Alpha Centauri / Planetfall

[Mellian]

So yes, how long will it take to have a BE version of SMAC or SMAC like?

BE certainly provides a lot more potential.

 

[MasterDinadan]

Depends on how thorough it needs to be, I suppose.
There is already a mod to put in quotes from SMAC. Adding new sponsors for the SMAC leaders would be the next step. That puts the game in a pretty good place if you want the theme and lore of SMAC with the mechanics of BE.
I think adding in certain SMAC mechanics (especially terraforming and such) may not be feasible.

 

[hbar]

It might be possible to convert the SMAC tech tree to a web, which would fit well with the 4-pronged tech category (build/explore/discover/conquer). I'm not sure if you could have an affinity analog in SMAC. Harmony, obviously, but I'm not sure what the other affinities would look like.

 

[Lord Tirian]

Harmony, obviously, but I'm not sure what the other affinities would look like.

That's really the thing: do you want a SMAC re-creation, a re-imagining (like Planetfall) or a SMAC-themed mod that just draws upon the SMAC lore?

For example, Planetfall had something quite comparable to Harmony and Purity in order to force conflict by creating two power blocs. And personally, this idea (which was also in BNW with ideologies) is an excellent innovation, so I'd argue that Civ:BE has a lot of material to mine.

The affinities could be imported as they are. Transcendence and Contact are kind of lifted from SMAC anyway. Would just need to re-tool the Emancipation/Exodus Gates a bit.

 

[Cliomancer]

I've had a couple of thoughts about this kicking around in my head for a while, especially about faction bonuses:

UN Peacekeepers - Some kind of Health bonus. Maybe -25% Unhealth from population?
Gaian - Obviously some kind of bonus relating to natural or alien life? Maybe Aliens don't attack their civilian units?
Morgan Industries - Some kind of energy bonus. Perhaps +2 energy from foreign/outpost trade routes?
Spartan - Military focus. Perhaps reduced cost for unit maintenance or production/purchase?
Academy - Science focus, obviously. Reduced research cost for non-leaf technologies?
Believers - Culture/Virtue focus, probably. Perhaps a free virtue for every three points gained in their highest affinity?
Human Hive - Defese/Covert bonus. Perhaps a production or defense bonus in cities with a counterspy installed? Or maybe a flat increased chance to detect and capture enemy spies.

 

[albie_123]

It's probably safe to assume that multiple people are working on SMAC conversions.

You can definitely assume at least one person is.

 

[tarules]

I've uploaded my mod for the Spartan Faction from Alpha Centauri*. I intend to make mods for all the factions, so would be interested in what people were thinking of in terms of traits, what victories they would head for and so forth. I think I've got ideas for all, but am stuck with the UN peacekeepers. Was thinking about giving them favours from all the other sponsers, but I'm not sure how powerful that is.


*Hope I'm not treading on toes here, it's just something I wanted and I didn't know how long other people would take, so I thought I ought just get on and do it.

 

[theblitz]

Honestly I'd just love imported factions (with the portraits from SMAC), tech quotes (which someone has already done), and maybe replacing some of the wonder quotes/adding some SMAC wonders.

 

[Deliverator]

I'm thinking a good start would be a fungus mod that replaces the miasma with xenofungus that grows over time.

Does anyone have any thoughts on which 3D art assets from Civ V/Civ BE could make for good Alpha Centauri style fungus?

 

[lionheart]

Does anyone have any thoughts on which 3D art assets from Civ V/Civ BE could make for good Alpha Centauri style fungus?

I think the blue mushrooms in one of the map skins might be able to temporarily fill that function, with a bit of purple / pink recoloring. They're not entirely accurate to the SMAC assets, but they are a fungus, right?

Man, the thought of having some of the great modders here work on Mindworm boils, faction building styles, SMAC inspired tile improvements, quotes (dare I hope for audio integration?), wonders, city buildings, units, map skin, etc., etc. makes me very, very excited!

SMAC was the first Civ game that really clicked with me, back in the day..

 

[theblitz]

I think the blue mushrooms in one of the map skins might be able to temporarily fill that function, with a bit of purple / pink recoloring. They're not entirely accurate to the SMAC assets, but they are a fungus, right?

