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Author Topic: The Alpha Centauri (SMAC/SMAX) thread  (Read 48286 times)

ChairmanPoo

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Re: The Alpha Centauri (SMAC/SMAX) thread
« Reply #15 on: January 30, 2011, 02:31:46 pm »

That game was awesome. The biggest mechanic flaw I can think of is the convoy resource relay exploit. Really neat game otherwise. Would like a sequel (or rather, a third-party remake)


Btw: I dont think university was overpowered. The original factions were well balanced. It was the ones in the expansion which were broken
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Robsoie

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Re: The Alpha Centauri (SMAC/SMAX) thread
« Reply #16 on: January 30, 2011, 02:53:45 pm »

In term of broken, out of the aliens that could obliterate other factions if they found it very early, the pirates faction added too by the expansion was very unbalanced :

Starting on water meant that you were completely safe from the other factions for a while, before they could get tech to get into the sea themselves.

And having immediately the technology to expand on water made it so you could then have a huge empire unchallenged (other by the various sea monsters) rather quickly, unlike ground factions.

Fortunately, even with the expansion you could setup the game as you wanted, without you or the AI using any of the factions you didn't liked.
Truly brillant 4X
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Deon

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Re: The Alpha Centauri (SMAC/SMAX) thread
« Reply #17 on: January 30, 2011, 03:10:51 pm »

Yeah, the unit workshop was awesome. I love games which allow you to customize your little servants (like MOO and Space empires). It really adds to the personality of the game, when you can have custom armies consisting not of some generic stuff developers put in for you, but of your own creations which you want :).
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Krelian

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Re: The Alpha Centauri (SMAC/SMAX) thread
« Reply #18 on: January 30, 2011, 03:11:31 pm »

I love the ending of this game. Its so epic... trully trascendence.
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Deon

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Re: The Alpha Centauri (SMAC/SMAX) thread
« Reply #19 on: January 30, 2011, 03:14:19 pm »

Well, you decide the end :). I personally not in a favor of the transcendence victory. You basically cease to be humans. Of course I like to achieve it from time to time, but I also don't mind to go on an industrial roflstomp on the corpse of the thinking biomass.
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Aequor

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Re: The Alpha Centauri (SMAC/SMAX) thread
« Reply #20 on: January 30, 2011, 03:16:23 pm »

Still the best 4X game I've got. I swear the Consciousness always gets uber-powerful in EVERY game, but I tend to only play with the original factions since the expansion factions seem quite unbalanced. :-\

The quotes for each technology and building were awesome, possibly one of my favourite parts of the game. I can't imagine the game without them. :D
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Deon

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Re: The Alpha Centauri (SMAC/SMAX) thread
« Reply #21 on: January 30, 2011, 03:16:52 pm »

Oh and by the way, it comes with the most awesome Manual ever.

It even has appendixes on stuff like possible location of planets in other systems, basics of astronomy and planetology, various deductive information and totally unrelated text which has nothing to do with the actual game but adds to the lore. Of course it's not a real "science", but it's an awesome fiction and the whole game has so many lore behind it, you can play it almost like you read a book.
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Robsoie

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Re: The Alpha Centauri (SMAC/SMAX) thread
« Reply #22 on: January 30, 2011, 03:56:19 pm »

The universe was so rich that it was not a surprise that books were wrote after release setup in the background created by Alpha Centauri.
Never read any, but the samples were interesting.
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Krelian

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Re: The Alpha Centauri (SMAC/SMAX) thread
« Reply #23 on: January 30, 2011, 04:04:30 pm »

Well, you decide the end :). I personally not in a favor of the transcendence victory. You basically cease to be humans. Of course I like to achieve it from time to time, but I also don't mind to go on an industrial roflstomp on the corpse of the thinking biomass.

yeah, but I always felt it was kinda the "true" ending... the intended one so to speak, as you began from the start getting those "history" text's explaining the worms, then the belief the planet is alive, etc... Basically, you complete the story.

well I dont recall too much, as I havent played in ages... but... I think it was the best one :P

which were the others? Kill all factions... leave the planet... I dont remember more...

