This is me ruthlessly and shamelessly leveraging my friendship with Solver into some content.
So here's the deal: ask what you want to know that Solver might - try to keep it to gaming and/or the history of the online fan community [he won't remember much specific, but likes to discuss the Golden Years].
He'll be annoyed by my presumption -I'm doing this w/o permission- but he'll probably choose to look in once a week or so, and completely ignore questions he doesn't want to answer. -Try to ask good ones, then. -And have a little patience/keep checking back.
[He's got some juicy stories on Soren, y'know, and hasn't told me any of them - yet...]
So Solver: what's this about Dale representing you on Mohawk's Team page?
Posted by: Buster's Uncle, August 14, 2023, 01:12:33 AM
Replies: 7
Board: Old World/Mohawk Games
Views: 610
This is me ruthlessly and shamelessly leveraging my friendship with Solver into some content.
So here's the deal: ask what you want to know that Solver might - try to keep it to gaming and/or the history of the online fan community [he won't remember much specific, but likes to discuss the Golden Years].
He'll be annoyed by my presumption -I'm doing this w/o permission- but he'll probably choose to look in once a week or so, and completely ignore questions he doesn't want to answer. -Try to ask good ones, then. -And have a little patience/keep checking back.
[He's got some juicy stories on Soren, y'know, and hasn't told me any of them - yet...]
So Solver: what's this about Dale representing you on Mohawk's Team page?
Welcome to another After Action Report for Thinker mod! I've been playing SMAC and beating Transcend for many years, and recently installed Thinker AI. At first, it absolutely stomped me, even on Thinker difficulty, but I slowly figured out what I was doing wrong and, after a half dozen games on Thinker, started actually beating it. I've won six games on Transcend difficulty (four in previous AARs) so far, but the game is (usually!) hard for a while. Just how I like it! I'm considering tweaking the settings to up the difficulty a bit more, since I'm beginning to think it gets easy too soon... but we'll see. There have been some moderately close games in a couple of the AARs after all.
I'm playing with the latest Thinker Dev build (3/14/22). Many awesome changes recently from Induktio; I'll try to showcase a few of them as the game plays out.
Differences from default settings:
New world builder disabled I don't love the pangaea-ness of the maps it made on my first few tries.
Rare pods disabled
Nessus Canyon enabled
Buff to Planet Cult +4 Planet instead of +2.
Nerf to Usurpers/Caretakers -1 INDUSTRY and no recycling tanks
Again, map is just Standard with middle-of-the-road choices for all customizations. Transcend difficulty, blind research, no Unity Survey. All factions randomized (note: I'm rerolling till I get a faction I haven't played in an AAR. For some reason I got Svensgaard twice in a row.)
Who are we this time? Ah, our fundamentalist friends. It always amused me that the 'fundamentalist' faction in alpha centauri would be *radically* ecumenical today. They're quite fun to play, with that support bonus making early game so much less fiddly.
And our targetsthe heretics our loyal opposition is?
Well, whatever. They're all probe-bait to me. I hope I start on an island with Zak. Note that in Thinker mod, -Research factions don't have their tech delayed as the datalinks says. On the other hand, -RESEARCH is worse in Thinker: at -2, your techs/turn is reduced by 20% instead of 16.66%. At -4 (Fundamentalist), your techs/turn is reduced by 40% instead of 28.6%. This is the flipside of Thinkers rebalance to keep Zak from getting insane research. +RESEARCH stacks worse than vanilla, and -RESEARCH stacks 'better' (ie, more potently, ie, worse for the player) than vanilla. Apparently I misunderstood how vanilla handled RESEARCH. Turns out [...]
AAR: I believe in the peace that comes after your destruction (Thinker Mod)
Posted by: pblur, March 15, 2023, 07:04:52 PM
Replies: 4
Board: After Action Reports
Views: 1285
Welcome to another After Action Report for Thinker mod! I've been playing SMAC and beating Transcend for many years, and recently installed Thinker AI. At first, it absolutely stomped me, even on Thinker difficulty, but I slowly figured out what I was doing wrong and, after a half dozen games on Thinker, started actually beating it. I've won six games on Transcend difficulty (four in previous AARs) so far, but the game is (usually!) hard for a while. Just how I like it! I'm considering tweaking the settings to up the difficulty a bit more, since I'm beginning to think it gets easy too soon... but we'll see. There have been some moderately close games in a couple of the AARs after all.
I'm playing with the latest Thinker Dev build (3/14/22). Many awesome changes recently from Induktio; I'll try to showcase a few of them as the game plays out.
Differences from default settings:
New world builder disabled I don't love the pangaea-ness of the maps it made on my first few tries.
Rare pods disabled
Nessus Canyon enabled
Buff to Planet Cult +4 Planet instead of +2.
Nerf to Usurpers/Caretakers -1 INDUSTRY and no recycling tanks
Again, map is just Standard with middle-of-the-road choices for all customizations. Transcend difficulty, blind research, no Unity Survey. All factions randomized (note: I'm rerolling till I get a faction I haven't played in an AAR. For some reason I got Svensgaard twice in a row.)
Who are we this time? Ah, our fundamentalist friends. It always amused me that the 'fundamentalist' faction in alpha centauri would be *radically* ecumenical today. They're quite fun to play, with that support bonus making early game so much less fiddly.
And our targetsthe heretics our loyal opposition is?
