Creating The Ultimate Custom Faction

[The Last Spark]

Hi guys,
I just wanted to see if any of you came up with a broken custom race, I tried but feel like I didn't even come close: http://imgur.com/a/ZwKbB
Post your suggestions or screenshots if possible!

[Aidanya]

This is what i use.
Vodyani arc gameplay. where 1 population means 1 pop on all planets.
With the riftborn visuals that allow you to make population.

Eco dictatorship for easy acces to all planets in a system.
Bonuses are pretty normal + fids stuff and some bigger ships.
Added the - food stuff cause you dont use food.


http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=973953381

income on turn 1 (normal settings):
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=973955316

[The Last Spark]

Originally posted by Aidanya:

This is what i use.
Vodyani arc gameplay. where 1 population means 1 pop on all planets.
With the riftborn visuals that allow you to make population.

Eco dictatorship for easy acces to all planets in a system.
Bonuses are pretty normal + fids stuff and some bigger ships.
Added the - food stuff cause you dont use food.


http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=973953381

income on turn 1 (normal settings):
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=973955316

That sounds amazing, but the images aren't showing up, saying they were removed...maybe upload to imgur?

[Aidanya]

ups i think i had them on private. changed them to public.

[The Last Spark]

Originally posted by Aidanya:

ups i think i had them on private. changed them to public.

thanks for the input, I wanna go and try it out now xD

[Zlorfik [CH/BY]]

I came up with an idea of using religious Saints & Sinners bill, which forces approval to content, together with Slavedrivers. Now slave drivers doubles FIDS from minor faction pops if on the same planet there is also an original pop. It would also generate -20 approval per enslaved pop, but as it is forced to content you just get the bonus. Instead of depleting planets, one should take the bonus for -50% food on original pop and +4 FIDS per pop type. As you will need a lot of minor faction pops anyway, you might get a lot different ones too. And original pop you only need one per planet anyway.

I will try this out tonight, but in theory it sounds OP.

[Spencer]

Originally posted by Zlorfik CH:

I came up with an idea of using religious Saints & Sinners bill, which forces approval to content, together with Slavedrivers. Now slave drivers doubles FIDS from minor faction pops if on the same planet there is also an original pop. It would also generate -20 approval per enslaved pop, but as it is forced to content you just get the bonus. Instead of depleting planets, one should take the bonus for -50% food on original pop and +4 FIDS per pop type. As you will need a lot of minor faction pops anyway, you might get a lot different ones too. And original pop you only need one per planet anyway.

I will try this out tonight, but in theory it sounds OP.

Slave drivers is actually pretty useless in OP custom factions. Your primary population is already providing double FIDS compared to minor pops because you give them ridiculous base bonuses at creation. If you're already going for religious government and forced content to combat mass over-colonization penalties then your plan might be a fun addition to experiment with, but I don't think it's optimal in general.

Originally posted by Aidanya:

This is what i use.
Vodyani arc gameplay. where 1 population means 1 pop on all planets.
With the riftborn visuals that allow you to make population.

Eco dictatorship for easy acces to all planets in a system.
Bonuses are pretty normal + fids stuff and some bigger ships.
Added the - food stuff cause you dont use food.

Vodyani Ecologists are definitely a good idea, and are probably the most powerful custom faction. I don't see the point of using Riftborn visuals however. With Vodyani visuals you start with a Vodyani hero who has a "win the game" skill at level 12. Not to mention constructing your population is actually a downside, not a benefit. Just research and build a food building or two and your population will be growing faster than you can modernize new slots for them. You're not using the "Gargantuan Population" perk so you don't get the regular Vodyani -50% food.

[orthostatic]

My first custom faction inadvertantly became my first win on Endless difficulty. I didn't realize how much I was breaking the game, but there is a crackrock kind of fun to be had there. :)

Vodyani with United Empire affinity. No arks/leeching to be concerned with, begin with guardian hero, and FIDSI your way to the afterlife and beyond.

[KrimsonVagus]

Ecologist Vodyani is definitely game breaking.
A friend of mine got Science victory by turn 42 with them (I think he plays on fast speed)
I got a Dust victory by turn 55 (I was playing on normal speed)

Eco Vodyani have single handedly made custom faction play totally unbalanced.
It kinda ruined custom facs for me tbh

It also ruins the faction lore.
It implies that the Vodyani are literally crippling themselves by being "religious" by default instead of being "nature lovers" which would clearly have been a much more successful policy for their people.

[The Last Spark]

Originally posted by orthostatic:

My first custom faction inadvertantly became my first win on Endless difficulty. I didn't realize how much I was breaking the game, but there is a crackrock kind of fun to be had there. :)

Vodyani with United Empire affinity. No arks/leeching to be concerned with, begin with guardian hero, and FIDSI your way to the afterlife and beyond.

I AM interested how you did not worry about leeching or arks granted you will only have 1 to win the game with.....?

[The Last Spark]

Originally posted by KrimsonVagus:

Ecologist Vodyani is definitely game breaking.
A friend of mine got Science victory by turn 42 with them (I think he plays on fast speed)
I got a Dust victory by turn 55 (I was playing on normal speed)

Eco Vodyani have single handedly made custom faction play totally unbalanced.
It kinda ruined custom facs for me tbh

It also ruins the faction lore.
It implies that the Vodyani are literally crippling themselves by being "religious" by default instead of being "nature lovers" which would clearly have been a much more successful policy for their people.

