hehe you too <3 Your take on the Sisters is great!

I would also absolutely adore having Sisters of Mercy as a major faction featured in an expansion set.



I think the dichotomy of the Sisters could make a very interesting affinity based around Acts of Mercy and Acts of Wrath.



Bare with me! Think of the Harmony in Endless Space; you get two radically different focuses that you could pick and choose---forcing the player to kind of balance the two during their play through as needed. Poor planning, like the Harmony, could lead to defeat--Many believed when Disharmony came out that they Harmony were kind of weak but proper utilization of their affinity could be very deadly in the right hands. Proper utilization of the affinity would lead to hefty amount of flexibility with the proper timing during the growth and transitional phases of your empire.



Instead of doing this by sliding your tax bar like the Harmony did you instead determine your passives through your actions in game.



This would suit Endless Legend better because of the questy-nature of the game while providing static variables.



The early quests in your main story could determine what bonuses Acts of Mercy and Acts of Wrath give, adding further variables to the duality.

(This is to ensure that If you're keeping up with your main quest as you should be, then by the time you get access to Era II and Diplomatic Manse your interactions with other players should already be determined before you do them.)



This behavior could extend both to other players/AI and minor factions.

This duality is also to a lesser extent reminiscent of Mizi from DotE.



=Sisters of Mercy - Victory Type: Quest Victory.=



Sisters of Mercy Affinity: Acts of Mercy and Wrath



Acts of Mercy: Acts of mercy include things like pacifying villages or rebuilding them, completing Parlay Quests, compliments, peace treaties, trade route agreements, alliances. An Act of Mercy will cancel out and replace any corresponding bonus you would be getting from an Act of Wrath.



Acts of Wrath: Destroying villages in your regions and leaving them destroyed(rebuilding them ends the Wrath bonus). Declaring War. Breaking alliances. Embargoing trade route agreements. An Act of Wrath will cancel out and replace any corresponding bonus you would be getting from an Act of Mercy.



Main Quest: Your main quest is supremely important. You can't have Sister's affinity without the Sister's questline. The Catch with Sisters of Mercy would be that neglecting your questline means that Acts of Mercy and Acts of Wrath simply won't do anything until the passives are defined through the questline.



*Each quest gives you a choice that leads to do different outcomes centered around two equal but opposite Acts of Wrath or Mercy (Burning a village vs. pacifying it, Complimenting vs. Warning, War vs. Peace. ect)



Your first quest would determine what bonuses leaving a village destroyed in your territory gives and what bonus pacifying villages gives.



As an example let's say you choose the Wrathful method of finishing your first quest. The the first Quest you choose to pacify or burn down a village. Pacification=Mercy Razing=Wrathful.



If you burn it down then from that point on having destroyed villages in your region adds an xp bonus to units built there, where having them pacified adds a production bonus to military units. If you chose Mercy and pacified them then having burn't down villages adds to Happiness and having pacified villages gives you a passive influence bonus. After the descision is made in each quest it's done---No going back. Those are your Mercy and Wrath bonuses for the rest of the game. You'll still make that same Mercy vs. Wrath decision in the rest of your empire but that first interaction determines what exactly that means you see!



Your next quest determines what effects giving compliments and giving warnings have on your empire in very much the same manner, and the subsequent quests should be balanced around the idea that you want to determine what your bonuses are for Acts against players are before you research Diplomatic Manse. Later Quests would include what bonuses Alliances and breaking alliances give and possibly other such interactions. Finally if some sort of Quest Victory is implemented then the final stages of your quest set you up for winning the game.



Faction Specific Tech:



Those Purged, Those Exalted:



This tech would enable an ability that I think would be necessary. And that would be "Purge" which lets you raze your villages willing and provides short term bonus or stockpile for doing so as well as the wrath bonus. It would cost industry to do just like rebuilding one. "Those Exalted" gives some sort of short term benefit to rebuilding villages to match "Those Purged". All one tech! This could make for some interesting combos with Cultist custom factions to boot.



The reasoning is that this would let you spend industry to transition both into both Wrath or Mercy gameplay on the fly. Should probably be tier 2, so that your choices in the early game feel more impactful.



