Nubie With a Scenario Idea

[Mars Walwyn]

Hello.

I'm new here, but I've had SMAC and SMAX for several years now; I just haven't previously located this site.

First off, I don't have Civ 4, and I don't think my old gizer of a machine could even run it.

Thus, this scenario idea is for the original game, not the Civ 4 mod, so you all know.

Anyways, my idea is a scenario covering the colonization of the Moon in the near future. It thus kills Planet and assumes contact with Earth (however that can be managed; maybe through certain Secret Projects).

There are seven factions colonizing (surprise!), and they are as follows:
-Americans
-Russians
-Chinese
-Australians
-Brazilians
-EU
-Lunacorp (a private Lunar development corporation)

The first "tier" of advances retread many modern techs of today that are already active on Earth, as they are set up on the Moon. After that, we advance into true scifi territory.

You can win by conquering the Moon for your home nation (military victory), leading Lunar colonists to a united, independent government (diplomatic victory), monopolizing all mineral wealth (economic victory), or finding and opening the Wormhole just beyond orbit that leads to the Paradise World (transcendence victory).

I have a very simple sketch, but I'm hoping some of the people here will help me, a nubie, out with advice and maybe technical help. I have a list of my tech tree, but it's currently on paper, and I need time to convert it to a text file.

I'd be most grateful to anyone more experienced who could help.

[Chaos Theory]

Have you read "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress"?

[Zoid]

Heinlein sucks! But otherwise it´s a nice idea. I´m only learning to mod myself, so I probably won´t be of much help...

[Mars Walwyn]

Actually, I've only read a synopsis of the book, but it gives me a general idea as to the plot. I have two Heinleins on my shelf, but haven't gotten around to them yet.

Anyway, I'm looking for good ideas to make this work, especially ones for secret projects, of which I've only just touched on recently.

I also need good names for Lunar colonies in Russian, Chinese, and Portuguese, if anyone reading this is familiar with those languages.

And, how do I edit .pcx files? What software do I need? Can someone please help me with these things?

I've got most things down pat. The above, and how to work in Earth influence somehow, are my tripping points thus far.

[GeoModder]

Originally posted by Mars Walwyn
And, how do I edit .pcx files? What software do I need? Can someone please help me with these things?

I used to tinker with the .pcx files in good ol' Paint. The only thing you need to be aware of is that you don't forget to save it as .pcx again.

[Mars Walwyn]

I'm sorry I've not been posting. I've been somewhat busy lately. However, my scenario work continues.

I need some help with the idea of Earth meddling in affairs, which could be tricky. I'd thought certain secret projects would represent this, but I don't think that'll be quite enough.

Another thing is I plan factions a bit more moderate philosophically; not the extremists of orthodox SMAC. Thus, social ratings won't be that high or low, but factions will have more areas covered (Planet ratings are of course irrelevant).

And, there won't be water (another surprise), but there'll be duplicated a bunch of Garland's Craters (how do I rename them just "crater?").

[Qwerty88]

paint no longer supports pcx, but theres another thread in this forum dealing with that, you'll want to involve planet somehow, once ecodamage sets in the fungal pops will make it invovled, so definately think about what you're doing with fungus and natives. as for craters, just insert them using the "insert major landmark" comand and then change or remove landmark (ctrl + n or something along those line, i can never remember), just make sure to use this comand (it should be in one of the menu's if I'm way off...) and not the "remove major landmark" as this gets rid of the landmark tiles. well, I'm probably not helping much, so bye

[N35t0r]

You might want to turn the Brazilians into Mercosur. It will give them a bit more economic power, although not as much as the other 'big' powers. Still, Argentina hase some more hi-tech capabilities, including the production of satellites, as well as being amont the top countries with regards to nuclear power.

I'd also recommend you replace the moon with Mars, as it is much more difficult (and timely) to travel there, thus will limit the amount of earthly help the different factions will have.

[GeoModder]

There's already a Mars scenario, N35t0r.

[ForesterSOF]

The goal seems to be making Civ into a new program to do SMAC.

After that we can MOD more effectivly.

[N35t0r]

Originally posted by GeoModder
There's already a Mars scenario, N35t0r.

(In Civ2, the fact that there already was (at least) one WW2 Scenario hasn't stopped a great deal of people...)

[N35t0r]

Originally posted by GeoModder
There's already a Mars scenario, N35t0r.

Which I haven't been able to find...

[Qwerty88]

ignoring the orbital attack view, satalites could be another way to do earth interaction as supply lines

[N35t0r]

Originally posted by Qwerty88
ignoring the orbital attack view, satalites could be another way to do earth interaction as supply lines

Renaming defense pods to interceptor squadrons or somesuch could give the player the ability to intercept supply convoys sent from earth. There could be food convoys, resource convoys or energy convoys, which of course would need different kinds of crafts...

[Qwerty88]

Originally posted by N35t0r


Renaming defense pods to interceptor squadrons or somesuch could give the player the ability to intercept supply convoys sent from earth. There could be food convoys, resource convoys or energy convoys, which of course would need different kinds of crafts...

I was just saying that it would look funny having supply convoys from earth represented as dots floting around a planet with water, not that orbital attack pods are bad