Alien ecosystem: less tentacles and more reason, please!

[sendos]

It would be nice to see a diverse ecosystem in the game. It could be determined by that biome option, too.

As for hostility, it should be pretty carefully made and not too hostile at the beginning. In SMAC, you could actually get wiped out by native lifeforms really early if you're not guarding your capitol. Then it's a matter of how effective will the aliens attack cities in a civ 5-like combat system.

 

[Mustakrakish]

Are you asking for an overview?

Whoa, when did that happen?!

 

[Trias]

Frankly, there's a lot more unknown things than impossible things out there.

I find that statement unlikely. The number of unknown things can be large and possibly infinite, but it is certainly countable.

Impossible things are only limited by one's imagination. The cardinality of this set (or class of it is too big for a set) is almost certainly uncountable.
[/exit math geek mode]

 

[Lord Shadow]

I find that statement unlikely. The number of unknown things can be large and possibly infinite, but it is certainly countable.

Impossible things are only limited by one's imagination. The cardinality of this set (or class of it is too big for a set) is almost certainly uncountable.
[/exit math geek mode]

Yeah, I suppose I didn't express myself correctly. I just meant people jump the gun and say "impossible" far more often than they should when talking science fiction. There's many things we can't do nor imagine how they'd work at present, but don't necessarily go against physics. And sometimes it just requires us to think outside the box (i.e. the photosynthesis case).

 

[Kouvb593kdnuewnd]

Civilization games are pretty much fantasy or more like historic fantasy
So why can't the devlopers be creative and come up with cretures that realistcly never can exist but in a game like this finding creatures that could not tought to be anything but fantasy could be pretty fun to deal with

I would not mind if your spaceship landed in a planet populated by elves and such

 

[GeoModder]

Whoa, when did that happen?!

Courtesy of AriochIV.

 

[Windscion]

''The Cool Stuff Theory of Literature is as follows: All literature consists of whatever the writer thinks is cool. The reader will like the book to the degree that he agrees with the writer about what's cool. And that works all the way from the external trappings to the level of metaphor, subtext, and the way one uses words. In other words, I happen not to think that full-plate armor and great big honking greatswords are cool. I don't like 'em. I like cloaks and rapiers. So I write stories with a lot of cloaks and rapiers in 'em, 'cause that's cool. Guys who like military hardware, who think advanced military hardware is cool, are not gonna jump all over my books, because they have other ideas about what's cool.
The novel should be understood as a structure built to accommodate the greatest possible amount of cool stuff."
— Steven Brust

So what SKZB is saying, only for games.

In other words, tentacular horrors are cool, so they're in. Tendentious dialogue about ecosystems is not cool, so it's out.

 

[AriochIV]

"The novel should be understood as a structure built to accommodate the greatest possible amount of cool stuff."

That's the key element: your cool stuff may be fantastical, as long as you've done the legwork to make it seem plausible in your setting. Some folks call that "handwaving," but I call it "writing."

 

[Kissamies]

Hardest sci-fi I ever seen, though? Kim Stanley Robinson's 'Mars' trilogy. Awesome book, highly recommend. No aliens, though.

I wouldn't recomment. The science stuff is great, but you'll have to wade through his depressing characters to get to it. Took me quite a while to finish even single book because of that. I'd go for Ben Bova's Grand Tour series for reasonably hard sci-fi myself.

 

[Lord Tirian]

I wouldn't recomment. The science stuff is great, but you'll have to wade through his depressing characters to get to it.

Different strokes, different strokes - even if it's not your taste, it is a well-written book that won awards.

Personally, I liked the 'Red Mars' a lot and the characters were a bit part of it. They were an interesting character study and I certainly wouldn't call all of them "depressing", but there is a focus on introspection and the books are not fast paced. If that's not what you're in for in a sci-fi novel, I can see how this lessens your enjoyment.

 

[Lheim]

I wouldn't recomment. The science stuff is great, but you'll have to wade through his depressing characters to get to it. Took me quite a while to finish even single book because of that. I'd go for Ben Bova's Grand Tour series for reasonably hard sci-fi myself.

Not all the characters are pleasant, true. Book even starts with an assassination instigated by one of the least likeable characters. But I think they're all elaborated on rather interestingly - they each get a bit of depth and lots of stuff is given from their perspectives.

Either case, it's grand historical epic as much as a sci-fi book. It's slowish, sure, but there's a certain majesty - and the way the author describes landscapes and cultures is awesome. Can't deny it's pretty realistic sci-fi, though.

