Civ 4 vs. Alpha Centauri/Alien Crossfire

In my book SMAC and CIV are close to tied for the best of all the Civ or Civ-type games. Both have some awesome features, and both have a couple of real "man HOW I wish they had done that differently" things.

For example, some are saying that the Kremlin in CIV is broken. Perhaps. Well, in SMAC there were MULTIPLE wonders/projects that were in even more of a huge game advantage. Anything that gives a huge / empire-spanning advantage, and just one player can get it, is "broken".

(Restrict any of those "dials" and it would be fine: make it a minor advantage, or limited in scope to one or a few cities, or available to all players.)

Whereas, an example in CIV is the whole UN and Emancipation features. Let's see... we have this wonderful game, which really encourages player creativity and endless variety, and we add in these features that do their best to FORCE each game into the same mold, removing that creativity and enjoyability from the players.

Wodan
 
Taken as a whole, SMAC isn't exactly the most balanced game. But having said that, it's a hell of a fun game to play, and introduced a lot of unique gameplay aspects i.e. custom unites and gov't 'civics', an immensely variable terrain model (terraforming) and great characterization of AI characters.

The various factions weren't that well balanced - this is especially the case with Sven's Pirates in the Xfire expansion.

And I will also echo the remarks of others by saying that the singularity planet buster is just one of the most kick-ass, fiendishly developed units ever concieved in a TBS strategy game!

I have very fond memories of that game :)
 
I think AC is really not a game for beginners. With Civ4 on the other hand you can have lots of fun as a causual player also. That said start with AC if you are an expert for those kind of games otherwise play CIV4.
 
Orca said:
I think AC is really not a game for beginners. With Civ4 on the other hand you can have lots of fun as a causual player also. That said start with AC if you are an expert for those kind of games otherwise play CIV4.

Yep but that could have been fixed.

e.g., the comment about customizing units too tedious. That could have easily been automated.
 
My biggest gripe with SMAC is that the AI really didn't have a clue how to play.
 
SMAC was a truely awsome game for its day, and still stands up well today.

I think its just as good as Civ 4, game play wise. Only the graphics of Civ 4 are superior which is understandable given the age of SMAC.

But oh the wonder movies of SMAC... I never get tired of watching them. Breath taking.
 
Another great thing in SMAC was that if you thoroughly defeated one of the other factions, you could make them your vassal. So you didn't need to go around and occupy everyone, but they would still vote your way in "Planetary Council" votes, fight against your enemies, and turn over all of their future research to you.
 
I could play SMAC on its highest level and turn off my brain completely. It was a kind of hypnotic daydream-like experience (playing as lady Dierdrie). Civ 2 was the same. Like most people, I was playing for score; the victory was never in doubt.

But if I don't concentrate in Civ 4 I get busted. And I can't handle Diety yet after around half a dozen games. :cry:

I think that SMAC had some great features and would have been better in multiplayer (if only the internet in those days had been good enough to handle it).

SMAC had great atmosphere and CIV 4 doesn't bite in the same way. Why didn't they employ actors in Civ 4 instead of animating the leaders? That might have done it. There are only a couple of leaders in Civ 4 that stick in the mind. Maybe they should have more scripted dialogue that is unique for each leader talking to/about each enemy leader.
 
SMAC is just plain amazing, but unfortunately it is alot tougher to get MP for it. I would go civ4 simply because of this. Really though, civ4 is probably a better game, but there are still many parts of SMAC I genuinely miss, like elevation and its impact on both what the land is and how many resources it provides- what a cool idea!
 
Wodan said:
Yep but that could have been fixed.

e.g., the comment about customizing units too tedious. That could have easily been automated.

No, obviously automatisation would have had used the same algorithms as the AI used for unit design and that's an area the AI fails horrible.

Carn
 
SMAX was great, but the AI was awful - it was like playing against a monkey in a suit sometimes. It didn't make use of any of the interesting techniques like drop colony pods, because it was restricted to the grotty selection of default units - the customisation simply played into the human player's hands.

Multiplayer was great though :)
 
Definitely play both games - or play one till you want a change, and alternate.

SMAC is a truly great game. Great storyline, great gameplay... if only it was less buggy! Also, unlike Civ IV, it runs on my laptop.
 
wondering if I could post a follow up:

So i have Alpha Centauri but not the expansion pack, crossfire. I never gave AC a good honest play thru because the 'unit factory' modding deal just gave me headaches. Im thinking ill give it another go but was wondering first if I should buy the expansion pack first? Does it make AC that much better? (I understand it wont get rid of the unit factory deal, and sorry if this is getting off the CIV IV topic)
 
carn said:
No, obviously automatisation would have had used the same algorithms as the AI used for unit design and that's an area the AI fails horrible.

Carn
I'm saying that assuming Firaxis re-coded the entire game, it could have been easily automated, and done well.

Wodan
 
rancor said:
wondering if I could post a follow up:

So i have Alpha Centauri but not the expansion pack, crossfire. I never gave AC a good honest play thru because the 'unit factory' modding deal just gave me headaches. Im thinking ill give it another go but was wondering first if I should buy the expansion pack first? Does it make AC that much better? (I understand it wont get rid of the unit factory deal, and sorry if this is getting off the CIV IV topic)
Yes, definitely get Alien Crossfire.

Wodan
 
The expansion pack is nice. But if you never played the original that much, it might not necessarily add a lot to your experience. I also don't think it's that easy to find any more. The biggest thing that it does is add some more factions and a few more secret projects (wonders) and a small number of new techs. But it does not really alter gameplay significantly, I don't think.
 
SMAC/XFire is a great game, I still pull it out once in awhile. However the AI doesn't even compare to Civ 4. In fact it can be quite stupid, especially involving warfare. If you want a more challenging AI then go for Civ 4, it's light years ahead of SMAC in that regard.
 
warpstorm said:
My biggest gripe with SMAC is that the AI really didn't have a clue how to play.

That would be my complaint as well. I don't know how many times I was at war with someone and kept seeing wave after wave of aircraft cruising around but none ever attacked me. I should have had my ass kicked on numerous occasions, but I always won in the end. It was far to easy to beat the AI.
 
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