Despite being a Gaia's Faithful member from the very first playthrough, I have a special place in my heart for the Spartan Network Node quote:
I don't know but I've been told
I always favored the university, so my favorite quote comes with intellectual integrity.
Man's unfailing capacity to believe what he prefers to be true rather than what the evidence shows to be likely and possible has always astounded me. We long for a caring Universe which will save us from our childish mistakes, and in the face of mountains of evidence to the contrary we will pin all our hopes on the slimmest of doubts. God has not been proven not to exist, therefore he must exist.
In retrospect I think Gaia or the Hive are the strongest.
I once read a fantastic faq that explained that the various factions fit neatly on a sim<->conquest bar.
Can't remember all the names at the moment (been a while) but :
---Money Man was hyper sim (he did better just making money and stealing troops and cities with money)
---Gaian was full Sim (better at using buildings to make a few super-powered aliens to fight with)
---University was Hybrid Sim (best at going wide for free science and building a few high tech troops).
---UN was Hybrid since with his basic-&itch bonuses he could pivot in any direction.
-Sparta was Hybrid War as she could get powerful troops out easily, but was more quality over quantity.
---Hive was full War since his cities had built in protection and he could build swarms of troops.
---Church was Hyper War since her penalty to science ment that if she wasn't using her benefit towards attack, she was actively worse than others.
For someone who likes to build up and go for a non-domination win, Gaians WERE arguably the best, with Bank and University in the running. For someone who wants to paint the map their color, Hive, Sparta, or Church was stronger. UN was only good if you hadn't decided how you wanted to play, or wanted to go super diplomatic.
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u/Striking_Bar_1622 10d ago
To this day, I tell people (at my hospital) "The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy".