Civ4 VS. SMAC

[Kyllix]

This might be off topic but there is so many post about CIV-like in game (SMAC and MMO) would you like to have Civ4 or SMAC2 ???

 

[Elgalad]

I hate either/or questions.. I want both!

But I'll settle for Civ 4 next year and SMAC 2 in 2006

Yeah yeah, I'm being unrealistic.. so what else is new?

-Elgalad

 

[warpstorm]

I seriously doubt SMAC 2 will ever happen. Nearly all who were involved with it and cared about it have left Firaxis.

 

[Cuivienen]

SMAC 2! ...But they won't make it

 

[MSTK]

Wasn't SMAC just made for the purposes of testing all the gadgets and neat engines to see if they should use them in Civ?

 

[EddyG17]

*clearsthroat* uummm... what is SMAC?

 

[toh6wy]

*clearsthroat* uummm... what is SMAC?

Stands for Sid Meyer's Alpha Centauri. I personally would rather see Civ IV.

 

[EddyG17]

and what is so good about it?

 

[Yuri2356]

SMAC had so many awesome features it would make the heads of fans of lesser games EXPLODE!!!! And I've only played a DEMO!!!! It had everything: blind reaserch, war crimes, cutom units, swarms of brain-eating alien worms, mysterious alien fungus, An evil ultra-capitalist black guy (I wiped him off the face of the planet), and MUCH MUCH MORE!!!!! You could equip Units with nerve gas and use them to slaughter enemy citizens! You could "nerve staple" (what does that do anyway?) Unhappy people! You could do almost ANYTHING!!!! And again, I've only played a demo.

 

[warpstorm]

Heh, Morgan wasn't evil, just greedy.

MSTK, no. At the time Firaxis had lost all rights to work on the Civ series (Microprose had all rights) but they wanted to make a game on that line. Brian and Tim are serious SF fans (other fans can no doubt tell who their favorite authors are) and wanted to do a SF game. That is how SMAC (or more rightly BRAC) came into being.

 

[privatehudson]

SMAC2 would be nicer, CIV4 would be realistic

 

[earthguido]

I would like to see both, of course SMAC 2 is more difficult. There have been other threads, even proposing to kidnap Brian Reynolds people volunteering to cooperate, etc.

Will there be alpha centuari II

I am afraid CIV4 is nearer than SMAC2, mainly because of the high quantity of fans. I believe SMAC2 had incredible features, but was not designed to be so popular.

 

[Yuri2356]

Heh, Morgan wasn't evil, just greedy.

I find him evil because I'm a communist. I challenge yuo to find one Red that wouldn't go on a sim-rampage after reading a few quotes from "The Ethics of Greed"

 

[warpstorm]

I guess that makes me evil too then as I agree wholeheartedly with most of those quotes.

 

[Yuri2356]

Guess so, but I can tolerate you. It just goes to show how good and evil are all a matter of perspective. It's my views on capitalism that lead me to use the scientists, and then use Particle impactor squads to reduce Morgan and his followers to a smoking crater. Some would call sim-genocide evil, but I was destroying an enemy of my people. Besides, he had some decent land and was right next to me.

" Well, if it's a crime to love one's country, then I'm guilty.
And if it's a crime to steal one trillion dollars from the gouvenrment and give it to communist Cuba, Then I'm guilty of that too.
And if it's a crime to bribe a jury, then so help me, I'll soon be guilty of that!!!"
-Charles M. Burns

 

[Jon Shafer]

*Ahem* Off-topic?

While I did like a lot of the concepts in SMAC, I like the feel of Civ much more. Civ with SMAC-esque components would be my ideal game.

 

[Ryth]

Absolutly agree with you, Trip. I still really enjoy SMAC, very occasionally, especially the in-game unit editor - so many options! I prefer the Gaians, and basically only used the Mind Worm units (the swarms are absolutly the best unit in the game! - hmmm.... vs. Moden Armour would be interesting to see) and always went through and made obselete lots of those extra units. I'd love that option in Civ, and the option to upgrade in stages - can't afford to go from spearman to mech infantry? Well, you've enough cash for a musketman. Done. And the approach to terrain (centaurain?) improvement with rainfall changes etc. could be worked in well. Overall I prefer the Civ series best, but sometimes I'd just love to build a sea city!

 

[jkp1187]

I find him evil because I'm a communist. I challenge yuo to find one Red that wouldn't go on a sim-rampage after reading a few quotes from "The Ethics of Greed"

Heh heh...hey, that's cute! Didn't know anyone actually BELIEVED that anymore. Kinda like meeting a Whig or Mercantilist or Puritan or something....

But seriously, I thought the social/economic/political model in SMAC was fantastic, and a lot more interesting than the "one choice fits all" model in Civ 3. With a little tweaking (and allowance for anarchy, with perhaps the length of anarchy based on the extent of the changes being made -- switching from police state to democracy = 1-3 turns, switching from police state to democracy AND planned economy to free market = 2-6 turns).

As for the unit creation stuff, that was okay, but (as usual) Sid was right when he said that there were simply too many techs and units to keep track of. Many of the wonders were way overpowered, too.

But I'd really, REALLY like to see a "social engineering" option ala SMAC in Civ IV.... As much as I'd like to see a 16-player multiplayer option!

 

[Jake5555555]

I loved SMAC, in many ways it was better then civ3. It's only problems were that the sci-fi setting scared off a lot of players and you just couln't get that immersive feel when your on another planet in the far future. What I would really like is a game with most of the smac features using civ settings, graphics, and civs.

 

[Dreadnought]

I liked SMAC alot. All the fetures civ3 never had...<sigh>...however SMAC2, i believe, wont be coming out...

BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN I DONT WANT IT TO!