Well, whatever. They're all probe-bait to me. I hope I start on an island with Zak. Note that in Thinker mod, -Research factions don't have their tech delayed as the datalinks says. On the other hand, -RESEARCH is worse in Thinker: at -2, your techs/turn is reduced by 20% instead of 16.66%. At -4 (Fundamentalist), your techs/turn is reduced by 40% instead of 28.6%. This is the flipside of Thinkers rebalance to keep Zak from getting insane research. +RESEARCH stacks worse than vanilla, and -RESEARCH stacks 'better' (ie, more potently, ie, worse for the player) than vanilla. Apparently I misunderstood how vanilla handled RESEARCH. Turns out that stacking -RESEARCH has ALWAYS sucked a lot.
Very nice start with high nutrients and minerals.
Turn one spore launcher? Come now, how's that fair game?
I march my scout patrol over and murder it, but it does delay settling my second city by a turn (since a spore launcher can eliminate a size 1 city.)
Nice start with the Nessus canyon there! Two options: one, I get a great landmark. Two, I get a nearby enemy to murderize.
Either way I win and end up with the canyon!
Speaking of nearby neighbors, I stumble into morgan by just walking next to one of his bases. Yeah... war-time. I start focusing on Conquer techs as a hedge against this taking a while (since I'm already working on Centauri Ecology.)
I refuse peace, march on his nearest city, and keep exploring his territory with my scout.
Oh, that will help NICELY. I also start cranking our scout patrols as soon as I have 4 cities: First city only has one defender, but unfortunately loses the coinflip and shrinks on killing it. Second city conquered intact, without a scratch on the Ogre: Looks like there's probably one more over on the mesa somewhere.
I hope I can get a submissive pact; morgan will be much better at teching than I am for a while. Another nice Thinker feature: You can see that I have one more drone than I should ordinarily (no inefficency yet, so I should be able to handle size 2 with a single police unit.) That's because it's a conquered base of course, and Thinker conveniently shows how much longer I have this penalty for. 25 turns seems really long for a size 2 city, but whatever. Time flies in the early game.
Now that I've basically beaten him, time to switch back to exponential colony pod growth! And his last city... falls, without him offering a submissive pact.
I wonder what dictates this. Was there something I could have done differently to get a submissive pact? Or was it randomly not in the cards?
Oooh, I get Uranium flats too? Truly, I get the most metal of landmarks. I'm really getting a lot of space to expand here. Very nice. I think I might have to go builder... or at least Hybrid, which is probably as builder as Miriam tends to get.
It's worth noting that Miriam's builder game is actually really solid in spite of her -RESEARCH and no KNOWLEDGE, at least in my opinion. Consider the Weather Paradigm; we all know it's one of the best Special Projects in the game, and I don't think it's controversial to say that's mostly just because of the 50% increased terraform speed. (Your early access to advanced terraforming is of limited utility before you unlock resource caps, and, well, you get all that terraforming unlocked at mineral cap removal ANYHOW. It's nice to get a few condensers up before that, and the occaisional borehole on mineral/energy bonuses on flat ground can be really impactful... but it's nothing compared to 50% terraform speed once you can spam those ultra-long terraforms everywhere.)
But do you know what's better than 50% increased terraform speed? Duh, 100% increased terraform speed! How can you get that? By building a second former in each base! Doesn't that take a lot of minerals? Doesn't your momThe Weather Paradigm take a lot of minerals? Ignoring the cheap joke, sure... ish. After all, TWP is 20 mineral rows, and formers are 2 rows. Would you usually have only 10 formers? Plus, what about the support for all these extra units?
Yeah. Going from 2->4 units supported for free means terraforming happens a lot faster. And it's even cheaper on up-front minerals until your twentieth former! Of course, you may notice that I'm also building the weather paradigm in New Jerusalem. #WhyNotBoth?
Cashed in my two alien artifacts for a quick finish on TWP. I don't really have good production in any of bases. (Not shocking, since they're all size 1-2...)
That's a bit painful on a Miriam who has no friends, no enemies, and no probe teams like me, because I'm struggling to get any real research speed. Oh well.
Speaking of friends... they immediately extort me for High Energy Chemistry and Industrial Base, refuse to trade any techs, but do sign a Treaty of Friendship. (Trading plasma armour for friendship is admittedly weird for the believers to be doing, but I have a ton of land I need to eXpand and eXploit. There's no real reason to go to war offensively before air power, except to probe the [poop] out of somebody.)
And there's their border. Ugh. I was hoping I was alone on this island. Hopefully, it's just a couple bases and not their entire civ. Oh well, we're friends for now. And there's a lot of fungus over there. I need to finish expanding through my land quickly though to minimize how much they can claim. Final Map: You can see I've claimed the entire north, and I'm about to claim Metal Peninsula. Final Techs:
Welcome to another After Action Report for Thinker mod! I've been playing SMAC and beating Transcend for many years, and recently installed Thinker AI. At first, it absolutely stomped me, even on Thinker difficulty, but I slowly figured out what I was doing wrong and, after a half dozen games on Thinker, started actually beating it. I've won four games on Transcend difficulty (two in previous AARs) so far, but the game is (usually!) hard. Just how I like it!
I'm playing with Thinker 3.5. Many awesome changes recently from Induktio; I'll try to showcase a few of them as the game plays out
Differences from default settings:
New world builder disabled I don't love the pangaea-ness of the maps it made on my first few tries.
Rare pods disabled
Nessus Canyon enabled
Buff to Planet Cult +4 Planet instead of +2.
