Crazy idea? Rewriting SMAX from scratch

[Darsnan]

Here are some ideas I had for SMACX 2 back in 2003 . Any of them sound familiar?

I think, from a military perspective, that minefields are a must: give all units the ability to plant minefields (in "X" number of turns), and have the "minefield attack" equivalent to an arty barrage for all enemy units transgressing the mined square. A game I used to play, "Deadlock" had this capability, which I found rather neat. I'd also like to see the ability for military units to "Dig in". Say you have a long border with a questionable neighbor, and want to garrison troops at specific locations along the border in case of intrusion. In the Real World, these troops, given time, then prepare defensive positions, enhancing their defensive capability. In game simply have a command for units to "Dig In", with X number of turns to accomplish this, with an added defensive bonus as long as they stay in that location/ square. Also, concerning cities: since the populace has the capability to riot, and in some instances even defect, why I would think that they might also have the opportunity to actively participate in a battle for their city: make it a function of the attacking enemies Social Choices, as well as what, if any atrocities have been committed by the enemy. On a sliding scale, if the resultant equation equals zero, then nothing happens. If the sliding scale ends in a positive, the populace might actually welcome the invaders, and participate in the expulsion of their current overlords (i.e. increased drone activity). If the sliding scale results in a negative, then an additional unit, representative of the level of negativity "felt" by the city, would be generated, to represent to citizens desire not to be conquered by this specific enemy.

D

[Worker Bee]

Originally posted by Senethro
I remember this thread from my lurking days. There is a lot of shared purpose between this and C4:AC. I had just come up against the modding limitations of SMAC at around the same time.

Yes, I agree. Accomplishing this using CIV would be a lot easier. I don't generally like seeing revivals of a game on another engine though, because they often end up looking generic - not because of the engine, but because a lot of the materials have to be fan made, and you end up with an averaged out, mediocre look. (think fan anime). If you're really doing a revival you might as well go all the way and get every stinking little detail right, and the easiest way to do that is to use the original code - like the Star Control II project did. Even with that one I found myself whining a bit because I played the game on the PC and not 3DO . . .

Why doesn't Firaxis gift the code to somebody? They're not using it any more.

[Harpalus]

Because their have been no serious attempts, to my knowledge, to ask them to do so. To rewrite it from scratch is a big undertaking. I'd be willing to help, but only if I saw that it was going somewhere. I think the best thing to do is see if we can get their source code, and the best way to do that is to show that it would be in their best interests financially. Get a poll going, write up a proposal, and demonstrate that an improved version of the game would generate interest in their other games, and SMAC2 (If it's made, but I think that's likely).

It would be rather difficult, but as I've rambled about -- don't count on them giving us the source code out of the goodness of their hearts, you have to demonstrate that they'd make money out of it somehow.

[Worker Bee]

Harpalus - okay. I don't know if Natalina is still interested in this thread; if s/he is, then perhaps (she) could put up that design doc she was talking about.

Otherwise, my sentiments are closer to Nword's - for a first step I just want a few bugfixes. I don't see convincing Firaxis to give anybody code without something substantive already done, so sometime (meaning in the one month range, probably) I'll see if I can come up with a conservative list of things to start looking at.

WB

[Harpalus]

If we're going to attempt this then I can help write up the actual proposal.

I also happen to think we should seriously attempt this. It wouldn't take too much effort on our parts to ask, and at the very least it would show them that there is still interest in new SMAC patches. It's worth a shot.

[ForesterSOF]

I could say do it all I want; however, I do not have the knowlege or programs to do anything but test it; so Iwill leave the decision to those that would have to do the work.