What happened to other Mac SMAC Players?

[Killjoy]

Wow! Seems like SMAC posts in this Mac section have whithered away to almost nothing. Where has everyone gone? Its almost sad to see that there are only 4 reqular posts here.

I realize the other sections address strategy/play/discussion/PC multiplayer games, but I remember not too long ago this section being a bit more 'vibrant.' Where has everyone gone?

[-Ashman-]

Not sure. The same thing happened over in the Mac Call to Power section. It's like a dead wasteland.

[Qualicide]

nothing much to do here, all just PBEM games

[Rue]

I haven't gone anywhere, though I once thought about doing so.

[Flomper]

I've heard Hawai'i is nice this time of year

[Baston]

Its been a while but i am back...

[Killjoy]

I was wondering if many Mac SMAC/X players are involved in SMAC/X pbem games with PC players. Or do Mac players generally stick to games with other mac players.

I am currently involved in a few SMAC/X pbem games, one of which is an SMAC pbem game with two other PC players.

I know that there is some diffculty with playing SMAX with PC players, and that there is a possible fix for it 'out there'.

FYI, I AM a proud mac owner, just curious as to what other Mac SMAC/X players are up to!

[Killjoy]

"...just curious as to what other SMAC/X players are up to!"

Hmmm...I guess not too much.

[Flomper]

I haven't played a single game against a PC'er. I also haven't been in a game with >2 players (me and someone else) which actually finished (they just faded away). I'ld like to finish a big multiplayer game one day.

I love SMAC/X and think it is a real shame it is not going to be continuously refined over the years. I'm not talking about switching out the guts for a new version, e.g. SMAC II, I mean fixing all the problems and keeping the game as is. I really think SMAC/X could be the next Chess, if only it's rough edges would be sanded off. I guess the next Chess is going to have to come from the Open Source community, because there is no economic incentive for Aspyr, etc. to continue to refine the code. To make their money they need to sell a new game to the same people who own the original.

[Killjoy]

Flomper, I agree with you on all points. I am totally engrossed in this game. I just can't seem to get enough.

Unfortunately, not only is it sad that the various bugs will never be fixed, but there's also the disappointing fact the Mac SMAX will probably never play smoothly with the PC version—thereby limiting scope of players with which we Mac players can have a go at.

Its a shame, because its such a compelling game.

[bradman]

quote: Originally posted by Killjoy on 12-21-2000 03:02 PM Unfortunately, not only is it sad that the various bugs will never be fixed, but there's also the disappointing fact the Mac SMAX will probably never play smoothly with the PC version—thereby limiting scope of players with which we Mac players can have a go at

What problems are you referring to with SMAX?

Brad

[Qualicide]

brad- was the tcp/ip multiplayer game thing ever fixed? playing like that would be much faster, and there are players on GR besides us on the forum that would play

[Flomper]

Brad, for the most part I am not talking about "bugs" I am talking about fixes to the way the game works (in other words, not problems that crept into the port, rather things that never made it in in the first place). I would say there are a couple of big ones:

[1] There should be a way to do the "timed move" in email play. This obviously would require a very different way of structuring the email play. Two of the three games I got into through this website ground to a halt because one player did not take it seriously to send along the turn as a courtesy to the other players. Finally he was brow beaten into resigning in one of the games which enabled us to get it going again. If the game would just skip a persons turn who didn't bother to move within the previously determined time allowance (e.g. 24 hours), then the game would keep moving. I don't see this happening without changing to some sort of a server mechanism, but I think it would make multiplayer PBeM much more successful.

[2] The Diplomacy screen between players doesn't have the same capabilities as Diplomacy with AI factions. Example, there is no way to turn over a city to another player.

[3] Speaking of Diplomacy, I wish there was a way to formally declare war without breaking a treaty or whatever.

But if you are looking for things to do...

There are some odd graphic glitches when you run SMACX under Classic in OSX, the cursor blacks out portions of the screen, the cursor shows itself in a white box, and occasionally you get a black screen upon launching the app for the first time (this is fixed by quitting out, apparently the game still works, you just can't see what you are doing, so I just hit escape, and relaunch). Finally if the screen saver comes on you can get all sorts of fun things happening (including the screen saver and the game competing to redraw on the screen, and the screen ending up completely white after you dismiss the screensaver -- if this happens to anyone I've found that you can hit F2 or something and it forces the game to redraw to the screen).

Oh yeah, there is one other problem, rare, but it happens at times. You load your turn and it immediately says your turn is "complete", but if you reload you in fact have a real turn, sorry, I can't say why this happens.

Best,

*Flomper*

[Killjoy]

quote: Originally posted by bradman on 12-22-2000 11:36 AM What problems are you referring to with SMAX? Brad

Hi Brad. I was refering to the potential problem with Mac-to-PC pbem games with SMAX. I e-mailed you awhile back about this, and your explaination was;

"...It's my understanding that the problem is that while the PC user can load and use the save-game files you send, you might have trouble reading the ones he sends to you, although I'm not sure of the exact conditions involved."

If I remember correctly you were working on a 'fix' that could patch a problem game. I still haven't tried an SMAX pbem game with a PC player yet, so I can't confirm the problem. Sorry I can't be more specific.
[This message has been edited by Killjoy (edited December 23, 2000).]

[Rue]

Very interesting....but does anyone want to play a game?