Nerf to Usurpers/Caretakers -1 INDUSTRY and no recycling tanks
Again, map is just Standard with middle-of-the-road choices for all customizations. Transcend difficulty, blind research, no Unity Survey. All factions randomized.
Who are we this time? Ah, my first Zak game with Thinker! Now that I've been inducted into the halls of rapid, risky base expansion and staying with size 1-2 bases all early game, I wonder how much strong Zak will be. Unlike Lal's drone bonus, Zak's drone penalty doesn't matter if you just stay small!
Not bad. I pop the colony pod, and instant T1 mind worms. Well, [poop]. At least it's still in the first 15 turns when mindworms are pathetically weak. Hopefully they hit either my colony pod or scout and die, and don't hit my headquarters and eliminate the base.
They hit the HQ, but it just destroys the Network Node! Cheers!
Still... not what I'll call a fabulous start.
Hopefully everyone else is doing equally poorly. Speaking of... Huh. That's a lot of aggro. And a couple of scary builders. Still, I'm a fricking scary builder faction myself. If I get enough space early, I should be completely fine.
Oooh, nice. Two decent landmarks in my territory. +1 Planet is really nice early.
Crap, they're really close. Fortunately, they just Treaty up, trade a tech and then bugger off.
That's my third alien artifact. I'm definitely going to be able to get an early game wonder. Hopefully two; I'd love weather paradigm + The Virtual World.
I try teching for Secrets of the Human Brain, but [...]
AAR: When the 'Ethical calculus' always equals more mad science! (Thinker mod)
Posted by: pblur, March 08, 2023, 05:55:22 PM
Replies: 8
Board: After Action Reports
Views: 808
Welcome to another After Action Report for Thinker mod! I've been playing SMAC and beating Transcend for many years, and recently installed Thinker AI. At first, it absolutely stomped me, even on Thinker difficulty, but I slowly figured out what I was doing wrong and, after a half dozen games on Thinker, started actually beating it. I've won four games on Transcend difficulty (two in previous AARs) so far, but the game is (usually!) hard. Just how I like it!
I'm playing with Thinker 3.5. Many awesome changes recently from Induktio; I'll try to showcase a few of them as the game plays out
Differences from default settings:
New world builder disabled I don't love the pangaea-ness of the maps it made on my first few tries.
Rare pods disabled
Nessus Canyon enabled
Buff to Planet Cult +4 Planet instead of +2.
Nerf to Usurpers/Caretakers -1 INDUSTRY and no recycling tanks
Again, map is just Standard with middle-of-the-road choices for all customizations. Transcend difficulty, blind research, no Unity Survey. All factions randomized.
Who are we this time? Ah, my first Zak game with Thinker! Now that I've been inducted into the halls of rapid, risky base expansion and staying with size 1-2 bases all early game, I wonder how much strong Zak will be. Unlike Lal's drone bonus, Zak's drone penalty doesn't matter if you just stay small!
Not bad. I pop the colony pod, and instant T1 mind worms. Well, [poop]. At least it's still in the first 15 turns when mindworms are pathetically weak. Hopefully they hit either my colony pod or scout and die, and don't hit my headquarters and eliminate the base.
They hit the HQ, but it just destroys the Network Node! Cheers!
Still... not what I'll call a fabulous start.
Hopefully everyone else is doing equally poorly. Speaking of... Huh. That's a lot of aggro. And a couple of scary builders. Still, I'm a fricking scary builder faction myself. If I get enough space early, I should be completely fine.
Oooh, nice. Two decent landmarks in my territory. +1 Planet is really nice early.
Crap, they're really close. Fortunately, they just Treaty up, trade a tech and then bugger off.
That's my third alien artifact. I'm definitely going to be able to get an early game wonder. Hopefully two; I'd love weather paradigm + The Virtual World.
I try teching for Secrets of the Human Brain, but the Gaians beat me to it. REALLY not surprising, since they get Centauri Ecology to start (basically mandatory to pick up before Secrets even though it isn't a prereq) and green factions get a big boost to that whole tree of prereqs. Here's the blind research odds for a normal/+PLANET faction who has Biogenetics and Centauri Ecology:
MUCH better odds of getting Social Psych. The same holds true at Secrets of the Human Brain, and to a lesser extent for Biogenetics (which has great Discover/Explore weights in addition to being boosted by being a tree farm prereq and a secrets prereq, and so is very likely for anyone going Explore/Discover to be their first tech after Centauri Ecology.)
So that's why she usually gets Secrets of the Human Brain if she's in the game. One tech fewer up front, and all her odds are better than normal.
I digress though. I keep exploring deep into Drone territory in spite of the Treaty until he kicks me out: Oh drat, he has the Monsoon jungle. This is going to be a mighty powerful drone faction. Especially once you include how much better the +INDUSTRY is for Transcend-level AI
Next, he calls me up and offers to sell me Yang's commlink. Excellent. He then offers a pact. Well, that's a bit tricky. One sane play here is just aggro rush them. I have a lot of pod-popped troops and some natives courtesy of the Manifold Nexus... But that sounds risky and I'm a chicken. Zak doesn't NEED early domination. Free network nodes are the bomb.
I also get a treaty of friendship from Yang.
None of my cities are doing amazingly on minerals, so I decide to go straight for the Virtual World. I'll miss the Weather Paradigm, but I can't afford the risk of not getting VW. It's just way too good for University. I cash in all 3 alien artifacts here. Should be able to rush it in a few turns.
