Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire/Factions

''For the original seven factions, see Civ:The SMAC Factions. Also see Civ:Understanding SMAC.''

The Cybernetic Consciousness
At a Glance: +2 Efficiency, +2 Research, -1 Growth, Spoils of War, no penalties for Cybernetic SE choice.

Game Notes: -1 Growth is a pretty huge penalty for a landward faction, but it does not even compare with the benefits this faction has. The efficiency (and ability to run Market), combined with the research bonus makes this group a powerhouse by any definition, but when you add in the tech-steal ability, what you get is a faction that can stand up to any of the original seven, and then some! Their aversion is one you'd not run anyway (Fundy), so essentially what you get is Deirdre's efficiency, Zak's research, and none of their crippling disabilities (Dee's lack of cash via market, and Zak's drones). That puts the faction in a position to do amazing things. So what if you have to build your own network nodes...with techsteal, active probes, and your inherent research bonus, getting and keeping the tech lead will not be difficult for this faction, growth penalty or no. The "no penalties for Cybernetic" thing is of little consequence, as by the time you are able to make that switch, the game is pretty well won or lost. Still, it's an interesting footnote that you don't need the Network Backbone to get around Cybernetic's negatives when playing this faction.

Aki-Zeta, the Builder: Played this way, you take advantage of your Techsteal ability by NOT taking advantage of it. Nobody will WANT to attack you for fear of your being able to rip down a base and steal their proprietary research, so if you're content to play nice, they'll probably be content to let you, and you can make good on your threat anytime you like...just go for Non-linear math pretty early on (that being about the only deviation from the more builder-oriented techs), and you can make good on the implied threat...since you start with Applied Physics, you're only one step away, which is great for you. As the consciousness, of course, you want to get those lab-enhancing facilities built as quickly as possible to further enhance your native +2 research bonus, but that will mean building at least some energy banks and the like to help pay maintenance, so if you pursue the Builder path, then do it with a vengeance.

One thing that will help your Builder game is the growth penalty. Bases won't be springing up to size in an uncontrolled fashion, and in general, you will have plenty of time to get your Rec. Commons' in place before it becomes an issue.

Aki-Zeta, the Hybrid: Impact weapons, Mobility, and Flex, and you're armed and doubly dangerous, as each one of your troopers is as good as a probe team too, if he's the one who moves into an enemy base. That, combined with your ability to do something other than fight (+2 Research) and do it efficiently, makes you a terrific choice for Hybrid style. Since you'll probably keep a standing army at the ready as soon as you get the techs to put something decent together (and you'll get those techs at a pretty good clip, thanks to your inherent strengths), you'll be in a much better position than your Builder cousins to make good on the threat of ripping down their defenses and stealing their techs(an ability which, by the way, lets you selectively ignore certain tech paths, knowing full well that when you get in a war, you'll be netting those techs anyway). Simply put, you will be hard pressed to find a better Hybrid faction in the game.

Aki-Zeta, the Conqueror: Again, your techsteal ability is pivotal to your entire game. In this case, ignore the juicy Builder techs entirely...you'll get them anyway when you tear down their bases. Just get a core group of mobile, heavily gunned attackers and make everybody else pay. Even without focusing on Network Nodes right away, you will still out tech everybody but Zak in the game, which means you can have your prototype Impact Rover rolling off the assembly lines before most folks have their prototype Synth-garrisons in place, and the math is very much on your side.

The Nautilus Pirates
At a Glance: -1 Efficiency, -1 Growth, terraform deep sea squares (w/tech), marine detachment (w/tech), +1 mineral/square (shelf only), sea pod and former already prototyped, free naval yard (w/tech).

Game Notes: Your advantages grow over time as more techs are discovered, but even with what you have at the outset, the faction is a powerhouse by any definition. First consider that you begin the game in total isolation. No one can attack you at all until they get Doctrine: Flex, and build a fleet. Even then, all of the important advantages are yours in terms of sea-battling, and that only becomes more true as the game wears on. Next, is your inefficiency. Just as with Lal, this is easily overcome via the simplest of base facilities, and is not much to lose sleep over, and the Growth penalty...I feel certain that was put in place to prevent the faction from simply running away with the game. Sea bases are notoriously good at cranking out food, and when you get a few kelpfarms in place, you will be able to grow like a proverbial weed in spite of the –1 growth. In fact, you'll have such surpluses that you will barely notice it. The only thing that hurts a bit is the inability to execute an "easy" pop-boom, but again, if the Pirates could do that too, they'd simply run away with the game every time.

