Aplha Centauri 2 Wishlist

[sprucemoose3311]

Without checking the forums I am sure that this has been done before. However, a new pole is up at firaxis
( http://www.firaxis.com/community/polls.php ) which hints at the possibility for a sequel. Therefore a list should once again be created.


I would want:
tech: lidar: realtime mapping of battlefield. greater chances of victory for unit, plus 1-2 line of sight at boarders.

tech: mobile war center: allows construction of movable unit that gives units capability to heal when in war center. Gives units parimeter defense bonus while garrisoned at mobile war center.

The original factions from AC and expansion (minus the Firaxians)

- a communist civilization (includes attempts to cause world wide class strife)

- a second religious faction

- a faction fiercly dedicated to an emperor

- a faction totally dedicated to justice (the UN is more dedicated to bureaucracy)

-govt structure choices (separate from govt type): parliament, senate, bicameral, bureaucratic

-govt type: fascist, totalitarian, etc.

-social engineering: ecological, consumerism, police repression, slavery, eugenics, militaristic (use propaganda to gain support of population), scientific, and more if anyone can think of them.

- social engineering is tied to faction

[CEO Aaron]

Originally posted by sprucemoose3311

tech: lidar: realtime mapping of battlefield. greater chances of victory for unit, plus 1-2 line of sight at boarders.

I'm confused. This is a tech advance that gives your units a free improvement to their chances to win? Would this be a new weapon type, facility, or what?

tech: mobile war center: allows construction of movable unit that gives units capability to heal when in war center. Gives units parimeter defense bonus while garrisoned at mobile war center.

There's almost no circumstance where such a unit would be worthwhile. I'd rather use the support to have an additional combat unit, and continue to either rely on normal field regeneration, or retire to a base.

The original factions from AC and expansion (minus the Firaxians)

Firaxians aren't in either the originan or expansion, they're a player-made faction.

- a communist civilization (includes attempts to cause world wide class strife)

AKA - Free Drones.

- a second religious faction

AKA - Planet Cult.

- a faction fiercly dedicated to an emperor

What kind of bonus would that give, exactly?

- a faction totally dedicated to justice (the UN is more dedicated to bureaucracy)

Again, I'm not sure that 'Justice' forms an ideology, in the strictest sense, being as subjective as it is.

-govt structure choices (separate from govt type): parliament, senate, bicameral, bureaucratic

I don't see that the nuts and bolts minutia of the form of government should cloud its fundamental philosophy. In other words, nobody cares whether you call your legislative body a Senate, a Duma, a Parliament or whatever, so long as it's a representative body elected by a free and fair referrendum.

-govt type: fascist, totalitarian, etc.

Look up 'Police State' in a dictionary.

-social engineering: ecological, consumerism, police repression, slavery, eugenics, militaristic (use propaganda to gain support of population), scientific, and more if anyone can think of them.

Again, I refer you to your favorite dictionary or thesaurus. All of these are currently encompassed by the SE choices available in SMAC.

- social engineering is tied to faction

And again, most factions already have preferred and/or forbidden SE choices, as well as innate bonuses that synergize with SE effects.

As to my own wishlist, my only wish to Firaxis is that they upgrade the graphics, and allow full customization of the game mechanics. By allowing players to edit the tech progression, SE choices and base unit and facility costs, they will allow experienced players to address any of the inevitable balance issues that will accrue once the game has been played. Oh, and a scriptable/customizable AI would also be very nice.

[WotanAnubis]

Originally posted by CEO Aaron

- a second religious faction

AKA - Planet Cult.

Well, personally, I'd like to see a religious faction that isn't agressive and fundamentalist. Yes, religion has indeed been the cause and 'justification' for a lot of bloodshed, but it's done some good stuff too and Alpha Centauri doesn't really point at that. The closest the game came was with the Gaians and their "pagan rituals" but that was about it.

So a pacifist religious faction that does actually believe in stuff like "Thou shallt not kill" would be a refreshing change.

[Senethro]

Global support. P-drones in Free Market would be assigned in a similar way as B-drones.

[Lord Nword]

Make sure the feature that tells you how many units you have total works properly

[Ka Plewy]

I'd like to keep crawlers and have the AI know how to use them.

[Maniac]

Originally posted by CEO Aaron
As to my own wishlist, my only wish to Firaxis is that they upgrade the graphics, and allow full customization of the game mechanics. By allowing players to edit the tech progression, SE choices and base unit and facility costs, they will allow experienced players to address any of the inevitable balance issues that will accrue once the game has been played.

AKA - alphax.txt

[Urban Ranger]

I wish they could completely revamp the population growth model.

[Method]

The Free Drones are not communist, by the way

[#endgame]

Originally posted by sprucemoose3311
Without checking the forums I am sure that this has been done before. However, a new pole is up at firaxis
( http://www.firaxis.com/community/polls.php ) which hints at the possibility for a sequel. Therefore a list should once again be created.

You do realise that SMAC is falling behind. If you haven't voted, go vote!