Sister Heroes:



Sister heroines would have an ability that gives a regeneration buff to the army they're attached to akin to the passive bonus they give as a minor faction. It could increase with each tier purchased! Perhaps an ability that lets them gain additional XP from leading an army that completes a Parlay Quest or Ruins Quest(call it Cross-Examination. Because nun-pun!) Something related to moral bonuses? The later tiers of their tree could have two skills devoted to bonuses to unit xp or happiness when governor? A Hero like that could make a decent governor for wide empires and great general for factions like the Cult since they thrive on interactions from Parlay quests!



They could be the quintessential "Quest Victory" faction.



Your main quest will ultimately determine everything about you. Imagine how entertaining it would be to play as or against this. Depending on the player and the choices they make? Well.. You could come off as very Schizo. I mean.. Burning villages down and then advocating peace with a major faction? Constantly sending a flurry of Compliments and Warnings to your allies at their dismay! Entering trade route agreements only to turn around embargo them! Making alliances. Breaking alliances. Making peace treaties. Going to war. Burning villages. Rebuilding villages. Burning them again! Even the Cult would think you're nuts and THE DRAKKEN WOULD LOATHE YOU!



You get to roam around Auriga choosing the wicked and worthy on a whim! Purging or exalting whoever you please whenever you please. >.>

The regen passive on the Hero would be fitting, but I'd also like to see an attack that heals like the Caecator's only make it melee ranged only, and the Hero a melee only character.

To balance it, it would have to only heal a percentage of the damage they do, and only in a 1 tile area around it. If that and regen would be too much a morale bonus aura would work.



I could see also using Rudust's idea, an Aura based active skill set for the Heroes instead, based on whether you are in Mercy or Wrath mode.

Yus!



I was also thinking that the a Quest Victory might happen as a continuation of the main story that happens after the wonder is unlocked. For the Sisters this quest would ideally have really hard conditions and objectives to meet.. But once accomplished wins you the game---this shouldn't be a walk in the park, but rather a lot of work like other victory conditions are.



In the case that Quest Victory is disabled in the options, winning that final quest would instead cause Acts of Mercy and Acts of Wrath to no longer cancel out which would still make it worthwhile to accomplish as it would turn you into a something of a superpower that was really hard to deal with since you get all the buffs at once. This is kind of how science factions operate when the science victory is disabled!



Their main quest should also be interruptible at a couple of points so that other players could combat a player approaching a Quest Victory.



An example might be a Quest that asks the Sisters to either join an alliance with two other major faction players that still have their capital, or destroy two capitals themselves. If a Supremacy player was successfully persueing his victory type and sniping capitals then the Sisters would fail their Quest Line due to the inability to complete it.

I like the idea of them being a true defensive faction.

Here are a few ideas and abilities I'd like to throw around:



Consecrated battlegrounds

The blood spilled in righteous combat fertilizes the land and inspire's sisters

Bonus damage in region for every army that gets annihilated on the Sisters of mercy's regions. Adds temporary bonus to food and dust production. 3x bonus if a hero dies as well.

Pact of Martyrdom

The ultimate sacrifice for the order inspires the sisters all across the city.

If a unit is below X%hp threshold the option of suicide is available, this allows bonuses for a cities defences.

Aegis of the Righteous(building)

The creation of this building makes it so less damage is taken by the sister's forces in the region they are built. The stronger an enemy army, the more damage is negated by the shield's power. Dust upkeep increases depending on number of friendly units active in region.

Fury of the Just

The Sisters choose 1 faction to target as evil. They get bonuses against that faction offensively, they cannot attack another nation's cities until the whole enemy faction is wiped out or xturns(increases as game progresses). They can still be declared war on and attacked, but can only defend.

Finally

A missionary unit with the ability to restore the original minor factions to neutral for a cost. Every time the same village is changed back the cost increases.



Their troops should be really weak. Unless targeting evil or defending themselves.

Their main victory condition would be Wonder or Culture. All just my opinion though



I am a big supporter of Rudest ideas as well.

To be honest the empire bonus of sister is pretty underrated. I have assimilated 11 of them before and having half your hp healed each turn allows for some rapid sieging without the need to wait for healing ever

Tsrintox wrote:
I like the idea of them being a true defensive faction.

