Looking for PBEM players for custom SMAC mod

[fluxionman]

Greetings all,

I am looking for experienced SMAC players who might be interesting in participating in a PBEM using a custom SMAC mod that incorporates 7 entirely original factions, a redesigned tech tree, modified social engineering settings, and sundry tweaks to alpha.txt. The resulting game is challenging and highly competitive. The raised nutrient requirement (to 3 per population) and large, arid map (a result of modified world generation variables) result in fewer optimal base sites, more conflict over territory, a greater need for terraforming, and more cautious resource management.

If there is interest in playing this mod, I'll post more details.

Thanks!

[Mart]

Sounds interesting. Would you send the alpha.txt? To see it. My address
xxmarcin777@hotmail.com
it's spam protected, so take out first two "x" letters from it

[Mart]

I have received the file, Thank you. I will try it now.
---
Ok. Mod looks very interesting with its new technologies.
However there is an issue with map sizes. As I read somewhere the largest possible size is 256 tiles. So the standard map, as you declared starts ok (128x256) Larger ones crash the game. Have you actually been able to play larger sizes?

[Dubhghlas]

I would love to take a look at it and perhaps play.

DSYoungEsq@msn.com

[Hardcore SMAX]

I load the factions by editing alphacentauri.ini, right?
I take it the rest is done with a change of alphax.txt .

Will this PBEM be a serious competition, or more of a child's playground?
If it's serious, I can play.

I've set up a mail account to receive data:
h a r d c o r e _ s m a x @ y a h o o . c o m

[fluxionman]

In response to questions:

mart7x5: I have been able to play SMAC on maps up to 1024 x 512 in size without crashes and with minimal slowdown. I am currently running a PBEM game with this mod on a 1024 x 512 map, and between my machine (running Mac OSX) and the other human player's Windows machine, we've had no performance issues due to map size. Our only problems thus far have been with navigating such large areas (isolated factions tend to develop faster than factions with hostile neighbors) and with inefficiency losses due to the large empires. Increased movement rates have hopefully reduced the first problem (though I think a 512 x 256 map will be more conducive to earlier conflict), but the efficiency issue is more of a social engineering challenge.

Dubhghlas: I will e-mail you the alpha.txt file when I get home from work.

Hardcore SMAX: This is by all means a call for serious compeditors. I have edited the alpha.txt file, tech descriptions, and blurbs files and added some custom .pcx files to the techs folder to reflect the new technologies. The custom factions were drawn up from scratch, and include custom graphics and setup files. I will send you the alpha.txt file as well, if you want to see it.

I will post more information in this thread about the new techs and custom factions later today so all can see. I am hoping to recruit four players who will be able to contribute a turn on a regular basis. Of course, standard PBEM rules will apply.

Thanks all for the interest!

[Preview]

I am the person Fluxionman has been playing PBEM games with using his mod. I was using a 933MHz P3 with 256MB of memory running Windows 98SE, and I did not have problems with the map size.

[Hardcore SMAX]

Well, send me the files I need, and a short instruction manual if I need to do more than merely overwrite and load the new factions.
My turn rate will be either twice daily or daily, depending on how fast the turns come in.

Be warned: I'm adept at learning quickly. Expect to be steamrolled.

[Mart]

Originally posted by fluxionman
...mart7x5: I have been able to play SMAC on maps up to 1024 x 512 in size without crashes and with minimal slowdown. I am currently running a PBEM game with this mod on a 1024 x 512 map, and between my machine (running Mac OSX) and the other human player's Windows machine, we've had no performance issues due to map size.

Sounds very intriguing. Would you maybe quickly create a multiplayer game, any faction, with two players maybe, no passwords, with that largest size, and send it to me? Not for play now, but for testing only. I wonder if that would work on my machine. Apparently I cannot create a game like that, but once the map exists, maybe I could play it?
Thanks

[fluxionman]

Proxima Centauri: Divergence

This mod came about as an experiment in custom faction creation and evolved into a rewrite of many of the basic rules of Alpha Centauri with an aim toward making the game more challenging (i.e., difficult) for human players. Proxima Centauri takes place on a map that is overall larger, less hospitable, and more dangerous than most Alpha Centauri maps. (Play is at the Transcend level on a large map (512 x 256), with low cloud cover, low erosion, and abundant native life.) The most significant change in gameplay is the increase of the nutrient requirement from 2 to 3 per citizen; this, combined with a dry planet and reduced nutrient output from bases and improvements means that initial base survival hinges on site selection and terraforming. Bases will not automatically grow, as in games with the default settings; they must be carefully managed to produce the excess nutrients required for growth. Moisture will be restricted to river-fed areas and western slopes, and nutrient bonus squares become very valuable resources. Another factor making the early game extra challenging is the requirement of pre-requisite technologies for basic terraforming actions: Biogenetics (farm), Industrial Base (mine), Doctrine: Intelligence (sensor array), and Applied Physics (solar array). (In other words, without one of these techs at start, your formers can only Build Roads, Remove Fungus, or Terraform Flat.) This also stimulates early tech trading between factions. The raised nutrient requirement results in a game where few bases rise above size 2-3 until advanced terraforming options or supply crawlers become available. Recycling tanks are essential. The best base sites encompass moist or wet squares with nutrient bonuses, and can become contested territory between neighboring factions.