[Kataphraktoi]

only cause the lame colonization fans are ballot stuffing

[Commy]

I really think we need the Jedi Knights faction...along with the Wookies...

[doctorfrog]

- user-editable AI. So the fan community can plug all the holes we find in the AI, as not even the best-paid QA people can find exploits that a rabid fanbase can.

- still no 3-d accelerator required. there's nothing to be gained with full-3d graphics, so please keep it 2d.

- random scenario generator

- lower-level immersion. I'm being vague, but what i'd like is to not feel so distant from my subjects. I really have no idea what daily life is like for the average Hive dweller. I don't know what a base looks like. I'd like to know why a shard weapon has to look like a frozen bear claw. Do needlejets fight like biplanes or jet fighters? And so forth. Sim City used newspapers, petitioners, and of course, visual cues such as decaying buildings to add personality the world in which citizens live. SMAC has a talent/worker/drone readout, which isn't always accurate. And I should be made to feel a bit more of a conscience sting when I aim a genetic plague at another base. This can only come with the feeling that I'm working for people, not tokens.

But I do admit this level of immersion would suck up major dev time for an effect that would likely be ignored or found annoying after a few plays.

[Kataphraktoi]

more civs and minor civs.this has been discussed for cIV but i havnt kept up on it

what i hate most is being the superpower every single time.id like to be the low stakes out-of-the-way civ for once and just play.to often civ feels like 7v1 or how many civs u have

[Darsnan]

Originally posted by sprucemoose3311
tech: mobile war center: allows construction of movable unit that gives units capability to heal when in war center. Gives units parimeter defense bonus while garrisoned at mobile war center.

This can be done now. Build a Land Transport and give it a Repair Bay and armor.

[Kataphraktoi]

repair bay is bugged and dosnt even work.and its not advantagous either,its better to just move your units so in reality there is no apc

[gbrut]

I would like to have better graphics, though not at the price of losing the perspective; that would allow you to zoom in and see the bases in all their glory; a fully customizable and moddable game (but easier to work with than the first one) especially when it comes to Planet. I hated the pink fungus. A feature worth keeping is the ability to play it straight or to drop in any combination of factions and Brian Renolds must be at the helm (he is Alpha Centauri). That's a start.

[Urban Ranger]

I think they need to separate experience from morale for units.

Morale is variable according to situation, experience increases with time and um, experience.

One of the cool things you can do with this is, the morale of your units can be affected by your reputation. If you have been playing like a totally rotten turncoat, your units suffer heavy hits in morale. While if your reputation is a sterling Noble, your units get at least a +1.

[Adagio]

There's two changes I hope they'll make to SMAC 2 if they decide to make that game:

1) Make the graphics less disgusting. The colors for the game are just awful

2) Remove the workshop

Originally posted by sprucemoose3311
Without checking the forums I am sure that this has been done before. However, a new pole is up at firaxis
( http://www.firaxis.com/community/polls.php ) which hints at the possibility for a sequel. Therefore a list should once again be created.

Now that's a stupid poll. I can't get pass this question:

2. What is your gaming platform of choice (aside from the PC)?

There's no "None" option. I don't like the Xbox, I don't like the PS2, I don't like the gamecube and it's not like the last option is any better

[Chaos Theory]

The workshop is wonderful! How else could you make Trance Singularity Deathspheres?

[Petek]

Originally posted by Chaos Theory
The workshop is wonderful! How else could you make Trance Singularity Deathspheres?

Agreed--The workshop has to stay, but it needs a better interface. It also needs more options. For example, I might not have enough cash to upgrade all my rovers to fusion reactors, but I might have enough to upgrade just the elite rovers. Would be nice to have an option to do this. Another example: If you have a large fleet of formers, you might not have enough cash to upgrade all of them to clean reactors when you research Bioengineering. It would be nice to be able to upgrade a certain percentage through the workshop. Something like "upgrade as many formers as possible using 700 energy credits".

Another idea involving the workshop: Would we want to eliminate the "upgrade and then move" feature? Perhaps every unit upgraded via the workshop should lose its movement points if it hasn't already moved that turn.

[binTravkin]

2) Remove the workshop

Pardon me, but this is the most stupid thing I've heard for ages!
Are you a smac fan or a sabotageur?!

[Adagio]

The workshop is one of the reasons I'm not some die hard smac fan

[CEO Aaron]

Agreed. All Hail the Workshop. I think the interface could definitely be better, and the designers could also have put more thought into the design suggestions. Also culling obsolete designs should be automatic.

[Chaos Theory]

Obsolescence should be very conservatively defined. I'm sick of the game wanting to "upgrade" my probe-1-1 units to probe-1-2 during production.

[Lazerus]

Better AI scripts and more options of diplomacy with the AI (i want to actually be able to humiliate them, eg no military units, 20% of ur ec earnings if they want a truce but won't become submissive), remove the bugs and a splash of new paint over the graphics. Everything else im happy with

[Chaos Theory]

Simultaneous-turn PBEMs: receive a turn from a server, play it, send it back before a deadline, all turns are played at once and sent back out. This could also limit the information distributed to each player to what they actually need, and limit random events to occurring on the server.

