how will factions work? explained!

suske

Question: How will factions be handled? 1. What are the special traits for each of the factions, so we can better choose the faction that will specialize in that area that we want to be in? 2. How important will factions be to players upon starting the game? Will they have to join one to be successful? Or will it simply be a perk? 3. Upon joining a faction, will there be specific skills/points attributed to them to help other skills , such as pet handling, r&d for technology, or something similar? 4. If a player decides to change their faction, A) will they be allowed to do so easily, and will there be a skill/faction/stat point hit if they do so? All of these questions are about factions, so we're hitting them all at once. The basic faction system functions as a wheel, as some folks back on fallenearth.se figured out. Each faction has two allied factions, one archenemy faction, and two enemy factions. For example, the Enforcers are allied with the Techs and Lightbearers. Their archenemies are the CHOTA, and their enemies are the Vistas and Travelers. When you complete a mission that is a significant help to your faction, such as aiding in the capture of a conflict town or delivering important supplies, you gain reputation points with your faction. You also gain half as many points with your allied factions, so if you gain 10 points with the Enforcers, you also gain 5 with Lightbearers and Techs. You lose twice that much from your rating with your archenemy, and an amount equal to your gain from your enemy factions. So if you gained 10 points with the Enforcers, you would lose 20 with the CHOTA and 10 with the Travelers and Vista. Thus, there is no way to manage a balancing act in the long term by helping everyone equally; in the end they'll all hate you for being a waffling turncoat. These groups hate each other. No faction believes that help for them can balance help for their enemies. This does allow you to change your faction by working your way around the wheel. You can't just jump from Enforcer to CHOTA. You have to go from Enforcer to Tech and be a Tech long enough to get your Traveler rating out of the gutter, then work as a Traveler long enough to get your CHOTA rating up. In the earlier stages of the game, changing factions is not hard, but the longer you are part of a faction, the harder it gets to change. As you gain standing with a faction, new missions, merchants, and restricted faction knowledges become available. You can earn ranks and join in the capture of conflict towns. 1. What are the special traits for each of the factions, so we can better choose the faction that will specialize in that area that we want to be in? Each faction is good at ten skills/tradeskills/mutation skills, average at ten skills/tradeskills/mutation skills, and bad at ten skills/tradeskills/mutation skills. The better the faction's command of a skill, the earlier they can teach it. For example, Techs are good at Science. They may teach a knowledge at level 20, while the Enforcers who are average at Science teach it at level 30, and the CHOTA and level 40. This determines only when the knowledge becomes available to learn, not the prerequisites for it. This aforementioned Science knowledge will have a requirement of Science 60, but the Techs will begin teaching it in level 20 towns, while the CHOTA have to wait until their level 40 towns. Eventually you'll be able to learn almost everything from your faction, but some factions take longer than others. You will be able to pick up many things from allied factions as well, allowing you to branch out beyond the skills favored by your faction. Some factions, like the Techs, have primarily tradeskills that they are good at, while the Enforcers favor primarily combat skills, and the Lightbearers mutation skills. To give you a better idea for what each faction can do without giving a complete list: Enforcers Good Skills: Armor Use, Rifle, Pistol, Group Tactics, First Aid, few mutation skills Average Skills: Melee, Athletics, Stealth, Science, Teaching, few mutation skills Poor Skills: Most mutations Techs Good: Science, Ballistics, Armorcraft, Pistol, Teaching, several mutation skills Average: Rifle, First Aid, Medicine, Armor Use, several mutation skills Poor: Melee, Group Tactics, Cooking, Stealth, Nature Travelers Good: Athletics, Pistol, Stealth, Science, Dodge, few mutation skills Average: Melee, Rifle, Armor Use, Nature, Ballistics, few mutation skills Poor: First Aid, Genetics, Group Tactics, Medicine, most mutations CHOTA Good: Armor Use, Athletics, Melee, Weaponry, many mutations Average: First Aid, Rifle, Pistol, Group Tactics, several mutations Poor: Most tradeskills Vistas Good: Athletics, Cooking, Rifle, Nature, Stealth, several mutations Average: Pistol, Melee, Group Tactics, Geology, First Aid, few mutations Poor: Science, Ballistics, Genetics, several mutations Lightbearers Good: Melee, Genetics, Medicine, First Aid, many mutations Average: Nature, Science, Group Tactics, Stealth, Teaching, many mutations Poor: Pistol, Rifle, Armorcraft, Ballistics Also, each faction has a small number of unique knowledges for their preferred skills that only they teach, such as Lightbearer kung fu or Vista animal training tricks. These are few and far between, though. Each faction also has faction-specific equipment, like Enforcer body armor or a pistol available only to Travelers. 2. How important will factions be to players upon starting the game? Will they have to join one to be successful? Or will it simply be a perk? While the players will be introduced to the factions soon after starting the game, they won't actually join them for a good while, so players will have time to figure out which faction suits them. So at the start of the game the factions are an important story element, but not an important mechanics element. Players will be able to get almost all knowledges and items through means other than the factions, such as independent instructors and merchants, but there will be a few things for each faction they will not be able to learn. Players who do not choose a side will miss out on a sizable chunk of story content, since a lot of it focuses on the factions. That said, there is also a huge amount of story that does not focus on the six player factions, and they will be able to go to more places since they none of the factions are trying to kill them. A player who chooses not to side with a faction will have a wide game experience since there are more choices available, but not as deep a game experience as someone who joins a faction, since the choices may not be as developed. Players will be able to mitigate some aspects of the faction system through a high Charisma, mutations, and using the Stealth skill to masquerade as other factions. 3. Upon joining a Faction, will there be specific skills/points attributed to them to help other skills , such as pet handling, r&d for technology, or something similar? No, each faction just makes a different set of knowledges available to their members, granting special abilities, recipes, and mutation powers. Both a Vista and a Tech can learn animal handling, but the Vista is going to be able to start learning at an earlier character level than the Tech. 4. If a player decides to change their faction, A) will they be allowed to do so easily, and will there be a skill/faction/stat point hit if they do change? See above. ***** Stayed tuned for next week! Lee and the dev team have been great about getting these to me on time. Big kudos to them! ~Acropolis

RemyVorender

Wow nice post. Thanks so much for offering this up for us. I'm still not 100% convinced this game will release in the next 2 years, but info like this at least keeps me around.

torious

yeah, i'd hate to look at it and say, oh it's been in development for 5 years and every year it feels like it's about to come out - maybe in a few years i'll check again

then i'd come back in 3 years to see that it's been out for 2 xD



i wish under the FAQ:

When will Fallen Earth be released?

It'll be done when it's done.

there would be another FAQ:

Will you send me an email?

             [insert a response probably telling you to just check the website ]