Is Alpha Centauri Intellectually Discriminating?

[Cybergod]

Civ2 is not a property of Firaxis

Isn't it? I thought that it was all the same company...

On Topic:
The more I look at the modern world, the more I see free will, freedom and liberty being twisted from their original values...

[gwillybj]

OT sorry, all in good fun

... SMAC designers have deliberately avoided using Civ2 terms in SMAC. I wonder why...

Because this is SMAC not Civ?
I'm not sorry to say it is a little bit irritating to see SMAC things referred to by Civ terms. One frequent example: They are SECRET PROJECTS not wonders! Ick! Where did I put those tranquilizers?

[The Vagabond]

Well, Secret Projects may not be Wonders. But why 'nutrients', not 'food'? Why 'colony pod', not 'settler'? The designers clearly did their best to introduce new terms. Fortunately for them, the English language is so rich that was not a problem. If they need to invent a brand-new terminology for a new game, they'll always have the option of using 'aliments' instead of 'nutrients'.

[The Vagabond]

Originally posted by Cybergod
Isn't it? I thought that it was all the same company...

Civ2 belonged to Microprose, and then to the company that bought Microprose.

[tonic]

A simple resolution of the argument about terminology in SMAC vis-a-vis Civ is that SMAC is essentially science fiction while Civ is quasi-history.

[Cybergod]

@ tonic - I couldn't agree more.

Play Civ to re-create and alter history to your liking

Play SMAC to create the future to your liking...

[The Vagabond]

What you write is obvious, Tonic.

Many terms indeed had to be changed, but not all of them, unless there was some additional motivation for that.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by The Vagabond
If they need to invent a brand-new terminology for a new game, they'll always have the option of using 'aliments' instead of 'nutrients'.

Or victuals (vittles in the hillbilly language version).

[Cybergod]

What about carbohydrates, vitamins etc...

Joke aside, I was never comfortable with the concept of energy which can be converted into anything... (econ/lab/psych/trade)

[Tommara]

Originally posted by Cybergod
What about carbohydrates, vitamins etc...

Joke aside, I was never comfortable with the concept of energy which can be converted into anything... (econ/lab/psych/trade)

Why? It's just being used as a medium of exchange, like money or gold.

[GeneralTacticus]

It also has rather more practical value than money or gold.

[MattyBoy]

Who knows where I can find a Hillbillies mod for SMAC?

[gwillybj]

Psi Combat at the Forum?

Has anyone else noticed that the No:Yes vote ratio is roughly 3:2? (currently 19:12) (Or am I just weird enough to notice?)

Also, Energy as currency makes sense if you picture it as large arrays of capacitors being drained by usage and recharged by solar collectors and transmission of power between locations, whether by wire or physical storage (batteries).
Remember California in the summer of 2000 (or was it 1999?), and how they had to go shopping for electricity? Large numbers of the general public lost a lot of their savings having to pay those higher prices, but you can be sure a few corporate big-wigs came out of it with their coffers padded very nicely.

[Cybergod]

But what I can't grip is how can you use energy as a curency? What, you go home from work, with a battery charged with "energy credits"???

[GeneralTacticus]

ECs are used as currency between factions and for largescale projects within them. Presumably there would be a seperate system for citizens buying consumer goods, which there is no need to represent in the game.