Gestalt empires should have their own alternatives to "Ethos"

[Rip Off Productions]

as the title says, giving Gestalt empires some type of "Ethos" options would help make them stick out from each other, giving them different personalities, locking or unlocking civic options.


and while direct alternatives to the existing Ethos options might not make sense, some can.

Xenopile/xenophobe can be introvert/extrovert with similar effects of diplomacy.
Spiritualist/Materialist could be something like Emotional/Practicalist, though I think they'd give different bonuses.
Militarist/Pacifist needs almost no changes, barring maybe a renaming to Aggressive and... honestly I'm not sure what Pacifism could be renamed.
Authoritarian/Egalitarian would obviously need the most changes for application to Gestalts, something like Centralized/Dispersed? this one would likely effect the most civics, and maybe even be key to the availability to some unique Origins and their gimmicks.

 

[BoxingBuddeh]

This is a good idea.

 

[GhostDanny]

2 points in the gestalt + 1 regular ethic could be nice.
And offcourse some civics would be locked out depending which you pick.
Like a devouring swarm or Exterminator can't pick Xenophile or Pacifist.

 

[Rip Off Productions]

2 points in the gestalt + 1 regular ethic could be nice.
And offcourse some civics would be locked out depending which you pick.
Like a devouring swarm or Exterminator can't pick Xenophile or Pacifist.

I think Gestalt costing 1, with 2 to spend on these "personality" traits feels more fitting to me, whether they be limited to 1 per type like Mega-Corp Ethos are, or if Fanaticism should still be an option I'm not sure.

and of course I agree that devourers and exterminators be ethos/personality locked, spicing up civic options via locking them behind which ones you do or don't have is the whole point.


my idea for one of the axies being "Centralized/Dispersed" is probably the most interesting, perhaps to the point I'd almost want it to replace the single Gestalt point, perhaps instead having a 3 or 4 point track at the bottom of the wheel going from "individuals"(the standard Species type), to "Eusocial"(species with independent 'Queens' and their obedient offspring), to "dispersed intelligence"(hives where each "drone" contributes to the consciousness), and finally "Central intelligence"(where there's a single mind that views it's drones are disposable tools of it's will), or something like that.

 

[mammonmachine]

My view is that we do need more effort to make Gestalt empires distinct and varied, but that there could be more interesting ways of achieving this than creating analogues to the ethics of normal empires.

 

[Rip Off Productions]

My view is that we do need more effort to make Gestalt empires distinct and varied, but that there could be more interesting ways of achieving this than creating analogues to the ethics of normal empires.

but why not also have ethics? it gives flavor/personality, and theoretically would determine different AI behaviors like normal empires have.

plus this would open up opportunities for civics that fit the different Ethos types, and maybe Origins too.

 

[mammonmachine]

but why not also have ethics? it gives flavor/personality, and theoretically would determine different AI behaviors like normal empires have.

plus this would open up opportunities for civics that fit the different Ethos types, and maybe Origins too.

I didn't say they couldn't have ethics/personality traits -- just that these shouldn't just be analogues of the ethics normal empires have. It might be that we don't even want the personality traits to have opposites the way ethics have. We might also want some to be distinct for machines, and others for hive minds, whilst others are shared choices.