Man, the thought of having some of the great modders here work on Mindworm boils, faction building styles, SMAC inspired tile improvements, quotes (dare I hope for audio integration?), wonders, city buildings, units, map skin, etc., etc. makes me very, very excited!

SMAC was the first Civ game that really clicked with me, back in the day..

There is already a mod that replaces the tech quotes with SMAC quotes, and if you own SMAC you can import the audio.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=536818

 

[tarules]

Question about the Lord's Believers. Currently I have them as having zero land unit maintenance and fighting at full force even when injured, to reflect their fanatacism, and a slight research penalty (10%). The problem is, this just changes their playstyle slightly, whereas in AC they were demons at the start but had severly stunted tech growth.

So now I'm thinking a much severer research penalty of 33% and an additional combat boost. But which one out of:

Begin with a purity affinity of 1. (Sets them on the right path affinity wise and is an early advantage which is lost as time goes on)
Or
All units have a 20% combat boost, but the first 2 veterancy upgrades are health improvements. (Thematically nice strong forces which don't improve until a lot of battles have been fought, useful throughout the game)

Either of those might make the fight at full force too strong though, so that could be removed, just interested to hear what people think.

Also considering a 1 cap on intrigue levels, a la the whole already brainwashed thing.

 

[croxis]

Emulating hight terraforming might be possible if new commands/buttons can be added for the worker unit and map tiles can be changed. There are a lot of "what ifs" as I know little about the SDK.

The first way would to copy how terraforming worked in Civ II (ocean <--> swamp <--> planes <--> grassland <--> hills <--> mountains) that would work on that tile only. Phase 2 would then be adjusting neighboring tiles when terraforming happens.

The other method would be more complicated, and might have very similar results so wouldn't be worth it, but to add a variable to the tile that is "height" (or might have to be a separate array). Tile type and production is then calculated from height and the rain shadows. If tile production can't be individually altered then additional terrain types would be helpfull.

The second method makes some of the Planetary Counsel options from SMAC more viable, such as raising or lowering the sea level. I haven't done a purity run yet but it could be nifty to add terraform gameplay to make the world more Earth (Civ V) like using civ v assets.

 

[GenyaArikado]

Regarding the leaders, i think that you could use the already existing ones and "lock" them into an specific affinity look (this doesnt have to translate to them getting stuck to one affinity, just look wise)The question would be wheter to use the closest leader of the same gender or to take some liberties and make them the Smac leader but with the BE leader name and gender

For example if the former

Deirdre > Harmony Kavitha
Zakharov > Supremacy or Harmony Kozlov (he did build the VoP after all)
Morgan > Either Purity Barre (because african) or Hutama (because everything else).
Miriam > Purity Elodie
Santiago > Supremacy Daoming (she looks soldier-ey) or Suzanne (actually half latin and lools general-ey) I say supremacy since the Spartans built the Cyborg Factory
Pravin Lal > Purity Rejinaldo
Yang > Supremacy Hutama (since asian)

Personally i wouldnt like that so i prefer the later approach

Harmony Kavitha paralles Deirdre
Supremacy Sochua Parallels Zakharov
Purity Suzanne parallels Morgan
Purity Barre parallels Pravin
Supremacy Rejinaldo parallels Santiago
Supremacy Kozlov parallels Yang
PurityElodie parallels Miriam

 

[terraslayer]

Hutama is not Asian, he's Australian.

 

[HandyVac]

I'm thinking a good start would be a fungus mod that replaces the miasma with xenofungus that grows over time.

Does anyone have any thoughts on which 3D art assets from Civ V/Civ BE could make for good Alpha Centauri style fungus?

The forests from the Fungal biome in BE look pretty xenofungassy to me, all they'd need is recolouring orange.

 

[GenyaArikado]

Hutama is not Asian, he's Australian.

asian looking (in comparison to Samatar, Rejinaldo or Kozlov at least)

 

[Twotons]

Hutama is not Asian, he's Australian.

I get a Southeast Asia/Polynesian vibe out of him.

 

[terraslayer]

Nah. He's Australian, if he was Asian/Polynesian, they would have him speaking the appropriate language. Right?

ARC speaks English, Franco-Iberia speaks French+Spanish, Kavitha speaks Hindi, etc etc.

 

[albie_123]

75% sure it'll be out by the end of the weekend.