+1 Mineral per square means that your early game mining platforms can keep you on-par and then some with your landlocked cousins, and again, you've got an easy 75 years of pretty much competition-free expansion...probably a hundred or more before someone mounts a serious offensive.

Marine Detachment ability is huge too, enabling you to capture enemy ships and upgrade accordingly (you'll want to cover the newly captured and weakened ships with interceptors to protect them from sniping while vulnerable, but remember, once you get them back to base, they'll be recovered in a single turn, thanks to your naval yards everywhere). You can also capture transports loaded with troops (effectively making the Marine Detachment like a probe team that can avoid stacking limits).

It's true, before the advent of fusion power, you will pay a premium for your formers and colony pods, but on the plus side, each base you build comes with a built in pressure dome, so even with fission reactors, they're a bargain for what you're getting.

Svensgaard, the Builder: Make use of your early game privacy to establish a ring of bases around an uninhabited large island or small continent, then send colony pods and formers to the mainland with a vengeance. This mixed approach will give you such a strong core empire, protected by equally strong coastal bases, who gain the benefits of all the coastal boreholes you built. After that, strike off the beaten path and start building deep sea bases that are worthless if taken from you. Thanks to mid-game techs, deep sea bases are good for you, and if you focus on kelp and tidal harnesses (using your highly developed core bases as cash cows), you can easily rush whatever infrastructure you need at the relatively mineral poor deep sea bases—it's important to set realistic goals here: Ten minerals at a deep sea base isn't too bad, and certainly sets you up well for rushing...not to mention the fact that in the late-mid game and beyond, you start to get Orbital Mining Stations, Robotic Assembly Plants and the like, which can turn even your modest sea bases into industrial powerhouses, enabling you to strike from unexpected directions if pressed.

Svensgaard, the Hybrid: This faction is a Hybrid player's dream, and there's absolutely no reason why you should not be in the driver's seat, diplomacy wise. You can find and infiltrate all the other factions before they make contact with each other, and with a steadily growing global naval presence, you can oftentimes dictate when or IF your various rivals will meet each other at all, simply sinking their fledgling navies as they come out of port. This kind of control over the ebb and flow of the game is key to influencing the metagame (more on that concept later) for all the players, and for this reason alone, I'd say that if any faction came close to being unbalanced, this is it.

Svensgaard, the Conqueror: Conquesting is easy for Svensgaard, since you start with two of the key techs you need to go hunting. Get a good weapon (Impact), and you don't even need the rovers...in fact, if you wait till you get Doctrine: Initiative (an early-mid game tech, at best), your infantry units actually become more effective than rovers, given that a transport full of assault marines can sweep in on any coastal base from five squares out and taking the base with complete surprise, and remaining entirely out of sensor range till the moment of the attack...this, combined with your inherent ability to capture transports filled with enemy troopers (at times, effectively doubling the size of your attack force), makes you deadly indeed. Pay close attention to the section on Naval Power...you'll be making heavy use of it.

Yes, air power may well be at the top of the food chain battle-wise, but 99 times in a hundred, initial contact with a faction not on your starting continent will be made in the water. Never forget that, and never underestimate the power inherent in being the first faction in the water to pop sea pods!

The Free Drones
At a Glance: +2 Industry, -2 Research, fewer drones, % chance that rioting bases will join you, aversion Green

Game Notes: "The Mouse that Roared," would be an excellent descriptor for this faction...their puny research capabilities and punishingly slow start might seem to make them not worth playing, but that sweet industry bonus will more than make up for it in the end.

Simply put, while you may have a lagging research capability, there's nothing whatsoever to prevent you from making hordes of cash (Market), and that influx of energy, coupled with an Industrial capacity that no one else in the game can touch (Yang can come close, but still can't match you, and he has no money anyway), will quickly see you ratcheting up the power chart, and the speed with which you can crank out lab-enhancers and such will quickly undo your measly 20% penalty to research.

Miriam is drawn to Fundy: it plays well with her other abilities and makes her a wretched researcher, but that is not the case with you, and in the absence of choosing Fundy to render your bases and units immune to covert actions, the efficiencies of Democracy become much more attractive in peacetime, with Police State in times of crisis (coupled with your inherently fewer drones to begin with).