My continent is really spicy on the secret projects:
It's really hard for me to imagine that it's optimal for the drones to be building THREE secret projects, but eh. They are the drones, and Yang seems to be letting them get away with it. In spite of having the Command Nexus.
Well, I'm having enough fun with these to roll another... the last one was a bit anticlimactic because I effectively won before aircraft, and then just built-built-built to a transcendance victory while paying my opposition for peace whenever possible. Effective, fairly quick in real-world time, but not exactly exciting or dramatic. Maybe this game will be closer...
Welcome to another After Action Report for Thinker mod! I've been playing SMAC and beating Transcend for many years, and recently installed Thinker AI. At first, it absolutely stomped me, even on Thinker difficulty, but I slowly figured out what I was doing wrong and, after a half dozen games on Thinker, started actually beating it. I've won four games on Transcend difficulty (two in previous AARs) so far, but the game is (usually!) hard. Just how I like it!
I'm playing with the latest Develop build of Thinker (2/26/23).
Differences from default settings:
New world builder disabled I don't love the pangaea-ness of the maps it made on my first few tries.
Rare pods disabled
Nessus Canyon enabled
Buff to Planet Cult +4 Planet instead of +2.
Nerf to Usurpers/Caretakers -1 INDUSTRY and no recycling tanks
Again, map is just Standard with middle-of-the-road choices for all customizations. Transcend difficulty, blind research, no Unity Survey. All factions randomized.
Well, I think this is my first time trying out my nerfed Aliens! I generally think Usurpers are notably weaker than Caretakers (+1 PLANET is really good!), but I still suspect that I have under-nerfed them, if anything.
First advantage of aliens; actual continent boundaries. It's not THAT powerful, since you can usually make it out decently well from the wireframe, but eh. I'll take it. Looks like my competition are mostly pretty warlike.
Industrial Base. Synthmetal, but more importantly it's a needed tech on the way to Industrial Automation.
I opt for maximum speed of second and third bases:
Nutrients are mostly kind of scarce around my bases aside from the one with a nutrient bonus, so I end up getting a couple formers before first colony pod explosion Looks like my neighborhood is mostly clear. I've hit several alien artifacts, so I'll probably snag weather paradigm...
And I meet some 'Neighbors' courtesy of a dimensional gate!
I think I should whack this colony pod. Too good of an opportunity.
AAR: How I learned to stop worrying and *usurp* the mindworm (Thinker Mod)
Posted by: pblur, February 26, 2023, 11:47:12 PM
Replies: 11
Board: After Action Reports
Views: 872
Well, I'm having enough fun with these to roll another... the last one was a bit anticlimactic because I effectively won before aircraft, and then just built-built-built to a transcendance victory while paying my opposition for peace whenever possible. Effective, fairly quick in real-world time, but not exactly exciting or dramatic. Maybe this game will be closer...
Welcome to another After Action Report for Thinker mod! I've been playing SMAC and beating Transcend for many years, and recently installed Thinker AI. At first, it absolutely stomped me, even on Thinker difficulty, but I slowly figured out what I was doing wrong and, after a half dozen games on Thinker, started actually beating it. I've won four games on Transcend difficulty (two in previous AARs) so far, but the game is (usually!) hard. Just how I like it!
I'm playing with the latest Develop build of Thinker (2/26/23).
Differences from default settings:
New world builder disabled I don't love the pangaea-ness of the maps it made on my first few tries.
Rare pods disabled
Nessus Canyon enabled
Buff to Planet Cult +4 Planet instead of +2.
Nerf to Usurpers/Caretakers -1 INDUSTRY and no recycling tanks
Again, map is just Standard with middle-of-the-road choices for all customizations. Transcend difficulty, blind research, no Unity Survey. All factions randomized.
Well, I think this is my first time trying out my nerfed Aliens! I generally think Usurpers are notably weaker than Caretakers (+1 PLANET is really good!), but I still suspect that I have under-nerfed them, if anything.
First advantage of aliens; actual continent boundaries. It's not THAT powerful, since you can usually make it out decently well from the wireframe, but eh. I'll take it. Looks like my competition are mostly pretty warlike.
Industrial Base. Synthmetal, but more importantly it's a needed tech on the way to Industrial Automation.
I opt for maximum speed of second and third bases:
Nutrients are mostly kind of scarce around my bases aside from the one with a nutrient bonus, so I end up getting a couple formers before first colony pod explosion Looks like my neighborhood is mostly clear. I've hit several alien artifacts, so I'll probably snag weather paradigm...
And I meet some 'Neighbors' courtesy of a dimensional gate!
I think I should whack this colony pod. Too good of an opportunity.
Colony pod ran off, but I can still potentially take their capital... Yep! Back home, I'm suffering for going formers instead of defensive scouts early...
Welcome to an After Action Report for Thinker mod! I've been playing SMAC and beating Transcend for many years, and recently installed Thinker AI. At first it absolutely stomped me, even on Thinker difficulty, but I slowly figured out what I was doing wrong and, after a half dozen games on Thinker, started actually beating it. I've won two games on Transcend difficulty so far, but the game is hard. Just how I like it!
I'm playing with the latest Develop build of Thinker
Differences from default settings:
New world builder disabled I don't love the pangaea-ness of the maps it made on my first few tries.
Rare pods disabled
Nessus Canyon enabled
Buff to Planet Cult +4 Planet instead of +2.
