SMAC fo $10 vs Planet pack for $30

[lord of the mark]

Im thinking of gettting SMAC for the first time, and using some EB credits to get it.

They have the SMAC alone for $10 (US), which i guess is pretty standard. However i saw at one EB in my area the planetary pack (may have been used, i dont recall) for $30.
Now normally I wouldnt pay $20 for an expansion pack of a game im not sure I'll like ( ive played the demo, and like it enough to want to try the game) but ive heard that Alien Crossfire is particularly difficult to find.

What do y'all think??

Thanks in advance.

[Jamski]

Go for it. No question what-so-ever. $30 for SMAC and Alien X-fire is a bargain. Even if you only play it for a month, then that's only $1 a day. That won't even cover a decent coffee habit. Or a bus ticket. And believe me, you'll be playing this game for a lot longer than one month.

-Jam

[Flubber]

The expansion is more "valuable" as it has become scarcer than the original game. Smac can be found in lots of places while Smax seems to crop up only here and there.

I love this game and think that the $30 price is more than reasonable given the YEARS I have been constantly playing it ( now if I could only get my money back for CIV3)

[Ivellios]

@ Lord of the mark:

I wouldn't doubt for a single second... I have tried getting Alien Crossfire for almost a year now, to no avail... I'll keep looking for it, but in the meantime, I'll just play a pirated version(almost done... 10 kb/s for a 470MB file ) .

I know it's not right, but it's all Firaxis/EA's fault for not making so few copies of the expansion .

@ Flubber:

I know what you mean about Civilization III... It's not that bad, but it's clearly inferior to the 2 years older Alpha Centauri and certainly not worth the €40 (or whatever it costs where you live). It might be a nice game to pick up for €10 though.

[lord of the mark]

if i dont buy it i'll let everyone know where ive seen it, though since all the folk responding to this thread thus far are outside the US it wont help you much , i fear.

[Lefty Scaevola]

A recent ebay auction on an unused planetary pack went over $70.

[Capt Dizle]

The depth of the game compared to recent products is just amazing. A cult classic ala Terminator in the movie genre. Buy, buy, buy.

[Lazerus]

I think i paid around £25-30 here for that pack ages ago (well the money was for smac and smax came free with it) and it's been well worth it. Along with age of empires these 2 games have kept me busy for years.

[Ivellios]

Yes, the game is worth every penny. It's one of those rare games you keep playing for months, even years, and you will still remember it years later. And occasionally pop it in your CD (or DVD)-ROM drive again years after you've purchased it. It's up there with Half-Life, Baldur's Gate, Starcraft and Deus Ex regarding PC games.

[Jamski]

I bought both SMAC and SMAX from new, for what would be about 80 or 90 Euros today, and I would happily pay the same again if I lost/damaged the CD's. I could be a little obsessive though...

-Jam

[Major Guz]

I own SMAC now a couple of years and ever since I heard of the expansion SMAX I wanted to have it.
It took me one year before I could locate SMAX (via internet, because Firaxis quit selling this fine piece of artwork) and I was lucky to get one of the last copies the company had lying around (it was at softwarefirst.com, but they ran out of SMAX copies).
In retrospect: I could not have forgiven myself not to buy the game.
I still play SMAC(X) every week on a therapeutical bias, otherwise I would go berserk [no SMAX, AAAAARGGGG ])

In general: Go get it FAST before someone beats you to it. I would not let the $30,- stand between me and a great game you will enjoy for years to come.

Think of it: 14 different factions to play, random world generator, 6 difficulty levels, 20 different weapons, 14 different armor classes, 8 types of vehicles and much more will guarantee many hours of playing.
If I would divide my cash spent (on both SMAC and SMACX) by the hours of play, it would be something like 5 cents per hour or so (not entirely true, but a nice directional figure)

[Xian]

Originally posted by Lefty Scaevola
A recent ebay auction on an unused planetary pack went over $70.

most likely that was my birthday gift

[~OmegaRed~]

now if I could only get my money back for CIV3

Wow. So true.

Definitely pick up the planet pack. I got SMAX off of E-bay solely because of its scarcity and was pleasently rewaded.

OR