Altera Centauri: The SMAC/X Scenario Repository

[Darsnan]

Scenario Name: D-Day Trilogy Part 1 - D-Day 2150 (US)
SMAC/ SMAX: SMAC
Author: xenofungus
Date of original posting: 9/21/01
Original host site: fileplanet


#caption Hive Supreme Commando
^
^Message to:
^
^General Yang, Commander Operation D-Day 2150
^
^
^Orders:
^
^Conquer the following enemy cities:
^MORGAN INDUSTRIES (Morgan Primary Ressource)
^UN-HEADQUARTER (Carzinome Desert)
^
^Defend the HIVE INVASION ZONE at all cost.

[Darsnan]

Scenario Name: D-Day Trilogy Part 2 - Desert Storm 2162 (US)
SMAC/ SMAX: SMAC
Author: xenofungus
Date of original posting: 9/22/01
Original host site: fileplanet

#caption UN-Admiralty
^
^Message to:
^
^Commander Lal, Commanding Officer Operation Desert Storm 2162
^
^
^Orders:
^
^Conquer the following enemy cities:
^GENERAL YANG´S FORTRESS (southern Carzinome Desert)
^UN-HEADQUARTER (northern Carzinome Desert)
^MORGAN INDUSTRIES (Morgan Primary Ressource)
^
^Defend the UN-COMMAND CENTER, UN-OUTPOST 1 and UN-OUTPOST 2 at all cost.

[Darsnan]

Scenario Name: NGS - Foundation (US)
SMAC/ SMAX: SMAC
Author: xenofungus
Date of original posting: 9/25/01
Original host site: fileplanet

#OBJECTIVES
#xs 440
#caption Deep Space Colony CHIRON
^^SUB-COLONY LEADER:
^^$FACTION1 $FACTION2, $FACTION3
^
^^TARGETS:
^^Establish autonomous bases.
^^Build up an effective infrastructure.
^^Discover advanced technologies.
^^Establish diplomatic relations to the competing sub-colonies.
^^Develop social structures.

[Darsnan]

Scenario Name: NGS - Powerplay (US)
SMAC/ SMAX: SMAC
Author: xenofungus
Date of original posting: 9/24/01
Original host site: fileplanet

#OBJECTIVES
#xs 440
#caption Deep Space Colony CHIRON
^^SUB-COLONY LEADER:
^^$FACTION1 $FACTION2, $FACTION3
^
^^TARGETS:
^^Establish autonomous bases.
^^Build up an effective infrastructure.
^^Discover advanced technologies.
^^Establish diplomatic relations to the competing sub-colonies.
^^Develop social structures.

[Darsnan]

Scenario Name: Its ours
SMAC/ SMAX: SMAC
Author: Dreifels
Date of original posting: 11/27/99
Original host site: Dreifels Alpha Centauri page

this package contents:

"It's ours" ready scenario and map, also half made scenarios if you like to made changes.
made 11.27.1999 by Dreifels

- "pods no tech" means half made scenario where the units and pots already at the starting points are but the tech of the factions isn't already set.
- "cities no tech" means half made scenario where the cities and their buildings are already made but the tech not already set.
- "final" means that all is ready set for start, inclusind techs.

a) the map based on SMACX's planet's map with different changes and additionals
b) a setting with the 7 original SMACX factions
and their original starting tech settings
- Alien factions have always vendetta
- human factions start with 3 cities (3-3-3), all have recycling tanks and recreation commons,
Pirate cities have pressure dome and recreation commens
also the humans have 2 formers, 1 sea former, 3 1-1-1, 1 1-1-2, the pirates have 1 former and 2 sea former and 1 unity transport foil, 3 unity laser ship
- the ALien factions start with 2 cities (2-1) and one free colony pod
then have 1 former, 1 1-1-1 and one Ogre MK1
c) level for all is set to "transcendent"

As the map is really great it's not easy to use it for an IP game, but fine for an PBEM.


Additional remarks:
-------------------
Remember that you've to check the research and the social settings when you make the 1st turn.

The Cyborg's continent looks greater than the others. However, there isn't an advantage as the Alien factions can build soon a city nearby the Ruins and expand to south. The Cyborgs don't have any possibility to prevent that.
So the Cyborgs will have soon contact and vendetta while the other can build and axpance in peace.

In all games I made against the AI and used the Cyborgs, I lost against the Alien soon.
Finding the Wrackage soon isn't a great advantage for the Cyborgs if you play it with open map.

[Darsnan]

Scenario Name: Already There
SMAC/ SMAX: SMAX
Author: Dreifels
Date of original posting: 12/6/99
Original host site: Dreifels Alpha Centauri page

I made 2 different settings:

a) I took the original factions and made no changes in their settings, except
that the Caretakers are set to "exceptionel peaceful) and do have no starting
tech exept the Progenitor Psych and shall have the Applied Physics in 2121.
You must not change the original faction's txt files.
The fixed difficult level is set to Librarian as present we've still a bug in the
higher levels. (This version seems to me being more easy that version "b")

b) I changed the caretaker's settings (to the same like Gaia except negave morale) and gave all human factions additional research
(this may be better for starting the game as multiuser PBEM).