Here are a few ideas and abilities I'd like to throw around:



Consecrated battlegrounds

The blood spilled in righteous combat fertilizes the land and inspire's sisters

Bonus damage in region for every army that gets annihilated on the Sisters of mercy's regions. Adds temporary bonus to food and dust production. 3x bonus if a hero dies as well.

Pact of Martyrdom

The ultimate sacrifice for the order inspires the sisters all across the city.

If a unit is below X%hp threshold the option of suicide is available, this allows bonuses for a cities defenses.

Aegis of the Righteous(building)

The creation of this building makes it so less damage is taken by the sister's forces in the region they are built. The stronger an enemy army, the more damage is negated by the shield's power. Dust upkeep increases depending on number of friendly units active in region.

Fury of the Just

The Sisters choose 1 faction to target as evil. They get bonuses against that faction offensively, they cannot attack another nation's cities until the whole enemy faction is wiped out or xturns(increases as game progresses). They can still be declared war on and attacked, but can only defend.

Finally

A missionary unit with the ability to restore the original minor factions to neutral for a cost. Every time the same village is changed back the cost increases.



Their troops should be really weak. Unless targeting evil or defending themselves.

Their main victory condition would be Wonder or Culture. All just my opinion though



I am a big supporter of Rudest ideas as well.

<3 awww Thanks!



If we were to integrate our ideas it would probably be something like this:



Consecrated Battlegrounds could be the inherent trait that Sister's native units have. (Every Faction, excluding the cult, has some kind of inherent trait!)



Pact of Martyrdom sounds like a military version of Demanding Gods, so it could work out as a tech! Perhaps Era II? 5-10 points?

Alternatively, it could have an Inquisition theme---where you sacrifice a population in your city to represent an internal witch hunt that makes your stronghold city more secure.

So.. You hurt your city, but you don't lose it at least! The military version is also neat, however!



Aegis of the Righteous looks like it would probably be a tech too!



Oooo. Fury of the Just is pretty interesting. I bet that one could even be worked into a trait!

Something like 20-25 (maybe even 30) points that only allows you to be in one war at a time.

This could be powerful for creating blockades and controlling the map. Which would be VERY fun.



Imagine closing your borders to those you aren't at war with!

Then you could "aggressively" box them in early-mid game and have an impact on their expansion efforts.

So, you could opt to settle near a neighbor that spawns close to you, fast expand around them, close your borders to them, and declare war on someone else XD

You might even convince someone in multiplayer to give you one of thier cities to cut an enemies advance through the rest of their empire.



The are implications trolly and political, do want!

It would defiantly be one of those traits you'd have to leverage to make it worth the points! But that's what makes it fun!



I would actually break it in half and make the other effect into a tech or trait (it could work as either);

Perhaps call it "Favored Enemy" or "Crusade Concordant" or some such other genocidal moniker! Balance it around the idea that someone might not take it and Fury of the Just Together, or make it a tech only available to Sisters' Affinity.



That would make some interesting custom faction shenanigans! Fury of the Just would work well with a custom Cult and it would give custom Drakken even more diplomatic control over the enemy!

>.> It would need to be expensive though, considering the obvious benefits of not having to spread your units as thin as someone without it. It should also probably be something of an equal opposite to Make Trade, Not War, and thus not selectable together.



Speaking of Custom factions, with your defensive focus, it would actually make playing with some of the more defensive traits--Like Strength of Vault---on a custom faction-- worth experimenting with!



Pact of Martyrdom and Demanding Gods together would be pretty funny on a food-focused custom faction---And on an unrelated note, I've been experimenting with food focused Roving Clans that have Food Efficient and Cull the Herd and it's pretty fun. Supergrow your population, then move to tiles with FIDS you need and put all those peeps to work! Kinda like the Horatio or Foody-Custom-Pilgrims >.>

IsaactheEllimist wrote:
To be honest the empire bonus of sister is pretty underrated. I have assimilated 11 of them before and having half your hp healed each turn allows for some rapid sieging without the need to wait for healing ever

It's not totally useless, but it really isn't that powerful, either. 11 of most factions is very powerful. 11 Caecator basically means 5 free regions. It's 55% research, or dust as well. I've used the bonus before in a Necrophage run, but the bonus really lies in the middle of the usefulness scale, and the units are horrible.

I thought minor faction bonuses were capped at 6 villages?

