Arhulians of Dusk

(Are-rule-lee-ans) or just the Dusk



An E.S. Faction idea

DISCLAIMER: While it may be "done", there are still things I might want to tweak. May be edited.



Traits:



Edit: Trait revisal (Thanks to Affinity )

And if I can use the 80 point contest rule, slap on another level to scientists & add cloning 1

Edit: Spelling & Grammar errors



Home planet type: Ocean

Diplomatic alignment: Evil

Gameplay: Corruption and control

Main victory type: Expansion/Supremacy





"When a new task arrived; they had to make tools and and mechanical constucts to achieve their goals, while all we had to do is look into our own DNA. For this, we are greater than the endless could ever be ".



Origin:

The Arhulians are a benign peaceful race of musteline, sable-hued organic beings with the powerful gift of dominion over energy itself. For they were a very peaceful race, sure there were a few rebels and criminals, but never one of true evil, until Rhathamus 'kraa came into existence... He knew because of the hive mind of his people he will never be to consciously conceive evil. So through subconscious processes he was able to encode a subliminal message in to his own DNA structure, that when he was out of range of the mind of his bothers and sisters he could live to his own bidding, wiping any memory of it, lying in wait.



Unknowing of his own message he traveled the stars in search for peace. Meanwhile galaxies away...sophon scientists used dust to create artificial wormholes for faster travel. However they soon realized that they cannot control where the other end pops up, which could be quite literally anywhere. Such fortuitous placement is unreliable and dangerous, and thus the project was abandoned. However one wormhole appeared and whisked 'kraa galaxies away, far far out of range of the interconnected mind his message revealed, he was free.



Evolution:

The first suitable planet was found to be an ocean rather close cool edge of the liquid zone, where the dark, cool, overcast & mist imbued environment put the planet in perpetual twilight. To settle on the planet, 'kraa changed his DNA for self reproduction until populous was sufficient for normal reproduction. Their structures are essentially gargantuan organs that preform various tasks as well as draw nourishment from the surrounding environment. Arhulians are the ships, as in higher lifeforms that have evolved for interstellar travel. Many traverse by small singular craft, and revert back when they reach their destinations. However there is a point of 'critical mass' of which that the being has become so massive that they cannot reabsorb it for normal life, and thus they dedicate their lives to being vessels of travel, transport, and combat. Interstellar travel with no technology whatsoever is indeed impressive, but pales in comparison to the power to behold: dominion over energy. Arhulians have a unique cell in their physiology that can absorb and store tremendous amounts with near 100% efficiency. Smaller lifeforms using it for additional stamina and strength. But with larger lifeforms the amount of energy that can be stored goes up exponentially, generating shields, photon beams, and even synthesising projectiles. Putting combat ability above even most weaponized races, making for an extremely formidable foes.



Society:

Unlike other evil races, the dusk are not prone to the seven hubris that is responsible to an eventual downfall. In fact they use what many precive a good traits: Patience, planning, loyalty, bravery, and emotional control. Possessing Intelligence, & strength is a rare combination; combined with prudence they are a force to be truly feared as one cannot rely on their enemies to falter.



"The one of highest standing wins, the one who makes the least mistakes wins in the conclusion".



Game play



Redux: The AoD have something called 'high evolution'. When a system becomes mature (colony/full ownership) you can set an improvement (kinda like ind to dust) that will convert pop growth to evolved growth and will go up as the same rate of the normal pop. IE, if your systems rate is 1 opulation: every 2 turns it will be the same, but for evolved pop instead. (however normal pop does not go up while this is active). The population unit becomes purple, yielding .25 more FIDS. So for every four evolved population you get the bonus of one additional pop.



*Also these values can be adjusted to say .20 or .33 for balancing, 3 - 5 pop a turn at maximum tech, if too powerful/slow





For example if a planet has 20 evolved population it will yield the FIDS of 25 population. The conversion can be kinda slow, so there will several be techs/system improvements to hasten this. (to say about 4 a turn at about tier 6-7ish max tech) For example if you have a system with 1 pop growth every 4 turns and say max tech, the multiplier will make it 1 evolved pop a turn. Basically for each upgrade you have just +1 to the evolved rate a turn. To gather useful intelligence and resources the dusk send special ships with the goal of abducting the denizens of other races for information, technology, then synthesis by merging their DNA and making the abductees minions of the Dusk. And are often used as 'Kinetic fodder' during invasions. Otherwise if they can't be synthesized or be of use as servants, the victims are engorged and broken down for biological resources and energy.



Evolved pop cannot be put on to normal seed mods. See below:



Arhulians of dusk will also be able to research a special seed module that allows them to abduct the population of other planets and ones that move evolved pop.

It will work like this: When a ship with the abduction mod is sent to an enemy system it will have a special abduction action, when selected the ship will remain in that system for one turn an can abduct up to 2 pop a turn, keep in mind this does not stack. So if you have 5 ships w/two abduction mods on each, it will take 5 turns for all of them to fill up.(so it's better to attack many systems at once than stacking one into the ground). Both types of seed mod will have a significantly 1.5-2.5X higher price in industry cost compared to the normal one.