Minerals drive the early game, and he who can build the most stuff the fastest will win. Nobody builds stuff faster than the Drones. Nobody.

Domai, the Builder: Building stuff quickly is what you guys do! All you need is Planetary Networks, and Doctrine Flex if you start by yourself, and you're off and running. Infiltrate, steal tech in the early game to give you the tools you need, and then use that amazing infrastructure to build everything with lightening speed. By the time you get your Treefarms in place, you'll have to remind yourself that you have a research penalty, things will be rolling along so well for you, and if you're pressed by an attack, it's easy to build a stout army very quickly with cash + your native industry. Domai must be fairly active at least in the early game) as a Builder though, much in the same vein as Miriam's Builder game. Probes are about the only way you can reach those much needed early game techs in reasonable time, so use them!

Domai, the Hybrid: Essentially, you make use of some of that incredible industrial advantage by "blunting" it slightly. In the early game, a high industry rating is nearly the same as a high support rating, enabling you to carry more units per base, cutting down your minerals available, but still building things reasonably quickly. What this means is that you'll be able to keep pace, build-wise, and support a big enough army/exploration force that no one will want to press you. The Research penalty truly IS a penalty in the early game, and you won't have a lot to do for the first ten years, but after that, and once you've found someone to trade with or steal techs from, you'll soon find yourself with a lot of new capabilities. One of the coolest features of the Drones is the ability to snag rioting bases from other factions, and this opens up whole new vistas for you and your probes, enabling you to get a toehold on continents by enciting drone riots and simply moving in, without firing a shot.

Domai, the Conqueror: Big Industry = Big Army. Probe. Techsteal. Build more stuff, more quickly. Drones win. Game. (And with the Drones, it really is that simple!)

The Data Angels
At a Glance: +2 Probe, -1 Police, 25% cheaper probe actions, free covert ops center (with tech), Techshare3, Aversion Power

Game Notes: A faction not given much consideration, in general, because unlike the others, they lack a well-founded ideological base, however, a closer look reveals that this group plays borrows heavily from Lal's Peacekeepers, Morgan, and the Nautilus Pirates in terms of playstyle...admittedly without any of their advantages, but that's okay, as they've got numerous advantages of their own.

Roze's singular negative is practically meaningless, while her other abilities are quite useful. +2 Probe effectively gives every unit you have the "Polymorphic Encryption" enhancement (for free!), further enhanced by actually giving that ability to your units if you feel the need to. Essentially this makes it almost ruinously expensive to steal bases or units away from you, enabling you to leave your units single stacked far more often than your opposition (which is great from a combat perspective). That, combined with your own, correspondingly cheaper probe actions puts you firmly in the driver's seat where Covert Ops are concerned. Add that to your sharetech3 ability (gives you the same effect as the Planetary Datalinks for free!), and what you have is a faction that is quite capable of defending itself from a variety of attacks, and able to zero in on specific areas of the tech tree, relying on the fact that your sharetech3 will enable you to pick up new technological advances from areas outside of what you are pursuing as those techs are traded and passed around the other factions. In fact, to make the most of your sharetech ability, you should play this group as a synthesis of Morgan, Lal, and Svensgaard. Seeing that the other factions are in contact with each other is very important to you, as it increases the likelihood of techs being traded around, which gives you direct benefits (and, if no one seems willing to trade tech with you in the game, you've got your probe teams to get them anyway!).

Your only SE aversion is Power, and that's one that doesn't really work well with this group in any case, so even if you could pick it, odds are good that you wouldn't. You're not hampered by a lack of energy, or any research or drone penalties, and that, combined with your probes, will very quickly put you in a position of dominance.

Morgan must rely on his additional cash windfall to subvert enemy troops that land, but you (with your cheaper cover ops rates) can accomplish the same ends with less money, putting you in the same or better position as Morgan, probe-wise.

Combatively, your troops are only average, but with your probe teams, it is entirely possible to stay in Free Market for the entire game and simply steal your opponents' bases one at a time, buying them out from under him, and stealing enemy troops as they drive up to try and get the base back.

Later in the game, the presence of a Covert Ops Center in each base, you've effectively got a +4 Probe rating, rendering you immune to probe actions a la Miriam, without any of her disadvantages! (Effectively giving you your own private "Hunter-Seeker Algorithm!")

