i just ordered SMAC.

[farting bob]

i ordered it off amazon.co.uk and it should be at my door by the weekend. it cost me £7 inc postage.
how many of you peopel also own SMAC? cause from what i gather, many do, but most now play civ3.
just my 2 cents.

 

[Firefox]

Last week i looked up my old copy of SMAC, the discussions here got me interested again. I thought it couldnt stand in the shadow of civ3.

I was wrong! The last week i cant stop playing, i know it probably wont last but it is stil great, espacilaly the Diplo en social engineering functions are much better then in civ. Then again AI sucks, never a SOD at your doorstep or a sneak atack on your weak points.

A well, it wil keep me from the streets for a few weeks, then the C3C virus wil hit me i guess!!!!

 

[Yoda Power]

I played SMAC before Civ3(along with Civ2) and its a pretty good game. You will discover that the goverments work in a very different way(and better IMHO).

have fun

 

[ipris]

Yeah no doubt there are some incredible features and gameplay in SMAC, but now i just play CIV3. i think if i picked up SMAC for the first time today i would play it a lot and put civ3 down.

 

[Mr Black]

The problem I have with SMAC is the strange names. With civ, I know what Pottery and a Horsemen do. THere are just too many strange tech, and unit names in SMAC.

Also, I could never figure out the unit workshop thing.

Finally, the colors made it impossible to see anything. I never knew where the enemy troops where at, because of the terrible color scheme.

 

[Ordep]

Originally posted by Mr Black
The problem I have with SMAC is the strange names. With civ, I know what Pottery and a Horsemen do. THere are just too many strange tech, and unit names in SMAC.

Also, I could never figure out the unit workshop thing.

Finally, the colors made it impossible to see anything. I never knew where the enemy troops where at, because of the terrible color scheme.

SMAC has a tough learning curve because of these issues. I had the same troubles at first, but if you stick with it you figure out what the techs/units/buildings do.

The colors also take some getting used to if your accustomed to Civ, but I thought that it added a cool atmosphere to the game.

 

[trumpeteer]

I have SMAC. It's pretty cool, but a bit outdated. I think that the Unit Workshop thing and the government system are cool, but it's too blocky. I like Civ3 because it's more rounded off.

COUNTDOWN TO POST 300: 12

 

[farting bob]

SMAC came today, but cause i got it second hand of amazon, it was not new and had scratches all oer it and will not install. so ive got to send it back and buy a new one this time. oh well.... ill get it working soon i guess..

 

[Mark Young]

Could someone explain what SMAC is?

I've only had civ on the playstation and Call to power on PC and civ3,PtW so I'm not familiar with any of the older versions of civ. Thanks

 

[farting bob]

from what ive read and seen, alpha centauri i like civ but based in the future on another planet (chiron). it has many odd units (that can be chnaged to suit your needs in game) and techs woth strange names. it has apparently got a far better diplo section and the war factory and gov't changer means you can have many many different versions of the same basic unit or gov't. its a few years old so graphics arent great (from demo's ive seen) but has some good quilities not in, or better than civ3.

 

[Mark Young]

Thanks FB. It sounds like a game worth playing if you can get your hands on it at all. ( I've gone back to Pharoah and Cleopatra for a bit of a retro fix).

OT. who's your avatar? He looks familiar but I cant put my finger on it

 

[DAKjungF]

I just wish you good luck with discovering the marvellous piece of game called SMAC! (actually it should be BRAC, because it wasn't Sid Meier who designed it, but Brian Reynolds. Sid had nothing to do with it, they just put his name since it means $$$ in their coffers)

 

[The Last Conformist]

Act'ly, I found the learning curve in Civ3 steeper than the SMAC one.

To answer farting bob's question in the first post, I used to own a copy of SMAC, but cannot seem to find it any longer. I seem to recall it tends to crash alot on newer Windooze versions, so you should perhaps run it on Win98 emulation or something.

 

[farting bob]

i dotn know who the guy in my avator is, i just think he looks cool.
i got a PM from hbdragon who said

FB, is your avatar character Catcher Block from the movie "Down With Love"? I mean, my parents and I were on a long transcontinental flight, and I saw the movie "Down With Love", and your avatar looks a lot like him.

 

[Chieftess]

Moved to the Alpha Centauri forum.

 

[YNCS]

I play SMAC's upgrade, SMAX (Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire) about as much as I play CivIII. I like both games about as much.