When will they come out with ACII?

[zomglazorgunpew]

Seriously! I've been waiting almost a decade!

 

[Empiremaker]

Most likely never. IIRC, Firaxis doesn't even own the rights to SMAC anymore.

 

[ImmortalEmperor]

As much as I woild like to see, Sid Meier doesn't own the rights, Electronic Arts does. Besides, that was one of his lesser titles, I doubt we would ever see it, even if he bought the rights for it.

 

[#1 Person]

AC was always seen as the game designers as a Civ 2.5, I doubt that they will come out with a Civ 2.5 2... Unfortunetly

 

[Ranbir]

AC was way ahead of it's time anyway. Half the features Civ is still playing catch up on.

Climate- BTS may have this, or is probably just limited to that FFH scenario. Even so, it isn't in the brilliant set up that AC had, anyway.

AC's diplomacy options, still kicking ass....the Planetary Council(UN) I mean...wow, compare that to the crap in 4... As is stands, we don't need a AC2 yet anyway, cause AC is still the better game by miles. (vanilla comparison, of course, 4 has the edge in having the sdk released)

 

[Psyringe]

SMAC is a great game, but currently it's not likely that we will ever see a sequel. There are several reasons for this:

1. The rights to SMAC are held by Electronic Arts. So far, Electronic Arts has not used them to produce a crappy sequel by incompetent developers, but they also of course won't release the franchise for nothing.

2. Brian Reynolds, the main designer of SMAC, has left Firaxis to found Big Huge Games. Since then, he's working on RTS games. Even if he were to obtain the rights to SMAC, he probably would make SMAC2 an RTS. And Sid wouldn't be involved either.

3. Sid Meier is still at Firaxis, but even if he got the rights to SMAC, he probably wouldn't get Reynolds to work on it.

4. SMAC, although critically acclaimed, wasn't selling as well as expected. Back then, this was seen as a lesson that the Civilization format worked great in a historical context, but not as good (or at least wouldn't sell as good) in a sci-fi context. Thus, even if either Sid or Brian were mad enough to try to obtain the rights, they'd be taking a great risk for their respective companies. Yet, EA is unlikely to hand the rights over cheaply because the game *is* critically acclaimed.

In short, the situation is so twisted that I don't expect to ever see a worthy SMAC2. Which is really a pity, given the high quality of the game. Heck, I'd pay full price for a re-release that changes nothing but providing an AI that can handle the game.

 

[zomglazorgunpew]

Oh god, not EA games... aren't they those jerks that buy award winning video games, then hire their crappy designers to ruin them entirely?

Ugh.

I swear, one day I'm going to shoot the CEO of EA.

 

[OSaft]

Firaxis wouldn’t be against Alpha Centauri II

http://lifeparticles.com/2007/firaxis-wouldnt-be-against-alpha-centauri-ii/

 

[vyeh]

Firaxis wouldn’t be against Alpha Centauri II

http://lifeparticles.com/2007/firaxis-wouldnt-be-against-alpha-centauri-ii/

"One producer for Firaxis turned around and said, “We could make ‘Sid Meier’s Space-something,’ we have a great group to do that, but it just wouldn’t be the same.” No, it really wouldn’t."

Don't flame me! I think SMAC is a great game. Other than some bugs and the AI, there isn't much I would see fixed.

I'd rather see Sid Meier's Space-something" Letting my mind ramble, instead of colonizing a paltry planet like Earth or Alpha Centauri, how about the Milky Way.

Imagine different spectral types of stars are better for certain types of planets. Some produce planets with heavy metals; others are more life bearing. And certain stars produce more energy.

Factions: how about aliens. Not just some progenitors and humans that can live on the same planet, but alien races that prefer different types of planets.

Once again, I love SMAC. I just think it is too close to perfection to be really improved. A Sid Meier's Space-something," where the galaxy is colonized by alien races that prefer different environment is different enough from SMAC that EA's copyright of SMAC would not come into the picture.

Imagine the new game mechanics, the new aliens, the new strategy, the new technologies. In addition to nutrients, minerals and energy, we could have air, water and temperature.

 

[beetle]

A Sid Meier Space Opera is a genius idea!

That said, I for one am in the market for Alpha Centauri 2. The game is ten years old, it needs to be updated to run on modern OS without problems, if nothing else. You mentioned bugs. But what bothers you most about the AI?

 

[vyeh]

But what bothers you most about the AI?

It's dumb in the way it attacks. It doesn't concentrate forces and take advantage of terrain.

 

[beetle]

The AI can kick my butt in the early part of the game, so I am happy not to worry too much about that!

I suspect that improved tactics would be a hard thing to program. (I have not noticed better planning from the Civ3 or Civ4 AI.) My understanding, I have not really confirmed this, is that AI pays more attention than most humans regarding which attack types get bonus against which types of armor, so that is something in its favor.

One exploit I can rarely resist (because I am consistently out numbered) is stacking an air unit with a few (low defense, naturally) tanks. I sometimes (not often) wish the AI could counter this strategy better.

How about game balance issues?

