat from the Chang or Deidre, both of whom tended to build up the really threatening armies.

The consolation with the Hive was that they usually went in for the unarmored vehicles and aircraft, so even though they had a lot of bulk, it was fragile bulk. But outside of specialized forces, taking on native life had this tendency to get ugly, when faced in bulk.

Petrosjko wrote:I found that late-game the biggest threat was usually the Gaians, though. That ability to assimilate mindworms into their army usually gave them an edge over the other NPC factions.

Yes, the Gaian can get nasty indeed by that point, though I can usually build up a military bulk to counter them to a degree. As I see it Miriam and the Peacekeepers are the worst to have to deal with early. They're just too intolerant, each in their own way, to deal with easily. It's literally in the stats where they are.

Petrosjko wrote:Santiago could be a pain, but she usually would get waxed fairly early, and I often ended up collecting her as a protectorate while confronting the main threat from the Chang or Deidre, both of whom tended to build up the really threatening armies.

I usually played a custom faction allied with the Spartans. Provided you can get them on your side initially, usually via cash or tech, they can be tamed. The loyalty factor is fairly high and with some support they can be pretty tough ally. Certainly worth courting in my opinion.

Petrosjko wrote:The consolation with the Hive was that they usually went in for the unarmored vehicles and aircraft, so even though they had a lot of bulk, it was fragile bulk. But outside of specialized forces, taking on native life had this tendency to get ugly, when faced in bulk.

I usually replace the Hive or the Morganites, so I have less experience against them. The Hive does tend to follow the Chinese influence, lots of under-armored and powered bulk. They can be really, really tough if they catch you. But a good garrison can usually fend them off with minimal losses, also good for Mindworms.

Now Morgan, he can be a real pain indeed. I hated him because he always had a high quality, if low bulk military. It usually came down to his elites versus mine, which is one reason I always got the atrocity prohibitions removed. When you can planet buster or just gas the Morganites it becomes so much easier.

It's also some time useful against the Believers and Hive.



Now does any one play the Alien Crossfire mod?

Stormbringer wrote:Yes, the Gaian can get nasty indeed by that point, though I can usually build up a military bulk to counter them to a degree. As I see it Miriam and the Peacekeepers are the worst to have to deal with early. They're just too intolerant, each in their own way, to deal with easily. It's literally in the stats where they are.

Yeah, though the Believers were usually the ones to resort to the use of force more quickly. The Peacekeepers would generally start making the obnoxious demands for tech and energy before they'd declare you removed from sanction and send in the troops.

I usually played a custom faction allied with the Spartans. Provided you can get them on your side initially, usually via cash or tech, they can be tamed. The loyalty factor is fairly high and with some support they can be pretty tough ally. Certainly worth courting in my opinion.

I've lost count of how many times I had to save Santiago's overbelligerant ass. On the plus side, she could be quite useful for fighting proxy wars where I supplied her with units and she did all the heavy lifting.

I usually replace the Hive or the Morganites, so I have less experience against them. The Hive does tend to follow the Chinese influence, lots of under-armored and powered bulk. They can be really, really tough if they catch you. But a good garrison can usually fend them off with minimal losses, also good for Mindworms.

The Hive was also just damned belligerent, and since I typically paralleled a Morganite style of development, they'd get pissy about my 'democracy' and start some trouble. One of the funniest ones I had involved a time when I was building an invasion force to cross a narrow channel and hit their continent, and then I looked over to see that they had elevated the ground to create a landbridge across for their invasion force. Our forces met head-on over the bridge. Mine won.

Now Morgan, he can be a real pain indeed. I hated him because he always had a high quality, if low bulk military. It usually came down to his elites versus mine, which is one reason I always got the atrocity prohibitions removed. When you can planet buster or just gas the Morganites it becomes so much easier.

It's also some time useful against the Believers and Hive.

I usually got rid of the atrocities prohibition so I could nerve staple at a whim or use the chemical weapons, but I tended to hold off on planet busters unless there was no other option. The price to pay in larval uprisings near my core production cities was just too goddamned high.

Now does any one play the Alien Crossfire mod?

Vanilla Alien Crossfire? Loved it. I grooved on the Pirates and the Free Drones. I didn't much care for the Planet Cult or Aki Zeta Five's Borg-esque faction, though, too derivative of the Gaians and the University, respectively.

But getting that one Secret Project where you got a free airbase in every city and then going hog-wild with the orbitals... sah-weet, baby.

Petrosjko wrote:Yeah, though the Believers were usually the ones to resort to the use of force more quickly. The Peacekeepers would generally start making the obnoxious demands for tech and energy before they'd declare you removed from sanction and send in the troops. /quote]

Yeah, they both had their style. But both would get belligerent fast. One reason I made sure to slap them both down hard as soon as possible. I knew sooner or later, unless I was top dog (though by the end I managed that easily enough every time) they would take a crack at me. I usually managed to prempt them.