Imprintable rules

AI customization, both for AI players and for governors and automated units

Probabilistic tech trees

Floating-point numbers: I want to be able to harvest 1.73 units of food, or pay 9.5 ECs to hurry something! At least combat handled this correctly.

Automated worker placement, as in FreeCiv, and non-discrete worker placement

Specialists subject to happiness/unhappiness. No more cheating the bureaucracy mechanism or pacifism drones!

Situation-dependent happiness/unhappiness: if you're the Gaians and you pact with Morgan running Free Market, happiness should suffer. If you're the Believers crusading against Yang, happiness should rise. If you betray a trade partner, happiness should suffer. Citizens in an undefended front-line city should be unhappy, and perhaps wrest control of the city's production from you.

[Senethro]

Originally posted by Chaos Theory
Simultaneous-turn PBEMs: receive a turn from a server, play it, send it back before a deadline, all turns are played at once and sent back out. This could also limit the information distributed to each player to what they actually need, and limit random events to occurring on the server.

I've never played with simultaneous turns. How do they work in combat situations?

Imprintable rules

Naturally.

Probabilistic tech trees

Say what? Explain.

Floating-point numbers: I want to be able to harvest 1.73 units of food, or pay 9.5 ECs to hurry something! At least combat handled this correctly.

I'm struggling to think of a situation where 1.73 units of food would be possible.

Automated worker placement, as in FreeCiv, and non-discrete worker placement

Do you just mean the same as already exists but better? Possibly make it customisable so that you can emphasise nuts/mins/energy?

Specialists subject to happiness/unhappiness. No more cheating the bureaucracy mechanism or pacifism drones!

Thats the whole point of specialists! I personally think that making what they produce (not psych) subject to inefficiency would be enough.

Situation-dependent happiness/unhappiness: if you're the Gaians and you pact with Morgan running Free Market, happiness should suffer. If you're the Believers crusading against Yang, happiness should rise. If you betray a trade partner, happiness should suffer. Citizens in an undefended front-line city should be unhappy, and perhaps wrest control of the city's production from you.

I've actually wondered about a culture model for SMAC. which would generate similar effects.
Neighboring bases would exchange culture points according to the strength of the bases.
Trade would cause culture exchange. Pacting would increase exchange.
Extra Drones/Talents/Commerce would be generated based on the ratio of culture points acquired by that base and your diplomatic relations with the factions the culture comes from.

The extent to which you are affected by enemy culture points might be affected by your Probe rating, although both Police and Morale may have a part to play.

The Morganites would be given resistance to enemy culture acquired through trade so as not to cripple themselves by being traders. They might also transfer more of their culture through trade.

As a slight tweak I also thought that perhaps the Believers would have stronger cultural exchange with neighboring bases representing evangelism. While the Hive and Spartans might wish to avoid commerce so as to avoid unrest and decadance in their ranks it would be nice to have a culturally strong momentum faction.

Oh, and as a final part of my model bases would NEVER culture flip Civ3 style but might become more prone to Drone riots and cheaper to mind control.

[Chaos Theory]

Originally posted by Senethro

I've never played with simultaneous turns. How do they work in combat situations?

I expect you'd have to arrange what units attack others before seeing any resolution. As far as who the attacker is and who the defender is, simultaneous turns may not be compatible with the SMAC model of completely separate attack and defense strengths.


Probabilistic tech trees would have partially randomized links and perhaps randomized availability of techs to research, based on a variety of conditions. Perhaps Industrial Automation only appears .1 of the time if you have Industrial Economics and Planetary Networks, but if you throw on Adaptive Economics, it appears .4 of the time.

I'm struggling to think of a situation where 1.73 units of food would be possible.

If you're trying to feed 8650 people, by the SMAC model. Rainfall need not be separated into just 3 categories. It can be continuous, like it is in reality.

Do you just mean the same as already exists but better? Possibly make it customisable so that you can emphasise nuts/mins/energy?

FreeCiv allows minimum resource totals as well as desired ratios. It would be nice to not need to commit an entire population unit to a tile. Partially utilizing the tile should be possible, and the tile could even be shared by nearby cities.

Thats the whole point of specialists! I personally think that making what they produce (not psych) subject to inefficiency would be enough.

The point of specialists is to be specialized, not to be content. Specialists give you the equivalent of energy, and hopefully more than you can harvest, in exchange for not producing any nutrients or minerals. They represent working the base tile more and building a culture. How can 160000 engineers possibly be content without so much as a rec commons?!

[Senethro]

Originally posted by Chaos Theory How can 160000 engineers possibly be content without so much as a rec commons?!

Ummmm. No heavy lifting?

I think the problem of all specialist bases can be laid at the feet of Mr Supply Crawler.
Should they be subjected to inefficiency? Should they have limits per base? Would these limits be equal to your pop or some deviant combination of your SE effic/industry/support?