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I’ve been playing SMAC since it came out in 1999 and I have to admit it holds a strange attraction even after all these years. However, I’ve thought about what keeps it ‘fresh’ and concluded that, depending on the circumstances, that it has not always been ‘fresh’. There were lengthy periods (months) when I didn’t do any SMAC. However, a few things have reinvigorated SMAC periodically:
* Starting again after a hiatus – as strange as it may sound, leaving SMAC for a while does make it feel new(er) when I return. It is easy to slip into one-more-turn, just like back in 1999.
* Multiplayer – I’ve had the good fortune to had quite a few multiplayer games, and these are always much more challenging. Of course, I role play my MPs and usually have restrictions set before we start. Quite a few of my MPs became quite heated, and it is very particular that I took actions by my opponents and the AI very personally – and acted accordingly. I find the blood-makes-grass-grow type MP to be pretty uninteresting since it tends to put the players in a straightjacket (e.g. – if you don’t do certain things or B-lines you’re typically doomed), but I love role-playing MP.
* Fiction – my MP tends to be an outlet for fiction, so I get to be a little creative. It also helps in immersion within the atmosphere of that particular game, and in making a turn more important.
* Special setups – one of the criticisms of SMAC is that the AI is more than a tad weak. To combat this some skilled folks out there have uber-AIs and special setups that give them a good boost. Googlie has set up a few games for me (MPs) where I was really concerned I was going to get run over, and had to make very hard decisions.
* Mods – I shied away from mods for a long time, but I recently tried the SMAniac Mod and was very pleasantly surprised. The tech tree had a very different flavor and, frankly, I’ve ended up liking it better than SMAC/X. This Mod had 7 of its own (very well crafted) factions, which is kind of strange, but I ended up liking that too even if some don’t have a great ideological underpinning. Also, the SE works differently – as do inter-faction SE-related diplomacy. Overall this mod made it a very different game. I suspect other mods are, too, and I hope the upcoming SMAC cIV mod will be the same.
Happy holidays all!
Hydro
* Starting again after a hiatus – as strange as it may sound, leaving SMAC for a while does make it feel new(er) when I return. It is easy to slip into one-more-turn, just like back in 1999.
* Multiplayer – I’ve had the good fortune to had quite a few multiplayer games, and these are always much more challenging. Of course, I role play my MPs and usually have restrictions set before we start. Quite a few of my MPs became quite heated, and it is very particular that I took actions by my opponents and the AI very personally – and acted accordingly. I find the blood-makes-grass-grow type MP to be pretty uninteresting since it tends to put the players in a straightjacket (e.g. – if you don’t do certain things or B-lines you’re typically doomed), but I love role-playing MP.
* Fiction – my MP tends to be an outlet for fiction, so I get to be a little creative. It also helps in immersion within the atmosphere of that particular game, and in making a turn more important.
* Special setups – one of the criticisms of SMAC is that the AI is more than a tad weak. To combat this some skilled folks out there have uber-AIs and special setups that give them a good boost. Googlie has set up a few games for me (MPs) where I was really concerned I was going to get run over, and had to make very hard decisions.
* Mods – I shied away from mods for a long time, but I recently tried the SMAniac Mod and was very pleasantly surprised. The tech tree had a very different flavor and, frankly, I’ve ended up liking it better than SMAC/X. This Mod had 7 of its own (very well crafted) factions, which is kind of strange, but I ended up liking that too even if some don’t have a great ideological underpinning. Also, the SE works differently – as do inter-faction SE-related diplomacy. Overall this mod made it a very different game. I suspect other mods are, too, and I hope the upcoming SMAC cIV mod will be the same.
Happy holidays all!
Hydro
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