Factions

Page Created 23 December 2015

This page has not yet been fully updated to reflect changes in v1.06 in Arulco Vacations

In Arulco Vacations v1.05 I have begun to get serious about bringing other factions into play. At this point, many are simply factional distinctions -- that is, angering one of these factions to the point of violence does not impact other factions or the general population. The plan is to flesh these factions out more, and involve them more in the strategic and tactical play of the game.

The principle one for gameplay is the Rebel Faction. No, they were not already in-game and, yes, they are properly a Faction for this discussion, especially being the opponents of the Arulcan Army in the Arulcan Civil War. Up to v1.05 of Arulco Vacations, the Rebels were mentioned and identified as Miguel Cordona, Carlos Dasouza, Dimitri Guzzo, Manuel Rivas, Fatima (Rivas), Pacos (Rivas), and Ira Smythe. However, in the Map Editor when a "Rebel" is placed on the map that individual acts completely different in-game than a Civilian assigned to the same group as Miguel & company -- Map Editor Rebels will immediately fight the Arulcan forces without any prompt. Hence, in Arulco Vacations I have renamed Miguel's civilian group as Rebelista, and the fighting Rebels are un-nameable/un-assignable as civilian factions. However, I have dressed them all in Brown Shirts and Tan Pants . . . and when they start fighting without a prompt you'll know who they are. You can also give orders to them just as if they were militia. You will find a few above-ground in Omerta and in a couple of other places. The new rebels will get involved in battles, especially the initial Omerta battle -- transforming the opening scene dramatically. The beginning of the game becomes a whole new experience in v1.05. None of these new Rebels rise to the level of NPC, however. They remain simply a 'faction' that functions much the same as your trained Militia -- but without needing to be trained or paid.

Associated with the Rebellion is the Rebelista Faction. This faction is comprised of civilians who, aside from Miguel, Carlos, Dimitri, Ira & Manuel after being recruited, will not enter battle (willingly). All the un-named Rebelistas do supply the rebels, and your team of Mercs, with comfort and supplies. This Rebelista support happens two ways in-game. The first is through Ambient Facilities. You will note that in certain sectors the Facility menu will list a Friendly Farmer, Friendly Fisherman, Friendly Survivalist or Friendly Beachcomber. The in-game Facility menu does not allow descriptions for Ambient Facilities so you wouldn't know what the effects are unless you read the Facilities page here on the blog. The effects of these Ambient Facilities happen without Player/Character interaction (hence the term "ambient"). In the sectors with Friendlies your characters will be welcomed with food, shelter, aid, and whatever supplies those particular Friendlies have. The food, shelter, and aid happen automatically in that your characters will recover more energy with less rest, use less energy to perform assignments (such as Repair, Training, etc), and receive a Morale boost. As for supplies, your characters can take whatever items the Friendlies have within their residence without consequence -- consider those items as freely offered to support the rebellion. All Friendlies are identified as Rebelista within the in-game Tactical Screen, but not all Rebelistas are classified as Friendlies (that is, not all Rebelistas are associated with an Ambient Facility).

The Civil Faction is the largest faction. Previously in v1.04 they were labelled as Ciudadano (i.e. citizen), and in vanilla 1.13, vanilla JA2, and previous versions of Arulco Vacations they are/were labelled as None. It is basically everybody not belonging to another Faction. They are Arulcan citizens who are generally not willingly involved in any part of game-play except as pertains to Town Loyalty. These are the people you have to convince you will be able to overthrow the Queen and protect them from the Army. They do have an Ambient Facility assigned to them -- it is the Occupied Territory Facility. Once you have convinced the vast majority (86%) of a town's Civil Faction that you can protect them while overthrowing the Queen then the Occupied Territory Facility becomes available to your characters. This Ambient Facility operates much the same as the Friendly Facilities with the addition that your characters may get drunk celebrating with the townspeople.

