SMAC 2 Storyline

[livid imp]

In various threads there has been general skepticism about SMAC 2 and more specifically a possible story line for it.

But to me a plausible story seems embarrassingly simple in my eyes:

Humans go to Transcend, something goes wrong (fill in the blank), the Transcendance doesn't happen and the fungal bloom is still coming. The humans make preparations to launch small colonies back into space and subsist on resource satellites until the fungal bloom is over. Once the fungal bloom is over, humans return to Planet's surface to rebuild the destroyed civilizations from scratch again. This time a little wiser for the wear.

Thoughts?

[Darsnan]

How about this: by MY 2473, several Factions have established themselves as the dominant forces in the Alpha Centauri solar system. Planet Busters, Drop Units, helicopters armed with Nerve Agent, and growing hordes of native lifeforms make it clear that, with a single spark, Planet could very well go the way of Earth, and erupt into devastating global warfare!
In these most ominous of times, several minor factions discover the wreckage of a Progenitor interstellar spaceship on the farside of Nessus. In utmost secrecy the Factions agree to pool their meager resources and reverse-engineer the alien spaceship, hoping that by using the interstellar drive they can find a new home, free from the dominion of the dominant Factions on Planet.
After much discussion, the Faction leaders agree that their destination is to be an Eden-like planet labeled on the salvaged Progenitor star charts simply as “Colony: Failed”.
By MY 2492, 1,000 years after Columbus made his historic voyage, the spaceship Santa Maria is ready, and the hyperjump is made to the Beta Lyrae solar system.
However, upon arriving in-system, the spaceships sensors indicate that the planet chosen for colonization is not the pristine Garden of Eden listed in the Progenitor database, but an eroded wasteland, showing only brief glimpses of what this planet must once have been like.
Discouraged by this turn of events, a council is called, and it is agreed that another promising solar system is to be chosen for the purpose of colonization.
Just as the Progenitor-cloned hyperdrive is being activated, a strange alien spaceship materializes in the space above you, attacking your spaceship and sending it into a decaying orbit around the planet below, known as Beta Prime.
Now, armed only with what you could hastily salvage from the spaceship, you must begin anew on the former Progenitor colony planet of Beta Prime!


Anyways, it doesn't even have to be Beta Prime. Armed with a Progenitor cloned spaceship, as well as the Progenitor starcharts, you can go pretty much anywhere in the "known" galaxy.

[Commy]

I think it will be a little hard for making a sequell to SMAC...think about it now...

When they made civ 3, all they really did was make a bunch of civs, this time more civs, and added more features, better graphics, better stuff, you get the point...

For the most part, they are all the same thing, civ 3 is just a lot better and more developed...

However, because SMAC 2 has a storyline, any sequel would usually have to be a continuation of the story...

There are two problems with this...

First off, the story hasn't ended, because you are the one who plays the game and makes the story...

Second, if Transcendence is an option, and it is the highest form of being, its kind of hard to make a sequel off that...

Now true, as stated in previous posts, you could take the progenitor story and claim the attempt failed...but now you are going to have new factions and what not that are basically the same as the originals....so chances are the only sequel is going to be a big upgrade in graphics and technology and features...

However, because there are already so many complexities and features, Firaxis would really just be creating a mod with better graphics and sound...

I really would like to see SMAC 2, and I like the idea of human transcendence failing as a sequel, but I just don't see something like that making too much money, which is unfortunate, because I bet we'd all like to see it...

[Xian]

Since when do sequels have to CONTINUE storylines? wtf this is a simulation game have we all lost our mind?

Does simCity 2000 continue the story of the original?!
Does Civillization II pick up from where Civ I left off?!

Of course not. Even games liek doom3 dont do this.

If a SMAC 2 is ever made it should be a refined version of SMAC 1's and SMAX's story line, perhaps modifying or adding on to the concept of factions but otherwise being a remake.

Its silly to attempt otherwise

[Bkeela]

SimCity and Civ don't have stories. They have just a loose premise of development. SMAC has a very strong story line for a turn based strategy game, so it does warrant some kind of continuation.

