Can't see Faction's abilities

[eXalted]

Hello everyone in this forum. I've been here for long but I created my account just today (yeah, it's a bit lurker-ish, I know). So, I've played a little Alpha Centauri a long time ago, and I got it recently from GOG.com. The thing that was strange to me was that when choosing a faction there is no "Help" button to show the faction's specific abilities. There are only "Other" (for changing faction's name etc.), "OK" and "Cancel". Why is that?

Thank you in advance.

 

[Petek]

Hello everyone in this forum. I've been here for long but I created my account just today (yeah, it's a bit lurker-ish, I know). So, I've played a little Alpha Centauri a long time ago, and I got it recently from GOG.com. The thing that was strange to me was that when choosing a faction there is no "Help" button to show the faction's specific abilities. There are only "Other" (for changing faction's name etc.), "OK" and "Cancel". Why is that?

Thank you in advance.

Hi eXalted,

Welcome to CFC and the Alpha Centauri forum!

I don't think there's any explanation for why you can't view faction abilities when setting up a game. You can consult the game manual (Manual.pdf in GOG's main SMAC folder). The factions are described beginning on page 124. Note: The manual has at least two errors in this section. The Believers receive +2 Support and the Hive has immunity to inefficiency (which means that the Hive doesn't suffer inefficiency from SE choices such as Police State and Planned).

HTH

Petek

 

[eXalted]

Thank you for your answer and the explanation for the errors. I saw their abilities in the manual, but I can't understand why are there only three buttons? Is it something to do with the the version of the game

Here's a screenshot: http://oi45.tinypic.com/8yci1d.jpg

 

[Petek]

Thank you for your answer and the explanation for the errors. I saw their abilities in the manual, but I can't understand why are there only three buttons? Is it something to do with the the version of the game

Here's a screenshot: http://oi45.tinypic.com/8yci1d.jpg

Your screenshot is the same in all versions of the game. As to why you can't view the factions' abilities when starting the game, only the developers can answer that question. I think you'll find that the more you play, the more familiar you'll become with the various abilities.

 

[eXalted]

I was curious why this version here has them. And also there is a screenshot in the manual which is also with those five buttons.

 

[Petek]

I was curious why this version here has them. And also there is a screenshot in the manual which is also with those five buttons.

You're right. The manual and that Let's Play video do show additional buttons, one of which allows you to view faction attributes. However, I couldn't figure out how to reproduce those extra buttons in the GOG version of SMAC.

The extra buttons appear in other versions of the game when running at low resolutions, 800x600, say. You can force the game to run at 800x600 by editing the Alpha Centauri.ini file as follows: In the [Alpha Centauri] section of the file, add the line video mode=800 and delete the line directdraw=0 (if present). In non-GOG versions of the game, this change results in additional buttons being displayed in the CHOOSE A FACTION screen, but not in the GOG version. (BTW, the ini file for the GOG version is located in the folder C:\Users\(user name)\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files (x86)\GOGcom\Sid Meiers Alpha Centauri.)

Perhaps GOG stripped out the low res version of this screen from their release.

Thanks for bringing this up. It's a new (or perhaps forgotten) piece of trivia about the game. (The Alien Crossfire add-on does have an additional button in all resolutions that allows you to view faction abilities.)

 

[eXalted]

Whoa, this is interesting! Thank you very much for your answer. Now I can play the game without thinking that something is wrong

I found somewhere that it has also something to do with the SMAC patch. I think the unpatched version has them, or something like that.