On crawlers: I decided to keep crawlers in the game because I like how they extend the ability to extract resources. This especially important with the raised nutrient requirements; crawlers can also be used to ferry nutrients from established bases to frontier bases. But in order to keep them from becoming endemic, the pre-designed crawler has been removed from the game, and the cost of the supply module has been drastically increased. The rationale for this is that the crawler unit represents not simply a single unit or group of units, but an entire fleet of transports and its attendant personnel and support infrastructure. Crawlers still function as normal, but now take many more minerals to complete.

New technologies are , in no particular order:

• Doctrine: Faith
  Moves Fundamentalist poilitics from SotHB
  
• Doctrine: Intelligence
  Provides probe teams and sensor arrays
  
• Doctrine: Destruction
  Planet Busters
  
• Oceanic Engineering
  A mid-step between Doc:Flex and Doc:Init, gives tidal harnesses and hydrophone buoys (sea sensors)
  
• Sensorial Transception
• Distributed Bionetworks
• Interactive Subliminics
  A handful of media-related techs
  
• Secrets of the Qi
  Psi defense, Telepathic Matrix
  
• Advanced Systems Engineering
  Divides up some of the special abilities from Nanometallurgy, gives Engineer specialist
  
• Advanced Rocketry
  Missiles and Rocket Launcher weapon, a mid-step between Fossil Fuels and Spaceflight
  
• Secrets of the Genome
  An early Secrets tech, Human Genome Project
  
• Quantum Resonance
  Plasma shard

The tech tree was entirely redesigned, though not all tech requirements/pre-requisites were changed. New techs were added to add spacing to prevetn certain techs from being discovered in quick succession - lending longer life to weapons systems, for example.

Other material changes include:

• The movement rate on roads was increased to 4, and movement rates for the base chassis in general were increased. Speeders were increased from 2 to 3, for example, and needlejets from 8 to 16. This is make movement around larger maps easier.
• Foils were made faster (8) than cruisers [6].
• Chopper movement was reduced to 6, making them short-range attack units good for base defense or carrier-to-shore assault craft.
• Intrinsic base defense was increased to +50%. Other combat modifiers were tweaked to give advantage to combatants on higher terrain, infantry vs. fast units in rough terrain, and mobile units on open ground or roads.
• Retooling is never free.
• Prototype costs were increased to 75% for sea units and 100% for air units.
• Turns between councils has been reduced to 8.
• Initial base production is 2 nutrients/1 mineral/2 energy. Forests provide 1/1/1. Recycling tanks bring a base's default production to 3/3/3.
• Unit cargo capacities have been altered.
• Base facility costs and energy requirements have been increased.
• Social Engineering choice modifiers have been changed.
• Specialist modifiers have been changed.

A host of other changes have been made to alpha.txt. The easiest way to see them all is to examine the file.

[fluxionman]

The new factions are based loosely on the default SMAC factions, though represent subtle divergences from the main story line and attempt to make groups that are less one-sided in nature. These factions are not balanced per se; at least one of them - Totality - is given a distinct advantage and is meant to remain under AI control (because the AI is dumb, and all that power eventually goes to waste). The others are fairly evenly matched with one another. What results is a game wherein six factions struggle to gain a footing on a desolate planet while aseventh shoots up on the power graph, growing like a virus. Having to team up vs. Totality in the early game makes for interesting interactions, I think, and gives players an "evil empire" to face together. When Totality is tamed, it's mid-game already and the real power struggle can begin.

Of the six available factions, two are "spoken for" - The Institute and Paradigm. These factions are actually headed by their respective players (no jokes about goofy leader portraits, please!). I might be compelled in future contests to give over control of "me" to someone else, but for now I'm happy being "me". Thus, there are four factions available for willing players: the Proteans, the Covenant, the Syndicate, and the Disciples.

