Banal modern copy of SMAC: Pandora

[Borelli]

More faction background info: http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=173&t=45109&sid=6fd02da37a77bc4f455b88dafd84a7fa

I find the lore behind religious faction interesting.

Backers: widely distributed religious structure / social media

Access to space: 2040s

Quote: “God has finally shown us the path to a new paradise, so do not fear my brothers and sisters for I am destined to be the shepherd leading you to salvation.” Lady Vermillion, The Path To Salvation

Themes: social media, scientology, faith
Description: The Divine Ascension is a theocratic monarchy and the colourfully named Lady Vermillion is its absolute regnant. Born as simple Lily Maroon in 2010s rural America, Lily's wild early years hardly gave signs that she would one day be regarded as next to god by billions; drinking, gambling, blackmail and more sordid sins all came naturally to her. Her first steps on the path to godhood came, though, when a nerdy drinking buddy signed her up to a major social network as a prank. Never having used these, Lily saw, where few had before, the potential for social networks as a natural outgrowth of evangelical organisations and as a tool for blackmail. Taking elements of major modern cults, and using her underworld connections, Lily founded the world's first entirely online religion in 2028. Then the second. And third. In fact, Lily, with the help of Togra’s off-shelf AI designers, founded hundreds of new religions, some riffing on old favourites like The Greek Autodocs Church, some entirely new, like Blessed Abduction, but all plugged deeply into user's online lives. Each one was subtly different, but all had Divine Ascension and the unity of all religions as their heart, their eventual revealed truth. That wasn't Divine Ascension's biggest secret though. The precepts of the church were extremely hierarchical and to reach the next level of salvation, believers had to put their trust in their higher ups revealing their darkest secrets as part of ascension rituals, projected live on the social network. Essentially, every step up the hierarchy knew the dirty secrets of every person below them. And Lady Vermillion, aided by data mining AIs, sits at the top. Now imagine trying to leave such a network. You're all being automatically blackmailed, your income siphoned, your friends and family incentivized to betray doubters so they can be "healed" at the special reformation camps in Siberia. There's no way out save to disappear entirely. By the 2040s, Divine Ascension was one of the largest religions on earth. Some of the followers truly believed; those who didn't kept their mouths firmly shut. But now the really strange part started. Lily, a grasping materialist since birth, finally found herself with the luxury to rest, think; and found that she genuinely had faith, in herself, as a god. Now this might have been an outgrowth of the medicinal compounds she was accustomed to taking, and it didn't change anything about the cruelty and authoritarianism of her organisation but it changed the religion's aims. She was a god; now she wanted a planet of her own. Using the fabulous wealth of a tithe drawn from a billion people, Lily had Noxium build her a fabulous space cathedral, a gothic rotational habitat that was decorated as a prayer wheel, turning the sun's rays into rotational force, and hence prayer, and incidentally gravity. With her faithful few, she retreated into meditative cryo-pods in the hub of the habitat. Here they lay, ageing only slowly, waiting for the discovery of a world she could call her own and the science to get there. In the 2070s, the Pandora announcement invigorated her religions. Vermillion's instructions were clear her cryo-pod and those of the faithful were loaded straight into her custom built Noxium colonisation ship and sent to the stars, while her fearful faithful prayed for her deliverance (and many secretly hoped she never came back). On Pandora, Lily, now Lady Vermillion, sits at the top of a social pyramid that combines the worst parts of Facebook, Scientology and North Korea. Her zealous followers worship her for being god's instrument to express his will among men. She believes it's her destiny to show her people the right path, and lead them to a prosperous future in a promised land. Pandora is that promised land. Woe betide any heathens who get in her way.

Also the eco faction arrived on a generation ship and the chinese guy keeps cloning himself to rule forever. Awesome.

 

[Azira]

It's so ridiculous, it might even work.

 

[Cassidy]

After reading those excerpts from the background lore, I must say: this is to Alpha Centauri what Saints Row is to GTA.

 

[Corporate_Jew_Master]

without the Gaians' more tender side.

Yeah, because SMA Greenpiss niggress was tender as fuck, sending all those mindworms to drive entire Spartan populations to insanity with visions of Thi4f and Fallout 3.

Gaians, not even once.

 

[Hellraiser]

This is Lady Deidre of the Gains, know that we have just finished constructing our INVINCIBLE DEATH LASER GENOCIDE SQUAD OF DOOM, you will comply with our demands or FACE UTTER ANNIHILATION AS YOUR COLONIES BURN TO ASH AND WE FORNICATE WITH YOUR CORPSES ON XENOFUNGUS WHILE CHANTING KUMBAYA!