*Important*: In the case that you use this version "b":
before loading the scenario the original "caretake.txt" must be overwritten
by the modified txt file "0-scenario-caretake.txt" that is hereby.
(for easy handling I also attached here the original "caretaker.txt" and 2 batch files, so that you don't forget to set the original back after playing)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(how to play see below)

"Already There"
the explorer cried in panic when coming back. "Aliens, the planet
isn't empty."

For 20 years after landing all humans believed that the planet was
left by its former owners times ago.
However, now they have to understand that the planet isn't empty, that
a very old and powerful race still resides there, sleeping for ages
after a terrible war against their brothers.

Now, when the orbital defence system registered the landing of unarmed
but unknown pods with strange, unknown intelligence, the old, great
automatic system recalled all to awake and they remember the origin
order they got times ago.

Although within the ages of war all technology knowledge was lost, and
furthermore, the old origin order they had, still there are existing
several of the old weapons fully in function, even if none can build
them again today, but ready to be used if an aggressor will disturb
the fulfilling of the old order they are now remembering.

The Humans all do know, both can't live together. The old race's
soldier shall call their fleet as soon as they can, and there is no
alternate system in range to settle instead.

However, as usual, although the Humans are one race, they are all keen
for their own advantages and their different ideology, and their
different intentions may be as dangerous for the other as the old
alien race is.

So happened in the year 2120 on Gamma Centauri

Enjoy!

[Darsnan]

Scenario Name: New Planet Scenario
SMAC/ SMAX: SMAX
Author: Dreifels
Date of original posting: 2/28/02
Original host site: Dreifels Alpha Centauri page

"New Planet"
(build 7)
Scenario is made for SMACX

Map size is a medium between the "Standard" and the "Huge" format.
(that size I always missed on the CDs)

Settings for "New Planet"
-------------------------

Starting Year 2105

Human factions got 1 ready built city size 3,
having already recycling tanks and recreation comm in their HQ
and start with 2 Scout Patrols, 1 Unity Rover, 1 former,
2 free colony pods
(Pirates have escape pods, Angels have 1 Scout + 1 Probe,
Cult have 1 Scout + 1 mindworm)

Alien factions got 1 ready build city size 1 and start with
1 Scout Patrol, 1 MK1, 1 free colony pod
(this difference in the city's size makes the aliens very week,
so I add to the personality of both aliens "shameless betray
human players". If you like to play an alien faction by a human
player you should correct this entry and increase the city's size
for both aliens to 3 and/or give them a 2nd free colony pod)

Energy is as original 10-10-10-10-10-10-10

All settings from standard faction txt files.

[Darsnan]

Scenario Name: Old Planet Scenario
SMAC/ SMAX: SMAX
Author: Dreifels
Date of original posting: 12/25/99
Original host site: Dreifels Alpha Centauri page

SMACX Scenario "Old Planet"
---------------------------

based on map "Old Planet (SMACX Great, 236kb 52x104)"

This scenaro combines the 2 Alien factions of SMACX with
5 human factions from SMAC:

Gaia, Hive, University, Believers, Peacekeepers
and
Caretakers, Usurpers

Start is set to 2105, the year when the Alien arrive.

All human factions got a city size 2 (otherwise Drone ruits
in difficulty "Transcend" will come, or all factions
have to get Recreation Comm at start) and 2 free Colony Pods,
1 Former, 2 Scout Patrols + 1 Unity Rover

The Alien factions got a city size 1, 1 free Colony Pod, 1 Former,
1 Scout Patrol and 1 MK1

The starting tech is original as in SMAC resp. SMACX.

The only exception the University is: as the advantage "one free tech
at start" doesn't work in a scenario after building the 1st city, I
gave the University one tech more: Centauri Ecology (similar to that
I do in a game if I play the Uni).

Starting Energy is set to 50 for all human and to 10 for the alien

----

The Alpha Centauri.ini attached shows how you have to set your
ini so that the original colors and pictures are used.

[Darsnan]

Scenario Name: Alterwars: Buccaneers v1.0 US
SMAC/ SMAX: SMAC
Author: Tres
Date of original posting: 10/4/99
Original host site: Apolyton

Scenario Targets:
Mining Colony ORE-WELL-S23/P3/M2
In the year 2098 Morgan Industries established a mining colony
on the second moon, third planet, planetary system 23.
Nwabudike Morgan, the youngest son of general director Massabe Morgan,
leads this colony to learn the rules of business from scratch.
Due to the barren lands of Ore Well food is very rare.
But Nwabudike managed it to make a contract with Zion Hydroponics Inc.
The ZH Agrar Conglomerates are specialized in Low Gravity Farming in hostile areas.
Agricultural Specialist Miriam Godwinson provides the mining facilities
with fresh nutrients from her hothouses.
Meanwhile the two are running a profitable business.

But profit attracts others also.

The Spartan Liberation Army, as always low on resources and money,
spotted this valuable target.
Short time after, they land a small pirate vessel somewhere in the
wastelands of the Ore Well moon.

Needless to say what their greedy hands want to grab...

