Where are the giants of yesteryear?

[Hercules]

Where are the Giants of yesteryear?

I wonder where they are now?

Was it that they spotted the exploits early and built their reputations on that .

Or were they truly strategic masters.

I came late to the SMAC/X MP game and have benefited from their wisdom now but those early MP players were very exposed to all sorts of hidden bugs.

[Mead]

Who were they?

What was each known for?

I've only been around since 2003, so I wasn't here when many of the giants were?

I don't even know when the forums, here, and elsewhere, or the game for that matter, started.


Mead


PS
I've been visiting here much less. What will happen once the forum is no longer maintained?

Will the forum, and its archives, be saved somewhere?

Is there some sort of library for these forums?

The old Usenets and Listserves may be saved somewhere. Is it the same for here? There has been much creative thought, discussion, and analysis here over the years. It would be a shame to not retain it.

[Xian]

I remember, I'm not so good with names but there were a number of excellent personalities here. Looking back, this really is the best (most mature and helpful) forum for any single videogame I've ever seen.

[Hydro]

Hi all,

The giants are still around, and they do visit good ‘ol SMAC but also spend time in other venues. There are lots of folks who did amazing things for SMAC. I’ll list a few, and there are certainly others.

Vel(oceryx) – known as Vel, this fine gentleman was a driving force behind integrating the theory and strategy that is now classic to SMAC and SMAX. While he did not invent everything (he did invent a lot), he did a wonderful job in coordinating and drawing out pearls from others. His tour-de-force is Vel’s SMAC Strategy Guide, which compiles this information in a very nicely written and highly useful format. He is also a first-rate fiction writer and was one of the first that posted epic stories here at Apolyton. He is also now an honest to goodness published author with a few books to his name (I am not surprised). You’ll find Vel as often at not at his Cand’le Bree site here at Apolyton.

Googlie is another SMAC/X “integrator” who has offered much of his time working on scenarios, multiplayer (where there is plenty of energy), and lots of good natured help. He also had a good deal of first-rate fiction in ages past, and was incredibly creative in the first SMAC fiction anthology [i[Spartan Chronicles[/i].

There are a number of folks that I consider to be strategists (although that is only one of several talents). Korn was a pure militarist that highlighted the power of what he called chop-and-drop, where you use air power to eliminate defenders and then air drop troops in. You can wipe out an entire faction in one turn, or completely incapacitate and enemy strategically. This was the original shock and awe. Vel was in this category for the economics of SMAC, too (he is an economist, so this is – again – no surprise). Although it was now a long time ago, a number of others come to mind: Chaos Theory, Impaler, Blake, Lazerous. I’m sure I’m forgetting lots!

There are also folks that have worked incredibly hard to offer scenarios and keep the multiplayer community vibrant: Darsnan, Chaos Theory, Googlie, binTravkin, and Illuminatus come to mind quickly, and there are certainly others. MP is one of the jewels of SMAC, and keeping this community active falls to these folks and many others.

For fiction I recall epics by Alinestra Covelia, Darkcloud, Googlie, Raging Mouse, and Vel; a number of terrific short stories, and a large number of anthologies. Of course, Illuminatus has been instrumental in organizing all these works. What is sad is that there were so many gems posted at other forums that I’m sure are now lost.

The C4 SMAC mod is a Herculean effort by many talented folks, many of which are old timers: binTravin, Illuminatus, Rubin, come to mind easily. This is where having SMACers delve into other games like Civ4 is crucial.

So if ever you lament, just remember that the gods still walk among us in other guises. Perhaps with the right call others might awake from their slumber…

Hydro

[Hercules]

Hydro

Thanks for that response. I suppose I was wondering what had happened to the following from ApolytonCGN SMAC/X rankings. (some left suddenly). Anyone know?

buster- supreme master
Blarney
Mongoose- extremely skilled
Krysias Krusader
Misotu - by all accounts, very skilled
Gusto - I was in a game with him until last year.
Northswordsman - very active and then blank
Quantaga- reputedly very sharp.
Mark - very skilled
Paul - again in a game with him and JohnDMuller
Scipio Centaurus - Don't know?
JohnDMuller - in Vets, then Blank?
ShadowLord3 - he still hangs out in Civ 3? Civ 4?
archaic - just stopped.

And then there is:

Big_Canuk
Ogie Oglethorpe (I know he is still around).
Nor am I forgetting Tau Ceti - he is stilll around somewhere.

Now this list doesn't necessarily include the great players, just those who made a mark.

For instance where would Kody sit on any top Smac/X MP list? I don't think he completed a regular MP game, yet few would doubt his ability and justification to be up there..

