Why is Alien Crossfire 120$ on Amazon?

[The diplomat]

I looked for SMAC/X on Amazon and to my dismay and shock, it is selling for 120$ when SMAC is selling for like 5$.

[CEO Aaron]

Because it's never been re-issued. SMAC has been a part of numerous bundles, but for some reason they've never included the expansion, as far as I know.

[vyeh]

Isn't SMAX part of the Planetary Pack?

[FullMetalJack]

Originally posted by vyeh
Isn't SMAX part of the Planetary Pack?

Yes, it is and updated to v4.0/v2.0 too straight off the CD.

[CEO Aaron]

Hmn. Then I have no explanation.

[Marid Audran]

The Planetary Pack, and the Laptop Collection, both issued by EA, (both include SMAC & SMAX) had a very small production run. This explains the exorbitant prices vendors set (as well as that of the expansion alone).

Thief Gold, System Shock 2, Planescape Torment, Arcanum, are similarly out-of-print titles starting to be pricier than the norm of used titles but are still quite affordable. A comparitive title to SMAX price-wise is The Kilrathi Saga, a Windows-compatible re-bundling of the first three Wing Commander games, which, upon recent examination at Amazon.com goes for $175.00

[MoNoLitH]

Well hell, I'm glad I grabbed my copy of the Planetary Pack when I did!

It took me about 4 years to finally get my hands on SMAX. Ironically, I think I prefer SMAC over it, but it's still worth having.

[vyeh]

SMAC was a well-thought out game. SMAX is like a wish list of additions. All together, there are some unbalanced aspects.

I do like the native life additions: spore launcher and fungal tower basically added artillery and bases to the natives.

The Manifold Nexus is nice.

[Marid Audran]

I also liked the facilities to make seabases bear more fruit, and also a seafaring faction palatable. The new factions are, admittedly, more far-fetched than any of the original SMAC and lack a little credibility. Only the Pirates, IMO, are able to stand on their own in that regard.

On the other hand, with the XP, one's modding options are increased.

[Hydro]

Pirates?!!! Wow, I thought they were more daft than the other SMAX factions. Ahoy Matey! Shiver My Timbers! Ack. Just my own blighted opinion, though.

The SMAniaC mod has a few nice factions, two of which are aquatic. One is a Gaian Gone To Sea (Bree) who start with an IoD (!!!). The other is kind of like a pro-growth sea-based PKs hybrid (Atlantians). Maniac invited me (heck, anyone!) to write a back story for his factions. I haven’t given it a go, yet (**hhmmmmmmm**).

Hydro

[Marid Audran]

Beyond the walk-the-plank cliches which awful dreck like the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise have perpetuated, pirates have a legitimate history and cycle of operations. Consider the early 18th century when things got so bad with those numerous pirates' nests in the Caribbean that the Royal Navy in England had to get directly involved. Some of them were even born leaders and bucked the stereotypes, like Bart Roberts. Not organized enough to probably qualify for "factional" status but then they are, in my opinion, the best of a bad lot:

Data Angels: Hacker nation? Give me a break. As if there would be enough members to fill out those lowly former-driving and factory-assembly drone positions when all the l337 probe ranks are taken. They would lack the discipline for a proper government & economy. If anything they would be an underground movement in another, more legit faction, like the PK or Morganites.

Cult of Planet: Jim Jones via way of Heaven's Gate led by a eunuch turned Eco-terrorist? Enough said.

Cybernetic Consciousness: A little too borg-esque, and the resources to maintain a "collective" such as this sort of streches the limit of credibility, like they would require -4 support from the onset.

Drones: A little better, but again, they would more exist as a subculture, sort of an anarchist-activist super-union than a real faction, where obviously there would exist a caste of power and responsibility and priority on different levels that the spirit of the Drones would reject as too bourgeois. Or these Chiron Bolsheviks, after their Red October, would eventually turn Maoist or Stalinist, i.e. like the Hive.

SMAX's weakest link is in their new factions, verily, lacking the gravitas and credibility of the original 7 but I still use them, as well as a couple others of my own design (one faction that's a cross betwixt Gaian and Hive and another that's a seafaring cross betwixt PK & Morgan), for spice.

[Hydro]

Data Angels: agreed. Weak ideology with little flavor.

Consciousness: I like the idea of a cybernetic society, but wonder how it could be established in the tech and resource poor beginnings of the humanity’s stay on Chiron. I can buy the ideology, though, and think the factions abilities are about right.

Cult: I don’t mind the Cult (even if Cha Dawn is more than a tad annoying). They are a more extreme version of the Gaians. There certainly is an ideology, though – blood makes fungus grow.

Drones: OK, I can maybe buy this one. I can see how they would be a splinter of the Hive – a collective without the mind-bending social control and the pseudo-Confucian philosophy.

Pirate: my main beef is that they could do MUCH better for an aquatic faction. Raiders do not build civilizations, even if they are created and used by a civilization as a means to an end. That is why I like Maniac’s aquatic factions (if you need aquatic factions at all) better since I can see them as a civilization with a reason for more than mayhem.

That said, I agree with you that the original seven are much better than any of these since the ideology and mechanics are clear.

Hydro

[Darrell01]

SMAX is $120 because the Drones (Unions) have to get thier dues, the Conciousness needs to raise itself to a new level, the Planet Cult needs its dues for you to become a member, the Usurpers and Caretakers need thier fees so you can play the game and the Pirates/Data Angels (Pirates and Hackers) are copying the CDs and putting out hacked .exe that make it so you don't need the CD. All this raises the price and Firaxis still needs its share. Its all in the distribution process.

[kittenOFchaos]

Anyone wanting to buy my planetary pack off me for $120, I'd sell for $80 as well

I think I've two copies in fact...

SMAX is rubbish, SMAC is awesome, why would anyone want to contaminate a good game with nonsense like the Data Angels and such as well as stupid Aliens?

[Marid Audran]

[SIZE=1]
SMAX is rubbish, SMAC is awesome, why would anyone want to contaminate a good game with nonsense like the Data Angels and such as well as stupid Aliens?

Most mods out there require SMAX compatibility. That's probably the biggest draw for here on Apolyton. Additionally, there is more mod customability with SMAX's bells and whistles. Some of the new facilities and unit abilities are cool.

Agree with you for the most part concerning the aliens and the new factions. For my part, SMAX is mandatory primarily because my own mod uses it!