[Darsnan]

Scenario Name: Alterwars: Frontline Assembly v1.0 US
SMAC/ SMAX: SMAC
Author: Tres
Date of original posting: 10/4/99
Original host site: Apolyton

Scenario Targets:
Trade Outpost CROOKED CROSS (Outer Colony Ring)
In the year 2077 Morgan Industries established a Trade Outpost on this small world.
Rich Resources and the vicinity to profitable merchant routes made it possible
to become an important part of the industrial empire of Morgan.
Three years later the fast growth of Crooked Cross attracted lots of
urban refugees to settle on this wealthy planet.
Zion Hydroponics Inc. founded a fertile collective of religious farmers and ranchers.
Short time after Crooked Cross evolved to a market that delivers minerals and food
to the whole Outer Colony Ring.

But one day the Spartan Liberation Army (SLA), an interstellar gang of mercenaries,
claimed land on Crooked Cross.
They revealed a dubious contract with FarOutExploration (FOE), the company that
discovered Crooked Cross in the year 2067.
The contract implied that the SLA bought a quarter of the landmass of Crooked Cross from FOE.
And the FLA had good lawyers, so the United Nations Colony Administration (UNCA)
had to hand out the land.

Due to this unique legal decision, the UNCA demanded a constant presence to protect the
rights of the colonists.
The Colony Courts decided to allow an armed police force on Crooked Cross.

Until now the planetary peace is stable. But tensions between the factions are growing...

[Darsnan]

Scenario Name: Alterwars: H2Ostile v1.0 US
SMAC/ SMAX: SMAC
Author: Tres
Date of original posting: 1/10/00
Original host site: Apolyton

AUTOMATED RECORDING >> 01/01/2100 <<
Captain Svensgaard, Command Nexus of the "Scourge of Armagon"

ENGINEERING: "Captain, the Colony Police hit us very hard! Warp core breach is imminent!"
CAPTAIN: "Sensors, status report!"
SENSORS: "Sir, sensor arrays found a m-class planet in this system.
It´s rather small and wet, but the environment seems to be suitable."
CAPTAIN: "Damn Colony Police, i thought our informants were reliable.
I expected in that mining colony no worthy resistance. They traited us.
Well, back to our actual problems. Navigator, prepare standard orbit
around that waterhole."
NAVIGATOR: "Yes Sir! Course laid in!"
SENSORS: "Captain, Police vessels closing. Thir weapons are locked on us!"
CAPTAIN: "Initiate evasive maneuvers. Engineering, what´s about that warp core?!"
ENGINEERING: "Sorry Captain, we have to eject it in about 60 seconds!
We can´t do anything!"
1.OFFICER: "Captain, without the warp core, weapons will not func...
Sir! Hull breach at deck 2, direct hit!"
CAPTAIN: "Navigator, can we hold orbit?"
NAVIGATOR: "Captain, our only chance is an emergency landing!"
ENGINEERING: "Warp Core ejected, Sir!"
CAPTAIN: "Holy nebula! We are going down! All crewmates abandon ship!
Save all valuable supplies, maybe we´ll need it!"
1.OFFICER: "Sir, Police vessels are leaving. It seems we made it."
CAPTAIN: "Maybe, but what awaits us on the surface?"

END OF AUTOMATED RECORDING
STATUS >> AUTONOMOUS COMMAND NEXUS >> emergency landing succesfull

[Darsnan]

Scenario Name: Eye of the Beholder 2009
SMAC/ SMAX: SMAX
Author: Darsnan
Date of original posting: 4/9/09
Original host site: Apolyton

BACKDROP: In MY 2433 several factions discovered the wreckage of a Progenitor interstellar spaceship on the farside of Nessus. After much investigation it was determined that the ships star charts were intact, and that the hyperdrive engine could be cloned.
By MY 2452 the first fleet of scoutships had been built and sent out with a mandate to investigate all of the habitable planets catalogued in the ancient Progenitor ships start charts. The results were mixed: some scoutships return with exciting news of “Eden-class” planets, while other scouts tell tales of planets which had degraded over the eons. Still other scouts fail to return at all….
By MY2475 all of the ideal “Eden-class” worlds have been either colonized, or claimed by the various Factions of Man. This had then led to what was called “The Great Planet Rush” where over the next 25 years everyone who had a spaceship or could afford transit on one rushed to colonize the “moderately habitable” worlds before someone else did. Great fleets of colony ships moved from solar system to solar system via the transit points, or “wormholes”, documented in the Progenitor star charts. For those interested in commerce, the web of transit points whose nexus would be heavily traveled were ideal locations to set up businesses. For those whose endeavors fell outside of the law, wormholes made it very easy for them to target their prey: all they had to do was wait at the outskirts of a wormhole, and sooner or later a ship would fall unsuspecting out of the wormhole and into their grasp…..

PREMISE: The pirate captain leaned back in his command chair, disappointed. Today’s catch had been less than stellar: the Peace Keeper ship Wanderlust had turned out to be little more than a tramp steamer full of refugees bound for relocation settlements on the fringes of human space. Having experienced that life first-hand he knew the peoples in that ship would be living in cramped squalor, and would only have enough supplies to establish a rudimentary existence on their new homeworlds. Now the pirate was faced with what to do with the Wanderlust. He couldn’t just let them go, as they’d immediately report his activities to the authorities. He also wasn’t a bloodthirsty pirate, so blasting the ship out of space wasn’t an option, either. But there were a multitude of “marginally habitable” planets only a few jumps away, places where the environments probably wouldn’t be that much worse off than the resettlement worlds these people were originally destined for. He could simply dump them onto one of these worlds and walk away with a clean conscience, knowing these peoples wouldn’t be found immediately, if anyone bothered to look for them at all….


