Vote for SMAC2 at firaxis.com

[Darsnan]

Originally posted by mart7x5
SMACX was done as commercial product. Firaxis spent some time on it within their limits, that were set up by financial reality. After 6 years of playing it, the community of this game knows it probably better than the team that created it, in the terms of strategies or visible game mechanics, that one hardcoded is sometimes difficult to see, if you do not have the source code.

So I think that many people here around can improve the game at various places and not sacrifice its depth.
E.g.
AI using crawlers better
AI better in using land transports
better naval combat.
etc.

[AoA]

mart and darsnan,
Maybe you're right and maybe I'm too much of a Chicken Little. I still play SMAC daily and never play SMACX feeling that it unbalanced the game. Especially problematic was the inclusion of the Aliens which removed the diplomatic victory as long as they still lived.
I would love to see an improved AI and the inclusion of new balanced factions.
I just fear that the depth will be lost and the game will be dumbed down to open the game up to the uninformed masses...like in Civ3, which to me was a big diasppointment. I guess I followed yin's Civ3 List posts too closely.
Maybe Civ4 will restore my faith in Firaxis and then I'll be all on board for SMAC2.

Who am I kidding? I'll spend my money on SMAC2 no matter what. I just hope I'll play it....look at me worrying again.

[Mart]

AoA,
Play SMAX with original factions. You will have no aliens.
Aliens are more for roleplay purposes, as they are too strong factions.
SMAX has its little things that are a bit difficult to get used to, but it is characteristic for SMACX

[AoA]

The last few times I played SMACX, I would only use the original factions. I find myself needing to avoid certain units/buildings to keep the game challenging. For example, the Resonance 3 armor comes too quickly for my liking in SMACX and even though I like to play a nice, peaceful, nobody bother me, style of game, R3 armor makes it incredibly easy to ward off insane Miriam or Yang in the beginning. And the SP that gives you free air facilities (I can't think of the name right now but it has the Drone's voiceover in the movie) I just avoid it. Too easy that way with the satellites.

Plus, and probably more importantly, I don't have to run SMAC off the disk on my laptop, so its easy to go. I'm lazy.

Your comment about SMACX being a commercial product is the big worry. SMAC2 will be sold for the masses, not for the fans and I see what happened to Civ3, which I hated. Civ4 may shape up to restore my faith in Sid.

BTW, I did vote a bunch for SMAC2
(edit for grammar)

[Darsnan]

Originally posted by AoA
BTW, I did vote a bunch for SMAC2

I think all that poll proves is that our SMAC(X) Community is more organized/ more motivated in ensuring our option is on top, versus the Col2 fans!

Originally posted by AoA
The last few times I played SMACX, I would only use the original factions. I find myself needing to avoid certain units/buildings to keep the game challenging. For example, the Resonance 3 armor comes too quickly for my liking in SMACX and even though I like to play a nice, peaceful, nobody bother me, style of game, R3 armor makes it incredibly easy to ward off insane Miriam or Yang in the beginning. And the SP that gives you free air facilities (I can't think of the name right now but it has the Drone's voiceover in the movie) I just avoid it. Too easy that way with the satellites.

Yah, I personally can't play a computer generated "normal" game anymore: too many times I'll get 50 turns in, run into an AI, and their first request is "Heah, can you give me Centauri Ecology?" meaning they haven't even bothered to terraform a damm thing yet! . Instead I prefer to beef up the AI's in a scenario format, then play against these - I've found this approach can lead to some really unforgettable games! btw have you tried playing any of the SP Challenges that have been posted over @ CGN ?

Originally posted by AoA
Your comment about SMACX being a commercial product is the big worry. SMAC2 will be sold for the masses, not for the fans and I see what happened to Civ3, which I hated. Civ4 may shape up to restore my faith in Sid.

Hopefully cIV will be succesful, and that a lot of the credit will go to the Beta Testers and feedback from the community. This then would encourage Firaxis to really utilize the online communities for game development in the future, which should then result in games more inline with what the communities anticipate for "Next Generations" of their games.


D

[Chaos Theory]

Originally posted by AoA
For example, the Resonance 3 armor comes too quickly for my liking in SMACX and even though I like to play a nice, peaceful, nobody bother me, style of game, R3 armor makes it incredibly easy to ward off insane Miriam or Yang in the beginning.

You know, Plasma Steel is available pretty early, too. It's just three techs deep, and several factions start with one of those techs. I find that I almost never use resonance armor, because it's so expensive (equivalent to Photon Wall).

Plus, and probably more importantly, I don't have to run SMAC off the disk on my laptop, so its easy to go. I'm lazy.

There are several easy ways around that.

[AoA]

I don't think I've done any of the SP challenges at CGN. I mostly worked on all the old challenges here (One City, No SP's, No SE changes).
Now I spend a lot of time on being an underdog, like allowing the AI a huge lead and seeing if I can come back, or trying to get all 7 to survive and be Pacted with me when I transcend or maybe no improvements/forming. Just little things to play around on a Tiny map.

Sometimes it takes me a while to go to Plasma Steel with blind research on...but that only make is more dangerous

I guess I never went forward with finding ways around the copy protection. A long time ago, I got a virus and so really avoid any potentially harmful sites.

[Dygash]

i like the idea of playing an ongoing game on handheld, musing over strategies and turns whilst away from the pc. I dont want to see it on other devices as handheld would be a great expansion feature for the game.

[PJayTycy]

This poll has been replaced.

[Kataphraktoi]

Its still up,i voted for it.

i also voted for the new poll. when prompted for new civs, i added ''confederate states of america'' in the 'other' box

[Illuminatus]

Originally posted by Kataphraktoi
Its still up,i voted for it.

Where is it then? I searched for it but I couldn't find it.

[Darsnan]

Originally posted by Illuminatus


Where is it then? I searched for it but I couldn't find it.

Click on Slappy's link - that'll take you to the poll.


D

[Illuminatus]

Thank you very much Darsnan.

To clear up the confusion: although the old poll cannot be longer found in poll/surveys section, the old link is still functioning: http://www.firaxis.com/community/polls.php.

The poll/surveys section now points to the new cIV poll whose address is: http://www.firaxis.com/community/polls.cfm.

The current results are:

1. Which Sid Meier’s game/series (past or present) would you most like to see remade?

Percent Answer

43% Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri
1% Sid Meier’s Sim Golf
1% Sid Meier’s Gettysburg!
31% Sid Meier’s Colonization
1% Sid Meier’s Covert Action
3% Sid Meier’s Railroad Tycoon
1% Gunship
1% F-19 Stealth Fighter
1% Red Storm Rising
11% Silent Service
8% I don’t care about remakes, give me something new!


2. What is your gaming platform of choice (aside from the PC)?

Percent Answer

27% Xbox
29% PS2
18% 'Cube
26% Handheld or Mobile


3. Do you frequently play games on a laptop as well as a desktop PC?

Percent Answer

45% Yes
55% No


4. Graphics or Gameplay?

Percent Answer

2% It’s gotta be pretty
51% Balance is the key
47% Who cares about graphics?

[Petek]

It appears that the results of the poll had little influence on Firaxis' decisions. They're remaking Railroad Tycoon, which only received 3% of the votes.

I think this thread may now be "detopped".

[binTravkin]

Probably Tycoon was already planned before, so we'll need to keep our eyes open on what comes next.