I think copters should only get one attack. (Speaking of bad tactics, the AI often fails to return his copters to cities at the end of their move. Maybe the only-one-attack patch would correct this too?)

 

[vyeh]

How about game balance issues?

I think copters should only get one attack. (Speaking of bad tactics, the AI often fails to return his copters to cities at the end of their move. Maybe the only-one-attack patch would correct this too?)

The multiple attacks per turn makes helicopters distinctive. I'd rather see at an attack consume 2 or 3 mp's with a hasty option if the helicopter has less than the umber required for an attack.

 

[beetle]

I like the idea that an attack-costs-three-movement-points for copters. I would also let the grav flyers move after attacking (assuming they had movement points left) as then all three flyers would be more distinct from each other.

The other low hanging fruit I would change is forests: they are just too productive compared to the other terrain types. I wish the game mechanics provided me more motivation to build echelon mirrors and condensers (just because they are interesting sci fi).

Also, I would make Free Market just slightly less of a penalty. I appreciate the significant bonus of running +2 economy, but still it is not competitive with the other social engineering choices.

 

[Vael]

"One producer for Firaxis turned around and said, “We could make ‘Sid Meier’s Space-something,’ we have a great group to do that, but it just wouldn’t be the same.” No, it really wouldn’t."

Don't flame me! I think SMAC is a great game. Other than some bugs and the AI, there isn't much I would see fixed.

I'd rather see Sid Meier's Space-something" Letting my mind ramble, instead of colonizing a paltry planet like Earth or Alpha Centauri, how about the Milky Way.

Imagine different spectral types of stars are better for certain types of planets. Some produce planets with heavy metals; others are more life bearing. And certain stars produce more energy.

Factions: how about aliens. Not just some progenitors and humans that can live on the same planet, but alien races that prefer different types of planets.

Once again, I love SMAC. I just think it is too close to perfection to be really improved. A Sid Meier's Space-something," where the galaxy is colonized by alien races that prefer different environment is different enough from SMAC that EA's copyright of SMAC would not come into the picture.

Imagine the new game mechanics, the new aliens, the new strategy, the new technologies. In addition to nutrients, minerals and energy, we could have air, water and temperature.

Although we won't ever see SMAC2, this sounds a lot like the "Final Frontier" scenario in Beyond the Sword, so you may want to check that out. There's a demo coming out for it in a few days I think, in case you weren't already planning on getting BTS.

 

[Slaughter]

Like some guys said above, AC was indeed advanced. Even Civ 4 have many features that Alpha Centauri still did better. Civics, for example. They were even more important in AC.

 

[vyeh]

Although we won't ever see SMAC2, this sounds a lot like the "Final Frontier" scenario in Beyond the Sword, so you may want to check that out. There's a demo coming out for it in a few days I think, in case you weren't already planning on getting BTS.

If the Beyond the Sword you are referring to is the 2nd expansion pack for Civ IV, then my conception isn't the same.

Spaceward Ho! is an elegant game that started with a clean game design. It has gone through 4 further iterations. While the designers will look at ideas, they are very careful about the ones they accept. They want to make the game challenging without making it complex.

One feature that would be interesting to see implemented in the hypothetical Sid Meier's Space Opera is this one: terraforming by one species makes conditions less beneficial for another race. Here is how it would work in a SMSO loosely based on familiar Civ/AC concepts.

The humans have just captured a base from the progenitors. The progenitors' farms are less than useless. A moist square (it would normally deliver 1 nut) delivers 0 because of the progenitor farm. Your former or military unit requires 1 turns to remove the progenitor farm (following the standard AC rule). Now the moist square produces 1 nut. Further work by the former in planting a farm can make the square produce 2 nuts.

 

[beetle]

I had not looked at Final Frontier, so thanks for that pointer. It looks interesting, but I will not be buying Beyond the Sword, at least not until it is a stand-alone product and, only after I purchase a new computer for other reasons.

I borrowed Civ4 from my brother. It was not as disappointing as Civ3, but then my expectations were lower. It is still not as compelling as SMAC/X. Marooned on a living planet is a better fit for a technology tree (as an integral part of the game play) and also provided the story line aspect. I have little hope that FF of BTS emulates any of these best features.

I have a hard time imagining tech advances as being important to a race that is already space faring. It is conceit in science fiction that space faring races have hit a technology plateau. I will be interested in reading peoples impressions, but I remain skeptical. SMAC2 is the way to go.

 

[vyeh]

I have a hard time imagining tech advances as being important to a race that is already space faring. It is conceit in science fiction that space faring races have hit a technology plateau. I will be interested in reading peoples impressions, but I remain skeptical. SMAC2 is the way to go.

Take a look at James Hogan's Giants series.

Tech advances can increase productivity, increase speed. communications abiltity. Look, you can hope for SMAC2, but for the issues of copyright mentioned (that Sid Meier's company does not own the copyright to SMAC), I personally don't think SMAC2 is the way to go.

 

[beetle]

Like some guys said above, AC was indeed advanced. Even Civ 4 have many features that Alpha Centauri still did better. Civics, for example. They were even more important in AC.

101 ways SMAC/X is better than Civ4