Sister Prudence looked up into the alien sky as the pirate ship departed orbit. This was a turn of events which had not been anticipated: out on her first foray as a Mission Lead, her directive had been to sheppard a cargo of Progenitor artifacts back to her covenant in order that they could be studied further. That these artifacts were considered contraband by the authorities was beside the point: God had placed them in this universe, so it was deemed by her Mother Superior that no mortal law applied to them. It was simply Sister Prudence’s job to find a way of getting these artifacts back home under the noses of the authorities, and so she had chosen an unassuming Peace Keeper resettlement ship as a means of circumnavigating the authorities. And by relabeling the artifact containers as “religious materials”, she had probably saved them not only from the authorities, but from the clutches of the pirate captain as well. Now it was in these artifacts that she and her Mission may find salvation on this inhospitable world called "Eye of the Beholder".
Sister Prudence’s first scouts had returned earlier, with mixed news: some scouts had reported that there was an enhanced Progenitor Upgrade Station nearby, which would undoubtedly come in handy. However, there were also disturbing reports from other scouts that there were traces of Planet Fungus here. And where there was fungus, there were worms…..


Directions:

1) In your Scenarios subdirectory create a folder called "EotB_2009", and download and unzip the attached files into it.

4/13/09 update: Buster's Uncle updated Datalinks and factional files for me (thanx Buster's Uncle!). Also made the opening game a little easier (hint: review your initial build options for details).

2) Start up SMAX, then select "Scenario", "Play Scenario", and then select the attached EotB file. You will be prompted to choose the difficulty level. Once chosen, the game will automatically load up with Sister Prudence and the Believers.
3) In the Data Links I recommend looking at the basic units types, so you can plan your strategies accordingly.


Alternate Graphics

Buster's Uncle has done some very good work with some new Faction pics. The attached faction_1 thru faction_3 files contain the updated faction graphics. If you would like to use them, then do the following:

1) In your "Sid Meiers Alpha Centauri" directory back up the following files: believe.pcx, caretake.pcx, cyborg.pcx, hive.pcx, morgan.pcx, univ.pcx, and drone.pcx

2) download and unzip the faction_1 thru faction_3 files into your "Sid Meiers Alpha Centauri" directory. Note that these will now be your default factional graphics for the above named faction until you replace them again. Well worth it though, IMO.

Enjoy!

D

[Darsnan]

Scenario Name: Von Neuman's World
SMAC/ SMAX: SMAX
Author: Darsnan
Date of original posting: 7/11/08
Original host site: Apolyton

Von Neuman's World


BACKDROP: In MY 2433 several factions discovered the wreckage of a Progenitor interstellar spaceship on the farside of Nessus. After much investigation it was determined that the ships star charts were intact, and that the hyperdrive engine could be cloned.
By MY 2452 the first fleet of scoutships had been built and sent out with a mandate to investigate all of the habitable planets catalogued in the ancient Progenitor ships star charts. The results were mixed: some scoutships returned with exciting news of “Eden-class” planets, while other scouts return with tales of planets which had degraded over the eons. Still other scouts failed to return at all.
This is the tale of one scoutship which never returned…..



The UN Scoutship Harmony had been mandated to reconnoiter a small string of planets on the farside of the Milky Way galaxy. While not a difficult task, it was a journey of significant length, with the timeframe involved being approximately 10 years relative to their starting timeframe.
The Harmony wormholed out of hyperdrive at their first location designated by the High Council. The star system had been previously unknown to Man and, so had no name. The Harmony’s sensors began to record the data of the system, taking in the local planets, asteroids, type of star, as well as visuals of the surrounding heavens (this at the insistence of the Morganite attachment to the mission, their reasoning being that people would be more willing to move to an alien planet if the night skies contained more ascetically pleasing views than where they currently lived). A habitable planet was located, the Harmony took up orbit, and probes were sent down to the planet to take samples and data.
After a week the crew of the Harmony had enough information to classify the planet as habitable, and duly logged it as such. The next solar system on their list was called up, the Progenitor-cloned hyperdrive activated, and they worm-holed on to their next destination where the process of cataloguing was repeated, the only difference being that the once habitable world in this solar system had degraded over the eons and was no longer considered suitable for colonization. The Harmony worm-holed again, and again waited a week while the automated instruments collected data on the surrounding environs.
It was during their sixth solar system that one of the technicians who had been assigned to examining the Progenitor star charts realized a mistake had been made in the original decoding of the Progenitor star charts: someone had accidentally moved the decimal point during the coordinate translation, meaning their ship would have ended up in the wrong solar system. The technician made the correction, fed the coordinates of the new solar system into the navigational computer, and went about her business, all without ever telling anyone she had deviated from the original flight course the Harmony had filed back in the Alpha Centauri solar system.
The starship wormholed out into the new solar system just as it had countless times before, and its sensors began taking data of the surrounding environs. A prospective habitable planet was located, and the Harmony began the process of entering into orbit. The ship only had minutes to live….


