How many folks still playing?

[Major Guz]

I also play AC for a very long time (right after it came out, I guess).

I did play CivIII, but IMHO it is just no match for AC.

[laurentius]

I'm gonna play it right now!

For hours man!

[Kirov]

Originally posted by Chaos Theory
We're still finding new things about SMAC/X, though only slowly now. It wasn't too long ago that one of us figured out how to predict which techs would be offered to research next. We still haven't completely figured out how combat works.

Whoa, can you give a link to that thread? Sth's wrong with the search engine, as it doesn't return even the most obvious keywords...

[livid imp]

Re: How many folks still playing?

Originally posted by muskelmichi
High People!

I see high people!
Welcome high muskelmichi!

Originally posted by muskelmichi
I've been playing for years now, with a few breaks between but continuing. I'm just wondering how many people still enjoy/play it.

That would be me too. Bought it the day it came out pushed it to its then limits. Then I got sucked up into a vortex called EQ and disappear from the Earth for a few years. Came back to SMAC to find the fertile minds here had pushed SMAC to previously unknown glory. The game was reborn for me and I am back to being a full blown SMAC addict.

Originally posted by muskelmichi
Are most of them CivIIIers now? (A game I actually don't like but still can't say why exactly)

Gah! I should hope not! I bought Civ3 only to be bored stiff. They took out spys they dumbed the game down the "improved" AI was as stupid as ever
The only things I liked about Civ3 was the cultural victory and resources (both of which, I understand most Civ3 players hate).

Originally posted by muskelmichi
Or are we still a great communty (quantitatively)?

I am sure the folks here are sick of hearing me say this, but SMAC players are the elite of video game players. I am serious about this. I have yet to find brighter, more creative gamers than the people in this forum. Ok, ok, maybe online Chess players are too, but they don't know how to party.

Originally posted by muskelmichi
I never played Online-MP

Believe it or not, I still enjoy SMACing the AI around and have yet to play a multi-player game.

[laurentius]

I can only agree on every point in your post Livid Imp. Especially about civ3.

Neither have I had a single MP-session, I've tried tho, but there has always been some problems...

[Pythagoras]

Originally posted by laurentius
I can only agree on every point in your post Livid Imp. Especially about civ3.

Neither have I had a single MP-session, I've tried tho, but there has always been some problems...

I've found the Civ3 AI to be more challenging at equivelant difficulty levels. Maybe I haven't played it enough to notice.

[The diplomat]

I stopped playing SMAC for awhile. But now I am playing it again and still lovin' it. I still hate it when I hit the mindworm explosion in mid-game. I have this nice empire with nice big cities and then boom all these mindworms suddenly tear up all my terrain improvements. argh!

[binTravkin]

I've found the Civ3 AI to be more challenging at equivelant difficulty levels. Maybe I haven't played it enough to notice.

Man!

Have you seen bonuses which Civ3 AI recieves at the start and through all the game?

If SMAC AI was given +5 industry by default (50% of real costs for EVERYTHING that needs minerals), spare 3-4 military units and spare 1 or 2 colony pods, I think SMAC AI would kick your ass swiftly!

It's the difficulty setting of deity in which Civ3 AI recieves those settings and is still stupid enough to lose a game with me.
SMAC AI would hardly lose to any human given the bonuses listed above

[Illuminatus]

CIV III gives bonuses to AI, and AI is generally better programmed for some things than in SMACX. However, it is easy to best it, since it lack creativeness. However SMACX AIs are also not very creative, since they tend to do incredibly stupid things, like crawling minerals from fungus, emptying base and moving garrisons elsewhere while there are rovers in base radius and let's not forget the weird diplomacy actions (several times, AI would declare war on me, and turns later when one of it's units would meet one of my units it would offer unconditional surrender ? ).
In its genre, SMACX is the best. However, I consider it to be best civlike game, since there are other great games, like R:TW, HoI, EU2 etc which tend to play more now than SMACX.

[Chaos Theory]

Originally posted by binTravkin


Man!

Have you seen bonuses which Civ3 AI recieves at the start and through all the game?

If SMAC AI was given +5 industry by default (50% of real costs for EVERYTHING that needs minerals), spare 3-4 military units and spare 1 or 2 colony pods, I think SMAC AI would kick your ass swiftly!

It's the difficulty setting of deity in which Civ3 AI recieves those settings and is still stupid enough to lose a game with me.
SMAC AI would hardly lose to any human given the bonuses listed above

SMAX AI, on Transcend, gets an effect like +3 industry, which can rise to +4 or +5 later in the game. I think I would still stomp the SMAX AI even if it had an extra colony pod and some miscellaneous military units, though it would have a larger window in which to catch me before I had caught up to the AI's boosted start.


To Kirov:

I've forgotten too much about the research predictor tool to search for it effectively, but others here, like Illuminatus, should know.

[Illuminatus]

Here it is - be sure to carefully read rules.

[Mart]

I play both SMAC/X and Civ3. When I compare both games, definitely SMAC wins. Some mods for Civ3 might somehow get closer to SMAC level, but I haven't seen any yet. The main problem with Civ3 is diplomacy and spying. Also lack of customizable units. After SMAC this genre should have always customizable units. And I do not think it is something which cannot be done.

Only one game can make me stop playing SMAC/X - SMAC2

[livid imp]

Civ 3 is extremely stupid in its diplomacy, even worse than SMAC(X). Tiny civs with no military to speak of with demand tribute, over and over again, etc.

Although the tactical AI in Civ3 is a little better than SMACs....but that is like saying cow sh!t tastes better than dog sh!t. Who cares, you dont want to eat either of them.

[WotanAnubis]

I still play SMAC/X occasionally. Usually in great big massive bursts of complete obsession that die down again after a while.

I also once borrowed "Call to Power" from a friend once, but after playing that for a couple o' hours I ran back to SMAC and haven't looked back at any Civ game since.

[H0bbes]

I play pbem's most days, still play against AI in old saved challenges etc. Bought a 2nd hand copy of Civ III, bored me to tears. It's gathering dust somewhere in my study now. Played it less than 10 times.

Hobbes