This thread is to gauge interest in a game based on Sid Meier's: Alpha Centauri property and inspired by the pending release of Beyond Earth. Folks who are interested should join #AlphaCentauri on Coldfront.
The game will focus on inter-factional conflict during and after Planetfall.
The original seven factions from SMAC and mechanics introduced in SMAX (i.e., aquaculture, founding of marine settlements) will be included. Factions from SMAX may be added later. I am very open to the inclusion of additional factions, however. Each faction must propose a different answer to the following three questions: (1) Why did human civilization on Earth fail? (2) How do human beings best relate to one another and their environment? (3) What is necessary to ensure the survival of human settlers on Chiron, called Planet?
Factions are intended to stake out and occupy exclusive intellectual space. Their ideologies should be traceable to compelling first principles that provide an implicit answer for every problem. The Morganites of SMAC may have cherished their luxuries, but Morgan was basically making an argument that all human interaction could be understood in purely transactional terms. Likewise, Zakharov's obsession with knowledge spoke to his belief that the universe was a fundamentally knowable place and that every problem could be solved through reductive study. What can be known, can be controlled.
If anyone is interest in game design, but not participation, I am also happy to discuss ideas for both factions and the tech tree.
My rough game plan is as follows:
1. Develop an interesting set of factions consistent with the approach used in SMAC/X.
2. Expand the tech tree found in SMAX.
3. Recruit ≥7 players.
4. Provide each player with an electronic portfolio (a Microsoft Word document) describing their faction, including the situation immediately prior to Planetfall.
As in the original story accompanying the computer game, the U.N.S. Unity suffers a catastrophic accident during the final approach to Planet. Once awakened, the command crew assesses the damage and determine that it is repairable. In the meantime, there is a mutiny that culminates in the death of the expedition's leader, Captain Garland, leading the remaining officers to dissolve the expedition and attempt Planetfall independently. Each officer offers a different "image" of humanity's future on Planet and accumulates followers accordingly. They leave the ship amidst an orgy of looting and violence, each trying to secure the maximum allotment of unassigned crew and supplies while (in some cases, at least) sabotaging the efforts of potential competitors to reach Planet's surface alive.
5. Invite players to establish objectives and issue orders to their chief lieutenants (NPC's) in anticipation of Planetfall. Each player will receive some combination of specific and random resources reflecting their success at seizing and holding Unity stores during the crisis prior to Planetfall.
6. Present each player with a Situation Report upon Planetfall. Issue a portfolio update providing a basic budget template, order of battle, and other relevant information about settlement, including optional gameplay objectives.
Factions so far...
The Human Ascendancy is a faction dedicated to eugenics and the creation of homo superior, their answer to mankind's expulsion from his evolutionary home. They propose to accomplish this goal through superior understanding of both the genome and the human brain. Their preference is knowledge, their aversion faith. Their government is a geniocracy. The Ascendancy typically operates a planned economy favoring education and research applications but is indifferent to the economic modalities of its neighbors. The Ascendancy is opportunistic and instrumental in its thinking -- therefore, aggressive. It either opposes restoration of contact with Earth on grounds that refugees can only speed consumption of Planet's limited resources, or else is indifferent, presuming that their project will yield fruit before Earth can effect a mass exodus, but will oppose any agenda that might be incompatible with its attempts to breed the master race. The Ascendancy's affinity is Purity: their image of human evolution focuses on "cracking" and suborning the genetic code. They reject images that involve cybernetics. The Ascendancy's leader is Tahmineh Pahlvai, a female from the Imperial State of Iran. She was previously the Unity's chief geneticist.
tl;dr: Khaaaaaaan!
The Conclave is a fundamentalist kritarky (government by judges) with the objective of achieving spiritual apotheosis (after establishing planetary theocracy). Their preference is faith, their aversion knowledge (a proxy for purely empirical engagement with the world). They are aggressive, violently evangelistic, and opposed to restoration of contact with Earth, interpreting Unity's launch as the start of the postdiluvian era. According to Miriam's teachings, the Unity crew are all members of the elect, conditional upon their acceptance of Miriam's teachings before the Apocalypse. The Conclave's affinity is Purity: it is violently opposed to any practice that alters the human body and mind. Miriam tends to operate a planned or full command economy. The Conclave is led by Sister Miriam Godwinson, a female from the Christian States of America. Sister Miriam was the Unity's psych chaplain.
tl;dr: This is my Bible, this is my gun.