Sister Mary O’Connor sat at her computer terminal on the starship UNS Harmony, reviewing data from the automated sensors. She astutely ignored the nearby University scientists who were reviewing the data in parallel with her: they had a working relationship with her, but other than that each had their own agendas and tended not to intermingle.
The first sign of concern happened shortly after the Harmony had assumed orbit around the identified habitable planet in the solar system. Mary noticed several of the Peace Keeper Operations crew gathering around one of the maintenance terminals assigned to monitoring the health of the starship, with one supervisor providing direction. Mary heard the words “hull breach”, but in a tone which indicated it was a minor affair, that which had happened before and been remedied easily with a meteor patch. The maintenance supervisor who had been called over delegated the responsibility and went about his business. Several minutes passed before another Operations person called for attention, this time slightly more urgently. Another hull breach, again minor, and in a completely different location. Again the Operations Supervisor delegated the responsibility to another subordinate, however this time the supervisor stayed at the terminal. Mary noted from her station that the super began calling up other subsystems and reviewing their status. Most subsystems, once checked, he closed down again. However there were several screens he kept up, and as time went on the number of screens he kept up grew. More alarming to Mary was the growing look of panic on the subordinate's face.
Mary opened a new screen on her own terminal and started a quick diagnostic on the Harmony. To her horror no fewer than 20 subsystems were now showing faults, and the list was steadily growing even as she watched!
Thinking quickly, Mary was able to project that the ship would become irreversibly damaged within 20 minutes, with catastrophic failure to follow shortly thereafter. She made a quick call to the Believer Faction’s quarters and requiring a quick “prayer service” to occur on the C Deck, which happened to be conveniently located next to the Harmony’s escape pods. As Mary got up from her station she noticed the Uni technicians hurriedly moving towards the exit, followed closely by the Hive Security Officer. So, bad news does travel fast! As Mary moved towards the door she caught the eye of the Maintenance Supervisor, who was still at his post. Before she could give him a warning he turned to her and said as calmly as he could, “You’d better hurry”.

The escape pod containing the Believer Faction jettisoned from the Harmony and began its descent to the planet below. Mary manipulated the pod’s controls to give her and her command detachment a better view of their starship: as the escape pod slewed around in response to Mary’s commands it gave them a good profile of the ship, and what they saw amazed them: it was as if the ship were slowly dissolving right before their eyes! Huge chunks of the front section were already missing, and the holes there were growing by the minute, while aft the damage wasn’t as bad but was steadily getting worse. “Did we hit an antimatter field?” she heard someone ask from behind her. “Couldn’t be” someone else replied, “else we’d see explosions from the matter – antimatter collisions”.
“Nannites!” someone else said, almost accusingly, and Mary knew they were right! She’d heard of several Factions back in the Alpha Centauri system who had been experimenting with nannites which could perform menial tasks on the molecular level. What she was seeing here before her went far beyond that however, and it made her shudder. This was science completely unfettered, left to run amok!
What really made her soul grow cold was the thought of what they might find on the world below, a world which they would shortly come to call” Von Neuman’s World”.

Directions

1) In your alpha centauri/Scenarios subdirectory create a folder called "VNW", and download and unzip the attached files into it.
2) Start up SMAX, then select "Scenario", "Play Scenario", and then go to the subdirectory "VNW" and choose the scenario “VNW”. The game will automatically load up with the Believers.

Enjoy!

D

[Darsnan]

Scenario Name: Eye of the Beholder 2006
SMAC/ SMAX: SMAX
Author: Darsnan
Date of original posting: 9/8/06
Original host site: Apolyton

BACKDROP: In MY 2433 several factions discovered the wreckage of a Progenitor interstellar spaceship on the farside of Nessus. After much investigation it was determined that the ships star charts were intact, and that the hyperdrive engine can be cloned.
By MY 2452 the first fleet of scoutships were built and sent out with a mandate to investigate all of the habitable planets catalogued in the Progenitor ships start charts. The results are mixed: some scoutships return with exciting news of “Eden-class” planets, while other scouts tell tales of planets who have degraded over the eons. Still other scouts fail to return at all….
By MY2475 all of the ideal “Eden-class” worlds have been either colonized, or claimed by the various Factions of Man. This then led to what was called “The Great Planet Rush” where over the next 25 years everyone who had a spaceship or could afford transit on one rushed to colonize the “moderately habitable” worlds before someone else did. Now, in MY2500, all that is left are the “less than ideal” worlds. Splinter Factions such as yourselves that wish to emigrate from their current planets are now faced with a bleak prospect: hire a space transport to ferry you, your followers, and whatever belongings you can afford to carry to a planet you know nothing about, other than the guaranteed fact that it will be less than hospitable.
But everyday that you are forced to interact with the atheistic Hive and the self-centered Morganites, and where even in your own Parent Faction your Splinter Group is marginalized for “the greater good” reinforces your resolve to face the unknowns of an unexplored alien world.


