civ IV alpha centauri mod dead?

[dacole]

Hey been gone for awhile so out of the loop. What is the update on the civ IV alpha centauri mod..thanks!

[Jerh9e1k5]

Hey Dacole,

I haven't been around for a while either, but from what I last heard there were issues concerning the legality of the project.

I don't know the specifics but I believe it killed the project.

It's a shame, would've been fun to play.
Jerh9e1k5

[dacole]

crud if anyone happens to know for sure and can say would be appreciated. Main reason I bought civ IV heh...

[Illuminatus]

Originally posted by Jerh9e1k5
I haven't been around for a while either, but from what I last heard there were issues concerning the legality of the project.

I don't know the specifics but I believe it killed the project.

No it didn't, lack of active participation did.

[dacole]

hmm ok then what has been done and what is still needed? I would be willing to help but I would need to teach myself how to program in python any help in that department would be appreciated. Probably can't finish it myself but maybe I can get interest started again.

[Blake]

I think it might simply be that most people found they loved CIV.

There's a heck of a lot more cumulative modding experience and now might be a good time to look at restarting the project since what was before very challenging to do would now be quite trivial for skilled modders.

The question would remain though whether enough people want to return to the SMAC world and I think I can safely say that the idea of a SMAC Clone would be shot down since CIV has some very engaging gameplay which is simply too good to pass over. I'm sure a lot of us still love the SMAC atmosphere (heh, lookit my avatar ) but I love the CIV4 gameplay even more. I would certainly be far more interested in a hybrid CIV/SMAC game than a purist SMAC mod.

[GeoModder]

Originally posted by Blake
The question would remain though whether enough people want to return to the SMAC world and I think I can safely say that the idea of a SMAC Clone would be shot down since CIV has some very engaging gameplay which is simply too good to pass over. I'm sure a lot of us still love the SMAC atmosphere (heh, lookit my avatar ) but I love the CIV4 gameplay even more. I would certainly be far more interested in a hybrid CIV/SMAC game than a purist SMAC mod.

Heh, ask Rubin how far he came with his landscape -and interface changes.
Taking your work on the Warlords-AI into account, I bet you could manage to make every AC AI-leader quite distinct in his building/terraforming choices.

[Rubin]

I lost a lot of my work due to a nasty hardware failure. I recall sending GeoModder some of the graphics files just before the failure, though.

The last thing I worked on was restructuring the technology tree according to some excellent basic principles presented by Maniac.

Should a skilled 3D artist decide to help with the project, I'd resume my work on the project immediately (or rather, redo most from scratch)--even without any SDK modding I believe we can produce a decent SMAC/X version of Civ4.

[Senethro]

I have to say that after playing a lot of Civ4, I'd prefer to go for a hybrid of the two. Not that I've got spare motivation or energy to do anything right now. I'm content to see if rumours of a sequel pan out.

[Darsnan]

Originally posted by Blake
I would certainly be far more interested in a hybrid CIV/SMAC game than a purist SMAC mod.

Can you define what you think would be a hybrid CIV/SMAC mod?
What all is encompassed/ entailed for what you envision?

Originally posted by Rubin
Should a skilled 3D artist decide to help with the project, I'd resume my work on the project immediately (or rather, redo most from scratch)--even without any SDK modding I believe we can produce a decent SMAC/X version of Civ4.

If such a person showed up, then has there ever been a consensus as to what types of unit graphics would need to be developed?

Originally posted by Senethro
I'm content to see if rumours of a sequel pan out.

The only thing I've heard is that the last time Sid Meier was asked about a SMAC sequel he replied that the SMAC rights were owned by EA Games.

Anyways, I had bounced some of my Beta Lyrae mod ideas off of Rubin a couple of months ago, which he seemed interested in. If there is interest in developing the mod in a direction that occurs after (or in parallel to) Alpha Centauri I can outline some good ideas here.


D

[GeoModder]

Originally posted by Rubin
I lost a lot of my work due to a nasty hardware failure. I recall sending GeoModder some of the graphics files just before the failure, though.

Well, I still have a whole folder with several downloads from you, Rubin. Whenever you want it I can sent it over.


Perhaps it's time for a brainstorm thread to see what people think of a hybrid?
And I happen to know an artist who created some SMAC-facilities, quite basic ones but usable.

[Darsnan]

I guess another basic question that would need to be discussed would be what version of CIV would the mod be based off of? Would we include Warlords as a necessity for the mod? What about future XPs?
Personally speaking I would rather not have Warlords included, simply because that means I (and anyone else who didn't buy the XP) would have to go out and buy Warlords in order to play the mod.


D

[GeoModder]

Basically, there's no need for the Warlords version to make a mod. Even if there are features in Warlords you really want in a mod based on vanilla Civ4, you can create them yourself.

[Blake]

Originally posted by Darsnan


Can you define what you think would be a hybrid CIV/SMAC mod?
What all is encompassed/ entailed for what you envision?

Sure.

As an example, the unit system. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the way CIV does it.

1) Put a selection of units in the tech tree. Plasma Sentinels, Impact Rover, Missile Needlejet, etc, basically the most popular weapon/armor/chassis combos. Make the mobile units "No defensive Bonus" otherwise let them fight weapon to weapon.

2) Use the promotion system. Like COMM would be a promotion which gives +50% defense vs mobile. It would be reasonable to make assigning promotions cost energy and the promotions don't have to be tied to exp (pretty easy to change in the SDK so you could assign 1 or 2 promotions depending on tech).
It would also be reasonable to use the promotion system for other purposes, like a Morale "promotion" which gives somewhere between -30% and +50% combat power, but instead of being assignable it would be attached by the code according to exp and SE.
Another example could be a Reactor promotion, with each reactor level increasing hitpoints. When trained, units would come with the best available reactor. It wouldn't be hard to also make reactor techs reduce unit costs to simulate the old effect of reactors reducing cost.
A "Retool" button could be added which for a modest sum of energy updates the reactor to the latest version (if needed) and resets the promotions (allows them to be re-assigned).

[Rubin]

Originally posted by Darsnan
If such a person showed up, then has there ever been a consensus as to what types of unit graphics would need to be developed?

No. However, I did some extensive research on the concept artwork--both the unit graphics that went into the final version of the game and some of the graphics that did not make it that far.

I found that a module approach to the unit design could offer a lot of flexibility in designing the final artwork. This is not unlike the Design Workshop, but the units will still have to be pre-designed and limited to a fixed number. An approach like this would fit very well with Blake's unit design suggestion.

Oh, and that last quote you commented on was not posted by me