Poll: Which minor factions do you use?

[KDR_11k]

I want to see a statistic on which minor factions see actual use. You don't have to have one enabled all the time, after all they're supposed to add variety but please vote for all the ones that you include in your games, even if only rarely. The idea is to identify unpopular factions and see if they may need adjustments to be more entertaining to have in your game. Perhaps it's less of an issue with minor factions but I think some game options are just exceedingly unpopular and may warrant another look. I plan to add polls for other game options too.

[Cinth]

Say NO! to NRC and ZM!

No freaking warheads and no nuking planets!!

[Hearteater]

I didn't vote for DS just because I've never played with them, but I suspect they be one I would have voted for if I'd had a game or two with them.  Other stuff I didn't vote for and why I don't pick them:

ZM - Too much pressure.  You get only 30 minutes warning, they hit 3 systems, and have 120 million hp each.  You will almost always lose the first three targets.  If I played with no fog so I could see all the worlds, it wouldn't be as annoying.  I might risk them up to 8/8, but honestly, they aren't a very fun challenge.  It is like playing against a lottery where all the results are bad.

NRC - Eh, kinda annoying, but also kinda ignorable.  Not really interetsing enough.  I think my biggest issue is the warheads are random.  EMP are the big threat, Lighting not at all.  I'd rather if 2/3rd of all spawned only Lightning (maybe faster than currently) and the other 1/3rd only spawned EMP.  At least then I know whether it will be a minor in inconvenience or downright nasty.  And they suck on Adv. Factory worlds.

Wardens - Seem broken, as in did nothing my last game.  Seem like a poor very of the Hybrid, so I'd rather take Hybrids.

Enclaves - Ever-present harassment, but not really threatening.  Again, Hybrids are more interesting.

Devourer - Too cheesable for the player, especially with SF and threat fleets now.  I can avoid him, AI gets munched.  Plus, I think it is cheap it has a ranged attack and isn't melee or tractor-based.

SCL - Cheesable in full conquest games, very annoying otherwise.  I'd rather just turn on AIP/60 minutes.  Killing the AI CS to make them friendly but not attackable by the AI is...silly.

[Cinth]

Wardens - Seem broken, as in did nothing my last game.  Seem like a poor very of the Hybrid, so I'd rather take Hybrids.

Enclaves - Ever-present harassment, but not really threatening.  Again, Hybrids are more interesting.

Wardens get nastier when you have a lot of planets. On a 16 HW start, I always see them in groups of 17 from the beginning (10/10 setting).

Enclaves are more fun for me vs the AI after the IMT scenario

[Coppermantis]

I use Marauders, Resistance, Colony Rebellions, Zenith Trader, Dyson Sphere, Roaming Enclaves, Rocketry Corps, Fallen Spire, Golems and Spirecraft in most games. It varies, but that's my usual setup. Occasionally I throw Miners or the Devourer into the mix.

I find the idea of Preservarion Wardens annoying so I haven't tried them.

[zoutzakje]

I voted for everything because that's the truth. Most of my games have most of them turned on, and sometimes even all of them. The more chaos the better.

[chemical_art]

Not really surprised that the three minor factions that give the most pain compared to pleasure for the player are the least used.

[Winge]

I'm still playing around with minor factions to find out what they are like.  I've tried most of them by now.  I almost always turn on Human Colony Rebellions and Zenith Dyson Sphere.  I'm trying out Golems Hard, and then Spirecraft Hard (I've played them both on medium, but not for a while now)--still not sure how I feel about exos without the Spire fleet.  I also typically enable Fallen Spire, but I don't usually pursue it.  Kind of nice having an 'option' faction that I don't even have to remember to turn off  .  I will occasionally play with the Zenith Traders--usually in a Fallen Spire game, or possibly in a Champion game, as I have more resources or time to play around with in those.  I occasionally enable the Devourer if I feel like pulling a few hairs out.  I don't often enable Human Resistance just because I don't want a handicap.  I might try them for when I plan a tougher game against the AI, or if I enable a lot of minor faction FUN in the lobby.

I haven't enabled Botnet Golem since the split.  I also have not tried Neinzul Preservation Wardens or Dark Spire, although I expect to try them out in the next few games.  I don't like the Mining Golems (the last game I had them one of the AIs was a One-Way Doormaster...not doing that again...) and the Rocketry Corps.  Like another poster said, the NRC lighting warheads are manageable, and the EMPs are horrifying.  It would be nice if the EMPs would only spawn from certain launchers.  Also, the Mark icons on the silos are wrong (they all show 'V').