PREMISE: The transit from the planet Harmony had been uneventful. The captain, after having his “Captain Morgan Spaced Rum” joke bomb, had discretely avoided contact with your followers. Little was known about the space ships itinerary other than what was obvious: this was a low-end space transport, designed for bulk, not comfort. “Quantity, not Quality” would be the carriers motto if the Truth Police had had their “input” on the subject. It was also obvious that there were several other Splinter Factions such as yourselves on board, each one undoubtedly destined for their own worlds. All the various Splinter Factions had their own reasons for leaving the worlds they had existed on for an unknown destination, but other than this the Factions had nothing in common: conversations on board had been at best coldly polite.


The Proximity Claxon had sounded earlier in the ship-day, and now everyone in your Splinter Faction has been sealed into the lead 3 Re-Entry Gliders, just waiting for the transport to reach the planet’s orbital insertion point and open its bay doors. Behind you 6 more robotically controlled Gliders are loaded with all your equipment that your Faction will need in order to establish a new colony. To pass the time you call up the brief file containing data on your new home:


No formal mention or description of this planet has been recovered from the Progenitor colonization archives. The only reference to this planet came via the Caretaker Science Institute which labeled this planet as a “Science Research Station”.

Planet Specifications
Planet: MY2458-666
Primary: Class M (currently unnamed)
Population: uninhabited
Climate: arid
Temperature: Hot. Note that environmental suits will be needed for prolonged exposure
Gravity: 1.2 standard
Class: habitable

Notes from captain of discovering spacecraft: once it was determined this was not an “Eden-class” planet, we decided not to bother landing. We did a quick scan of the planet, determined the planet met the criteria for being classed as habitable, and then moved on to the next solar system assigned to our spacecraft. Note that I recommend naming this planet “Eye” based on visual observation.

No further entries.


Not much to go on, you think. And no one has bothered to visit here in 42 years! Amazing!
Suddenly the spaceships Emergency Claxon begins sounding and the captain cuts in over your private leader-link, “we have just detected a pirate ship closing fast onto our position! My ship is not designed to maneuver in this atmosphere, and my crew doesn’t have the time to re-secure all of your equipment. I therefore am going to have to jettison your Gliders even though there are Pirates present. Once I’ve outrun the Pirates I’ll come back and ensure you’ve landed safely!”
Despair hits you like a blast furnace, and then suddenly you’re overwhelmed by weightlessness as your Glider is released from its moorings in the bay and follows the two lead Gliders out the back of the space transport. The spaceship captain is still on the commlink, and your barely able to mutter, “understood. Godspeed to you captain!”
The spaceship captain cocks his head oddly and replies, “and may your God go with you. Out.”


MAROONED!

You’ve been waiting 26 hours now, and only the lead three Re-Entry Gliders have arrived at the selected landing zone. 20 hours ago someone had spotted the space transport orbiting by high above. At first there was elation that the ship had returned, then puzzlement as three smaller blips of light separated from the spaceship and headed down towards the surface. Every five hours since the transport had orbited overhead, dropping 3 Re-Entry Gliders, then disappearing again. Others in your Faction were still puzzling at this, but some of the brighter ones had already figured it out: there had been pirates, but not the ones you had been led to believe. The real pirates were Captain Morgan and his crew of the Space Transport! They were using the ruse of a pirate attack to dump all of the Splinter Faction passengers here, while keeping all the Factions equipment for themselves!
You wish you had time to focus on Captain Morgan, but there are more pressing needs, namely survival! While the original scoutship had suggested naming this planet “Eye”, you’ve already decided on a different name: Inferno! By the Gods Prophet it was hot here! And dry! You wonder how the other 5 Splinter Factions that have been dumped here are faring in this weather, and if they had been at all prepared for this.
Your first scouts had returned earlier, with mixed news: some scouts had reported that there was a Progenitor Upgrade Station nearby, which would undoubtedly come in handy. However, there were also disturbing reports from other scouts that there were traces of Planet Fungus here. And where there was fungus, there were worms…..
And all the while in the back of your mind the thought keeps preying on your psyche: it’d been 42 years since anyone has visited this planet. You could be here awhile…



Directions:

1) In your Scenarios subdirectory create a folder called "EotB", and download and unzip the attached files into it.
2) Start up SMAC, then select "Scenario", "Play Scenario", and then select the attached EotB file. The game will automatically load up with the Believer Splinter Faction, "The Conclave".
3) In the Data Links I recommend looking at the basic units types, so you can plan your strategies accordingly.


Enjoy!

[Darsnan]

Scenario Name: Adaptation 101
SMAC/ SMAX: SMAX
Author: Darsnan
Date of original posting: 10/26/08
Original host site: Apolyton

