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
That's plenty, but it really doesn't matter how many we have.
BTW, it isn't worth it to change the alpha.txt. It's simply a matter of keeping the finger off the 'must build crawlers' button , which I definately have a hard time doing!
Originally posted by Avenoct
I've got everyone's email, so perhaps I should start it off?
Sounds good.
BTW, it isn't worth it to change the alpha.txt.
Agreed. The honor system should be fine. I was 'misled' into believing that my ingenious crawler restricting edits of the alpha.txt file were effective in our last game.
When the crawler design first appearas in the DW, whomever sees it first can just "obsolete" it and it probably won't reappear to tempt anyone. Besides if anyone wanted to build one on the sly, they would have to hide it in some other factions territory to stop any more "responsible" teammates from disbanding it. You'd also have to make it at least the 10th and prefererably at least the 16th unit of its base so you couldn't see it in the base screen either. Of course maybe this could be the challenge of the game. Not that it matters, but did we decide on the faction yet, or even whether it is MP or succession?
I wasn't aware that you could obsolete one of the default unit designs. But it isn't important.
I've never completely mastered the DW interface. In my SP games I find I have to keep upgrading units repeatedly whenever the DW production supervisor screens appear after I've learned any new tech.
Scipio, I suggest you turn off auto-design (this gets rid of the annoying "new units are available...want to see?" messages)...I mean how often do you use Missile Synthmetal Marines? If you really want one of those, you can design it yourself. Also, since as a builder at heart I rarely bulid military units until I have to, for the first 50-100 years of the game I only have 4-5 units - sea former, sea probe team, synthmetal garrison, police infantry, etc. A lot nicer to look at when there's no Amphibous Recon Rovers taking up room.
I'll play any faction, University is just what I (in real life) connect with most, I think. But in terms of the game, I enjoy them all equally. I even had a long run as Morgan, and have achieved my highest score with him (my only 100+ base game!!). I even played a Librarian game as Miriam .
In the thread in the General SMAC forum where we "discussed" this briefly, you mentioned blind research - I wouldn't mind, but would it be just blind? Double blind? Or what?
I've never actually played blind - well, my first game was blind, but I didn't get how things worked then. I've played double blind, though
Originally posted by Zakharov VII
Scipio, I suggest you turn off auto-design (this gets rid of the annoying "new units are available...want to see?" messages)...
Good idea. I had it turned off once upon a time and then I turned it back on for some forgotten reason... I think maybe I kept forgetting to design units, which meant they weren't getting prototyped in a timely fashion, which meant I was getting killed by surprise military invasions with superior tech combat units...
I mean how often do you use Missile Synthmetal Marines? If you really want one of those, you can design it yourself... A lot nicer...when there's no Amphibous Recon Rovers taking up room.
You mean you don't use Missile Synthmetal Marines, Amphibious Recon Rovers and AAA, ECM, Police & Trance garrison unit designs?
...my only 100+ base game!!
I'm looking forward to MY 2300+
In the thread in the General SMAC forum where we "discussed" this briefly, you mentioned blind research - I wouldn't mind, but would it be just blind? Double blind? Or what?
I'm good either way. My guess is if we went with blind research, we would naturally fall into double blind research by the mid-game anyway. Can't afford to get too far behind the AI in any category.
LOL, I've never gotten close to 100 bases again, so don't count on that many!!
I think I was up to Omnicron Sector in that game, so I *only* had 50 bases of my own
As long as we're not in a war, you can count on massive Fusion Penetrator Colony Pod production when it gets around to me around the mid to late 2200's, though
FYI, in my SP games I dont *crawl* resources. However I still use the other main function of the crawler - cashing in for prototypes or SP's. This is because sometimes the AI does do this quite a bit (they also enjoy shipping crawlers off to distant lands ). But I'm quite capable of not building crawlers at all.
Anyway, my preferences for game settings:
Faction: Morgan (2nd choice: Zak or Dee)
Large map (not as cramped as standard, while still keeping contact reasonably early)
Blind Research with faction default Priorities, or choose priorities.
No Unity scattering.
Unity Survey.
However I dont feel particullary strongly about any of those settings being enabled or disabled.
Originally posted by Blake
FYI, in my SP games I dont *crawl* resources...they [AI] also enjoy shipping crawlers off to distant lands . But I'm quite capable of not building crawlers at all.
Crawling resources is the only function that makes sense to me. My primary reason for suggesting this challenge variant was to get away from the crawlers as secret project scrip paradigm, come transcendance time. A good builder faction should have more than enough ECs to cash out quickly though, even w/o crawlers.
I hear you about the AI sending crawlers off to ferrin' lands. I was once in a SMAX Transcend game as Morgan pacted with AI Lal. Lal was in a conquering mood - he took out every other faction, one by each. But he and I were such good buddies that I had sent a couple of my superformers into his territory to build a magtube network for him. One turn during the AI phase, no less than 30 PK crawlers rolled past my superformers, headed towards Chow Down's newly captured territories. Thank goodness the AI is 'unacquainted' with advanced terraforming techniques.
My Preferences
-------------------
Faction: Morgans, University, PKs, Hive or Spartans
Map: The bigger the better; 50-70% ocean
no strong preferences for anything else
O.K., I can see we'll be whittling away at this for awhile, so I just went ahead and started the game.
Morganites, Large totally random map, no unity pod scattering, blind research, look first, unity map visible. The map looks great at first view.
Recap the rules:
No Crawlers. Turns are 10-15 years per player (your choice), but you may play less if it's getting slow. Post your turn-summaries when possible to the turn tracking thread, or at least tell the next player what you were up to by email. Turn Summaries don't have to be ultra-detailed! Upload the gamesaves to the turn-thread AND email the next player with the turn. Win.
Turn Order
Scipio
Blake
JohnD
Zakharov
Smack
?
This game is still open for others to join, just let us know here.
I'll post up the turn-tracking thread in a minute and re-link it here. Any additional rules-discussion should probably go here, leaving the turn thread just for turns (they tend to get long).
!
, which I definately have a hard time doing!
). But I'm quite capable of not building crawlers at all. 
rolled past my superformers, headed towards Chow Down's newly captured territories. Thank goodness the AI is 'unacquainted' with advanced terraforming techniques.
No Crawlers.
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