Factions!

Tactical advice, How-to, Post-mortem, etc.
zombywoof
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Post by zombywoof »

Draconium:

Draconium is a well-designed faction by TheAlaskan. It is easily my second-favorite player-made faction and is the only player-made faction aside from GT which has a fully-fledged identity. There are design choices that were made that I'm not a huge fan of (I dunno about the basic cons not ripping, for example, and the security towers are to me super meh), but overall Draconium feels like a very defensive faction that wants to advance kind of like a tank. Their toughness feels naturally different than that of Belters, who often feel like they're just throwing large bricks at the opponent, and feels more like you're part of a slow, armored push where you're escorting a thing to the point where it wins the game. There's a little bit of a balance issue in Drac, and part of that is definitely my fault, but aside from the fact that their basic cons don't rip, I love this faction and everything about it.

Econ - C

It has miners. They mine things. I don't know what you want from them, but they go to a rock, take helium, and bring it back. TP refs are whatever and remain not my favorite mechanic, and the toughness of these miners makes them a bear to kill.

Early Game - C+

A lt int faction, but it can't kill anything with mini1. On the other hand, you certainly aren't killing anything of Draconium's.

Mid Game - C

If they went mini2 ints, they'll have a very hard time killing your @#(!, but you'll never kill their @#(!. If they went gat2 enh figs, they'll have a somewhat hard time killing your @#(!, and you'll have a very hard time killing their @#(!. You can push cons places naked and rip in to defend them if it becomes a problem, which frees up your pilots for other things.

Late Game - B

Whatever they go, you're going to have a hard time stopping them. Did they push cons? They can just rip in figs or scouts or whatever as you pick off the defenders. Did they go bombers? Good luck chewing through the nans through their xnan and high hulls. Did they go HTTs? See above, but also get forked by mini2 hvy ints.

Best Maps:

Grid (ugh). Polished. Anything tight in where they can show up in your sector and be like "Hi, I'm bigger than you."

Best Settings:

Drac is best served on slightly higher money, so 1.0/1.15. They will never; however, say no to more money.

Matchup Notes:

Belters- Belters favored. Belts tac is too stronk here.

Bios- Bios favored. Drac can't mount enough offense to stop bios.

Drac- HTTs are king in the drac mirror.

Dregh- Even. You'll basically bounce off each other all day, and be in trouble if/when dregh goes specs, until you just bomb/htt everything.

Giga- Giga favored. Giga takes the map immediately then punishes your miners with gat2 enh figs.

GT- GT favored. GT scouts are very strong and GT going expansion is hard for Drac to deal with.

IC- IC favored. Oddly, Draconium exp beats IC exp. The problem is that IC sup is too much, especially with that damage nerf.

OH- OH favored. OH has better ints and better HTTs. and rainbows.

Rix- Rix favored. Rix's damage buffs matchup very well with the Draconium HP buff and models.

TF- Slightly TF favored. Drac has a hard time killing TF's miners, TF has a hard time killing Drac's miners, which gives Drac a small window for winning the game.

Overall: C (in terms of overall design though, a solid B+. While GT has, over time, reached the status of "faction that could launch with the game," Draconium feels like an excellent first or second draft, and I feel like if I had the time and the playerbase, Draconium could be tweaked into being as iconic as the original MS factions.)

Draconium is a bit underpowered at the moment, but has a lot of interesting ideas. Alaskan should be really proud of this faction, it's at the level of quality where it definitely belongs in one of those portfolios of "things I designed" that you take to a job interview for game design. Another aspect of Drac that doesn't get mentioned a lot is that each of the models both "fits" with Allegiance gameplay and manages to look good. I am particularly impressed with the way he hid the red-doors on the sup to make it just a little harder to camp. And adding the secret green door to the garrison was a stroke of genius.
Last edited by zombywoof on Sat Dec 22, 2018 12:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Don't find fault, find a remedy; anybody can complain.
Cookie Monster wrote:QUOTE (Cookie Monster @ Apr 1 2009, 09:35 PM) But I don't read the forums I only post.
ryujin
Posts: 3167
Joined: Sat Oct 02, 2010 1:17 am

Post by ryujin »

Studying hard I see!
*#$@faced $#@!tard Troll
zombywoof
Posts: 6522
Joined: Mon Jul 14, 2008 4:59 am
Location: Over the Rainbow

Post by zombywoof »

It's winter break. I'm bored. I work in IT for the various labs and 90% of everyone is on vacation and they've been sticking me in chem, which needs its desk manned, but gets on average 1 ticket every day when school is in session.

Over the past week of working the chem desk we have had 3 total tickets. Each ticket was essentially "Hey {person who isn't me}, when you set up the software, what was the password to get into it again?" Oh, cool, a bunch of stuff I can't actually help with. Guess I'll sit here and durdle.
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Don't find fault, find a remedy; anybody can complain.
Cookie Monster wrote:QUOTE (Cookie Monster @ Apr 1 2009, 09:35 PM) But I don't read the forums I only post.
ryujin
Posts: 3167
Joined: Sat Oct 02, 2010 1:17 am

Post by ryujin »

I"m just giving you a hard time
*#$@faced $#@!tard Troll
zombywoof
Posts: 6522
Joined: Mon Jul 14, 2008 4:59 am
Location: Over the Rainbow

Post by zombywoof »

I'm just mad at how boring work has been.
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Don't find fault, find a remedy; anybody can complain.
Cookie Monster wrote:QUOTE (Cookie Monster @ Apr 1 2009, 09:35 PM) But I don't read the forums I only post.
ryujin
Posts: 3167
Joined: Sat Oct 02, 2010 1:17 am

Post by ryujin »

phoenix1 wrote:QUOTE (phoenix1 @ Dec 21 2018, 09:13 PM) It's winter break. I'm bored. I work in IT for the various labs and 90% of everyone is on vacation and they've been sticking me in chem, which needs its desk manned, but gets on average 1 ticket every day when school is in session.

Over the past week of working the chem desk we have had 3 total tickets. Each ticket was essentially "Hey {person who isn't me}, when you set up the software, what was the password to get into it again?" Oh, cool, a bunch of stuff I can't actually help with. Guess I'll sit here and durdle.
just reply "bond007"
*#$@faced $#@!tard Troll
NOVA_X
Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2012 7:05 pm

Post by NOVA_X »

pnix not on list why?
zombywoof
Posts: 6522
Joined: Mon Jul 14, 2008 4:59 am
Location: Over the Rainbow

Post by zombywoof »

not really faction.
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Don't find fault, find a remedy; anybody can complain.
Cookie Monster wrote:QUOTE (Cookie Monster @ Apr 1 2009, 09:35 PM) But I don't read the forums I only post.
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