Another Favorite Book

[Andemagne]

I just yesterday finished my first ever smac game, so I had to post something.

[Andemagne]

my favorite is, of course, Spartan Battle Manual.

[Mr. President]

Gotta love The Ethics of Greed. Morgan rocks, capitalism rocks, and above all, greed pays.

[Mr. President]

Please try not to trample me for that comment. Since I used the smilie, you can see that it was intended as a joke, and not to turn this thread into yet another capitalist / communist debate. If that's what you're looking for, please take it to the Off-Topic. Thank you.

[Alex]

I'd have to say "Conversations with Planet" by Deirdre. Its quotes always struck me as intriguing and interesting. The Planet seems to evolve from a babbling language to a more elaborate one, thanks to interaction with "earthdeirdre", and this matches incredibly well all the transcendence stuff.

[Chaunk]

For I have tasted the fruit, purely becuase I love the way he says Academician Prokhor Zakharov afterwards

[Darsnan]

Planet: A Survivalists Guide. I'm on my 3rd copy, having worn out the previous two! Extremely informative to the unititiated!

D

[Marid Audran]

This poll forgot Pravin Lal's works:

"A History of Science"
"The Science of Our Fathers"
"Man and Machine"
"Mind Worm, Mind Worm"

and my favorite, and thus choice, if given:

"A Social History of Planet"

I'd like a couple of honorary mentions to go to SMAX works:

"The Shadow Resonance," by Cpt. Ulrik Svensgaard
"Information Burns," by Datatech Sinder Roze

[Mr. President]

I'm also quite partial to Courage: To Question by Usurper Judaa Marr.

[Clear Skies]

Why no 'Convergence' by Aki Zeta-5?
Anyway, I went Planet Dreams, because Our Secret War wasn't there. Dee's Collected Poems would be great to read as well.

[Adalbertus]

Book of Planet - The way it creates nearly a RPG atmosphere in a TBS game without restricting the flow of the game is simply ingenious and the best thing after the invention of Civ games. Social Engineering, Unit Workshop, a wealth of specialists - everything is nice. But the Book of Planet makes the difference!

[Nubclear]

I like Conversations with Planet. Just something interesting about it, I suppose.

[gwillybj]

I Beg To Differ

We Must Dissent by Sister Miriam Godwinson.
Mostly because I find my single-player gaming experience to be very entertaining and successful despite breaking nearly every "rule of thumb" posted here but never cheating.
Their mood and timbre mesh so well with mine...
TECH66: Advanced Spaceflight: "And so we return again to the holy void. Some say this is simply our destiny, but I would have you remember always that the void EXISTS, just as surely as you or I. Is nothingness any less a miracle than substance?"
TECH69: Quantum Machinery: "Men in their arrogance claim to understand the nature of creation, and devise elaborate theories to describe its behavior. But always they discover in the end that God was quite a bit more clever than they thought."
TECH73: Industrial Nanorobotics: "Already we have turned all of our critical industries, all of our material resources, over to these . . . things . . . these lumps of silver and paste we call nanorobots. And now we propose to teach them intelligence? What, pray tell, will we do when these little homunculi awaken one day and announce that they have no further need of us?"
PROJECT25: The Self-Aware Colony: "Will we next create false gods to rule over us? How proud we have become, and how blind."
PROJECT29: The Bulk Matter Transmitter: "And what of the immortal soul in such transactions? Can this machine transmit and reattach it as well? Or is it lost forever, leaving a soulless body to wander the world in despair?"
I think it odd how prophetical are the quotes for the prerequisite techs for those two Secret Projects:
The Self-Aware Colony: TECH34: Self-Aware Machines: "Without sensibility no object would be given to us, without understanding no object would be thought. Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind." Immanuel Kant, "Critique of Pure Reason", Datalinks. And its following, neck-hair-raising statement: "I swear sometimes they're watching me." Bozon Pete, Shift Foreman, Metagenics Biomachinery Division.
The Bulk Matter Transmitter: TECH57: Matter Transmission: "The first living thing to go through the device was a small white rat. I still have him, in fact. As you can see, the damage was not so great as they say." Academician Prokhor Zakharov, "See How They Run".

[Mr. President]

Re: I Beg To Differ

Originally posted by gwillybj

PROJECT25: The Self-Aware Colony: "Will we next create false gods to rule over us? How proud we have become, and how blind."
PROJECT29: The Bulk Matter Transmitter: "And what of the immortal soul in such transactions? Can this machine transmit and reattach it as well? Or is it lost forever, leaving a soulless body to wander the world in despair?"
I think it odd how prophetical are the quotes for the prerequisite techs for those two Secret Projects:
The Self-Aware Colony: TECH34: Self-Aware Machines: "Without sensibility no object would be given to us, without understanding no object would be thought. Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind." Immanuel Kant, "Critique of Pure Reason", Datalinks. And its following, neck-hair-raising statement: "I swear sometimes they're watching me." Bozon Pete, Shift Foreman, Metagenics Biomachinery Division.
The Bulk Matter Transmitter: TECH57: Matter Transmission: "The first living thing to go through the device was a small white rat. I still have him, in fact. As you can see, the damage was not so great as they say." Academician Prokhor Zakharov, "See How They Run".

I think that's very interesting. You get the impression that the writers and creators of the game had certain affections for different factions and leaders. They seem to suggest that Miriam is violent and backward, but Zakharov is advanced but amoral. Which is worse?

But it seems their true object of affection is Deirdre and the Gaians ("No longer mere earthbeings and planetbeings, but bright children of the stars . . . dance out of ten thousand centuries, until . . . our thoughts turn again to the beginning").

[Andemagne]

sorry about the absence of "Our Secret War"

I left Lal's writing out because I thought he did not have anything worthwile to say.
and
I left the SMAX factions out 'cos THE FIRST SEVEN are the originals.