Petrosjko wrote:I've lost count of how many times I had to save Santiago's overbelligerant ass. On the plus side, she could be quite useful for fighting proxy wars where I supplied her with units and she did all the heavy lifting.

I never had that problem. I got so I could usually keep her in check, with tech and cash bribes, which also had the effect of keeping her military relatively up to date. Hence she made a good aid in fighting off enemies and made a useful proxy or ally in war.

Petrosjko wrote:The Hive was also just damned belligerent, and since I typically paralleled a Morganite style of development, they'd get pissy about my 'democracy' and start some trouble.

I usually had a green democracy or police state (I was a militarist). But either way, the Hive would usually try to attack me sooner or later. The only problem is sometimes they could be realy patient and jump me with a massive force.

Petrosjko wrote: One of the funniest ones I had involved a time when I was building an invasion force to cross a narrow channel and hit their continent, and then I looked over to see that they had elevated the ground to create a landbridge across for their invasion force. Our forces met head-on over the bridge. Mine won.

In playing a Crossfire game with the usual faction I did nearly the same except using a seismic missle. My hovertanks met his speeders and thanks to their chemical weapons virtually decimated his.

Petrosjko wrote:I usually got rid of the atrocities prohibition so I could nerve staple at a whim or use the chemical weapons, but I tended to hold off on planet busters unless there was no other option. The price to pay in larval uprisings near my core production cities was just too goddamned high.

I could usually keep the drones in line with out. What I wanted it for was the planet busters and chemical weapons. I could usually have and raise mindworms as my default garrison troops (expensive but fearsome) by then so the risk wasn't too bad. Of course I used them sparingly but some times there was no other option.

Petrosjko wrote:Vanilla Alien Crossfire? Loved it. I grooved on the Pirates and the Free Drones. I didn't much care for the Planet Cult or Aki Zeta Five's Borg-esque faction, though, too derivative of the Gaians and the University, respectively.

I actually liked it, for one thing all of them seemed connected to one of the progenitor factions, whether for good or bad. Most of them seemed to be an opposition or extremes of a faction. A nice touch in my opinion and they generally offered enough difference to be fun to play.

Of course for Crossfire I often played the alien factions or just used my custom faction. Needless to say it was always nice to ally with the aliens since they had a leg up techwise.

Petrosjko wrote:But getting that one Secret Project where you got a free airbase in every city and then going hog-wild with the orbitals... sah-weet, baby.

Oh yeah. I would have most of my production in orbit and virtually inviolable which was great. The enemy couldn't touch it seriously and it was so great.

And the other thing that was great was building the grav-skimmers. Those things were great for armed recon and airborne death. I love using gas equipped, heavily armored independent skimmers for patrol and consquest. It could be a pretty darn effective strategy, certainly devestating to the enemy.

Well, to cut down a bit on the quotage I pretty much agree with your points except where previously specified (such as with Santiago).

My favorite Alien Crossfire trick was the ballistic missile sub, even if the game seemed to have some strange aversion to actually allowing those to be submarines. But what I would do was build a couple of missile carriers, loaded out to the full sixteen missile capacity, and run them fifty-fifty on the cruise missiles and the fungal payload missiles. To kick off a war, I'd saturation bomb the areas around their cities with fungal warheads, which would fuck their production, screw their mag lines, and create hordes of mindworms. Then the cruise missiles would wipe out or seriously attrite their garrison forces, leaving the cities open for mindworm attacks.

Follow on with orbital drops, and since getting the Secret Project that allowed native movement rates over fungus was always a priority of mine, it usually gave me a pretty devastating first-strike capability for the late-game conflicts.

Another facet I purely loved about Alpha Centauri was the potentials for planetary-based warfare. The aforementioned tectonic missile trick of yours, raising and lowering landmasses with formers, using the council votes to raise or lower the sea level, it all gave new facets to the strategy of the game. It was that sort of capabilities that kinda ruined Civ III for me, though. Although I very much appreciated how they carried over the separation of settler units from worker units, a la the colony pods and formers of Alpha Centauri. The fact that you had to use settlers and sacrifice population was always one of my major annoyances with previous iterations of the Sid Meier games in the genre.

I do dislike the way the computer would seek out and find my subs with aircraft, (technically impossible....)

I love Alien Crossfire. Especially the Pirates.
When playing a weater-heavy map, they're hard to beat...

I gave them competition, tweaked the aliens with an aquatic bend/lovecraftian bend, and yes their headquarters is "Re'lyth"

So, what sort of military organization and units do you guys feild?

I start off fielding a mixed force of max attack/1 defense rovers and a handful of 1 attack, max defense rovers. By late game, my army consists of Leviathans armed with nerve gas, carrier-based copters, grav-tanks with drop pods, and maxed out drop-pod equipped invasion marines who I use to take cities after they've been properly smashed from above.

Oh, and I almost always play Spartans, I feel they are the best-rounded starting faction.