The Estado Novo is a corporatist faction that combines elements of hierarchy and traditionalism in an essential medieval timocracy. In short, a fascist government that has implemented a rigid caste system spanning four estates: drones, colonists, Talents, and knights. There are generally gradations within each estate, usually by profession. Each estate is apportioned certain privileges and corresponding obligations. Thus, for example, talents are exempt from conscription while drones and colonists have the greatest amount of unstructured leisure time and the fewest stipulations regarding their rights to procreate. Knights may participate in the business of government but must provide military service. Priests are considered Talents. The Estado Novo's appeal arises from its guarantee of social and spiritual order in the face of potentially hostile outsiders. (Significantly, Planet is rarely considered a factor in their worldview.) The faction's preference is order, its aversion liberty. Like the Conclave, they believe that Planet exists to be shaped for human requirements, and that cybernetic and scientific approaches to "solving" the human condition are fundamentally wrong. The Estado Novo tends to be more forgiving of ecumenical disagreement, however, and tolerates "deviance" so long as it does not stray into dissent. The Estado Novo is indifferent to contact with Earth. Their preferred economic model is the planned economy (mercantilism). Although economic mobility is extremely low in the Estado Novo, and hereditary distinctions are vastly important, they reject the command economy as deleterious to the soul and struggle to encourage private enterprise while defraying associated socio-political disruption. The Estado Novo is led by Dom Francisco d'Almeida, formerly Unity's Executive Officer, a male from Overseas Portugal.
tl;dr: Lords of the manor for a new Dark Age.
Gaia's Stepdaughters are a democratic matriarchy dedicated to ecological settlement and deeper understanding of Planet. Their preference is ecology; their aversion is free market economics; their affinity is Harmony, or living "in symbiotic dialogue" with Planet. This is also their objective. They are opposed to contact with Earth on grounds that mankind poisoned its homeworld. The Gaians are generally open and pacific. Lady Deirdre Skye is a female from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. She was the expedition's chief biologist.
tl;dr: Hippies.
The Human Hive is an absolute despotism. Their preference is order, their aversion is liberty. Their affinity is Supremacy, or the achievement by man of dominion over his environment, through whatever means are available. Their goal relative to the other factions is anocracy, which they believe will serve to prevent coordinated action against them. They are closed, hostile, and strongly opposed to contact with Earth. They typically operate a command economy. Chairman Sheng-ji Yang is a male from Great China. His rank was Political Officer. (He was assigned to the Unity to ensure the loyalty of the Chinese national contingent.) Yang propounds a philosophy emphasizing three pillars: 法 (Fa), or law, meaning that the law is known, and obeyed because systematically enforced; 術 (Shu), or method, whereby the ruler holds himself apart from society and "special tactics and secrets" to obscure his motivations, reducing the opportunity for confidants to influence him except through their obeisance of the law; and 勢 (Shi), or legitimacy, which focuses on drawing distinctions between the ruler and the man. This agenda is rendered substantially more effective by surveillance and compliance enforcement technologies. It is also problematized by Yang's rejection of a consistent set of ethics. Yang can be played straight as a philosopher-king who attempts to surround himself with loyal, efficacious ministers, or else as a hermit king who is nothing more than a latter-day Pol Pot.
tl;dr: Qin Shi Huang. Or Kim Jong-Un.
