to those coming to AC from Civ 4

[nhs_boy]

Well, of course the SMAC leaders are all huge stereotypes - it's a game about the war of ideas!
See, most people interested in a CIV game have a rough idea about the characteristics of the real-world nations that they come up against in those games, but in SMAC the factions were all fictional. In order to make things more playable, they were made out as characters with one-track minds... I bet you never found yourself wondering 'What's Miriam's *motivation* here on planet?' :-D

[Zoetrope]

nhs_boy: since SMAC doesn't implement the _spread_ of ideas in which infiltration would be gradual, therefore the factions spread their influence by (1) conquest (including mind control), and (2) making demands. Apart from those, the game dynamics (such as known technology and immediate needs) change the available and preferred social engineering choices. But there's no way to gradually "convert" populations peacefully. Moreover, there's no way to distinguish a local-born Gaian citizen from a Morgan immigrant.

In MOO2, populations are often (and explicitly) mixed, though under the same government. An interesting cross between MOO2 and SMAC would have e.g. Sakkra population-boom ideology competing on shared worlds with Psilon research priorities.

Seven Kingdoms 2 allows units of any kingdom A to be disguised as members of another kingdom B. Kingdom B seems to control the unit because they can train and employ them as, when and where they like, but Kingdom A is biding its time until the infiltrator reaches a position of sufficient influence, and then A will take control and strike.

As far as the AI players' motivations go, it's clear what they are on paper and what they're programmed to favor. However, it's fortunate that they have some situational "awareness" and so can be in some measure manipulated to change their diplomatic stance.

A simple case is when faction A is hard pressed by faction B, then your faction Y (which A normally dislikes to some degree) steps in to materially defend them. The main obstacle is often faction D which is allied with A but at war with Y, so the strategy is to drive a wedge between A and D, so that A sees pressing need for sustained friendship with Y.

Fpr example, as one of the peaceful factions (Morgan?) I was able to make a lasting friendship with Miriam by defending her from Yang while sneakily ending a beautiful friendship between her and Deirdre (who was being a military thorn in my side).

The trick was to take a Believer base off Yang (making me a friend of Miriam's), then ignite a fuse by gifting the base to Deirdre (causing Miriam demand it back from her ally), then watch the fireworks as Deirdre refused to give up her precious new gift.

So, was I worried that Miriam's love of Fundamentalism didn't align with my ideal social order? Not at all. In fact she remained a staunch and very powerful ally to game's end over a hundred turns later, when she threw her large swag of votes behind me as Supreme Leader over Yang's objection.

[Hydro]

Welcome to new SMAC fans! I first found SMAC when it came out in 1999 and haven't looked back. CIV2 was nice, CIV3 a disaster, and I'll happily sit on the bench for CIV4 for a while. Maybe I'll dive in when the valiant SMAC/CIV4 mod folks get their mod up and running!

Although I like history, the AC format is more interesting due to the SF angle. Also, competing ideologies allows role playing much better than CIV-With-A-Special-Unit-And-Goofy-Picture. Ideologies give a faction a purpose, or a soal. A special unit? **yawn**

Hydro