Treacherous hippies.

 

[Corporate_Jew_Master]

without the Gaians' more tender side.

Yeah, because SMA Greenpiss niggress was tender as fuck, sending all those mindworms to drive entire Spartan populations to insanity with visions of Thi4f and Fallout 3.

Gaians, not even once.

Well, they were pretty nice when they weren't doing that. Terra Salvum* seems solely focused on that.

*Is the name even politically grammatically correct latin?

Most Latin names/catchprashes aren't even historically confirmed far as I know, even the famous 'Roma Victor'.

They are hippies led by some gal with a jew nose. Gee, I wonder what could go wrong.

This is Lady Deidre of the Gains, know that we have just finished constructing our INVINCIBLE DEATH LASER GENOCIDE SQUAD OF DOOM, you will comply with our demands or FACE UTTER ANNIHILATION AS YOUR COLONIES BURN TO ASH AND WE FORNICATE WITH YOUR CORPSES ON XENOFUNGUS WHILE CHANTING KUMBAYA!

Treacherous hippies.

Cleanse'n Purge.

 

[MetalCraze]

This game looks more like somebody trying to do a GalCiv clone on the surface

Uninspired. Even the supposedly alien world looks like a generic earth.

SMAC had a planet that looked really alien + lore to back that up.

 

[Eyeball]

SMAC also had the disadvantage of being a brown-hued turd visually. MUCH prefer this style of Graphics, even though the game itself seems depressingly post-2000.

 

[Malakal]

Looks generic as fuck despite blatantly ripping off SMAC.

Also are there any tile improvements? You said formers can do them but I dont see them on screens. How is terraforming too? Can you raise mountains and do stuff like that?

 

[Nim]

SMAC also had the disadvantage of being a brown-hued turd visually. MUCH prefer this style of Graphics, even though the game itself seems depressingly post-2000.

Even without terraforming AC looks way better than this Pandora shit.

Spoiler

 

[Eyeball]

Nope, your opinion is wrong.

I like SMAC, but I ould never get myself to play it that much. The Visuals are simply eye-watering to me.

 

[Azira]

No, your opinion is wrong.

Love SMAC, still play it occasionally. It's one of my all-time favourites.

 

[Gondolin]

Pandora's graphics look OK, but SMAC's are also fine.

 

[MetalCraze]

The problem here is that SMAC went from a semi-dead brown hostile world to lush forests spreading uncontrollably as you were terraforming it.

Pandora looks like Earth all the time.

 

[laclongquan]

Set it to water world. Problem solved!

 

[Corporate_Jew_Master]

Looks generic as fuck despite blatantly ripping off SMAC.

Also are there any tile improvements? You said formers can do them but I dont see them on screens. How is terraforming too? Can you raise mountains and do stuff like that?

Yeah, mines, farms, forts and forest/fungus clearance/planting.

You can also terraform tiles, like from desert to plains to grassland.

 

[Eyeball]

Does it actually add anything new or revolutionary to the SMAC model? More planets to play on simultaneously as in EOTFS would be favourite.

 

[Corporate_Jew_Master]

I'd like to dream but chances are, no.

It's still beta version 0.2something so more features from SMAC will probably make it in.

But several planets at once? I sincerely doubt that.

 

[IDtenT]

Need a random tech tree in terms of focus as well.

 

[Space Satan]

Does this game have ecodamage or something similar that will penalize industrial growth? Xenomorphs popping out in dozens like in SMAC?

 

[laclongquan]

IF they keep all the features of SMAC I will jump for joy. God spare us from so-called "improvement" and adding stupid 'new' features.

 

[Corporate_Jew_Master]

Does this game have ecodamage or something similar that will penalize industrial growth? Xenomorphs popping out in dozens like in SMAC?

Nope. Nothing. Main reason why I stopped playing.

100 turns in it becomes civlization 5.

 

[LusciousPear]

SMAC's writing was great. This looks banalshitboring.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

But for me... it was Tuesday.

Would it have killed them to have it any other day of the week, seeing as that line is one of the few pearls of brilliance in the Street Fighter movie, and seeing a rip-off game ripping off a line straight from a rip-off film leads us to Rip-Off³?

 

[Johannes]

So this is out now. But I suppose it still isn't any less sterile, than the shit seen here?