Roze, the Builder: Regardless of your style of play, Probe Teams will play heavily into your overall strategy, and the Builder's game is no exception. As you've read before though, anybody who relies heavily on Probe Teams (Domai, Miriam, Yang, Cha'Dawn, and You especially), must play a fairly active Builder's game. Thus, your goal in the DataAngel Builder game is to mind your own business, building probes anytime you get a few free turns in a base's build queue, sending out the probe foils to go find the others, and keeping the rover and infantry based ones milling about your empire (or sneaking across a rival's border, if you've got company on your continent). If the badguys come calling, a little bit of cash will net you with a bigger army, a weaker opponent, and fewer worries. Also, if one of your neighbors decides to continue to raise a fuss, drive a few probe foils over to his infrastructure poor (and thus, relatively inexpensive) bases and simply buy his empire away from him one piece at a time.

Roze, the Hybrid: Played this way, it's all about getting out and meeting people. Your favored SE settings will tend to put you in good standing with both Lal and Morgan (and sometimes, with fickle Sven), and these are the more commerce-oriented factions, generally eager to trade and make treaties, so go out, meet interesting people from exotic, far-off lands, and infiltrate them, relying on your Builderesque approach to warfare. With Roze, you can run your entire exploration effort via probe teams and transport foils, which means you can stick to Market in all but the more dire circumstances.

Roze, the Conqueror: Run a brief, early period of Market to get yourself built up to a position of power, making use of Market's energy boon to give you the important early game mobility and combat techs relatively quickly, then, construct a medium-sized force, augmented with money and probes and go hunting! If you come across a base that looks like it might be a tough fight, fine. Buy it, add the garrison to your strike force, and keep moving. It is entirely possible for you to buy even a base with a number of secret projects in it on the cheap, something even Morgan is hard-pressed to do at times!

The Cult of Planet
At a Glance: +2 Planet, -1 Industry, -1 Economy, Brood Pit at each base (with tech), Worms are counted twice for police duty, Aversion Wealth

Game Notes: Widely considered to be the weakest faction in the game, the Cult is still quite fun to play! Their planet bonus and lack of industrial might and cash makes it imperative that you play to this group's natural strengths, and that means going native with a vengeance! The Cult "Out-Greens" even Deirdre, able to catch more worms, more quickly. This in turn (if you have pod-scattering on) enables you to go pod-popping early on, which increases your chance of catching still more worms and that can very rapidly put you in a position to launch an early-game worm rush.

The vast majority of the factions in the game have no trouble with getting to +1 Energy per square, which means they'll have no trouble out-teching you. Because of this, and because of your native strengths, you must play to the metagame and become the spoiler. Specifically, this means doing everything you can to enhance the power of your native life, attacking rivals who are running Market in order to deny them access to their much-cherished money. Simply put, you can win the battle and the war by taking the fight to a Marketeer. If they drop out of Market to fight you, you win by forcing them away from their principle source of money and tech (exception: Morgan!), and if not, you will run over them, given their –3 Planet Rating!

Cha'Dawn, the Builder: It's not that you don't build well...you do okay at that, at least as well as the Spartans, but the trouble is, without some serious crawlers to augment your lagging energy production, lab-enhancers just aren't going to benefit you as much as some of the other factions. This is not to say that you should avoid them, only to point out that you will need to augment your infrastructure with a bit of an energy kick in order to get yourself up to something near parity with your Market-loving rivals (and, set up this way, when you succeed in driving your rivals away from Market, you will actually be out-producing them!) Nonetheless, pure Builder Style is a difficult game for Cha'Dawn, as you MUST be active if you hope to exploit your position relative to Marketeers. Also, as with the other technologically lagging factions, you must take an active stance with your Probe Teams, though, like Yang, you will seldom be in a cash-rich enough of a position to make use of many of the covert ops requiring you to spend credits. Still, as a means of keeping tech parity, Probe Teams should play an integral part of your strategy.

Cha'Dawn, the Hybrid: Much more natural a style with this faction. In times of peace, you can devote yourself to the creating of fungal barriers and fungal farms, and building up your mineral and energy position via crawlers (both of which will help you offset your starting negatives), all the while, searching out your rival factions. Once you find someone, infiltrate, and as soon as you see them making a switch to Market, hammer them hard with your captured worm force!

