07-12-2001 22:09									#1
	Cult vs Gaia/Drones vs Hive Got spare money?

So what are the basic ideological differences between Cult of Planet and Gaians? Same goes for Drones and The Hive. Kind of new to SMAX and I don't see much difference in personalities.

	07-12-2001 22:53									#2
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The Cult and Gaians are somewhat similar but the storyline is quite different

Cult-- radical and fanatical, they worship Planet and see the Prophet as divine to semi-devine and are therefore extreme in their views. Factional attributes make them difficult to play as a builder since you are at a disdavantage, although in MP you can play them peacefully if you explore fast and act as a tech broker. The starting mindworm is a big bonus

Gaians-- I think of these guys as the fuzzy tree hugger types. They are not as fanatical and rabid as the cult. factional attributes makes them a pretty good builder but a much poorer warmongerer


Hive/Drones

These are two of my favorites to play


Hive-- think of well a hive where Yang is the queen bee and would not hesitate to sacrifice worker bees for the collective good. Induividual rights BAH ! Attributes and ideology make democracy impossible and PS almost a necessity. The Hive will often be in PS/Planned which would cause crippling innefficiency for anyone else

Drones- think of a workers utopia where the good of the individual worker is supreme. The work hard because their individual rights are supreme. Attributes allow democracy and free market which are impossible and nearly useless respectivel for the Hive.


Although the pairs share certain common positive attributes, the remaining features and the ideology are quite different. Also playstyle is quite different -- play around a bit and you see you have to modify your strats a bit-- Particularly the cult where the strategy is explore fast or wither

	07-12-2001 23:36									#3
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I know they play differently, was just trying to figure out their ideology and how they relate to present day Earth. Like for instance:

Peacemakers: United Nations
Spartans: Military
University: Science
Morgan: Business
Believers: Religious Fundamentalism
The Hive: Communism
Gaians: Greenpeace

Data Angels: Hackers
Drones: Socialism
Pirates: Seapower
Cyber: Cyborg
Cult of Planet: Greenpeace ULTRA-fanatic

All of the above except for the last three are fairly well represented in today's society on Earth so they're easy to relate to. Pirates and Cyber are technology driven and our society is only now slowly developing such ideology. Seapower much more so than Cyber BUT Cult of Planet sounds very alien. I have not heard of anything like this - such a cult might exist but it would be awfully small.

	08-12-2001 01:18									#4
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well I always figured that the Cult would have no equiavalent on earth since they are based on following the "will" of a sentient planetmind-- I do like your analogies though.

	13-12-2001 15:11									#5
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quote: The Hive: Communism

NO WAY. The Hive I think is more like Stalinism or Fascism. In fact I think Yang is basically like Stalin only worse - cleverer, more ruthless (if that's possible), and with FAR more technology available. I think the Drones would be more like the original idea of Communism. The summary on the faction list says it all:

HUMAN HIVE: "THE DESPOT"

	13-12-2001 16:47									#6
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Hive OBVIOUSLY equals to MAOISM.

The Power of Hive = Numbers and Production power (not good stuff but lots of it). = PRC.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,

The Playstyle of Cult have to extreme to be succesful. Explore and Explore, nothing else counts. Getting more tech gives the opportunity to grow later (POP-BOOM avaible). Catching Mindworms equals to lots of clean units for Police duty. Great!

,,,,,,,,,,,,

When it comes to Hive, I say go dirty. Flubber certainly understand what I mean

	14-12-2001 00:31									#7
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GeneralTacticus has it right. Yang's Hive is state-imposed communism in the Stalinist and Maoist way. (Probably more like Maoist given his tendency to build domestic infrastructure -- that's the difference in why the Soviet Union failed while Chinese communism is thriving.) Domai's Free Drones are much closer to the Marxist ideal of socialism.

	15-12-2001 05:21									#8
	Got spare money?

Mao, Stalin.. IIRC they were both Communists right? (or maybe wrong, im pretty sure that was right tho)
Anyway, I personally think that the Hive is a cross between Communism ans Facism... Communist beliefs BUT using might to get their way.

	17-12-2001 11:30									#9
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quote: Mao, Stalin.. IIRC they were both Communists right?

Er, yes and no. Both of them said they were communists, but their actions certainly weren't those of true communists. I think the foundation of the Hive's ideology is that of 'collectivism', i.e. the individual is unimportant, only the greater whole matters. If you want to see the kind of things I think the Hive really does to it's citizens, read 1984 by George Orwell.

As for the Drones, they are just about the reverse. As Flubber said, the good of the individual worker is supreme. I'm not really sure if that was Marx's idea of Communism either, but I think the result is what he imagined.

For the Gaians/Cult, I think you could say they want the same thing, but in different ways. The Gaians think they should learn to live with Planet; the Cult thinks they should bow down to it. Both of them, however, have the protection of Planet as their highest goal.

	17-12-2001 16:02									#10
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I agree with you, General/tactics. but one thing is incorrect:"Yang is basically like Stalin only worse - cleverer". stalin had an extraordinary mind, and very few could or can match him.

	17-12-2001 23:27									#11
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quote: Originally posted by GeneralTacticus As for the Drones, they are just about the reverse. As Flubber said, the good of the individual worker is supreme. I'm not really sure if that was Marx's idea of Communism either, but I think the result is what he imagined.

I envision Domai as the "Workers of the World, Unite!" breed of communist ideology espoused by many USA and British communists during the early 20th century. Their view is more Marxist (communism as a natural government for an existing industrial society) than what Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Ho Chi Minh, Ortega, Fidel, etc etc etc have tried to create (communism for pre-industrial or agrarian societies).

	23-12-2001 04:04									#12
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quote: Originally posted by Control I agree with you, General/tactics. but one thing is incorrect:"Yang is basically like Stalin only worse - cleverer". stalin had an extraordinary mind, and very few could or can match him.

Yes, he did, but he also pretty damn paranoid and could behave very irationally. In any case, remember that Yang has got a PhD on Psychology, and he is certainly very clever. I personally would have said basically Stlin's talent lay in being VERY devious and ruthless, rather than intelligent. You're right though, Stalin did have an extraordinary mind.

	01-01-2002 10:01									#13
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its cool to see socialism represented properly on this site, especially since it was disrespected so much only a few months ago

	05-01-2002 01:19									#14
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Hive and Drones both are likeable faction to play. It's hard to hate something you like to play, I think.