The Dispossessed is a faction comprised of personnel from Western-alligned pariah states. Smuggled aboard Unity after their countries were expelled from the United Nations, they are essentially iconoclasts dedicated to the preservation of a capitalist, more or less ecumenical "frontier" society reflecting the ethos of the world's "settler" regimes, separatist movements, and defeated Western allies of the Cold War era. The Dispossessed include colonists from Israel, Nicaragua, South Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, the Republic of South Africa, Rhodesia, Katanga, Biafra, South Lebanon, and the Republic of China. They are essentially a democratic securitocracy with a preference for liberty, an aversion toward contact with Earth, and a healthy suspicion of other factions. Their leader is Ajax Róger Jarquín, a male from Nicaragua and one of the expedition's agronomists.
tl;dr: The Henry Kissinger Appreciation Society.
The Restoration is dedicated to the resumption of contact with Earth and eventual exodus of human refugees to Planet. Reflecting the mores of Earth at the time of Unity's launch, their affinity is Supremacy, their preference contact, and their aversion power (that is, any faction seeking hegemony). Can be played straight, as mostly unconcerned with the activities of other factions, or with the intent of forcibly reunifying the expedition, in which case there might be an autocratic element. The Restoration typically runs a planned economy. Their leader is Deckard St. Germaine, a male from the Lunar Colony and a former officer in Unity's security contingent.
tl;dr: Uh, guys, why don't we just play the adventure?
Archimedes's Exiles are dedicated to the transformation of Planet pursuant to requirements of human settlement and consequent creation of a society without want. Whereas the Morganites pursue heavy industry for the sake of providing goods and services to enjoy or exchange, the Exiles conceive of a technocratic republic that is sterile, bureaucratic, and egalitarian in nature, guaranteeing access to a basic package of rights, including food, shelter, and healthcare, considered indispensable for the preservation of human dignity. Essentially, hyper-rationalism. The faction conceives of itself in a relentless war against a hostile biome. The Exiles are interested in the employment of artificial intelligence (but not human-machine hybrids, or cyborgs) to help attain their goals. The Exiles' well-articulated ethical principals encompass a rejection of the surveillance state and a strong emphasis on the administration of impartial and "curative," or rehabilitative, justice. Their affinity is Supremacy, their preference growth, and their aversion hierarchy. Their leader is Bharat Ganrajya, a male from the Republic of India and the Unity's former Chief Engineer.
tl;dr: The Plan is good. The Plan is all.
Tomorrow Rising is a faction premised on the achievement of negarchy, or the "natural" self-restraint of states in roughly equitable balance-of-power relationships. This faction attempts to enforce a strictly Westphalian conception of statehood (read: factionhood) distinct from the United Nations' post-Westphalian conception, which they consider inherently destabilizing. Tomorrow Rising is essentially the "chaotic neutral" of factions, a situation that reflects their conviction that the best chance for humanity lies in frozen conflict dyads that discourage revisionist behavior on the part of all actors, especially the use of weapons of mass destruction. (Fear of provoking massive retaliation also explains why this faction doesn't attempt to become the hegemon.) Tomorrow Rising values stability. Their aversion is power (hegemony). Their affinity is Supremacy. They typically pursue a planned economy. Their leader is Jamai van Tromp, a female from the Dutch East Indies. She was formerly the Unity's armory officer.
tl;dr: Someone set us up the bomb.
Tomorrow, I'll cover Morgan Industries, the Spartan Federation, the University of Planet, and the United Nations (Peacekeepers).
The following are non-player factions known to all players at Planetfall:
Comprehensive Transport (CT), one of several firms contracted to support the construction and fitting out of the mission to Alpha Centauri and the starship Unity itself. CT contracted thousands of specialists to join the expedition. Most probably chose to align with the Morganites during the final days before Planetfall. hose that did not chose to retain their identity as company employees and work toward restoration of contact with Earth. In the meantime, they have attempted to provide various services (construction, manufacturing, technical consulting) to the other settlements in order to provide for themselves. The element of CT on Planet is led by Marcel Salan, the company's Director of UNITY Operations, a male from the Republic of Quebec, a department of the French Union.
tl;dr: The in-game shop.
I'm open to discussing factions based on player ideas, although I will probably require that we modify them to fit the setting. Other ideas that I've had for factions include:
* Faction based on Greco-Roman principles.
* Faction based on hydraulic monopoly, perhaps in connection with a plantation economy premised on a ruling class of talents set over drones, and largely absent free-thinking colonists.