 

[rastak]

Different strokes, different strokes - even if it's not your taste, it is a well-written book that won awards.

Personally, I liked the 'Red Mars' a lot and the characters were a bit part of it. They were an interesting character study and I certainly wouldn't call all of them "depressing", but there is a focus on introspection and the books are not fast paced. If that's not what you're in for in a sci-fi novel, I can see how this lessens your enjoyment.

I very much enjoyed Red Mars, all the series really.

 

[A Bucket O Spam]

From what I understand, there is a single set of aliens life forms, but multiple possibilities for the planet's climate and geology. Supposedly the AI will choose appropriate forms from the available set for the given terrain (for example, an ocean-heavy world will be dominated by aquatic forms, whereas a desert world will not), but if you're looking for the terrain and the life forms to be intimately connected in a logical manner, I suspect you may be disappointed.

I mean, you've got giant worms that can apparently tunnel through solid rock. Maybe they've got a better explanation than that (pre-existing tunnels, for example), but I wouldn't bet on it.

Correct. In regards to the worms, however: they are based on the sandworms from the Dune series by Frank Herbert, and I cannot understate how important it was in the series not to attract their attention. They tunnel through the sand and are absolutely massive (at least with the "big makers"). I am not sure how faithfully they will follow the concept of their travel, but I can guarantee that someone will not want to mess with them the first few turns they land on the planet unless they have a very good reason.

 

[Lancor]

I am curious if the atmosphere of the planet is breathable for humans at all and how much gravity it has.

 

[Karl0413]

Right now I am wondering about unique alien resources and how the different factions can use them. We already know that Purity can use the float-stone in ways other affinities can't. What can Harmony and Supremacy do?

 

[Lord Shadow]

Correct. In regards to the worms, however: they are based on the sandworms from the Dune series by Frank Herbert, and I cannot understate how important it was in the series not to attract their attention. They tunnel through the sand and are absolutely massive (at least with the "big makers"). I am not sure how faithfully they will follow the concept of their travel, but I can guarantee that someone will not want to mess with them the first few turns they land on the planet unless they have a very good reason.

The PC Gamer preview revealed a couple of details about the Siege Worms. When killed, at least the first time, they leave their skull behind, which you can research and trigger a quest. Upon completion, a portion of the planet's story is uncovered. Another tidbit revealed is that Harmony spies can plant thumpers on enemy cities, to draw Siege Worms nearby to attack it. This is compared with the generic action of smuggling in a suitcase nuke, so the worms must be pretty devastating.

 

[GeoModder]

I am curious if the atmosphere of the planet is breathable for humans at all and how much gravity it has.

Since all units seen sofar are suited or have cockpit(s), I assume not really breathable.
Gravity, that should depend on the size of map you play with. The bigger, the larger gravity.

 

[GAGA Extrem]

Stanislaw Lem had a few very good books (Eden, Solaris, Fiasco, The Invincible) about human-to-alien first contact/interaction (although he would probably have hated being called a SF-author ). The sttings would have been perfect for the early stage of Beyond Earth. To bad he endet up in the animosities of the Cold War and was "thrown out" of the SFWA (fun fact: Philip K. Dick actually believed that Lem was a robot/computer built by the Soviets). It was quite a loss for western SciFi.

The general ideas were actually somewhat related to SMAC, although his lifeforms were much less visibility and a he had a rather pessimistic outlook on the possibility of an actually peaceful outcome or even successful contact in general. A scientific approach like in his books would be quite nice, but it is probably quite hard to realize in an interactive PC game that works on a much broader scope. But, hey, we'll see. I am sure someone at Fireaxis has read his works.

...maybe we get something from the "Fables for Robots". I always wanted to destroy my enemies by minting uranium coins...

 

[Kissamies]

Oh yes, Stanislaw Lem. I read all of his books the local library had as a kid. Loved them.

Personally, I liked the 'Red Mars' a lot and the characters were a bit part of it. They were an interesting character study and I certainly wouldn't call all of them "depressing", but there is a focus on introspection and the books are not fast paced. If that's not what you're in for in a sci-fi novel, I can see how this lessens your enjoyment.

Heh, maybe my problem is that I haven't read the Red Mars, only the sequels. Maybe one needs to follow the characters from the beginning to appeciate them. I doubt it would have helped me, though. I've read 'The Years of Rice and Salt' as well. Mostly same reacton.

 

[Nick Carpathia]

Well I haven't read Blue/Green Mars, and apparently those were weaker than the original. Maybe you should read the original.