Thirdfain wrote:Oh, and I almost always play Spartans, I feel they are the best-rounded starting faction.

What is the benefit of playing Spartans?

+2 to morale


you can make a lot of money as the spartans just "harvesting" worm attacks

In SP, preferably, no military at all beyond necessary prototype units, the free independant units I started with, captured worms (Unlikely, seeing as I'm usually in Free Market by 2115 at the latest, and stay in it all game) and anything popped from pods. All fully upgraded to my current tech base of course.

In MP, in addition to the above, usually just a basic 1-1-1 garrison for each base, built as soon as there's human, ai or worm contact, hastily upgraded to 1-best-1 AAA once the wars start (Or 1-best-1 Com Jammer in the event of an early game rover rush). When it becomes necessary for me to actually attack other factions, it's usually all just 1-best-1 drop troops, and selection of best weapon choppers and needlejets, about 1/4 to 1/2 of which are anti-air. Preferably, when attacking another player, you want to take 1/4 to 1/2 of their bases in one turn, depending on the size of their standing army, and their economic position.

I've only very rarely seen a game where it's necessary for grav-tanks and the like to come into play. Usually, by the time they're discovered, you've only got 20 turns of play left anyway, and the minerals and cash are better spent on buying science and economic facilities for whichever bases don't have them, to move you quicker to the all important Voice & Ascent. By that point, you should be in a position where you can buy both projects in one turn each, and have cash left over.

thats because your a demigod archaic the rest of us resort to lesser measures, like a swarm of choppers backed by drop troops.

tho, I do love rovers, early game.

Thirdfain wrote:So, what sort of military organization and units do you guys feild?

I start off fielding a mixed force of max attack/1 defense rovers and a handful of 1 attack, max defense rovers. By late game, my army consists of Leviathans armed with nerve gas, carrier-based copters, grav-tanks with drop pods, and maxed out drop-pod equipped invasion marines who I use to take cities after they've been properly smashed from above.

Oh, and I almost always play Spartans, I feel they are the best-rounded starting faction.

I tend to go like you at the start, heavy offense, heavy defense, and maybe a spearhead unit that combines both. If I'm heavily outnumbered but have some cash to spare, a probe team or two to try to bribe enemy units away.

*(Revels in the game where he beat off Miriam through a whole war by bribing away two of her rovers and holding a chokepoint for years.*

Late game, I'll go for a broadbased force mixture. On my interior cities, I'll switch over to unarmed, unarmored trance units, because I'm usually going to run into a certain degree of fungal infestations.

(FUCKING ORKS! Heh.)

For my spearhead, I prefer a large number of support units. Helos, missiles, some fighters to cover the helos, gravships, and a small number of maxed-out grav armor units. With Centauri Empathy letting you move them across fungus like a dream, orbital drop grav tanks can be their worst nightmare in my fungal missile scenario, as outlined above.

Thirdfain wrote:So, what sort of military organization and units do you guys feild?

I start off fielding a mixed force of max attack/1 defense rovers and a handful of 1 attack, max defense rovers. By late game, my army consists of Leviathans armed with nerve gas, carrier-based copters, grav-tanks with drop pods, and maxed out drop-pod equipped invasion marines who I use to take cities after they've been properly smashed from above.

Oh, and I almost always play Spartans, I feel they are the best-rounded starting faction.

I always play Pirates or University.
For Pirates, it's easy. When the other nationsa come knocking, I almost always control the seas anyway, so they don't stand a chance.
For normal units, I always go for the biggest one available, though I found I rather like cheap helicopters with big guns to clean away enemy resistance in cities.
Of course, my favourite game strategy, is to start planet-busting every other faction off the face of the planet

Singularity Planet Busters are the most satisfying Sid Meier WMD ever...

Enforcer Talen wrote:thats because your a demigod archaic the rest of us resort to lesser measures, like a swarm of choppers backed by drop troops.

tho, I do love rovers, early game.

Demigod? Bah. I just had no life whatsoever, and played it constantly for about a year or so. ^^;;; Take away my beloved University and I'm suddenly not all that crash hot either. Managing the Uni's drones on Transcend is easier than having to play a game without the ability to go Free Market.

Early game rushes are a real pain in the neck, I have to say. By the late game, even without commerce, you can easily be producing 2000+ credits a turn just on your own. Early game, and it's lucky if you're getting 100 by the time the Impact Rovers from Momentum players start rolling in. If you can repulse the attack, you've basically won, since there's very little they can do to catch up to your position without the conquest of at least one faction, but then again, it is MP, and it's not unknown for them to be given a leg up to try the whole thing over again by some enterprising opponent over the sea who doesn't want to have to deal with you directly.

Stofsk wrote:

Thirdfain wrote:Oh, and I almost always play Spartans, I feel they are the best-rounded starting faction.

What is the benefit of playing Spartans?

What I mean is, what is your strategy when playing the Spartans, and why do you think they're the best-rounded faction?