BACKDROP: In MY 2433 several factions discovered the wreckage of a Progenitor interstellar spaceship on the farside of Nessus. After much investigation it was determined the ships star charts were intact, and that the hyperdrive engine could be cloned.
By MY 2452 the first fleet of scoutships had been built and sent out with a mandate to investigate all of the habitable planets catalogued in the ancient Progenitor ships star charts. The results were mixed: some scoutships returned with exciting news of “Eden-class” planets, while other scouts returned with tales of planets which had degraded over the eons. Still other scouts failed to return at all…
By MY2475 the "Diaspora of Man" had begun in earnest, with interstellar colony ships being sent out to the far reaches of the Milky Way as fast as they could be built. However with this explosive growth it soon became apparent that not all of the far-flung settlements were completely self-sufficient, and that to prevent catastrophes from occurring on newly founded colonies, a series of supply transports were desperately needed to keep the remote colonies supplied with all the essentials.
The Nirvana’s Dream was such a ship: built by Morgan Interstellar, it was leased by the United Nations for the sole purpose of re-supplying outposts on the fringes of the ever-expanding bubble of human-controlled space. The ship was crewed by peoples from various factions, each contributing his or her own expertise, and this included one Peace Keeper by the name of Shilpa Sanservanni, whose occupation was Resupply Specialist. In this most mundane of jobs Shilpa was very good: she processed supply requests from various outposts, and ensured her ship was stocked with the correct supplies, and that everything was sorted correctly into the supply shuttles assigned for each outpost.
On this day just like every other Shilpa sat down to her terminal and began by reviewing the requests which had come in during her sleep-cycle. Shilpa methodically went down the list, processing some of the requests herself, delegating others to her staff, sending replies to others asking for clarification on certain points. Approximately halfway through her list she came across a message from a specific University colony which caught her eye immediately. She selected the attached requests list and began skimming down it. Approximately halfway through she came across an entry “Hammer, 1, Multipurpose”. Shilpa immediately selected the embedded comlink to contact the person who had sent her the message, and in short order the visage of a University technician was before her. Shilpa, the personae of the Peace Keeping bureaucrat well in place, immediately came to the point “Yes, I have here a request for one hammer, multipurpose, but you have failed to fill out the data fields regarding to how the device will be used, nor where in your colony you would need such a device. These fields must be filled out before I can process the order for you”.
The technician on the other end of the transmission began replying in the same mundane bureaucratic language, and to all those around them on either end of the conversation it appeared to be just another supply request being finalized. But between Shilpa and her counterpart there were key words being transferred back and forth, verifying both of their authenticity of being Data Angels, and initiating a conversation between the two. The key words they transferred back and forth became sentences, and the sentences became a conversation:

Shilpa: DataJack Hammer here: you have need of me?
DataJack Cosmos: Yes. We have located a new Morganite colony which for some reason doesn’t show on any official records. About all we know is that they appear to have located some new artifacts that seem to be economically related. Currently you are our only agent in this sector.
Shilpa: How urgent is this request?
DataJack Cosmos: very. As you are aware a lot of our infiltration and probe actions are economically entwined. Therefore if the Morganites have discovered some new variant in the economic alghorhythms which control society, it behooves us to find out what they are, and the sooner the better.
Shilpa: send me the coordinates of this unknown colony and I will see what I can do.

Shilpa leaned back in her chair and reflected for a moment: in order to execute this mission, she was going to have to throw away this persona she had maintained over the last few years. She smiled inwardly at herself at the choice: continue on with the mundane existence of a Resupply Specialist, or once again assume the job (and the risks!) of being a Data Angel operative. There really was no choice. Shilpa keyed a comlink to one of her operatives onboard the Nirvana’s Dream, and in the same coded language she had used earlier set the wheels in motion:

Shilpa: Hello Rathmani, could you be a dear and get me a cup of Dalgali Bay Special Blend [I need you to hose the Maintenance Workstation, and force the operator to reset the console]
Rathmani: ah yes, Dalgali Bay. Would you like cream and sugar in that [do you want me to hose it real good?]
Shilpa: yes, please [yes, hose it good].

Shilpa cut the comlink and sat back, thinking about what her next moves would be. First, she needed the Maintenance Console reset in order to activate some replacement coding she’d put in place for just such a situation. From there, well, things would become a little more dicey…..



Janjouri was a Maytag repairman. He didn’t know exactly where that phrase had originated, however he did know that it applied to someone who serviced equipment that didn’t need servicing, and that was his job on the Nirvanna’s Dream. On a day in and day out basis Janjouri sat in his office, doing very little if anything. Every now and again the monotony was broken by the Maintenance Console computer telling him that he needed to replace a widget somewhere onboard the ship. This would take a minimum of time, and then it was back to sitting in the office, doing nothing.
Only today was different: because that clumsy oaf Rathmani had dumped his special blend tea into the central Maintenance Console, Janjouri was now having to go through the console replacing it circuit by circuit. Worse, it appeared that the extra cream and sugar which had been in the drink had really hosed the main console good! Janjouri cursed as, step by step, he rebuilt the entire maintenance console circuit by circuit. Once this was finally completed, Janjouri performed a manual reboot of the system which monitored all of the ship’s functions. Janjouri sweated while he worked: this was much more complicated than anything he had ever had to do before on the Nirvanna’s Dream.
After what seemed an eternity, which included several missteps by Janjouri, the system slowly came back online. While not an overly religious person, Janjouri prayed to what gods he knew that he had followed the steps in the aged manual correctly, and that the system he had rebuilt would work as expected. Janjouri watched as the Maintenance Console ran self-diagnostics, first on itself, then on the interfaces with the various sensor clusters throughout the ship, and finally on the main systems which monitored the engines and life support. Janjouri held his breath as the final sets of diagnostics ticked off the last of the sensor reports, and then surprised himself by exhaling loudly when the system turned green, signifying all was functioning as expected. “All in a days work” he exclaimed to those who had clustered around to watch the maintenance tech work, and then he headed back to his office.
A couple hours later the maintenance console reported that the B-Deck recycling tank had a malfunction, and that the main nutrient filtration unit would have to be replaced. Janjouri cursed: there was almost no worse job than to muck around with than the recycling tank equipment!
Janjouri labored long and hard in the recycling tank, wading through the half-filled tank several times with different componentry, before the maintenance console finally told him the recycling tank was back online. Janjouri stumbled back to his office, and still covered by the muck of the recycling tanks, collapsed into his chair, letting the fatigue of the days events overwhelm him. Never had he ever had a day as bad as this one! For the briefest of moments he thought he heard giggles coming from the Resupply Specialist’s station. Well, what would she know of a hard days true labor? Her job was probably the most boring on this tub!
Janjouri had a pounding and throbbing sensation at the front of his skull from all of the day’s work and frustrations. Just as he was reaching for a sedative the maintenance console chimed again. Janjouri cringed as he turned to view the readout, wondering what the problem was now, and then felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end: the maintenance console was reporting that one of the reactors was overloading! Janjouri, being the good Maytag Repairman that he was, did exactly as the Maintenance Console told him to do: he hit the emergency evacuation button.

