SMAC 2

[Harvestor32]

In my opinion, the only good things Civ 3 brought to the table was the culture option and the strategic resources. In nearly every other way it was a big let down in comparisoin to Alpha Centauri.

[CEO Aaron]

Frankly, I don't consider either culture or strategic resources to be gameplay improvements. Culture's just a cheap patch to make the AI seem tougher than it is, making you commit vastly disproportionate forces to hold captured cities, and the lack of critical strategic resources make certain positions unplayable. When your neighbors have iron and you don't, you die.

[Guest]

Tech tree continuity should not really be an issue:
Land on AC, having travelled accross intersellar distances, and have to 'research' rovers, flight, living underwater (altogether a less hostile environment than deep space or a new planet) - this didnt affect SMAC - its just gameplay.

I have always wondered if you could mod Civ2 to play backwards: start with a fully developed map and civs, and enough weapons for MAD, and then play....

watch the world degenerate, post apocalypse more complex units require more support and time to bulid - so maybe prefer lower tech units etc. End up running around with a bunch of barbarians. From what I know of Civ3, it might be more appropriate there, cause you could nuke the resources required for high tech units

(since I visit these boards only in patches, maybe someone needs to point me in the right direction where this is old news).

[Flare]

The *only* reason why everything had to be researched over again was because the ship had been destroyed, along with the vast library of information. Go look at your local library & see how much there is to learn. Yes, removable media like CDs & DVDs remove the bulk required, but... More than that was required. Manufacturing, refining, developmental procedures. Plus, just surviving on a hostile planet. ~shrugs~ Just my $0.02 worth.

[Fido Dido]

Isn't there a tech like this..?

"People often ask me, why have we who have travelled the vast distances between stars not even fly above Planet.."

Or similar..? Col. Satinago?

[Maniac]

BTW, there were several threads on this TIME ago. It seems that none of the game developers will ever take hints.

Actually I'd say they are taking the hint. After all many people have said SMAC2 would suck unless it's made by Brian Reynolds.

[Cybergod]

But Maniac, I don't exactly see any progress being made in the field of actually producing a sequel for SMAC, only empty tales.

I don't know about you guys, but I liked the culture in civ3! I loved the way my neighbours were enlightened by my culture... (even though I doubt that Greeks and Chinese have much in common but anyways) I also believed that the strategic resources gave you a new perspective on gameplay, but I guess you can say it is rather unbalanced at times (especially with iron, argh, bad memories being envoked...).

Fido Dido, thats the beginning of the quote for the Maritime Control Centre SP, and she talks about naval superiority rather than flight me thinks

[Fido Dido]

Ah right, I knew it was for something, though I was sure it was for space flight or some such..

[gwillybj]

the limitations of a colonial society on a virgin planet

Fido Dido asked:
Isn't there a tech like this..?
"People often ask me, why have we who have travelled the vast distances between stars not even fly above Planet.."
Or similar..? Col. Satinago?

Yes, it is Orbital Spaceflight:

##Satellite Reconnaissance
#TECH77
I have often been asked: if we have traveled between the stars, why can we not launch the simplest of orbital probes? These fools fail to understand the difficulty of finding the appropriate materials on this Planet, of developing adequate power supplies, and creating the infrastructure necessary to support such an effort. In short, we have struggled under the limitations of a colonial society on a virgin planet. Until now.
^
^ -- Col. Corazon Santiago,
^ "Planet: A Survivalist's Guide"

The Maritime Control Center quote does begin similarly:

##Maritime Control Center
#PROJECT10
It is altogether fitting that we who have sailed the deeps of space now return again to the sea. This is in many ways a water planet, and it can be ruled from the waves. With sea power, rugged terrain can be bypassed and enemy strongholds isolated. Once naval superiority is achieved, Planet is ours for the taking.
^
^ -- Col. Corazon Santiago,
^ "Planet: A Survivalist's Guide"

[Adalbertus]

Re: return to earth

... but this copy, this human being $NAME1 now waking to lead the first Seed mission, this is the only self now immediate to you and therefore the only real you. You are flesh again, and so quite mortal, and for this too you rejoice.

Just phantasizing a bit: The sequel exists, it's Civ (2 ?). You're left on earth with nothing else but your intelligence.
The copy in the giant matrix just is the origin of religion...

[Maniac]

Ah! So if you win SMAC, you move to Civ2; when you win that, you go further to SMAC after which you go back to...

[gwillybj]

and thus is the meaning of life

[Ned]

Where is Brian Reynolds and has he produced any new games recently?

[Archaic]

He's behind Rise of Nations, isn't he?

[Alex]

He is. Rise of Nations is the first game from Big Huge Games, the company Brian started when he left Firaxis. It is scheduled to be released in May 20th. In the USA, I mean... the european release will be in June, IIRC.