The Altera Centauri collection has been brought up to date by Darsnan. It comprises every decent scenario he's been able to find anywhere on the web, going back over 20 years.
25 themes/skins/styles are now available to members. Check the select drop-down at the bottom-left of each page.
Call To Power 2 Cradle 3+ mod in progress: https://apolyton.net/forum/other-games/call-to-power-2/ctp2-creation/9437883-making-cradle-3-fully-compatible-with-the-apolyton-edition
I think it's interesting to play a faction whose natural abilities are contrary to my natural play style. Consequently, I voted for the Hive (without the final "s" as in The Hive), not that I like momentum play, but that putting a builder/hybrid overlay on top of the Hive (or the Believers, the Aliens, whatever aggressive faction) leads to a more balanced faction, which seems to me to be desirable. Perhaps some would disagree, but I think that if you go too far down some of those roads, you are beyond the point of diminishing returns; you can't tell the difference between elite and (very) elite+++ or Green and Really Bright Green.
After 26 votes, The Hive are still in the lead with 5 votes. Close followed by Gaians, 4 votes.
As I expected, the option "other", have few advocates. Although it suprise me that The Pirates only has one single vote so far. In between fairly even among the rest.
The Gaians are my favourite (for their environmental leanings ).
I also like playing the Morgans (they're challenging), the University (which I play as Morgans on steroids), and the Usurpers (also challenging to a builder! ).
I love role-playing all the human factions for their unique talents and trade-offs. However, my preference, like Ned and Misotu, are for the Peacekeepers. Votes and growth, yes, but also for their humanitarian and democratic leanings coupled with the cool Mosque architecture.
Close second: Gaians. Third: Pirates, whose playing style is typically a breath of fresh air for me.
"I wake. I work. I sleep. I die. The dark of space my only sky. My life is passed, and all I've been will never touch the earth again." --The Ballad of Sky Farm 3, Anonymous, Datalinks
Morgans, because if they go free market, the +1 energy per square increases their energy outputs by 2-3 times, thus also making research, energy raising, and people pacifying a ton easier. Next would probably be the hive, because they can build things fast, which results in either lots of facilities in each of your cities, or large armies.
I don't have much to say 'cause I won't be here long.
I like their hidden strenghts.
Racing through the tech tree with Alien Artefacts,
free troops from Mother Nature, and Money for Rush Builds from Planet Pearls.
Their main weakness is not their -1 industry and economy penalty (which can be helped by crawlers and (for the energy) by worm hunting), but their dependence on a good starting position.
My favorite faction has to be the Gaians. That extra efficiency boost has a ton of uses and their ability to catch mindworms makes the game a while lot more interesting for me.
Interesting that the original Smac group got 78% of the vote. I wonder if all the voters have Smax as well. I would still expect the originals to do well but are there really only 20% of the players out there that prefer the new guys.
The Consciousness are my favorite of the new factions, and they would edge out the Gaians for second choice. But you just can't beat free nodes as the University.
Creator of the Ultimate Builder Map, based on the Huge Map of Planet, available at The Chironian Guild:
http://guild.ask-klan.net.pl/eng/index.html
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