The idea of transcendance failing is totally unnecessary. It is a cheap gimmick. I believe transcendance doesn't equal humanity becoming omnipotent. I assume transcendance to be equivalent of the fool on the hill: it is a state of mind.

I want to see the fungus and transcendance disposed of in the sequel. I want the goal of SMAC II to be the terraforming of a planet, like depicted in the Mars books.

Perhaps those who refuse to join the fungus collective get evicted. They then seek out another planet in the Centauri system suitable for terraforming. Eventually a whole new set of factions develop, as they naturally would, and the show goes on.

The KISS principle is essential. Leave the convoluted plots for anime producers.

[dacole]

Disagree Bkeela the kiss principle is what is going to destroy civ III. Transcendence using the game quotes seems to be to equal God like ability but been awhile since I've transcended . Anyway what moved Alpha Centauri above Civ and made the one of the best games of all time (and still tied for the highest rating ever given by pc gamer) was the incredible story getting rid of it would be a mistake. Civ with story is a wonderful idea that should be continued.

[Darsnan]

Originally posted by dacole
what moved Alpha Centauri above Civ and made the one of the best games of all time (and still tied for the highest rating ever given by pc gamer) was the incredible story - getting rid of it would be a mistake. Civ with story is a wonderful idea that should be continued.

I agree wholeheartedly with this response! Hopefully Civ 4 will have the software hooks in place to build a storyline into the game, so that if and when the SMAC fanbase decides to mod the base Civ 4, we can build our own storylines into the game. From the answers posted above, it appears that there is a wide divergence of opinion as far as what direction SMAC 2 should go, and hopefully there will be enough interest (and capability within the Civ 4 software) to build several versions of SMAC 2 off of the base Civ 4 platform.


D

[The diplomat]

If you wanted SMAC2 to a space empire building game like MOO2, you could easily have a storyline where the transcended lead a faction of non-transcended humans to colonize the galaxy. The player would play the role of the transcended leader of this faction. This could explain well the "guiding spirit" concept of civ games. You would literally be the guiding spirit of your empire. Obviously, as you explore the galaxy you would encounter the other transcended factions, the Progenitor race and other alien races.

A SMAC2 storyline that I would find very intriguing would be where the human factions return to Earth and attempt to rebuild a post-apocalyptic Earth. You would compete with other SMAC factions that also returned to Earth, as well as factions of humans that survived. Part of the fun of the game would be reconnecting with Earth's history, as you would find ruins from before the Unity left for Alpha Centauri. Imagine finding ruins of NYC or Paris? And you would find clues to what happened to Earth after Unity left so the player would gradually piece together what happened to Earth.

[livid imp]

Originally posted by Bkeela
transcendance doesn't equal humanity becoming omnipotent. I assume transcendance to be equivalent of the fool on the hill: it is a state of mind.

Transcendence is very clear actually. The fungal bloom is coming, when it does it is going to kill all the humans and destroy everything man-made. So the humans transcend into the neural net of the fungus. Remember that Planet is a living entity, and the fungus is its brain cells so-to-speak. So the humans transfer their consciousness into the fungus and actually become "one" with Planet leaving their bodies behind. This effectively wrecks 99.99% of any story lines. So transcendence has to fail.

And I hate the Progenitor storyline, I'd be happy to keep any part of it out of the sqeuel too.

[Proteus_MST]

