Future Factions (Split from Choose Your Side)

[Corey]

The way I see it, these are the possibilities for the 4th slot, in order of what I think have the most potential to bring more interesting gameplay:

1. Ssi-Ruuvi Imperium
2. Yuuzhan Vong
3. Pentastar Alignment
4. Hapes Consortium
5. Corporate Sector Authority
6. Duskhan League
7. Imperial Splinter Faction X.

We wouldn't want to do Imperial Splinter Faction X because in general that'd just mean a boring carbon copy of the Remnant proper. Nobody gives a fuck about the Corporate Sector and they're underdeveloped as an independent entity anyways. The Duskhan League and Hapes Consortium simply don't have enough there to be unique or well-developed. The Duskhan stuff would be just enough to be worth using for indigenous forces, and the Hapan stuff would be useful for that as well as a New Republic research branch, although I think the Star Home is the most obvious flagship choices anyone could possibly ask for.

Also, if anyone comes in here and says "omg do mandos or leftover cloan facshun lawl sew kewl" I swear I will lock this topic and drop every hardrive with a copy of the mod (both ICW and Asc) on it off the highest bridge I can find.

[Revanchist]

Yes, I'll agree, the Ssi Ruuvi would be the next best choice because their strategy in battle would be completely different, and Entenchment is awesome! While I do not want you to add a Mandalorian faction, I would like to see the planet of Mandalore appear, with maybe some Mandalorian native units.

[Lord Xizer]

Ooh, the Vong would be interesting to crush as the Remnant! I'd love to reenact the battles of Bastion and Borosk!
(Also Borlieas!)

[Lavo]

Also, if anyone comes in here and says "omg do mandos or leftover cloan facshun lawl sew kewl" I swear I will lock this topic and drop every hardrive with a copy of the mod (both ICW and Asc) on it off the highest bridge I can find.

A word of advice; when you get around to releasing the mod, make sure you have a FAQ section where one of the questions is "Can you put in X race/faction/time period?" with an answer of no. It will save you the headache of getting asked that question daily for months on end. I learned this the hard way.

[Corey]

Yeah, I've already been dealing with it for years with ICW. Over the last few days I've been having a fun email exchange with somebody who's saying I won't implement his suggestions because " You've already set your mind. You only see the work just like some stuck up old game developer" when the suggestion I'm saying we won't do is effectively to just pour in every SSD variant on the grounds that they exist somewhere in canon and to intentionally overpower the Empire because ermagerd ssds er kewl!

[Lavo]

An email exchange? Oh dear, you have my sympathies. I don't think I've ever been caught up in something that bad.

[Lord Xizer]

Yeah, I've already been dealing with it for years with ICW. Over the last few days I've been having a fun email exchange with somebody who's saying I won't implement his suggestions because " You've already set your mind. You only see the work just like some stuck up old game developer" when the suggestion I'm saying we won't do is effectively to just pour in every SSD variant on the grounds that they exist somewhere in canon and to intentionally overpower the Empire because ermagerd ssds er kewl!

How you aren't insane from ridiculous requests of that nature I don't know.

[tlmiller]

It's easy to stay sane when dealing with idiots (that's my job description:  End User Support), you just need a good weight set.  Or large blunt objects and things to hit.

[Revanchist]

Or, to make it even more fun, you can mess with the idiot's head, which also makes you feel better. I have to deal with idiots all the time as well. I think we just need to keep these in mind:

1. NO SSD for the EotH!
2. No overload of SSDs for the IR just because they had them at some time.
3. No pointless playable minor factions (i.e. Warlords, Yevetha, Mandos, Zann Consortium).

And we will all have much happier lives.

[Lord Xizer]

but those minor factions are so full of pointless spunk and personality...

[Lavo]

The Zann Consortium should have never been made, in any SW medium.

[Lord Xizer]

So true, I'd have rather played as Xizor and Black Sun

[Revanchist]

Yes, but if they did that, Black Sun would be in FoC and be just as overpowered as the ZC, leading us to hate Black Sun instead. At least we can contain our hatred on a character/organization only seen in said game, instead of ruining our respect for a much better faction.

[JC123]

Perhaps putting in units, from factions that will never appear, as default defense fleets would keep silly requests down.

I'm surprised that the Vong is being considered since it looks like everything would have to be done from scratch (that's a lot of units!).  I like the PA and I like the Preator.  I'd have a hard time letting go of them!  Pardon my illogical bias.

[tlmiller]

I agree on the PA.  I also agree on the Praetor on the simple grounds that it's one of, if not the best looking capital ships in the game.  Which is why I hope they do make it in.  I also have a great love for the Venators.  Sure, the ship itself isn't that powerful, but nearly 7 TIMES the fighter/bomber capacity in a ship that is still moderately well armed and shielded!!

[Lord Xizer]

I like the PA for Kaine, Jerec and the Warlord aspect.

[Corey]

Perhaps putting in units, from factions that will never appear, as default defense fleets would keep silly requests down.
 

Not really. That tends to have the effect of reminding people that they're there and then you get a lot of "well you already have x, so you just need y and z." That isn't our motivation for it, either way. We do intend to do that where it makes sense, such as putting Thrustships on Yevethan worlds and Hapan units on Hapan worlds, although the Hapan units are also most likely being worked into the New Republic as well. We likely won't do more than that though, since these would essentially be flavour units; the player's not using them and they're not doing much to add the the game, so we'd rather use the resources we have (both in game with the 2GB limit, and the development resources) to develop and polish more relevant content.

I'm surprised that the Vong is being considered since it looks like everything would have to be done from scratch (that's a lot of units!).  I like the PA and I like the Preator.  I'd have a hard time letting go of them!  Pardon my illogical bias.

We'd consider what's more interesting ahead of the workload or difficulty for that stuff. I understand the draw for the PA, but the Vong and Ssi-Ruuvi have some pretty unique possibilities. The extent to which worload comes into consideration has more to do with the context we're working on it in. If 1.0 has a decent framework and we get the art assets done for the main 3 factions long before release then we'd be able to focus on the new faction a lot more, and can frontload the art work. If the art stuff for 1.0 matches pretty closely to finishing 1.0 itself as a whole, and we need to focus on fixing stuff in the existing factions for the next version, then the Pentastar would be a better option as the less demanding one. We have a lot of room to play in here.

[Lord Xizer]

In any event it should be awesome to see this mod take shape.

[JC123]

We'd consider what's more interesting ahead of the workload or difficulty for that stuff. I understand the draw for the PA, but the Vong and Ssi-Ruuvi have some pretty unique possibilities. The extent to which worload comes into consideration has more to do with the context we're working on it in. If 1.0 has a decent framework and we get the art assets done for the main 3 factions long before release then we'd be able to focus on the new faction a lot more, and can frontload the art work. If the art stuff for 1.0 matches pretty closely to finishing 1.0 itself as a whole, and we need to focus on fixing stuff in the existing factions for the next version, then the Pentastar would be a better option as the less demanding one. We have a lot of room to play in here.

Well the models for everything else are great, so it'd be interesting to see what the Vong would become.  My only request with the Vong is that I have a hard time knowing what each unit does since the names sound like gook and the ships look like potatoes.  I guess that's just me being too lazy.

[Corey]

That doesn't sound like a request so much as a statement, however we'd do manual and whatnot to explain what everything is beforehand and of course try to work the information ingame as we always have.

Deciding the fourth faction would/could be something we do a poll about as well depending on how the team feels when we get to the point where we need to start making that decision.