Nerf to Usurpers/Caretakers -1 INDUSTRY and no recycling tanks
This is my first AAR, so let's see how it goes. First off, map is just Standard with middle of the road choices for all customizations. Transcend difficulty, blind research, no Unity Survey. All factions randomized. Looks like I rolled Lal! Yay for less Drone micro! Initial start is pretty decent, some nutrients, a river for a bit of early energy... it's no Monsoon Jungle, but it will do. Building right here, and then sending scout+colony pod west.
While I'm getting started, let's check who else is in the game:
Well, that's pretty scary. Lots of people who are rarely very friendly... I may have to bribe my way to peace in the early game.
AAR: Keeping the Peace between... aliens and Yang and Svensgaard? (Thinker mod)
Posted by: pblur, February 15, 2023, 07:51:36 PM
Replies: 28
Board: After Action Reports
Views: 1577
Welcome to an After Action Report for Thinker mod! I've been playing SMAC and beating Transcend for many years, and recently installed Thinker AI. At first it absolutely stomped me, even on Thinker difficulty, but I slowly figured out what I was doing wrong and, after a half dozen games on Thinker, started actually beating it. I've won two games on Transcend difficulty so far, but the game is hard. Just how I like it!
I'm playing with the latest Develop build of Thinker
Differences from default settings:
New world builder disabled I don't love the pangaea-ness of the maps it made on my first few tries.
Rare pods disabled
Nessus Canyon enabled
Buff to Planet Cult +4 Planet instead of +2.
Nerf to Usurpers/Caretakers -1 INDUSTRY and no recycling tanks
This is my first AAR, so let's see how it goes. First off, map is just Standard with middle of the road choices for all customizations. Transcend difficulty, blind research, no Unity Survey. All factions randomized. Looks like I rolled Lal! Yay for less Drone micro! Initial start is pretty decent, some nutrients, a river for a bit of early energy... it's no Monsoon Jungle, but it will do. Building right here, and then sending scout+colony pod west.
While I'm getting started, let's check who else is in the game:
Well, that's pretty scary. Lots of people who are rarely very friendly... I may have to bribe my way to peace in the early game.
Hi all, I just started an effort to recreate/remaster SMAC (Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri) to let it run on modern systems, and especially to have working, stable, reliable multiplayer. It's still at very early stage, but feel free to subscribe, review, discuss and maybe even participate. I estimate a playable version to come in a month or so. The idea is to use existing resources and game logic of SMAC (to preserve the feel) while having a modern, multi-threaded, bug-free game client. Once this step is done I will move further and add modding support, better graphics, various online services and more. Code repository is located at https://github.com/afwbkbc/glsmac , it contains more details, discord link and also some ubuntu-compatible binaries if somebody is too lazy to compile. It will be nice to have consistent feedback while development goes, to make sure I do everything right
Hi all, I just started an effort to recreate/remaster SMAC (Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri) to let it run on modern systems, and especially to have working, stable, reliable multiplayer. It's still at very early stage, but feel free to subscribe, review, discuss and maybe even participate. I estimate a playable version to come in a month or so. The idea is to use existing resources and game logic of SMAC (to preserve the feel) while having a modern, multi-threaded, bug-free game client. Once this step is done I will move further and add modding support, better graphics, various online services and more. Code repository is located at https://github.com/afwbkbc/glsmac , it contains more details, discord link and also some ubuntu-compatible binaries if somebody is too lazy to compile. It will be nice to have consistent feedback while development goes, to make sure I do everything right
Overview This is a fictional account of the Unity expedition featured in Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri.
I am presenting material in pseudo-"photo" essay form.
Introduction This is the story of an expedition into the unknown. It was an act of desperation, undertaken not in optimism or from a place of pride, but because our species, and the civilization it created, had run out of time. And so we fled the world we had seemingly destroyed for one that might yet destroy us.
I'm going to try to post about three updates a day.
Source Material
The primary source for this timeline is, quite naturally, the eponymous computer game and its 1999 sequel, Alpha Centauri: Alien Crossfire, for which Brian Reynolds and Tim Train were the lead designers, respectively. You will see additional traces and head nods to the late Michael Crichton, author of Jurassic Park; the late James Clavell, author of the The Asian Saga, the most famous installment of which was probably Shōgun; author David Brinn, who penned The Postman in 1985; the present-day TNT television series The Last Ship; Ridley Scott's Blade Runner and its sequel; the book Cold War Hot, ed. Peter G. Tsouras; Jon F. Zeigler's GURPS Alpha Centauri book; the 1998 Blizzard computer game StarCraft and its many derivative and companion works; the Fallout series of computer games; the short-lived NBC drama Kings; Christopher Nolen's 2010 movie, Inception; and many others.
The Tribe faction, along with the characters of "Pete" Landers and John Baptist Keller (here, Jean-Baptiste Keller) are the original creations of an individual with the screen name "Thorn" on another forum.
Racing the Darkness - An Alpha Centauri Photologue
Posted by: Trenacker, March 13, 2022, 06:28:53 PM
Replies: 404
Board: Planet Tales
Views: 42308
Overview This is a fictional account of the Unity expedition featured in Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri.
I am presenting material in pseudo-"photo" essay form.
Introduction This is the story of an expedition into the unknown. It was an act of desperation, undertaken not in optimism or from a place of pride, but because our species, and the civilization it created, had run out of time. And so we fled the world we had seemingly destroyed for one that might yet destroy us.
