Idea For A Post-Zombie Apocalypse RTS-Type Setting

I originally posted this idea to the TVTropes forum, but since that dried up I decided to try my luck here.


The idea is that a Zombie Apocalypse has occured, and now Humanity is broken up into several factions, each based around a different underground (that's probably not the word I was looking for) culture from the last 50 or so years. It all started when the New Age flakes actually managed to contact Telepathic Spacemen, who wanted to help Humanity along in our development. It didn't turn out well. At all. The first effect their little "boost" had was granting humans the ability to tap into the metaphysical in various ways. The second was to cause the dead to arise and walk the earth. If it's any consolation, they're really sorry. The problem was compounded when the U.S. Military, in order to ensure American supremacy in the face of alien contact, attempted to find a way to weaponize the zombies. Naturally this made things a million times worse, and now the Western Hemisphere, if not the entire world (I haven't decided yet.) is suffering from near total societal collapse.
An interesting idea I had for the setting was that most, if not all factions, had the same bottom level units, the traditional shotgun-toting, bat-wielding, one-more-night-hiding-in-abandoned-buildings-from-the-walking-undead-and-I'm-gonna-lose-it Apocalypse Survivor class. The idea is that most faction members are survivors that have managed to find their way to the moderately safer areas where the factions congregate. It's only after they've been with them awhile that they start to take on the factions aspects and culture.
Here are all the factions I've come up with so far:
FACTION 1: This faction formed from the Heavy Metal sub culture, particularly from the fantasy-inspired elements. While the bottom-most members are just regular humans, The long time members are leather-clothed, woad-covered, hair-braided Barbarian Heroes who wield rune-inscribed broadswords in battle while their bards inspire them with battle music and their magic-users, called Druids, use their powers to protect them from harm and summon The Fair Folk to aid them in battle. So we're talking sword-wielding metalheads fighting alongside banshees and biker goblins.
FACTION 2: Formed from the technological elite from the West Coast, combined with the Electronica Raver scene, their human forces are aided in battle by the Technomancers and their robotic creations.
FACTION 3: Formed from the darker side of Rock n Roll, they are aided in battle by The Legions Of Hell, and can control the zombies to an extent through Demonic Possession. They seek to pervert the alien's gift and use it to bring about a Hell On Earth. They and FACTION 1 do NOT get on at all.
FACTION 4: The New Age flakes who brought the aliens here in the first place. While not the most well-armed bunch, they ARE backed up by the aliens, who pack a nasty punch with their advanced Psychic Powers. Their headquarters is located underwater, in New Atlantis, where they seek to build a new civilization from the ruins of humanity along their ideals.
FACTION 5: The remnants of the U.S. Military. Notable as being the only faction (so far) that doesn't use Survivors as their basic unit, nor do they have access to any sort of metaphysical power. They manage to get by with access to assault rifles, missiles, and tanks instead. I'm not sure if they would be a playable faction yet.
Now here's where we get into the "maybe I'll use, maybe I won't" Factions:
FACTION 6: SCRAPPED.
FACTION 7: SCRAPPED.
FACTION 8: SCRAPPED.
FACTION 9: Unchecked Corporatism = Neo-Feudalism. They treat their employees like serfs, and use Pop Music to control them. I dunno what else to say about them, partially because I don't know how to build an entire theme around that, and partially because whenever I hear "Pop" mentioned as a musical genre I always think of the New Wave Synth Pop of The Eighties, and I like that. I also like Disco, so maybe I'm the problem here.
FACTION 10: SCRAPPED.
FACTION 0: The zombie "faction". When humanity tapped into the spiritual plane en masse, it sent shock waves through it. The result of this massive disruption it the "Disquiet", a distortion on the metaphysical plane. The Disquiet is capable of manifesting in multiple areas of the world, in varying degrees of intensity. While any level will negatively affect anyone in the area, a large enough intensity can affect the material world. The weather turns grey and cloudy. Animals either flee or are driven mad. Electronics are disrupted, with televisions showing horrific images hidden in static. Humans are slowly driven mad by it, with the nights plagued by endless nightmares forgotten in the morning light, and the days filled with feelings of rage and paranoia. Enough exposure to the Disquiet can kill a person, leaving them an empty husk animated by pure madness. In sufficient concentrations, the Disquiet can even animate the dead, causing them to rise from their graves. Those who's metaphysical gifts have awakened can shield themselves and others from the Disquiet's maddening effects, though this becomes harder as the storm grows stronger.
Dangerous as it was, the Disquiet was made even deadlier by the experiments conducted by the Military. In their fear, hatred and arrogance, they captured hundreds of Awakened citizens as "Enemy Spies" and conducted horrific experiments on them in attempts to harness the Disquiet as a weapon against the so-called "Enemies of America". The horrible deaths of the gifted tainted the Disquiet, granting it the capacity to grow and spread across the planet, driving millions mad. And while previously it had only been unnerving, now it was truly inimical to people. By far the worst affect the Military's experiments had was the creation of the Zombie Lords. While previously the Disquiet and it's creations were mindless and purposeless in their destruction, the Zombie Lords give direction and meaning to the madness, guiding the storms across the planet in their desire to destroy all life. The Zombie Lords are capable of metaphysical powers, a deadly combination with the Disquiet's natural resistance to metaphysical powers. The Zombie Lords target the awakened specifically, seeking to visit indescribable horrors upon them, for only the Awakened may become Zombie Lords, the Voice of the Storm.
As you can see, this whole thing is still in the earliest of early stages. Understandable, since I only came up with it like five hours ago. If anyone has any ideas, I'd like to hear them, because as it is now it's not making it out of the hanger, much less off the runway.