Yea, getting the dust victory is stupid easy so my friends disable it. However, the problem is the mid game for vodyani. How do you make sure stay relevent mid-game is my question (the start is amazing and arks are awesome late game) - but what about the most crucial moment - the mid game?

[KrimsonVagus]

Originally posted by The Last Spark:

Yea, getting the dust victory is stupid easy so my friends disable it. However, the problem is the mid game for vodyani. How do you make sure stay relevent mid-game is my question (the start is amazing and arks are awesome late game) - but what about the most crucial moment - the mid game?

I really don't like disabling any victory conditions in games I play. To me it always feels like I'm ignoring major game features. If the features in question deserve to be ignored, then that implies that they are poorly designed and need some improvement or replacement.

As for the mid-game, the Vodyani are funny in that you actually WANT some enemies to remain nearby, but you want them to be much weaker than you. Then you can leach their essence forever while pumping out Arks one after another.

So if you conquer someone, leave behind a few of their worthless systems so you can use them as "livestock". Then park your leachers over them (with some protection fleet) until the end of the game. Endless Essence >> Endless Arks >> Exponential growth >> easy victory

I've been saying this from the start, the Vodyani population mechanic is very flawed and easy to exploit for some broken results.

[The Last Spark]

Originally posted by KrimsonVagus:

Originally posted by The Last Spark:

Yea, getting the dust victory is stupid easy so my friends disable it. However, the problem is the mid game for vodyani. How do you make sure stay relevent mid-game is my question (the start is amazing and arks are awesome late game) - but what about the most crucial moment - the mid game?

I really don't like disabling any victory conditions in games I play. To me it always feels like I'm ignoring major game features. If the features in question deserve to be ignored, then that implies that they are poorly designed and need some improvement or replacement.

As for the mid-game, the Vodyani are funny in that you actually WANT some enemies to remain nearby, but you want them to be much weaker than you. Then you can leach their essence forever while pumping out Arks one after another.

So if you conquer someone, leave behind a few of their worthless systems so you can use them as "livestock". Then park your leachers over them (with some protection fleet) until the end of the game. Endless Essence >> Endless Arks >> Exponential growth >> easy victory

I've been saying this from the start, the Vodyani population mechanic is very flawed and easy to exploit for some broken results.

How many leechers can you place on an enemy system then? As I am always worried of killing the populaion on those systems.

[orthostatic]

Originally posted by The Last Spark:

Originally posted by orthostatic:

My first custom faction inadvertantly became my first win on Endless difficulty. I didn't realize how much I was breaking the game, but there is a crackrock kind of fun to be had there. :)

Vodyani with United Empire affinity. No arks/leeching to be concerned with, begin with guardian hero, and FIDSI your way to the afterlife and beyond.

I AM interested how you did not worry about leeching or arks granted you will only have 1 to win the game with.....?

Without the Vodyani affinity, leeching and essence is unavailable. I chose the United Empire affinity, which let me have "normal" Vodyani who invade and colonize like anyone else, only they can spend influence as dust. The Guardian combo of Vox Populi plus Infallible Authority makes it possible to break level 150 before long. Had a science victory around turn 100, I think, and just bought all four of the Endless techs with influence. Also, if you accept the -5 for longer cooldown on updating battle tactics, you can shoehorn more goodies in there. I had population who each gave FIDSI bonus at max collection level. Many lulz were had.

Another poster mentioned an economic victory in half as much time using Vodyani and ecologist; that sounds hilarious and awesome. Also ridiculously unbalanced, as are many things in this game which I still can't stop playing.

:)

[The Last Spark]

Originally posted by orthostatic:

Originally posted by The Last Spark:

I AM interested how you did not worry about leeching or arks granted you will only have 1 to win the game with.....?

Without the Vodyani affinity, leeching and essence is unavailable. I chose the United Empire affinity, which let me have "normal" Vodyani who invade and colonize like anyone else, only they can spend influence as dust. The Guardian combo of Vox Populi plus Infallible Authority makes it possible to break level 150 before long. Had a science victory around turn 100, I think, and just bought all four of the Endless techs with influence. Also, if you accept the -5 for longer cooldown on updating battle tactics, you can shoehorn more goodies in there. I had population who each gave FIDSI bonus at max collection level. Many lulz were had.

Another poster mentioned an economic victory in half as much time using Vodyani and ecologist; that sounds hilarious and awesome. Also ridiculously unbalanced, as are many things in this game which I still can't stop playing.

:)

I misunderstood then. I thought you meant that you went vodyani gameplay and UE visual. But you did the reverse. In that case yes, its broken and my friends have banned vodyani heroes (at the very least infallibe authority) as it breaks the game in every sense of the word.

[orthostatic]

Originally posted by The Last Spark:

I misunderstood then. I thought you meant that you went vodyani gameplay and UE visual. But you did the reverse. In that case yes, its broken and my friends have banned vodyani heroes (at the very least infallibe authority) as it breaks the game in every sense of the word.

That is very comforting to hear. I haven't tried multiplayer yet, but I hope to after I feel I understand the game a bit more. Is the sentiment re: Vodyani shared by most players you meet?