As noted previously, the 'players' (human and AI) in the game are called "factions." The human factions are defined by their ideologies in dealing with the aliens. This dev diary will explore the factions and describe a bit of what they do.
(One of the challenges we are finding in discussing development, even internally, is what we mean when we say "human" -- that is, do we mean the flesh-and-blood human player as distinguished from the AI, or the seven human factions as opposed to the alien faction. So I'll try to keep those straight.)
We designed these factions around the range of relevant human reactions we could come up with to the arrival of a potentially hostile alien species in the Solar System. Each faction will have a name, which can vary between campaigns. Here I'll simply define them by their ideology. In game terms, the factions have distinct victory conditions -- which aren't always mutually exclusive.
RESIST -- The Resist faction, which is the default faction for the human player, sees the aliens as a threat to human autonomy. They are prepared to fight to preserve it.
DESTROY -- The Destroy faction responds to the alien arrival with xenophobia. They want not just to defeat the aliens, but to wipe them out entirely, along with any humans who work with them.
APPEASE -- Supporters of this faction acknowledge the aliens' technological superiority and believe that any resistance is doomed to fail, at a potentially huge cost to the human race. They hope to maintain a measure of human independence through granting concessions to whatever the aliens demand.
COOPERATE -- This optimistic faction believes the aliens can ultimately be persuaded to establish peaceful trade and an exchange of ideas, if only Earth can unite and speak with one voice.
SUBMIT -- This faction regards the aliens as superior beings in every facet and wishes for them to conquer Earth. They will support the aliens at every opportunity.
ESCAPE -- This faction believes the aliens will eventually enslave or destroy humanity and intends to build interstellar generation ships to flee the Solar System in an attempt to save the species. They will attempt to direct Earth’s resources away from resistance and toward this outcome.
EXPLOIT -- This faction sees opportunity instead of danger in the aliens’ arrival, and its leaders seek to enrich themselves and gain positions of power around the world, perhaps by taking the aliens' tools as their own. Many of their "supporters" have been persuaded the aliens are a hoax.
And finally, the aliens themselves form the eighth faction in the game.
How to factions work?
Players in most grand strategy / 4x games lead independent polities -- a nation, a unified planet or empire. In Terra Invicta, we're starting with the assumption that existing human institutions cannot work together to address the alien arrival in any meaningful way without a guiding ideology that is provided by the (human and AI) players. These players will seek to invest in and control various nations and other institutions, which have key resources needed for the factions to achieve their objectives.
As mentioned previously, players have four primary tools in the game. They are:
* Their faction council. This is a group of up to six or eight (TBD) leaders who interact with nations, various faction assets and each other. They are the primary means to gaining control of some or all of Earth's nations. More on councilors in a future post, but they are your primary proxies in the world, and can be developed like characters in other games.
* Armies. Armies represent multiple modern divisions that are capable of gaining and holding territory in other nations. Control of an army is gained after councilors gain at least partial control of a nation. Most nations don't have armies (but nations can build new ones with sufficient investment); their armied forces are abstracted as local defense forces. While powerful, armies are still subject to the international relations of their home countries (which too can be managed with sufficient control of a nation). Some armies have a "Navy" upgrade that allows them to transit oceans.
* Habs. Habs, or "Habitats," are off-Earth space stations and bases on planets and asteroids. These may offer places to mine resources for construction, research advanced technologies, and provide defensive strongpoints. Once you get an industrial base in space going, it's far, far easier to do things relative to boosting all your resources up Earth's gravity well.
* Warships. One of the main reasons to build habs is to build these, as the aliens can't be stopped just by fighting them on Earth.
In a future post, we'll detail the various resources councils must manage.