ADDITIONAL INFO:

CONFIRMED FACTIONS:

FACTION 0: The Zombies
Large numbers of units.
Resistant to both physical and metaphysical damage.
Low variety of units.
Lack of ranged or metaphysical attacks.
ZOMBIE LORD: Only metaphysically capable zombie unit.
CARRION BIRDS: Recon unit. A fast flyer with low health.

GOOD GUYS:

FACTION 1: Heavy Mithril
Good at melee combat.
Wide range of buffs.
Poor at ranged combat.
Weak air-game.
ROADIE: Worker unit.
GROUPIE: Healer/Defensive buffer unit. Only available to Command Squads.
GUNNER: Basic ranged combat unit.
WARRIOR: Basic melee combat unit. Experience unlocks the special abilities BESERK, PROTECT and CHARGE.
DRUID: Offensive magic/Offensive buffing unit. Experience unlocks the special abilities FIREWALL, LIGHTNING, SUMMON, and HEAL.
BANSHEE: Ranged debuffer/Mezzer unit.

FACTION 2: Electronic Music
Robotic units take no food cap.
Robotic units can take many hits.
Robotic units are expensive to produce, and share the power cap with buildings.
Slow starter. Early game forces reliance on weaker human units.
TECHNOMANCER: Robot producing and buffing unit.
[NAME PENDING]: Robotic unit, effective against enemy buildings. Utilizes sonic attacks.

FACTION 3: New Age
Highest Psychic attack and defense.
Access to powerful Alien units.
Few direct combat units.
Poor resistance to non-Psychic attacks.
[NAME PENDING]: Alien unit. Ranged psychic attack.
[NAME PENDING]: Alien unit. Possesses multiple Psychic Powers used to assist troops.

BAD GUYS:

FACTION 4: The Military
Highest ranged damage output.
Highest physical defense.
No Psychic defense or attacks of any kind.
Poor melee abilities.
SOLDIER: Basic ranged unit. Kevlar vest and Assault Rifle.
TANK: Heavily armed and armored high end unit. EXPENSIVE.

FACTION 5: Pop Music
Strongest in early game.
Acquire resources and build buildings, units, and upgrades faster than any other faction.
Speed over efficiency means fewer resources acquired; buildings pollute surroundings and are easy to destroy.
Faction strength decreases as the game continues, winning late in the game is very difficult.
TALENT SCOUT: Long-range recon unit, specializes in winning over Survivors quickly.
NOTE TO SELF: I am seriously dropping the ball on Unit design here. Come up with Faction appropriate forces ASAP.