I also loved how you could interact so much with the planet. Much more than any other civilization-esque game. I liked to play the gaians, and terraform a big chunk of map into a huge forest with cities inside... reminded me of Endor... also liked the Hive and just industrailize the planet with anti-ecological stuff... you geet a lot of worms tho xD.

And how by the later parts of the game, you could begin assimilating the native flora/fauna, make worms, get good bonuses from fungus terrains, etc. And finally, the trascendence clearly.

The voice acting was awesome also. Each leader had a lot of personality.
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Shades

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Re: The Alpha Centauri (SMAC/SMAX) thread
« Reply #24 on: January 30, 2011, 05:23:30 pm »

*shakes fist* Damn you bay12ers for rekindling my need to play, now I have to find my discs and reinstall this game. Hope I can locate them.
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Robsoie

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Re: The Alpha Centauri (SMAC/SMAX) thread
« Reply #25 on: January 30, 2011, 08:33:42 pm »

Ok, i couldn't resist and spent some time replaying the game.
And even today it's always a good experience, confirming that it is really a masterpiece for the ages.

I even noticed before playing that now can be found an unofficial patch, that solve some problems that were never fixed by Firaxis :
http://www.civgaming.net/forums/showthread.php?t=7511
And i had no problem at all with it during all my relatively short game .

As it's been years, i got a tiny planet on the lowest difficulty level to get a not too long game and relearn the game mechanics.
Surprisingly i remembered them without a problem, despite all those years.

Used the Peacekeeper faction and ended by uniting every remaining factions behind my UN rule with a diplomatic victory (considering i was the only one at this low difficulty level to have a dozen of missiles and could start building air assault troops , it helped the acceptance)

I had to bribe Deirdre for a ridiculously small amount of money as while at peace she was not that a fan of mine as i refused nearly everytime her request for some of my advanced techs.

Too bad neither Santiago and Sister Miriam made it to the end, they were early casualties from other factions warmongering.

I forgot the book system in the end scores :
"For i have tasted the Fungus, or why Brother Lal can't blink".
:D

If you question if you should replay SMAC/SMAX or not, dont waste time thinking about it and just go and replay it, even by today standard it's always one of the best 4X in the Civ genre and you'll always have lots of fun.
« Last Edit: January 30, 2011, 08:36:00 pm by Robsoie »
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ChairmanPoo

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Re: The Alpha Centauri (SMAC/SMAX) thread
« Reply #26 on: January 30, 2011, 08:58:53 pm »

wont run on wine, unfortunatedly. ANnoys me to no end, specially since I had figured  a way to get it to run in 800x600 in XP.

All in all, I found most victory messages quite emotive.
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sneakey pete

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Re: The Alpha Centauri (SMAC/SMAX) thread
« Reply #27 on: January 30, 2011, 09:21:54 pm »

I always wished they'd do a sequal to it, but after civ5... maybe not. Just stick with the good one and keep the good memories alive.
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Rakonas

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Re: The Alpha Centauri (SMAC/SMAX) thread
« Reply #28 on: January 30, 2011, 09:56:04 pm »

Best ending is Flood The World ending.
Everyone's losing all their cities as sea levels rise, yet they still vote to melt more polar ice caps. Good times, ah, good times.
Also you can get a good chance to convert mind worms pretty early in the game, just change the civics or whatever they're called.
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chaoticag

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Re: The Alpha Centauri (SMAC/SMAX) thread
« Reply #29 on: January 30, 2011, 09:56:35 pm »

Hehehe, recently ordered this game and it got here. It has quite a few interface problems since the game came out, but since when has that ever stopped me from trying to learn a game. Playing as the Gaians, recently destroyed Myriam's last city, except since it got destroyed instead of caputred, she's escaped me. Not too bad for not producing any military units other than captured mindworms. Unfortunately, I now have an island to myself, and nothing to conqure, and there seems to be that whole "blind research" feature that no one seems to talk about when they mention the game, it's interesting,  but I kinda want seafaring techs and stuff.

Also, I know that it's possible to run it in a window, so what would you guys suggest I do to get it that way?
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