Trying to make a credible insane/badass Cult of the Dragon

>Trying to make a credible insane/badass Cult of the Dragon
>Basically reskinning ISIS

Good/bad idea?

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goblinpunch.blogspot.hu/2015/12/dragon-cult-barbarians.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_Weapon_System
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZEUS-HLONS_(HMMWV_Laser_Ordnance_Neutralization_System)
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Including fantasy technicals?

Else you've basically stumbled into the age old clichee of Thugee/Hashashin cults.

If I encountered something like ISIS in a fictional work I would probably dismiss it as self indulgent edgyness for the sake of edgyness.
Reality has a lot more leeway for these sorts of things.
Its millenarian ideas might be an interesting source of inspiration though.

goblinpunch.blogspot.hu/2015/12/dragon-cult-barbarians.html
Seriously, this is all you need.

Interesting, but not quite faerunian Cult of the Dragon.

Neither is ISIS. Just use it as inspiration.

True. But Cult is external. Cultists are not bred by dragons. They join the Cult from the outside, while this description explains inside-out veneration.

Only if you make a cabal of old, ugly wizards coordinating their actions from the shadows.

That's not what "edgy" means though

"Millenarianism" translated into fiction is just usually a fanatical horde of something or the other. ISIS isnt the best example, something like the Taiping Empire or the original Muslim Invasions.

I'd draw ideas from it but not copy it wholesale. Have you watched Vice's documentary on the civil war in Liberia? General Butt Naked and the Tupac army. There's also the communist militias in Peru (Shining Path) and Cambodia (Khmer Rouge), and for another Muslim group try the one in the Philippines (MILF).

The idea is to find several inspirations that have qualities you're looking for, but then combine them in a unique way to make them your own.

>basically reskinning ISIS

That's because ISIS decided to follow as many bad guy cliches as possible. It's like Al Baghdadi played too much Command Conquer and decided to LARP one day.

He should have look for Saddam’s stash of WMD and play as Dr. Thrax instead of the Demolitions General.

>toyota war
>chadian forces in pickups defeated the better equipped Libyan troops
The memes write themselves.

I just started replaying those games. It's funny how, as we approach the time they were supposed to take place in, the GLA ended up being the most realistically portrayed faction (even if it was pretty racist). China isn't dropping nukes willy nilly all over western Europe, the US doesn't have a laser arsenal, but nevertheless we did have a terrorist empire built on the back of slave labor.

>the US doesn't have a laser arsenal
It's getting closer - the USS Ponce (great name guys) was used to test a naval laser weapons system, and it worked so well it was kept on during Ponce's deployment for 3 years. Apparently it doubled as having really nice optics.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_Weapon_System

There's also actual deployment of lasers on anti-mine duty on the ground
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZEUS-HLONS_(HMMWV_Laser_Ordnance_Neutralization_System)

Still a long way to go for laser-spam USA of Generals, but it's going there.
Also RIP Generals II

The US does deploy about as many Drones as they do in the game.

>Also RIP Generals II
F
I miss that whole franchise. I didn't even hate RA3.
They're not used "realistically" in game though. They're support units that follow your dudes around, instead of largely replacing airstrikes

Cult worships sleeping dragon that ravages the land and bring treasure to his hoard so then beast awakens he will be gratefull for increasing his hoard and share his secrets and power with faithfull followers

Well there was that anti-Fog of War drone generals power... that you never bought because you could have Paladins/Stealth Fighters, or just save your points for when you could buy good shit.

Also gotta love the US having detention centres (OG Generals only) and the Chinese having hackers, that was pretty great

Talking "realistically", they're closer to the tactical drones that saw some deployment - pic related for special ops, but they're usually fairly close to what you see for the scout drones in Generals (despite the unit picture implying Global Hawks, which are actually fuckhueg)

I usually pick it all the time, between that and the satelite scan, you get a lot of vision early on, and paladins and stealth fighters always felt more gimmicky than effective. Also, the drone actively spots stealth units, which is fucking great. Place them on important choke points and nobody gets through unnoticed.

I'm a more straightforward firepower kind of general, I saved up for airstrikes and paradrops, though stealth units (especially stealth structures) did give me issues at times.

RA3 was good, if a bit loopy. And it had this sexy bastard as a Generals-style support power

IIRC, I usually just went stealth drone and A10, MOAB and some other shit, sometimes pathfinders because they shit all over infantry and stealthed units. Pathfinders in a humvee with make infantry generals shit themselves with fury unless their entire army is in crawlers or helixes.

My only gripe with RA3 was that it was made with the goal of being an Esports game and forcing an annoying rock paper scissor dynamic, and giving every unit annoying gimmicky activateable abilities, instead of just letting a tank be a fucking tank, their aversion to letting AA units fire at land targets annoyed me to no end. Paradoxically I really enjoyed hydrofoils because as far as I could tell, there was no real counter to hydrofoil+dolphin spam.

Truck stronk, I'll take you on!
Truck stronk, I'll take on anyone!
Because this is how the future rolls!

Just imagine ISIS with improvised chemical weapons. Limiting allied airstrikes for fear ecological disaster or letting lose some deadly gas on the city or poisoning the Euphrates. They would still be holding Mosul and other territories.

Don't forget the rocket trucks!