I'm going to try to post about three updates a day.
Source Material
The primary source for this timeline is, quite naturally, the eponymous computer game and its 1999 sequel, Alpha Centauri: Alien Crossfire, for which Brian Reynolds and Tim Train were the lead designers, respectively. You will see additional traces and head nods to the late Michael Crichton, author of Jurassic Park; the late James Clavell, author of the The Asian Saga, the most famous installment of which was probably Shōgun; author David Brinn, who penned The Postman in 1985; the present-day TNT television series The Last Ship; Ridley Scott's Blade Runner and its sequel; the book Cold War Hot, ed. Peter G. Tsouras; Jon F. Zeigler's GURPS Alpha Centauri book; the 1998 Blizzard computer game StarCraft and its many derivative and companion works; the Fallout series of computer games; the short-lived NBC drama Kings; Christopher Nolen's 2010 movie, Inception; and many others.
The Tribe faction, along with the characters of "Pete" Landers and John Baptist Keller (here, Jean-Baptiste Keller) are the original creations of an individual with the screen name "Thorn" on another forum.
Lady Deirdre Skye - ecologist CEO Nwabudike Morgan - capitalist Foreman Domai - socialist Aki Zeta-5 - cyberneticist H'minee, Marr - Alien menaces Cha Dawn - slick cult leader
The Tree Hugger - SMACX AI Growth mod version 1.52
Posted by: bvanevery, September 26, 2021, 05:23:48 AM
Replies: 176
Board: After Action Reports
Views: 10521
The Tree Hugger a Planet drama starring
Lady Deirdre Skye - ecologist CEO Nwabudike Morgan - capitalist Foreman Domai - socialist Aki Zeta-5 - cyberneticist H'minee, Marr - Alien menaces Cha Dawn - slick cult leader
AC2 management knows only that this patch is said to allow SMAX to run on Windows 11. This is said to also be true of Inducto's Thinker mod -also hosted in AC2 Downloads- but it changes the game more.
Posted by: Buster's Uncle, June 24, 2025, 04:30:12 PM
Replies: 0
Board: Chiron News Network
Views: 42
Nathan Baggs' W11 patch
V1.2.0
AC2 management knows only that this patch is said to allow SMAX to run on Windows 11. This is said to also be true of Inducto's Thinker mod -also hosted in AC2 Downloads- but it changes the game more.
One of the best features of Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri/Alien Crossfire is its wonderful modability - which, thanks to SMACer Ford_Prefect, has now been expanded.
SMACX, although a science fiction game, is a robust enough engine that modders have frequently want to do retro-mods. There is a massive WWII scenario extant, and much work was done several years ago on a Middle-Earth TCM.
In such cases, the drawback of the SMACX platform was the proprietary, and obsolete, .cvr format units were in, which no one in the fan community could modify from their science fiction look, or alter into [...]
Ford_Prefect’s .cvr Editor Released: Interview with the Creator
Posted by: Buster's Uncle, March 08, 2023, 06:20:16 PM
Replies: 1
Board: Chiron News Network
Views: 806
One of the best features of Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri/Alien Crossfire is its wonderful modability - which, thanks to SMACer Ford_Prefect, has now been expanded.
SMACX, although a science fiction game, is a robust enough engine that modders have frequently want to do retro-mods. There is a massive WWII scenario extant, and much work was done several years ago on a Middle-Earth TCM.
In such cases, the drawback of the SMACX platform was the proprietary, and obsolete, .cvr format units were in, which no one in the fan community could modify from their science fiction look, or alter into different science fiction looks. Now, Ford_Prefect has created the first .cvr editor available to SMACers - and he’s looking for technical help to expand its modest capabilities.
AC2 interviewed Ford about his creation in April:
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AC2: How did you first take an interest in this project?
Ford_Prefect: I wanted to try to make a smac clone. So I googled around and found out no one knew how to read the calviar format(.cvr). So I figured, what the heck... I'll give it a try.
AC2: Why the .cvr part in particular, though?
Ford_Prefect: It was the only major graphics component that no one could read. I could use any of the other images for the terrain, faces, gui, etc, but the actual units were in the cvr file format. I thought it would be quicker and easier to figure out the .cvr format than it would be to recreate the units from scratch in blender. (I was wrong. )
AC2: What can be done with your .cvr editor?
Ford_Prefect: The editor allows one to re-texture any unit found in Alpha Centauri in its native cvr format. Each part of the unit can be viewed independently for painting. The editor also can export what it knows about the current cvr file into a human readable text format.
AC2: Could I turn the colony pod into a covered wagon with it?
Ford_Prefect: No. Currently, the tool only allows you to change the colors of the units, not their shape. It is a paint tool, not a modeler.
AC2: What do you think can be done in the future, assuming some breakthroughs?
Ford_Prefect: Currently, there is enough known about caviar (cvr) to create a 3d version of the editor. I might try to create this after I've improved my 3d programing skills.
One breakthrough would be if someone figured out where the rest of the color values are stored in the file. Right now the last 10-20 colors are unknown for each model. If someone figured it out, I could quickly fix the color palette to display the colors correctly.
A major breakthrough would be if someone figured out the values for normals... then almost anything would be possible. Normals would allow us to truly modify the units to appear however we wanted them to be. Knowing the normals would also allow us to export the units to blender and other games.
AC2: Okay, define normal for non-tech types to whom that last would make no sense.