Shilpa smiled inwardly to herself as the emergency claxon sounded, signaling that everyone needed to move immediately to the ship’s emergency evacuation pods. It had been all too easy to dupe the maintenance technician into thinking there was a critical system overload. Now, armed with a portable console, all she had to do was wait till everyone was in their escape pods, then she could link into the main network, lock everyone else out of the system, and then the ship was hers. From there it would be a simple matter of taking this ship to the coordinates given her by Cosmos and performing her probe operation against the Morganite colony. The captain and his crew wouldn’t like being locked up in their escape pods for weeks while this happened, but it couldn’t be helped. And besides, the pods were well stocked with the supplies for the colonies they were bound to visit.
Shilpa sat down into the comm seat of her team’s escape pod and jacked her portable console into the net. The console screen came to life, and Shilpa entered her backdoor command in order to gain access to the ship’s operation console. The password was accepted, and the screen changed to that of the ship’s main operation console. However almost immediately the screen blanked, and then was replaced by a commlink window. Shilpa, taken aback by this unexpected turn of events, stared at the person in the comm. window. “Captain?” was all Shilpa could manage.
The image smiled at her and pointed to his ear where there now resided a small skull and crossbones earpiece. “Pirate”, Shilpa stated flatly, a hollow feeling starting to grow on her insides.
The captain of the ship, Captain Rassmussen, smiled malevolently out of the commlink “Probe Team Fail!” he exclaimed, before continuing more matter of factly, “I’ve had my eyes on this ship for quite some time now. And when I finally came upon a method of commandeering her by rewriting some code, what should I find but someone else had already put in place such software”. Captain Rassmussen smiled again, “and so not knowing who had put that code in place, I had to wait until they made their move. And now here we are”.
“Here we are”, Shilpa agreed, not saying anything more for the moment: what she didn’t say couldn’t be used against her.
The captain smiled again (damn that smile was getting annoying, Shilpa thought!), “I have to admit, I never figured it was the resupply clerk. But I guess it fits: someone who had way too much time on their hands, and who had constant access to the ship’s computer network. Tell me Datajack, what were you going to do with the ship once you hijacked it?”
Shilpa, seeing her opening, coiled seductively in her chair, “something that might be worth your while, if your interested….”, she let her words trail off.
The captain ran his eyes slowly over Shilpa, “while I find the offer intriguing, I think I would be too worried that the environmentals to my cabin would stop working some evening.”
Shilpa, seeing that her gambit wouldn’t be picked up on, tried a different tack, “so what are you going to do, make us walk the plank?”
The captain laughed out loud this time, “you’ve been watching too many Morganite recvids: we’re not the cold blooded killers they make us out to be. And besides, your too well stocked in those escape pods for us to wait you out”. The captain motioned to someone offscreen before continuing, “however there is another old pirate tradition that matches more closely with what we plan to do to you and the rest of the crew”.
“And what is that, praytell?”
“We’re going to strand you on what amounts to a 26th century desert isle”.


Shilpa looked up into the sky where the ship that had almost been hers was departing orbit. So close, she thought, so close. And how different the turn of events were that ended up with her and her team here on this small planetoid! The captain hadn’t been lying when he had compared this worldlet to a desert isle: what little water there was here all seemed to be locked away in the strange xenoflora which grew everywhere, and there was hardly any atmosphere at all. Shilpa could also tell the gravity was significantly less than a standard G: this worldlet was definitely going to take some getting used to!
Idly Shilpa wondered how the other groups who had been marooned here were faring, and how well they would be able to adapt to this world. Yes, Shilpa thought, Adaptation was going to be the name of the game on this world, and if her faction were to survive, she and her people had better learn to adapt quickly in this new environment!


Directions

1) In your alpha centauri/Scenarios subdirectory create a folder called "Adapt", and download and unzip the attached files into it.
2) Start up SMAX, then select "Scenario", "Play Scenario", and then go to the subdirectory "Adapt" and choose the scenario. The game will automatically load up with the Data Angels.

Enjoy!

D