[Flubber]

My random thoughts on some of those you list

Originally posted by Hercules


buster- I only played him once and he simply crushed me

Mongoose- - -- I had a number of games with him over the years and recently took over a winning position for him-- I recall he disappeared 3-4 years back and it turned out to be a medical issue IIRC. I don't know what caused the latest disappearance

Northswordsman - very active and then blank -- I played Northswordsman more than any other player than perhaps Hercules and Hobbes. In my very first game with him he took over as a replacement for a weak player and then got shanghaied when his plans to double-cross me got accidentally copied to me by own of his co-conspirators. When I attacked he destructed all his bases. I liked his spunk so much we played a bunch more games

Quantaga- I only played him once or twice and he suddenly diappeared-- someone once said they thought he may have died-- third hand so take it with a huge lump of salt

Paul - Played with him many times-- my only transcendence in a PBEM was with him as a co-op partner in an unusual PBEM in that the 4 human players never fired a shot at each other

JohnDMuller - we played a couple of times but the games just stopped

archaic - Again a player I played a fair bit -- I think I lucked out by catching him in one of his first ever PBEMS-- Later I came in as a replacement in a game and archaic was the first player I ever nuked in a PBEM

And then there is:

Big_Canuk-- I only played him once early in my PBEM days-- he came in as a replacement and I quickly became his victim-- I learned a LOT of basic tactics from experiencing them

Ogie Oglethorpe (I know he is still around).-- He still hangs out a fair bit in the off-topic

Nor am I forgetting Tau Ceti - he is stilll around somewhere.-- Tau was the biggest organizer when I played- well he and googlie of course



For instance where would Kody sit on any top Smac/X MP list? I don't think he completed a regular MP game, yet few would doubt his ability and justification to be up there..

To your list I would add googlie and Darsnan as notables. In neither case have I played them enough to know their skills but they are bothn amazing as modders and general CMN types.

And hercules . . . with ALL the games you and I have played, I didn't even get a mention in the "other guys" section . I guess thats the consequence of sticking around

[Hercules]

And hercules . . . with ALL the games you and I have played, I didn't even get a mention in the "other guys" section . I guess thats the consequence of sticking around

Well exactly. The thread is for players of yesteryear. (that is no longer currently active playing SMAC).

Maybe I should have added Chaunk to the above list and Jsitsyoda too. I played with Jamski in one smac game, he was the Hive and he completely ran away with it with an excellent ICS strategy. But I don't recall if he was in many other pbems (apart from the MP democracy game) .


Oh and add shawnmmcc and netwarrier maybe. I never played with shawnmmcc but Maniac rated him.

[RedFred]

The lists above miss hundreds if not thousands of great players that brought life to this community.

I lost my CD and haven't played in about a year... but lately I've been thinking of getting SMAC back off of e-bay.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Hercules


I never played with shawnmmcc but Maniac rated him.

I substituted for shawnmcc for an absence and he was one of the players that knew how to use the instabuild pod pop to greatest effect. This trick/method later became commonly known but for a while there I think he won a few games partly through its use.

[MariOne]

dunno about giants, but talking of yesteryear...

http://apolyton.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=146&pagenumber=1&sortfield=lastpost&sortorder=asc&daysprune=100000&x=15&y=11

IIRC in the beginning Bingmann was out of reach for others, and JAMiAM spanked all opposition before they learned from him and took their revenge..

both were advocates of exploiting the Stockpile bug tho, before it became public knowledge
but they'd have ruled the field regardless

[MariOne]

Big_Canuk-- I only played him once early in my PBEM days-- he came in as a replacement and I quickly became his victim-- I learned a LOT of basic tactics from experiencing them

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14283

[Archaic]

*Waves*
Hello everyone. Been a while. I've been discussing SMAC/X recently on another forum I occasionally post at, and after someone requested the tech spreadsheet, decided I should at least post here once while I was digging around for it. ^^;;

I'm juggling full time employment and post-graduate studies currently, so I really don't have the time to game anywhere near as much as I used to (and I certainly couldn't manage the 2 hour plus turns that I always seemed to end up with in the mid-game). I might pop in occasionally to make a post, but unless there's a dramatic change in my circumstances, like winning the lottery or something, I probably won't be resuming active PBEM play any time in the near future.

[Mr. President]

Well, I still come in once in a while . . .

. . . oh wait, you wanted people of quality.

[Maniac]

Originally posted by Hercules
Oh and add shawnmmcc and netwarrier maybe. I never played with shawnmmcc but Maniac rated him.

Hmm, I never played with Shawnmcc IIRC. Except perhaps for a few turns before the game died as usual.

Anyway, I'm now posting at CFC about Civ4 modding.

[Kataphraktoi]

Most of those guys are MIA for years now. Tau Ceti was still accesible a year ago

You will need to do deep google searches to find them in present occupation(=games) if your really interested in doing so. i found a few a while back. having their orginal email helps a ton for figuring out their likely names

I dont frequent poly anymore but i happaned to need some posting information on panag and stopped by AC on the side