Other notes:



Since chess pieces are "uncreative" I will go by my usual system:

Ship CLASS names:

Colonizer-Propagator

Corvette-Observer

Destroyer-Executer

Cruiser-Preserver

Battleship-Guardian

Dreadnought-Leviathan



Also for their unique tech, it will be mostly in Exploration & Expansion branch with a few in in Applied sciences & diplomacy (for the system improvements)

Good idea and well done - approved

Thank you, I put a lot of effort into it and I think so too. Any helpful criticism would be nice, so I can make it even better.

WhiteWeasel wrote:
Thank you, I put a lot of effort into it and I think so too. Any helpful criticism would be nice, so I can make it even better.

You did well



Well,I haven't found anything yet I'd like to change - but I'll let you know if I find anything

Seems overpowered XD how do you win by "corruption"? and what negatives do they have

by negatives I mean negative negatives, not just the ones you put . Like... are they worse in combat? Harder to keep people happy?

stasik28 wrote:
Seems overpowered XD how do you win by "corruption"? and what negatives do they have

by negatives I mean negative negatives, not just the ones you put . Like... are they worse in combat? Harder to keep people happy?

Unlike having a bonus like industry stacking, having the whole map seen, or locust points, their attribute cannot be used early game. You can't manipulate it by tweaking taxes or starting a fight either, (bar home system) you are physically incapable of using it at all for at least the first ~30 turns of the game because of the colony requirement. And even if you could use it at base tech it's equivalent of 1 opulation: every 4 turns if the system is idle. Which (compared to automaton stacking for the same amount of turns) early game it is nowhere near worth the pay off.



Their a force to be reckoned with late game, but in all that setup time some one could "jump on the board".

Simply they are a disadvantage early game.

That's very similar to automatons, (and UE) they are power houses late game because of improvements later in the trees, but you're saying that late game you'll have insane research generation as well as super high dust income, easily retrofit and quick buy ships

wait, so their strength is based on surviving to the late game but they have eternal war O.o that doesn't jive very well in my head. eternal war not only makes you a bigger target, but makes trading techs and other resources impossible. I mean, yeah they're evil, but eternal war doesn't make much sense if they are stronger later.

@ affinity

Actually I could, re-add knowlge gathering & dust recyclers, & ditch cloning, stellar guardians, & maybe scientists for lvl2? Or if I could pick one or the other what would it be?

I don't know, it seems like you are taking this in two directions. It's either war-like or its not. This race has an affinity that only works for them in the late game, yet they have many traits that conflict with this. You have eternal war, and feeble warriors? That's just asking for trouble. Optimal structure, ok cool, but master of illusion is another passive leave-me-alone kind of trait, not a war trait. Deadly weapons is the only thing that adds real value to the fleets. Micromanagers also doesn't fit well with a war mantra.



And honestly, stellar guardians is pretty useless. And it's 99% useless, and doesn't make any sense, with eternal war. Meticulous analysis is also pretty bad.



Knowledge gathering and dust recyclers aren't worth much either unless you are in a lot of early conflict (maybe hissho should take this...) Also, unlucky colonists could make early conflicts much more difficult. But again, this affinity adds nothing to early conflict, so why would the other traits revolve around early aggression?



I would suggest trying to focus in on something. Either extended play, as the affinity suggests, or more conflict oriented.

Masters of illusion: the unique seed mods have alot of industry cost, and taking the pop of other planets, which will be very common and used throughout the entire game, and evolved cannot move on it's own and takes awhile to develop:Use it to get a head start on colonization or make your forge worlds better

Stellar Guardians: I could ditch that entirely

MicroManagers: I could swap it out for something else

Feeble warriors: The thing is that much of their population are people whom have most likely forced against their will to fight for the dusk, and they hate them so much that they will INTENTIONALLY fight worse so the invaders have an easier time fighting their captors at a shot of revenge. (& the hive mind keeps them from outright rebelling)

Rebellion: Minions are easy to kill, but the organic structures will remain deeply rooted. easy to take, hard to hold. But then again I could ditch this & feeble entirely.



Also I might have phrased that wrong, I should have said It's not a weakness it's that their strength doesn't show up until late game. Like UE cant have high taxes early game.

Ok traits revised, let's see what ya' think!

ok, i can kind of see the direction of this race now. Late game power house, and this lines up much better with the evolved population idea.



I'm still a bit concerned with just how you are supposed to GET to the late game where you will shine. eternal war is not really a trait to take if you plan on playing passively. And if you aren't passive, the evolved population is pretty useless.



Also, instead of leaving the system idle to evolve them, why not have it put something in the production like --> but instead of dust, your pop evolves.

Hmmm, eternal war I'm sketchy about, lore wise they really don't like the other factions, and plan to take them all out anyways. But I guess they could 'use' them until they are ready get rid of them. As for the points I would assume that since they are totally new to the endless, they will be a little inept at using to it's full potential. So I could swap war with spendthrifts 2.



As for the evolved pop, The way I could redo it is that when you set it to convert it will go up as the same rate of the normal pop. IE, if you systems rate is 1 opulation: every 2 turns it will be the same, but for evolved pop instead. (however normal pop does not go up at this time).

Alright I think I'm comfortable where this idea is now.