Ford_Prefect: A normal tells the software how light should reflect off of a surface. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_mapping I made a wiki page to hold what I know about the caviar file specification. Caviar (.cvr) specification. (WIP)
AC2: What do you want people to know about the project?
Ford_Prefect: Modders can now give the SMAC units a paint job. Help is needed to figure out the rest of the caviar file format. The units in SMAC are a voxel based 3d (like minecraft)
---
More information and a link to the editor can be found here: http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=7866.0 Ford, and the rest of the SMACX modding community, would greatly appreciate your feedback and support.
Longtime Civ fan community veteran Dale Kent has been working for developer Mohawk Games for two years, fulltime since October 2021.
Kent, a prominent modder, most notably of Civ4 Road to War, and Civ4 Colonization, and former WPC co-owner, has long been acquainted with major fan-turned-pro Soren Johnson, the Design Director of Mohawk Games.
Kent worked part time for Mohawk as a QA tester/ Community Manager from March 2020 to Oct 2021, and full time from Oct 2021 to the present as a Designer/ Programmer.
He has worked on various parts of Old World, including the Achievements system, [...]
Posted by: Buster's Uncle, February 22, 2023, 01:48:24 PM
Replies: 2
Board: Chiron News Network
Views: 1045
Longtime Civ fan community veteran Dale Kent has been working for developer Mohawk Games for two years, fulltime since October 2021.
Kent, a prominent modder, most notably of Civ4 Road to War, and Civ4 Colonization, and former WPC co-owner, has long been acquainted with major fan-turned-pro Soren Johnson, the Design Director of Mohawk Games.
Kent worked part time for Mohawk as a QA tester / Community Manager from March 2020 to Oct 2021, and full time from Oct 2021 to the present as a Designer / Programmer.
He has worked on various parts of Old World, including the Achievements system, integrated Modio and Workshop into the mod browser, and is currently working on future content for the company.
Bases are the most difficult aspect of a SMACX faction graphic to create, so it is hoped that these graphic goodie files will give beginners at faction modding a leg up. See also the Portraits, Diplomacy Landscapes and Logos series, also in this Downloads section, and for info on art techniques and/or to communicate with BU and ask any questions, see the Graphics thread: http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=1237.0 These are a lot of work to put together, so please be sure to credit me in the empty space of the .pcx. Posting to let me know you found it [...]
Posted by: Buster's Uncle, February 21, 2023, 02:05:16 PM
Replies: 0
Board: Chiron News Network
Views: 769
Bases 20
Bases are the most difficult aspect of a SMACX faction graphic to create, so it is hoped that these graphic goodie files will give beginners at faction modding a leg up. See also the Portraits, Diplomacy Landscapes and Logos series, also in this Downloads section, and for info on art techniques and/or to communicate with BU and ask any questions, see the Graphics thread: http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=1237.0 These are a lot of work to put together, so please be sure to credit me in the empty space of the .pcx. Posting to let me know you found it useful would be okay, too.
WPC has been down for several months - Solver indicates that there was a tech error. He also hints that if/when he gets around to fixing it, it will be an archive.
The management requests that anyone in touch with Solver join in nagging him to hurry up that fixing - a very large quantity of excellent SMACX and other content is at stake.
Posted by: Buster's Uncle, January 16, 2023, 12:38:16 PM
Replies: 0
Board: Chiron News Network
Views: 894
WPC has been down for several months - Solver indicates that there was a tech error. He also hints that if/when he gets around to fixing it, it will be an archive.
The management requests that anyone in touch with Solver join in nagging him to hurry up that fixing - a very large quantity of excellent SMACX and other content is at stake.
The CFC forums will be taken down this Friday (15th July) morning (9 AM London time) for a forum upgrade. We expect to be back up sometime on Saturday (16th) in the afternoon or evening. Updates can be found on the CFC front page while the forum is down. Please check this thread in Site Feedback for information and updates! https://forums.civfanatics.com/.../site-upgrades-are.../
Posted by: Buster's Uncle, July 15, 2022, 01:47:52 PM
Replies: 1
Board: Chiron News Network
Views: 1370
The CFC forums will be taken down this Friday (15th July) morning (9 AM London time) for a forum upgrade. We expect to be back up sometime on Saturday (16th) in the afternoon or evening. Updates can be found on the CFC front page while the forum is down. Please check this thread in Site Feedback for information and updates! https://forums.civfanatics.com/.../site-upgrades-are.../
In the year 2101, six factions left the damaged hull of UNS Unity and made Planetfall. Colonel Santiago, Lady Skye, Provost Zakharov, Brother Lal, Chairman Yang, and finally – you, Captain Svensgaard – led their people onto this alien world. The Gaians proved to be the luckiest and landed in a rich jungle, which helped them rapidly expand throughout the main continent. You remained in touch with Santiago, as you two had forged some rapport onboard Unity. However, the fate of the rest is still a mystery. It remains to be seen if they are dead or [...]
The Planet Rising - May2014 GotM scenario for the Pirates
Posted by: Buster's Uncle, January 24, 2021, 04:05:33 AM
Replies: 0
Board: Chiron News Network
Views: 2893
The Planet Rising
In the year 2101, six factions left the damaged hull of UNS Unity and made Planetfall. Colonel Santiago, Lady Skye, Provost Zakharov, Brother Lal, Chairman Yang, and finally – you, Captain Svensgaard – led their people onto this alien world. The Gaians proved to be the luckiest and landed in a rich jungle, which helped them rapidly expand throughout the main continent. You remained in touch with Santiago, as you two had forged some rapport onboard Unity. However, the fate of the rest is still a mystery. It remains to be seen if they are dead or thrive in some secluded areas.
