An expansion for Exodus - III. Asymmetric game play

Over the past two years there was one question / suggestion which popped up almost every time people talked about Exodus: Proxima Centauri... "What about asymmetric game play, special player powers?" and we've been answering that it's planned. Well, it's time to let some details come to light.

As you may already know, there are six faction fighting for dominance in the base game of Exodus. The expansion gives them names, specific features and technologies, action cards and even new ways to score Victory Points.

The factions

Sirius Theocracy home planet: GAIA

Sirius Theocracy is a faction originating from North America and they main focus is politics and peaceful expansion. Wait... did I say peaceful? I might have spoken too quickly. Peaceful and Exodus: Proxima Centauri don't really belong in the same phrase, however in comparison with other factions, Sirius Theocracy will seems less hellbent on destruction.

Besides the ability to build Space Defense Systems and thus dealing with incoming WMD, this faction has three technologies which allow them to twist and bend the political system. They can use Corrupt Politics to alter their bids on Political cards and turn order, Visionary Politics to add laws on the table and resolve additional Political cards only for themselves and Fringe Politics to score additional Victory Points at the end of the game.

The Tachyon Scanners will allow the Theocracy to have an advantage in the first round of combat, because everyone in the Exodus Universe needs some additional fire power. But that's not all, the Clone Factories will provide a unique ability to expand quick and without trouble by cloning population on various planets.

Arctic Dominion home planet: TERRA NOVA

The Arctic Dominion is the second faction which can trace their origins in North America. Their main focus is production and trading, scheming or buying their place at the High Council table. On their unique tech tree in the expansion you will find Expert Mining and Expert Banking which will triple the amount of resources generated by the associate actions, giving them an incredible speed of generating resources. With Expert Trading they will always be able to use the best trade rates at the common market, so it's safe to assume they will never run out of resources. Expect the Dominion to buy their way to the top of the Council every turn and to use their economic power to coerce other faction to comply with their interests.

Like true masters of trade, their top technology, Master Trading, will let them buy their fame and fortune - the Victory Points. It won't be a bargain, but if the Dominion stays out of trouble long enough, they might just prove the toughest of the opponents.

Like every other faction, they must have their secret military technology. For the Dominion that's the Quantum Reflection which will let them take all the benefits from the Centaurian Resistance - points and bonus. Let's not forget that such an economic power likes to keep all their resources safe, including their population. Thus they have also developed the Space Defense System and the basic Escape Pods allowing their combat forces from damaged ships to descend on nearby planets.

Han-Xia Dynasty home planet: NU-KUA

Han-Xia Dynasty are the descendants of the ancient Chinese and their main policy was to overrun their opponents by shear numbers. With blunt force when necessary but mostly with brilliant tactics, the Dynasty are trying to dominate the interplanetary space.

In their desire to expand, the Han-Xia developed a technology to build Spaceports so they can build they fleets in every corner of the empire and with Advanced Repairs they're able to repair their spaceships more efficiently. The CP Alloy technology offers them the advantage of building cheaper ships and thus sacrifice them using Advanced Tactics for maximum damage before the actual combat.

The Dynasty can also develop Expert Maneuver and stir their ships clear of danger and Fringe Tactics to organize their fleet of spaceships so that their heavily armored ships can take damage and protect thier weaker ones. On the top of their unique technology tree is the Hyperspace Drive, a new experimental drive  allowing ships to bend the space-time continuum and travel long distances in a matter of minutes.

With an extra-large fleet of Dark Raiders, the Han-Xia Dynasty can enforce space dominance over the other factions.

In my next post I will reveal details about the other three factions. If you missed our previous articles about the technologies of the expansion, here they are

• Strategic warfare and Weapons of Mass Destruction
• Space combat

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