* Faction based on the developmental state.
* Factions based on Wild West archetypes.
The game will focus on inter-factional conflict during and after Planetfall.
The original seven factions from SMAC and mechanics introduced in SMAX (i.e., aquaculture, founding of marine settlements) will be included. Factions from SMAX may be added later. I am very open to the inclusion of additional factions, however. Each faction must propose a different answer to the following three questions: (1) Why did human civilization on Earth fail? (2) How do human beings best relate to one another and their environment? (3) What is necessary to ensure the survival of human settlers on Chiron, called Planet?
Factions are intended to stake out and occupy exclusive intellectual space. Their ideologies should be traceable to compelling first principles that provide an implicit answer for every problem. The Morganites of SMAC may have cherished their luxuries, but Morgan was basically making an argument that all human interaction could be understood in purely transactional terms. Likewise, Zakharov's obsession with knowledge spoke to his belief that the universe was a fundamentally knowable place and that every problem could be solved through reductive study. What can be known, can be controlled.
If anyone is interest in game design, but not participation, I am also happy to discuss ideas for both factions and the tech tree.
My rough game plan is as follows:
1. Develop an interesting set of factions consistent with the approach used in SMAC/X.
2. Expand the tech tree found in SMAX.
3. Recruit ≥7 players.
4. Provide each player with an electronic portfolio (a Microsoft Word document) describing their faction, including the situation immediately prior to Planetfall.
As in the original story accompanying the computer game, the U.N.S. Unity suffers a catastrophic accident during the final approach to Planet. Once awakened, the command crew assesses the damage and determine that it is repairable. In the meantime, there is a mutiny that culminates in the death of the expedition's leader, Captain Garland, leading the remaining officers to dissolve the expedition and attempt Planetfall independently. Each officer offers a different "image" of humanity's future on Planet and accumulates followers accordingly. They leave the ship amidst an orgy of looting and violence, each trying to secure the maximum allotment of unassigned crew and supplies while (in some cases, at least) sabotaging the efforts of potential competitors to reach Planet's surface alive.
5. Invite players to establish objectives and issue orders to their chief lieutenants (NPC's) in anticipation of Planetfall. Each player will receive some combination of specific and random resources reflecting their success at seizing and holding Unity stores during the crisis prior to Planetfall.
6. Present each player with a Situation Report upon Planetfall. Issue a portfolio update providing a basic budget template, order of battle, and other relevant information about settlement, including optional gameplay objectives.
Factions so far...
The Human Ascendancy is a faction dedicated to eugenics and the creation of homo superior, their answer to mankind's expulsion from his evolutionary home. They propose to accomplish this goal through superior understanding of both the genome and the human brain. Their preference is knowledge, their aversion faith. Their government is a geniocracy. The Ascendancy typically operates a planned economy favoring education and research applications but is indifferent to the economic modalities of its neighbors. The Ascendancy is opportunistic and instrumental in its thinking -- therefore, aggressive. It either opposes restoration of contact with Earth on grounds that refugees can only speed consumption of Planet's limited resources, or else is indifferent, presuming that their project will yield fruit before Earth can effect a mass exodus, but will oppose any agenda that might be incompatible with its attempts to breed the master race. The Ascendancy's affinity is Purity: their image of human evolution focuses on "cracking" and suborning the genetic code. They reject images that involve cybernetics. The Ascendancy's leader is Tahmineh Pahlvai, a female from the Imperial State of Iran. She was previously the Unity's chief geneticist.
tl;dr: Khaaaaaaan!
The Conclave is a fundamentalist kritarky (government by judges) with the objective of achieving spiritual apotheosis (after establishing planetary theocracy). Their preference is faith, their aversion knowledge (a proxy for purely empirical engagement with the world). They are aggressive, violently evangelistic, and opposed to restoration of contact with Earth, interpreting Unity's launch as the start of the postdiluvian era. According to Miriam's teachings, the Unity crew are all members of the elect, conditional upon their acceptance of Miriam's teachings before the Apocalypse. The Conclave's affinity is Purity: it is violently opposed to any practice that alters the human body and mind. Miriam tends to operate a planned or full command economy. The Conclave is led by Sister Miriam Godwinson, a female from the Christian States of America. Sister Miriam was the Unity's psych chaplain.
tl;dr: This is my Bible, this is my gun.