FACTION 6: [Thrash Metal]/[Death Metal]/Punk Rock/SOMETHING I DON"T REALLY KNOW WHAT SOMETHING VIOLENT
Good at ranged, melee, and metaphysical combat.
Above average physical and metaphysical defense.
Ability to support units below average. (Not very good at helping each other out.)
Higher ranking unit acquisition and unit stat progression based on sacrificing other units. Go from a big army to a smaller one over the course of the game.
HELLHOUND: Demonic unit. Fast speed and decent attack.
[NAME PENDING]: Human unit possessed by demon. Attack and defense boost, but unit only exists temporarily, then the demon er... "breaks out" and becomes a unit itself.

KNOWN GAMEPLAY MECHANICS:
RESOURCES:
POPULATION CAP: Limits the number of living units available. Increased by building the Faction building for that purpose. Some higher-ranking units require a larger piece of the population cap than others.
POWER SUPPLY: Faction generator buildings add to the supply, while all other buildings and some units add to the POWER DEMAND. The supply must exceed the demand, or else buildings shut down.
FOOD SUPPLY: Faction farms add to the supply, while living units add to the FOOD DEMAND. The supply must exceed the demand, or else units will be lost even if the POPULATION CAP is large enough.

*SURVIVORS: Players are unable to add units directly. Instead, non-aligned SURVIVORS must be recruited into the faction, at which point they will move to the faction's base on the map and take up residence in the faction's barracks/bunkhouses/tents/whatever and take up some of the population cap and the food demand. Survivors have below-average strength, health, and speed, but tend to congregate in large numbers. After some time has passed Survivors will have acclimated to the faction's culture to the point where they can be converted into faction units. Even after being recruited Survivors can change sides if morale decreases or if the other faction uses an instant-convert ability.

*INITIATIVE: Units possess an INITIATIVE GAUGE. Entering combat will cause the gauge to slowly empty. Taking damage will cause it to empty faster, while several units possess abilities to slow the rate the gauge empties. Should the gauge empty, the units will disengage from combat and will not willingly reenter combat until the gauge starts to refill. Worker units gathering resources, constructing buildings or preforming building functions will also lose initiative. Currently, ways to restore initiative outside of combat include a Groupie special ability, listening to the band on the stage, and having the unit spend time in their habitation building or acquiring food from a food supply vendor. Robotic units do not have initiative themselves, but have a POWER GAUGE that requires them to return to generator buildings periodically to recharge.

That was pretty short.

Maybe you should expand upon it a bit?

The good ideas for factions ran out after the fifth. It doesn't really need ten anyway. The first five are good enough.

This is dumb. You can generally gauge an idea upon how heavily it abuses the word "metaphysical".

Yeah, the problem was, at the time, I wasn't sure if the power should be of scientific, or mystical origins.

Since then, I've decided that New Age units train their minds to generate and control their own psychic power, while the Heavy Metal Druids are trained by the Fair Folk to draw in magical energy from elsewhere, instead of generating it themselves.

Alright. I must admit that it's not a completely retarded idea. In fact, I kinda like it. But you could present it more elegantly.

I just had an idea on how to lighten the Druid's load a bit.

Back on TVTropes I was stuck on how many in game powers the Druid should have. I was imagining a cross between WOW's Shamans and Warlocks, with Fey summons instead of demonic. The problem was this gave the Druid a cubic buttload of special abilities:

FIREWALL
LIGHTNING
SUMMON
SHIELD
HEAL
HEROIC LEAP

Six abilities to be chosen from the menu each time. I briefly attempted to move the latter three abilities to a "Groupie" unit, but I couldn't figure out how to make that unit grow over the game. Finally I decided to give the powers back to the Druid and make the Groupie function like the Apothecary and Mad Dok in Warhammer40k: a unit that's always attached to the command squad and provides benefits to them only. This left we where I was before, with a class that had too much on it's plate.

Thankfully I just came up with an ACTUAL solution: Since EVERY human was developing mystical powers, not just the Druids, why not give the melee units THEMSELVES the powers? This works a lot better. Apart from the Attack/Defense self buff BESERK, the Warrior units will also eventually unlock the ability to shield themselves from ranged attack, and to CHARGE into combat faster. This leaves the Druid with the much more reasonable four powers:

FIREWALL
LIGHTNING
SUMMON
HEAL

Hello again, I've just learned of XCOM, and am planning to study it for inspiration on how this stupid thing should work.