Evil4Zerggin wrote:
I thought minor faction bonuses were capped at 6 villages?

Reference please.

Nasarog wrote:
Reference please.

Here you go

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@Vica - ah, very nice. I never paid close attention. Can that number be changed?

Rudest wrote:


That would make some interesting custom faction shenanigans! Fury of the Just would work well with a custom Cult and it would give custom Drakken even more diplomatic control over the enemy!

>.> It would need to be expensive though, considering the obvious benefits of not having to spread your units as thin as someone without it. It should also probably be something of an equal opposite to Make Trade, Not War, and thus not selectable together.



Speaking of Custom factions, with your defensive focus, it would actually make playing with some of the more defensive traits--Like Strength of Vault---on a custom faction-- worth experimenting with!



Pact of Martyrdom and Demanding Gods together would be pretty funny on a food-focused custom faction---And on an unrelated note, I've been experimenting with food focused Roving Clans that have Food Efficient and Cull the Herd and it's pretty fun. Supergrow your population, then move to tiles with FIDS you need and put all those peeps to work! Kinda like the Horatio or Foody-Custom-Pilgrims >.>

XD I like the way you think!

Slowhands wrote:
Wow. This is not planned, and probably won't happen, but I like the way you think!

I'd love to see them as a major faction also. Or leave them as a minor and make a faction based on them. Vaulters practically have that with Delvers so why not the Sisters also.



The art for them is really cool, sort of reminds me a bit of the Adeptus Sororitas from 40k, which might be why I like them so much.



Please consider them, or a faction based off them for the future.

Nasarog wrote:
@Vic - ah, very nice. I never paid close attention. Can that number be changed?

Yeah, why not? For instance, if you want minor faction bonuses to be capped at 10 villages, change MaxValue="6" to MaxValue="10". The file is SimulationDescriptors[EmpireType].xml

They're useful if you're fighting necrophages... But Silics would probably be a better choice.

sisters need a buff, their description lies so much... how about glass cannon?

Tsrintox wrote:
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Their troops should be really weak. Unless targeting evil or defending themselves.

Their main victory condition would be Wonder or Culture. All just my opinion though



I am a big supporter of Rudest ideas as well.

Lower damage, higher survival.



Wondering on the Units for Rudest's idea though. Obviously a Sister's of Mercy styled infantry. What else?



I'm torn on the victory condition. They would be a militant faction, even in Rudest's idea. And a faction based on them would be wanting to 'convert' the world, I could see conquest being their thing.

Deyric wrote:
Lower damage, higher survival.



Wondering on the Units for Rudest's idea though. Obviously a Sister's of Mercy styled infantry. What else?



I'm torn on the victory condition. They would be a militant faction, even in Rudest's idea. And a faction based on them would be wanting to 'convert' the world, I could see conquest being their thing.

I have some vague ideas:



Justiceres take the role of the default unit, redone as infantry rather than support! Equipment. Weapon would still be Shield + Sword and Spear. Rather than being offensive focused like the Drakkenling they'd be more well rounded and have distinct moral bonuses or some innate ability that sets them apart.



The tier 1 unit is a ranged unit. It would be a unit of three or so who are used to operate heavy machinery and wheel around a weapons platform. The cart they push around would either be a catapult or ballista.

Something bulky, heavy, medieval! They would be a slow initiative, high hp, moderate damage unit. Weapon Loadout would be Catapult or Ballista. Ballista damages everything in a collumn-shape.

Catapult is similar to the Ardent Mage's Zealots. Essentially, the unit is the opposite of a Zealot.



Tier 2 would be some kind of ultimate support unit--A Sister Superior of some sort, perhaps.

Deyric wrote:
Lower damage, higher survival.



Wondering on the Units for Rudest's idea though. Obviously a Sister's of Mercy styled infantry. What else?



I'm torn on the victory condition. They would be a militant faction, even in Rudest's idea. And a faction based on them would be wanting to 'convert' the world, I could see conquest being their thing.

I disagree, they would be the faction with a unique winning condition!!! Cultist want every one to convert to their faith or die. SoM want everyone to work together to survive and escape Auriga to flourish somewhere else. So, Cultists are bent on war. SoM are trying for peace. SoM introduce the grand alliance, a co-op victory in MP or a unified victory in SP.