[Histidine]

Oops, didn't vote for Miners even though I do use them.

I use all of them for VARIETY! (except for Spire Civilian Leaders, which I think don't make sense thematically) although I like some of them more than others.

(all this is as a 7/7 player, almost invariably with FS)

Annoying:

• Miners: "Oh, a bunch of planets are under threat of nomnomnom AGAIN. Champion/Spire fleet, go punch 'em out." (The ones in my territory I just leave to the Dyson Gatlings.)
• NRC: Doesn't really do anything interesting. It might be mildly funny if they'd launch their missiles against the AI while you controlled their planet, though. Or if they could fire nukes (for certain definitions of "funny").
• Marauders: Show up only to make nuisances of themselves. Radar dampening and sniper immunity just makes them that little bit more annoying to clean up.
• Roaming Enclaves: I still have nightmares about the times they'd show up from nowhere and dump over 9000 younglings in your backyard. Thankfully they don't do that anymore.

Fun:

• Dark Spire: CHAOS!
• Devourer: Watching an exo or a CPA run headlong into the cookie monster is so immensely satisfying. Almost makes up for all the times it ate half my Spire fleet. (I always put "off the beaten path" rally posts on my staging area planets for this reason).
• Resistance Fighters: Because who doesn't get a "the cavalry is here" feeling from seeing a fleet of these streaming in in the middle of a pitched battle?
  

[unclean]

I voted for everything because that's the truth. Most of my games have most of them turned on, and sometimes even all of them. The more chaos the better.

Yessssss.

The most annoying one for me is the devourer, because the one time in a game I don't check before sending my fleet through a wormhole he always manages to be there. Always. HE KNOWS.

[@B0FH]

I'd love to play with Spirecraft more often (love the idea of mining the rare materials for limited cap ships), but the ships themselves just never really grabbed me

Always play with traders, golems (and botnet), and add in FS, DS, Cookiemonster for variety

[zoutzakje]

Not really surprised that the three minor factions that give the most pain compared to pleasure for the player are the least used.

I don't get it, how can the Miners cause the most pain? From all the bad stuff happening caused by minor factions, these are on of the easiest to deal with. Or is that the whole point? Personally I think 30 mins is at least 15 mins more time than you need to deal with them in most cases.

to @BOFH:

I had the same with Spirecraft at first. When LotS just came out, I had a really hard time getting used to the Spirecraft ships and the Fallen Spire campaign. About 6 months later I decided to finally try them all out and they were actually great. I can't play without either of them anymore

[pheonix89]

Always have Fallen Spire on. If I don't feel like playing it, I won't but the option is nice and the AI doesn't care until you start. Generally have dyson on, just cause its amusing. Usually have Ztrader on, the benefits the Ai gets aren't much of a deal compared to being able to make a chokepoint from hell. Usually run spirecraft, occasionally golems, both on hard. Never run botnet, one ship is not worth exos, especially when I can get botnet guns on a champ or IIRC a Nienzul mod fort with the new changes. Won't do devourer, miner or DS ever. I've been known to use Spire Civilian Leaders instead of Ai auto progress on the theory that the high base rate is a fair trade for being able to take it negative. Always have resistance and rebellions on, just so I can at least see them once.

[relmz32]

I play with Rebels and Marauders, usually. I like the element of random that they introduce, however, I very rarely get my rebel spawns compared to how often i see the marauders spawn.

Recently I have tried the Dyson sphere to see how cheesy that bad boy could be.

I almost always play with the 3 4 eco wave producers, because i like super-weapons, and exo-waves: Golems, Botnet, Spirecraft (all hard) and Fallen Spire.

I used to run with the trader up, but got tired of the AIP+ effects of him on the game, and didn't really like any of the toys.

[Kahuna]

My typical settings:
Human Marauders - Disabled
Human Resistance - 2
Human Colony Rebellions - Disabled
Zenith Traders - Enabled
Zenith Miners - 4 or 6
Zenith Dyson Sphere - 2
Zenith Devourer - Enabled
Broken Golems (any difficulty) - Disabled or Hard 4
Botnet Golem (any difficulty) - Disabled
Neinzul Rocketry Corps - 10
Neinzul Preservation Wardens - 4 or 6
Neinzul Roaming Enclaves - 4 or 6
Fallen Spire - Disabled
Spire Civilian Leaders - Disabled
Spirecraft (any difficulty) - Disabled or Hard 4
Dark Spire - Disabled