The Minero Faction are the miners. This classification at this time only serves to visually distinguish the miners from the general Civil Faction -- which the game already did within the code. In v1.05 all the miners have been given regular (i.e. fighting) body types, and may even help out against the Crepitus -- as much as they can with their crowbars, shovels, flares, and flashlights. A very few have other weapons such as a knife or revolver.

The Desertor Faction (planned for v1.06 now) are the prisoners being held in the Alma military prison. Imagine them as deserters and other malcontents who have been captured/detained for (mock) trial and execution. At this time they are in-game simply as immersive role-play accoutrements, but in a later version they are planned to have a role to play.

The Cientifico Faction are the scientific staff at the secret Orta Research Facility. They are separated from the Civil Faction now so that if they happen to be killed by your Mercs during the inevitable fire fight there your overall Town Loyalty, reputation, and relations with the Civil Faction will not be negatively impacted.

The Civiliano Faction includes all of the Terrorists and their recruited militia. Jasmin "T-Rex" Rexall, one of the terrorists, was the leader of the Montana Constitutional Militia before fleeing the United States for Arulco. Here in Arulco he continues his campaign against big government and for the maintenance of individual rights and freedoms by recruiting Arulcans unhappy with the current regime . . . basically the same thing your Mercs are doing!

The Armas San Mona faction used to be just Tony & Hans in the vanilla game, but now includes their entire gun smuggling operation. All the gun smuggling hideouts are active in Arulco Vacations. If you attack one of them, or Tony & Hans, they will all treat you as an enemy.

The Medico faction includes all the personnel at the Cambria Hospital -- the un-named medical & support staff as well as Vince, Steve and Jenny.

The Confederado faction includes everyone at the Hick Family plantation, and also their in-town cousins (new in Arulco Vacations). In Arulco Vacations I have deepened their storyline a little -- making them descendants of Confederates who fled the U.S.A. after the American Civil War. In real life, many Confederates fled to Central and South America.


List of All Faction Names, English Translations, and Definitions

Note: not all Faction Names appear in-game to the Player

Civil - Civilian (The Masses -- originally "None")
Rebelista - Rebel Support (Civilian supporters of the Rebellion)
Gangster - Gangster (Kingpin and his gang)
Armas San Mona - San Mona Arms (Tony, Hans & the Gun Smugglers)
DaSilva - Angel & Maria DaSilva
Mendigo -  Beggar (unemployed miners)
Turista - Tourist (John & Mary Kulba)
Milicia Alma - Alma Militia (The General)
Medico - Doctor (Cambria Hospital medical staff, including support staff)
Ricci - Armand and Lora Ricci (Owners of Ricci Mining Corp.)
Confederado - The extended Hick Family (descended from Confederates of the U.S.A. Civil War who fled the U.S.A.)
Guardian - Warden (The Warden of Tixa)
Chatarrero - Junkman (Jake Cameron . . .  )
Factoria Nino - Child Factory Worker (Drassen Clothing Factory)
Regalia - Royalty i.e. the queen's 'inner circle' (Deidreanna, Joe Papanus, Elliott & the Queen's 'Praetorian Guard')
Graham - Martha & Joey Graham
Devin - Devin Connell (Explosives Trader, recruitable)
Hamous - Hamous (Metavira Native, recruitable)
Terry - Terry "Slay" Ruttwen (Terrorist, recruitable)
Dynamo, Shank - Greg "Dynamo" Duncan & Breeham "Shank" Druz (Tixa prisoners, recruitable)
Milicia - Queen's Assassins (posing as Rebel Militia)
Prisionero - Prisoners of War (captured by your Mercs)
Civiliano - Terrorists & Terrorist Militia (posing as "civilians")
Cientifico - Scientist (Scientific staff working for the Queen in Orta
Minero - Miners (currently all miners in all the mines)
Desertor - Deserter (military deserters held prisoner in Alma)
Colaboracionista - Collaborator (Civilians who co-operate with the Army and current regime of Arulco) (not yet implemented)

More factions soon . . . real life interrupts once again! :-)