Tuesday 25 June 2019

Aristeia! - Faction Breakdown












We've already discussed who the PanOceanian Aristos are in another article but in discussions with
other managers about the factions in Infinity it's become clear that a couple of things aren't 100% clear. First off some managers aren't also players of the wargame or the RPG and so don't know the rich background which explains a lot of the faction affiliations. There are also a lot of other managers who don't realise that Aristeia is set in a snapshot of the Infinity setting, a moment in the background before many of the "current events" which those of us who play the wargame and/or the RPG have been watching unfold.

How do we know that this is true?

In the setting for the wargame and the RPG several characters who we see as Aristos, including Mushashi and Lunah, have moved on from Aristeia! and now fight in real wars. This has not yet happened in the timeline where our games of Aristeia! are set. This is especially important for one major faction (Yu Jing), who have not yet suffered the Japanese "Uprising". It's not 100% clear from the material printed so far, but it's possible that Aristeia! actually takes place before first contact with the Tohaa, although some passing comments about Paradiso show that it is certainly after the invasion of the Combined Army.

This "location" in time helps us in our task for today, setting out which Aristos are members of which factions!

So, as we already know who the PanOceanian Aristos are, we'll begin with the Eternal Rival.

Yu Jing Aristos:





























Taowu

Nomad Aristos:




















































Haqqislam Aristos:


Major Lunah

Ariadna Aristos:
Wild Bill

So, neither Haqqislam nor Ariadna can currently field a full team of faction specific Aristos, although in both cases you can certainly use their existing Aristos as the basis for a solid team backed up by other choices.

Yu Jing have exactly the number of Aristos you need to fill out the most basic of rosters. That team actually has pretty solid role coverage and some interesting Smoke driven synergy. Heck, I'd consider putting it on the table. 

The Nomads have sufficient Aristos available for some flexibility in team building even if you play entirely faction exclusive. Not, however, enough to fill out a full bench of 8. There are a couple of interesting team combos available, especially combining the positioning advantage of 8-Ball and hEXx3r with the tanking of Final Boss and damage output of Massacre or Fiddler.

If you were playing a faction focused Team and were looking to fill out your roster then you might want to consider some of the more "neutral" choices. Both Parvati and Oberon, although created for PanOceanian corporations, are ALEPH constructs and make solid choices for any but the Nomads (read more about it in the setting material and you'll understand why). The other choice would be to pick up explicitly Mercenary options like the Soldiers of Fortune, after all... hired guns will fight for anyone, in the Hexadome just as much on a battlefield.

For another perspective on this topic you might want to check this article out:

https://aristeiathegame.com/blog/item/611-human-sphere-thematic-teams

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