The Estado Novo is a corporatist faction that combines elements of hierarchy and traditionalism in an essential medieval timocracy. In short, a fascist government that has implemented a rigid caste system spanning four estates: drones, colonists, Talents, and knights. There are generally gradations within each estate, usually by profession. Each estate is apportioned certain privileges and corresponding obligations. Thus, for example, talents are exempt from conscription while drones and colonists have the greatest amount of unstructured leisure time and the fewest stipulations regarding their rights to procreate. Knights may participate in the business of government but must provide military service. Priests are considered Talents. The Estado Novo's appeal arises from its guarantee of social and spiritual order in the face of potentially hostile outsiders. (Significantly, Planet is rarely considered a factor in their worldview.) The faction's preference is order, its aversion liberty. Like the Conclave, they believe that Planet exists to be shaped for human requirements, and that cybernetic and scientific approaches to "solving" the human condition are fundamentally wrong. The Estado Novo tends to be more forgiving of ecumenical disagreement, however, and tolerates "deviance" so long as it does not stray into dissent. The Estado Novo is indifferent to contact with Earth. Their preferred economic model is the planned economy (mercantilism). Although economic mobility is extremely low in the Estado Novo, and hereditary distinctions are vastly important, they reject the command economy as deleterious to the soul and struggle to encourage private enterprise while defraying associated socio-political disruption. The Estado Novo is led by Dom Francisco d'Almeida, formerly Unity's Executive Officer, a male from Overseas Portugal.
tl;dr: Lords of the manor for a new Dark Age.
Gaia's Stepdaughters are a democratic matriarchy dedicated to ecological settlement and deeper understanding of Planet. Their preference is ecology; their aversion is free market economics; their affinity is Harmony, or living "in symbiotic dialogue" with Planet. This is also their objective. They are opposed to contact with Earth on grounds that mankind poisoned its homeworld. The Gaians are generally open and pacific. Lady Deirdre Skye is a female from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. She was the expedition's chief biologist.
tl;dr: Hippies.
The Human Hive is an absolute despotism. Their preference is order, their aversion is liberty. Their affinity is Supremacy, or the achievement by man of dominion over his environment, through whatever means are available. Their goal relative to the other factions is anocracy, which they believe will serve to prevent coordinated action against them. They are closed, hostile, and strongly opposed to contact with Earth. They typically operate a command economy. Chairman Sheng-ji Yang is a male from Great China. His rank was Political Officer. (He was assigned to the Unity to ensure the loyalty of the Chinese national contingent.) Yang propounds a philosophy emphasizing three pillars: 法 (Fa), or law, meaning that the law is known, and obeyed because systematically enforced; 術 (Shu), or method, whereby the ruler holds himself apart from society and "special tactics and secrets" to obscure his motivations, reducing the opportunity for confidants to influence him except through their obeisance of the law; and 勢 (Shi), or legitimacy, which focuses on drawing distinctions between the ruler and the man. This agenda is rendered substantially more effective by surveillance and compliance enforcement technologies. It is also problematized by Yang's rejection of a consistent set of ethics. Yang can be played straight as a philosopher-king who attempts to surround himself with loyal, efficacious ministers, or else as a hermit king who is nothing more than a latter-day Pol Pot.
tl;dr: Qin Shi Huang. Or Kim Jong-Un.
The Dispossessed is a faction comprised of personnel from Western-alligned pariah states. Smuggled aboard Unity after their countries were expelled from the United Nations, they are essentially iconoclasts dedicated to the preservation of a capitalist, more or less ecumenical "frontier" society reflecting the ethos of the world's "settler" regimes, separatist movements, and defeated Western allies of the Cold War era. The Dispossessed include colonists from Israel, Nicaragua, South Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, the Republic of South Africa, Rhodesia, Katanga, Biafra, South Lebanon, and the Republic of China. They are essentially a democratic securitocracy with a preference for liberty, an aversion toward contact with Earth, and a healthy suspicion of other factions. Their leader is Ajax Róger Jarquín, a male from Nicaragua and one of the expedition's agronomists.
tl;dr: The Henry Kissinger Appreciation Society.