Cha'Dawn, the Conqueror: Sleek and fast, and...pure native! This is actually one of the simplest ways of playing the game, and I find it personally very satisfying. It is a vastly different game than I normally play, and as a change of pace, it is wonderfully refreshing.

The first thing you need to do is catch a worm. Just send your scout out to play in the fungus, and before long, you'll be all set.

Next goal, send your worm out to pop some serious pods, and try to catch another worm. Essentially, this means more playing in the fungus for you (and all the while, your bases are slowly but steadily working on colony pods to continue your expansion). Once you've got two worms, you're really rolling, because now the first can continue the pod-popping crusade (which will go far in keeping you in the ball-park, tech-wise), and the other can begin some serious worm farming (getting three chances per turn, unlike your scout's one) to stir up some native life. At this point, you're in prime position to get ready to do a big worm rush (and it generally only takes 4-6 worms in the early game).

If you're alone on your continent, then your next two overriding goals ought to be Planetary Networks (for Probe Teams) and Doctrine: Flexibility (for transports) so you can go make some greedy Marketeer pay!

The Manifold Caretakers
At a Glance: Free Recycling Center at each base, +1 Planet, +25% Defensive bonus, Space Survey, Directed Research, Deep Radar for all units

''Note: some people disagree with Velociryx's assessment of the alien factions. Feel free to make this more neutral.''

Game Notes: Overpowered in human hands, almost to the point of making the game tedious. It's a cakewalk. Nobody will have much luck in attacking, you begin with a recycling tanks at every base, which means that you don't have to worry as much about terraforming, and farms are not really needed much at all until the midgame. All in all, you have a vastly simplified game, with more techs at game start, and an almost unbelievably strong defensive position.

H'minee, the Builder: This group was designed for the Builder game. You can play the part of the turtle, and do quite well. A program of rapid expansion will see you filling up the continent quickly (possibly switching to battle mode if you see that you're not alone, and sweeping them off the map before they can build to any significance), then, just become a hermit. Terraform to your heart's content and use your impressive tech lead (and it will be impressive) to hammer the daylights out of anybody who wants to spoil your fun!

H'minee, the Hybrid: Also easy to do. With your tech lead in the beginning, augmented by automatic Recycling tanks at all bases, your research will be top notch. That alone will make the Hybrid game easy, because you will be able to field better troops than most, if not all of your opponents. That, coupled with the fact that your 25% defensive bonus kicks in from the moment you take over a base makes it unlikely that the opposition will be able to root you out, once you get a foothold.

H'minee, the Conqueror: Again, fairly easy to do, but, with H'minee, you're probably better off simply subverting human bases to avoid population flight, and again, captured garrisons will gain that additional 25% defensive bonus from the moment you take control of the base.

The Manifold Usurpers
At a Glance: Free Recycling Center at each base, +1 Growth, +1 Morale, +25% Offensive bonus, Space Survey, Directed Research, Deep Radar for all units, aversion Democracy

''Note: some people disagree with Velociryx's assessment of the alien factions. Feel free to make this more neutral.''

Game Notes: Again, an almost impossibly easy game, no matter what level of play you select. You get all the advantages of Miriam's attackers, with none of her disadvantages, a morale boost besides that, a free recycling tanks at each base (which, as per the Caretakers, dramatically speeds up your game), and three techs at game start. You would have to try hard NOT to win the game with these guys! With normal research rates, your tech will be as good, if not better than everybody around you (especially since you are guaranteed of one extra energy per base, with your free Recycling Tanks, and three techs at game start), and with your attack bonuses you are, simply put, a terror.

Marr, the Builder: Sure, you can do this well, but why? Of course, if you're just looking to play the Builder's game with the ultimate "big stick," then this faction will do the job for you. No one will WANT to attack you, figuring that if you're content to Build, in most cases, they'll be content to let you (at least you're not attacking them!)

Marr, the Hybrid: A cakewalk. Again, in times of peace, nobody will even breathe hard in your direction for fear of provoking you, and you can focus on infrastructure, and, if the time comes to attack...well, your faction was born and bred for it!

Marr, the Conqueror: You could do this with your eyes closed! Just follow the human-faction momentum paradigms with a vengeance and you will beat them at their own game every time. Probe teams and foils first, then sweep in for the kill, and you have a leg up again, thanks to the free Rec. Tanks at the outset!

''This information was originally written by Velociryx in his SMAC FAQ. Used with permission.''