Starting a game with multiple nations on Earth

[ashton (OP)]

Hey, I'm pretty new to the game having read the Trans-Newtonian campaign prior to discovering Aurora the thing that interested me the most was diplomacy between nations early in the game.    The only thing is whenever I start a new game every member of my species is united under one government which I control.    If anyone could point out a solution I'd be appreciative.    Also is this something restricted to multi-player or can A. I control these factions?

I'd have assumed it'd be a well asked question but I haven't managed to find an answer anywhere.   

[Erik L]

You can control additional factions, you'd just need to create them yourself.

[ashton (OP)]

You can control additional factions, you'd just need to create them yourself. 

How would I go about creating additional factions?

Am I correct to infer from your response it's not possible to create factions controlled by an artificial intelligence?

E: Cheers for the quick reply, took me a while to notice.

[sublight]

To add a faction enter SM mode, go to the F9 screen, select a candidate planet to be a home world, and then click the 'Create Empire' button. Reseting the planet's minerals first with a rigged generation using the 'HW Minerals' button is also recommended.

A new empire may be assigned to be either player controlled or AI controlled. However, placing an AI faction on the same home world as another faction is highly advised against: AI factions are known to quickly resort to weapons of mass destruction heedless of nuclear winter risks.

[ashton (OP)]

Abundant use of WMDs? Sounds pretty good to me.  Thanks for the info

[Erik L]

One caveat of a non-AI multiple start, you know all the details of both empires. And if you don't check up on both between time increments, something may go badly for one

[sloanjh]

Moved thread from FAQ to The Academy.

[ashton (OP)]

Yar, the main drawback I've found to it is if you have a conventional start then you can't seem to initiate conversation until you pick up an active contact which I'm guessing only happens when they launch their first ship.  By that point every nation has a negative view of every other nation.

One caveat of a non-AI multiple start, you know all the details of both empires.  And if you don't check up on both between time increments, something may go badly for one

I just keep Ctrl+F3 open which seems to work fine.  I'm not too worried about the intelligence as it seems realistic enough to know the details of a nation you share a long history with.

Moved thread from FAQ to The Academy.

Apologies for placing this in the wrong forum.