[fluxionman]

Proteus Manifest ("The Proteans")
Leader: Negusa Amorpha
SE Goal: Eudaimonia
SE Restriction: Cybernetic
Starting techs: Biogenetics, Doctrine: Flexibility
Free facility: Biology Lab
Modifiers: +2 Growth, -2 Morale, -1 Planet, +1 Probe, +1 Research, +1 energy from fungus squares, Population limits +2

The charismatic Amorpha was a genetic technician working in the ship's medical facilities under Pravin Lal on Unity when the mishap occured. After planetfall, Lal was driven into exile by Amorpha's zealous followers and she assumed control of the faction.

The Proteans are genetic explorers and designers, a cult of bioengineers whose most closely held belief is that physiology should be self determined. To this end, they experiment constantly with DNA, splicing it into their own cells to alter their physical and biochemical makeup. This makes Proteans highly adaptable to a variety of environmental conditions. Proteans are aquatic (by self-design), highly hedonistic, and breed prodigiously, and their emphasis on genetics makes them excellent researchers; but their pleasure-seeking ways make them ill-suited to waging war and their exploitation of native lifeforms in their biological experiments puts them at odds with Planet.

[fluxionman]

The Covenant of the Chosen ("The Covenant")
Leader: Allfather Mikal
SE Goal: Fundamentalist
SE Restriction: Wealth
Starting techs: Doctrine: Faith, Doctrine: Mobility
Free facility: Perimeter Defense
Modifiers: +25% Fanaticism bonus, -1 Economy, +2 Growth, +2 Industry, -1 Planet, +2 Morale

Mikal was Sister Miriam's church secretary until after planetfall, when Miriam was killed after a suspicious fall into a deep gorge. Mikal assumed control of the Believer faction and instilled within them a new purpose and mission: to prepare Planet for the arrival of the Messiah by converting the world's population to their sect or destroying any who oppose them.

The Covenant is a communal religious sect waging a holy war against unbelievers. Led by Allfather Mikal, they see Planet as their promised land and are devoted to preparing it for the coming of the Messiah using any means necessary. Their fanaticism is reflected in combat, giving them an decided edge in all attacks. The tireless, selfless devotion of their citizens gives them impressive industrial output and growth, but the de-emphasis of material wealth has a negative effect on their economy. Also, their crusade to claim their new home at all costs puts them at odds with Planet's native life.

[fluxionman]

The Steel Rat Syndicate ("The Syndicate")
Leader: Oyabun Tetsu Itachi
SE Goal: Free Market
SE Restriction: Green
Starting techs: Doctrine: Intelligence
Free facility: None
Modifiers: +1 Economy, -2 Efficiency, +2 Probe, -2 Police, +1 Growth, -2 Research, Population limits +1, Share tech discovered by any 3 factions, starting energy 100, free probe team at start

A former small-time criminal and union organizer on Unity, Tetsu Itachi used his yakuza connections and single-minded determination to undermine Chairman Yang's authority after planetfall and found a criminal empire.

The Syndicate is a network of underground collectives directed by loosely organized criminal cartels. Syndicate bases, in the absence of direct government control, grow quickly, though keeping order is often a problem. The planetary black market is under Syndicate control, and the flow of unregulated goods through their bases gives a boost to their economy. Though their technological prowess is lacking, resulting in tepid research, they easily steal technologies that become widely known. Also, their probe capabilities are second-to-none thanks to insider connections and extortion. However, the corrupt nature of the criminal organization results in high inefficiency.

[fluxionman]

The Disciples of Qi ("The Disciples")
Leader: Sensei Dawn
SE Goal: Green
SE Restriction: Free Market
Starting techs: Doctrine: Loyalty, Centauri Ecology
Free facility: Tree Farm
Modifiers: +1 Morale, -3 Industry, -2 Research, +1 Planet, +1 Support, +25% Psi combat, +1 nutrients in fungus squares, 1/2 penalties to Planet

Dawn originally served as a spiritual advisor aboard the Unity, and soon after her awakening from hibernation, she discovered her innate extrasensory abilities. After planetfall, she fell in with the Spartans, where her Qi powers swiftly won her many followers. Claiming she lacked honor and discipline, Dawn challenged Corazon Santiago for leadership of the faction and defeated her in single combat, thereby taking command.

The Disciples of Qi are a circle of spiritual warriors devoted to honor, purity of thought, and the preservation of a natural way of life. Their affinity for Planet's natural life forms and innate psychic abilities make the use of native life forms possible from the start of the game. Because of this harmonious relationship with Planet, the Disciples also benefit from the ability to extract nutrients from fungus squares. They are formidable warriors in combat, especially psi combat. But their disdain for technological advance hinders their research and makes their industrial output slow.