Should I Look at SMAC?

[Heliodorus]

I guess I'm ready to table Civ3 for a bit while awaiting future patches. I am considering playing SMACX, but I wanted some opinions on whether I'd find it playable after Civ3. And I'd also appreciate any links to places where I can learn appropriate strategies.

I actually own the two games, but never gave them a decent shake because of two factors. First, I hate that stupid red color on the map everywhere. It irritates me. Who's idea was it to make the map red predominately?

Second, it had the same weak diplomacy fallicy that Civ2 had. Once you began to outpace the other civilizations, they all went to war with you and that's too tedious for me.

Should I give her another go? I read Vel's post that he skipped work to play it for days, and I can't help but wonder why? What did I miss? I never completed a game of it.

[David Murray]

SMAC is so dull and complicated that I never really got into it.

But if your attention span is a little more than gnat-like, I would say go for it! I love the diplomacy options available in SMAC, sadly missing from Civ3. And social engineering is very, very cool.

Just a shame that the overall experience one gets from playing the game is just so...dull, listless.

[Velociryx]

Let me be the first to welcome you to the world of SMAX! OMG....if you like Sci-Fi even a little bit, you gotta at least try it!

There are some exploits that make the game really easy to win once you learn them, but....as with any exploit, the decision can simply be made NOT to use them! Still, it gets two HUGE thumbs up from me!

As to strategies, if I may recommend a little strategy thread here:

The Renaissance Portal----> Discussion Forums---->SMAC Strategy and Tactics ----->SMAC Guide Version 3.0

OR, for the latest and greatest iteration:

Vel's SMAX Guide Version 4.0

-=Vel=-