Originally posted by Darsnan
How about this: by MY 2473, several Factions have established themselves as the dominant forces in the Alpha Centauri solar system. Planet Busters, Drop Units, helicopters armed with Nerve Agent, and growing hordes of native lifeforms make it clear that, with a single spark, Planet could very well go the way of Earth, and erupt into devastating global warfare!
In these most ominous of times, several minor factions discover the wreckage of a Progenitor interstellar spaceship on the farside of Nessus. In utmost secrecy the Factions agree to pool their meager resources and reverse-engineer the alien spaceship, hoping that by using the interstellar drive they can find a new home, free from the dominion of the dominant Factions on Planet.
After much discussion, the Faction leaders agree that their destination is to be an Eden-like planet labeled on the salvaged Progenitor star charts simply as “Colony: Failed”.
By MY 2492, 1,000 years after Columbus made his historic voyage, the spaceship Santa Maria is ready, and the hyperjump is made to the Beta Lyrae solar system.
However, upon arriving in-system, the spaceships sensors indicate that the planet chosen for colonization is not the pristine Garden of Eden listed in the Progenitor database, but an eroded wasteland, showing only brief glimpses of what this planet must once have been like.
Discouraged by this turn of events, a council is called, and it is agreed that another promising solar system is to be chosen for the purpose of colonization.
Just as the Progenitor-cloned hyperdrive is being activated, a strange alien spaceship materializes in the space above you, attacking your spaceship and sending it into a decaying orbit around the planet below, known as Beta Prime.
Now, armed only with what you could hastily salvage from the spaceship, you must begin anew on the former Progenitor colony planet of Beta Prime!


Anyways, it doesn't even have to be Beta Prime. Armed with a Progenitor cloned spaceship, as well as the Progenitor starcharts, you can go pretty much anywhere in the "known" galaxy.

I like this storyline,
especially as it gives you the otpion to choose the planet you wish to colonize.
That was something I already liked about "Outpost" (there you could send up to 4 Probes to other solar systems and afterwards had to decide where you wanted to send your Colonyship to, with each solar system having planets of different habitability.)

[Bkeela]

The idea of returning to Earth is very intriguing. The suspense of finding out what happened would involve you through to the conclusion.

I just don't understand what transcendance actually means in practical terms. I know about the transfer of consciousness, but surely the planet mind or whatever it is, is still bound by the same laws of physics as other creatures. It surely cannot have omnipotent powers, and must depend upon physical agents to do its work?

I think we can all agree that story is essential. I wonder if Warcraft III type cut scenes would work with a TBS? It might be too intrusive. I feel the main story of SMAC was conveyed in the wonder movies. There were interludes, but I turned them off after the first run through.

[livid imp]

Originally posted by Bkeela
It surely cannot have omnipotent powers, and must depend upon physical agents to do its work?

Exactly my point. If you have transcendence you no longer have a story cause all you have are a bunch of minds stuck in Planet forever (sounds like hell to me) After the bloom there would be no "humans" with human bodies to go colonize that next planet, etc. You have to eliminate transcendence from the story to keep it going.

[livid imp]

Originally posted by livid imp
And I hate the Progenitor storyline, I'd be happy to keep any part of it out of the sqeuel too.

Just to clarify, I am not gunning for your sub plot Darsnan. I just hate the whole 'deus ex machina' style of writting where aliens have to materialize out of nothingness to advance the story line. There is enough danger in the environment and more than enough danger in our fellow man, we don't need flying a squid men from to push the plot forward.

[Darsnan]

Originally posted by livid imp


Just to clarify, I am not gunning for your sub plot Darsnan. .

Aaahhhh, and I was hoping you and I could get into a flame war over this!

Anyways, IMO the SMACX universe is big enough that there are a myriad of options available for plotlines/ subplots/ etc. for a SMAC2, that it really doesn't matter who thinks who is right or wrong. After all, we're only discussing our opinions on the subject matter, and not like anyone is making any decisions concerning the discussions....
So, no, I didn't think you were gunning for my subplot, and efven if someone does gun down my ideas, why it really doesn't matter because its not changing anything....

Or is it?


D

[Xian]

Originally posted by Bkeela
SimCity and Civ don't have stories. They have just a loose premise of development. SMAC has a very strong story line for a turn based strategy game, so it does warrant some kind of continuation.

Its true that Smac has a storyline, but its designed to be very weak and not limiting to the players actions. it certainly DOES NOT warrant any continutation. Smac is a simulation, not an adventure game

If a Smac 2 is made, it should be a remake, not a "sequel"
Its impossible to make a "continuation" of a strategy game where you decide the outcome

A return to earth scenario would still be impossible to do since youd have to have a huge setup for all the factions that suvived the first round (by the end of the game theres usually just one faction completely dominant anyway, assuming some type of winning scenario happned.

and of course you could no longer ranodmize the map