The Restoration is dedicated to the resumption of contact with Earth and eventual exodus of human refugees to Planet. Reflecting the mores of Earth at the time of Unity's launch, their affinity is Supremacy, their preference contact, and their aversion power (that is, any faction seeking hegemony). Can be played straight, as mostly unconcerned with the activities of other factions, or with the intent of forcibly reunifying the expedition, in which case there might be an autocratic element. The Restoration typically runs a planned economy. Their leader is Deckard St. Germaine, a male from the Lunar Colony and a former officer in Unity's security contingent.
tl;dr: Uh, guys, why don't we just play the adventure?
Archimedes's Exiles are dedicated to the transformation of Planet pursuant to requirements of human settlement and consequent creation of a society without want. Whereas the Morganites pursue heavy industry for the sake of providing goods and services to enjoy or exchange, the Exiles conceive of a technocratic republic that is sterile, bureaucratic, and egalitarian in nature, guaranteeing access to a basic package of rights, including food, shelter, and healthcare, considered indispensable for the preservation of human dignity. Essentially, hyper-rationalism. The faction conceives of itself in a relentless war against a hostile biome. The Exiles are interested in the employment of artificial intelligence (but not human-machine hybrids, or cyborgs) to help attain their goals. The Exiles' well-articulated ethical principals encompass a rejection of the surveillance state and a strong emphasis on the administration of impartial and "curative," or rehabilitative, justice. Their affinity is Supremacy, their preference growth, and their aversion hierarchy. Their leader is Bharat Ganrajya, a male from the Republic of India and the Unity's former Chief Engineer.
tl;dr: The Plan is good. The Plan is all.
Tomorrow Rising is a faction premised on the achievement of negarchy, or the "natural" self-restraint of states in roughly equitable balance-of-power relationships. This faction attempts to enforce a strictly Westphalian conception of statehood (read: factionhood) distinct from the United Nations' post-Westphalian conception, which they consider inherently destabilizing. Tomorrow Rising is essentially the "chaotic neutral" of factions, a situation that reflects their conviction that the best chance for humanity lies in frozen conflict dyads that discourage revisionist behavior on the part of all actors, especially the use of weapons of mass destruction. (Fear of provoking massive retaliation also explains why this faction doesn't attempt to become the hegemon.) Tomorrow Rising values stability. Their aversion is power (hegemony). Their affinity is Supremacy. They typically pursue a planned economy. Their leader is Jamai van Tromp, a female from the Dutch East Indies. She was formerly the Unity's armory officer.
tl;dr: Someone set us up the bomb.
Tomorrow, I'll cover Morgan Industries, the Spartan Federation, the University of Planet, and the United Nations (Peacekeepers).
The following are non-player factions known to all players at Planetfall:
Comprehensive Transport (CT), one of several firms contracted to support the construction and fitting out of the mission to Alpha Centauri and the starship Unity itself. CT contracted thousands of specialists to join the expedition. Most probably chose to align with the Morganites during the final days before Planetfall. hose that did not chose to retain their identity as company employees and work toward restoration of contact with Earth. In the meantime, they have attempted to provide various services (construction, manufacturing, technical consulting) to the other settlements in order to provide for themselves. The element of CT on Planet is led by Marcel Salan, the company's Director of UNITY Operations, a male from the Republic of Quebec, a department of the French Union.
tl;dr: The in-game shop.
I'm open to discussing factions based on player ideas, although I will probably require that we modify them to fit the setting. Other ideas that I've had for factions include:
* Faction based on Greco-Roman principles.
* Faction based on hydraulic monopoly, perhaps in connection with a plantation economy premised on a ruling class of talents set over drones, and largely absent free-thinking colonists.
* Faction based on the developmental state.
* Factions based on Wild West archetypes.