You found a safe bay at the base of a dormant volcano called the Mount of Planet. After a while, in order to contain the Gaian expansion, you decided to send colonists onto the mainland. After founding the Outpost and New Hope, you managed to establish mining operations on a range of hills, deeper in the continent. Things were going well for a while.
But then, something… happened. Nobody knows for sure what. Some say the Gaians awoke some kind of force among the ancient Ruins. Others, that the will of Planet itself manifested in a physical form. Perhaps the strangest rumors talk about a young boy who got lost in fungus and miraculously developed new powers. But whatever it was, it brought havoc to human settlements. Gaian bases, one by one, succumbed to hordes of mind worms, beyond doubt controlled by some wicked intellect. Gaian citizens were forced into submission, while Lady Skye herself, humiliated, swore obedience to her new master – self-proclaimed Prophet Cha Dawn, leader of the Cult of Planet. Now she is the head of a puppet government, a fraction of her former glory.
Soon, yours and Spartans’ bases were quickly conquered as well. Despite heroic sacrifices of your people, they simply could not stand against ferocious attacks of countless mind worms. As the Spartans faced complete obliteration, you used your transport ship to evacuate some of their colonists to a small island to the North East. Colonel Santiago refused to come onboard the ship, but was grateful enough to sign a pact of cooperation with you.
Shortly, waves of attackers reached the Outpost, your last settlement on the mainland. In order to evacuate the civilians, you have dispatched a transport to the base, loaded with your best soldiers, the Shock Platoon. They reinforced the garrison and saved so many people that you cannot possibly evacuate all of them. You need to choose whom to save…
Your mission is to evacuate, find some territory to settle and rebuild your power, and then to reclaim Chiron for humanity. You’ll be damned if you surrender to some disgusting bugs, even if it means fighting the Planet itself.
------------------------
It is 2106 and you play the Pirates. The main continent is overrun by the mind worms controlled by Cha Dawn. He is very powerful and remains a serious threat even when you leave the mainland, so consider yourself warned.
You start pacted with Santiago, but it is not a permanent pact, unlike the vendetta with Cha Dawn and Deirdre.
Your mission is first to survive, then to conquer Cha Dawn’s HQ. This is the only objective in the scenario.
You start with a battleship, 8-3-6, but you have no technology for the components. Do not play any tricks to pull reverse engineering on it (although I’m not aware of such a thing).
There is no Planetary Council. Nobody has the time for ballots and politics when the entire mission is compromised and the humanity itself is on the verge of extinction.
Raising and lowering terrain is impossible.
Other standard rules apply – no reverse engineering, crawler upgrade, bug abuse, etc.
Other settings:
large map victory conditions: conquest only Spoils of War and Do or Die off Supply pods and random events on Direct research, normal tech rate.
I provided this scenario in three different versions:
1) Light – for casual game, after evacuation you should get some peace for a while. Cha Dawn has no Projects and only a few IoDs. 2) Normal – quite a difficult version in itself. Cha Dawn has 2 Planet-related Projects and many units to keep you on your toes from the early turns. 3) Hard – look, some people just get off of pain and who are we to judge? Download this version if you’ve been naughty and deserve punishment. Cha Dawn has 5 Planet-related Projects and a horde of units to make your life miserable.
This is my first scenario, so feedback will be appreciated a lot!
1) In your Scenarios subdirectory create a folder called "Odyssey", and download and unzip the “Odyssey” files into it.
2) Start up SMAX, then select "Scenario", "Play Scenario", and then go to the subdirectory "Odyssey" and choose the scenario. The game will automatically load with the Peace Keepers.
Background
Other than hosting a small scientific outpost, the Morgrath solar system has been an unassuming backwater in the human confederation of planets. But recently a nearby anomaly called the Vemushan Artifact, an immense ice crystal cloud of indeterminate origin, has inexplicably started [...]
Posted by: Buster's Uncle, January 24, 2021, 02:02:57 AM
Replies: 0
Board: Chiron News Network
Views: 2814
SMAX Scenario: Odyssey by Darsnan, August 4, 2013
Directions
1) In your Scenarios subdirectory create a folder called "Odyssey", and download and unzip the “Odyssey” files into it.
2) Start up SMAX, then select "Scenario", "Play Scenario", and then go to the subdirectory "Odyssey" and choose the scenario. The game will automatically load with the Peace Keepers.
Background
Other than hosting a small scientific outpost, the Morgrath solar system has been an unassuming backwater in the human confederation of planets. But recently a nearby anomaly called the Vemushan Artifact, an immense ice crystal cloud of indeterminate origin, has inexplicably started moving towards the Morgrath solar system and its one inhabited planet, Crete. After analyzing the density of the Vemushan Artifact and calculating its trajectory, the resident University outpost anticipates the planet Crete will be bombarded by enough water condensate from the Artifact to completely engulf all landmasses on the planet.
At the behest of the University, the Peace Keepers have dispatched a spaceship to coordinate the evacuation of Crete.
Premise
Your parents, citizens of the city New Ithika on the planet Crete, decided to honor their ancestors by naming their offspring after the heroes of ancient Greece, and so it came to pass that you were given the name Odysseus. You had never given this unusual naming ritual a second thought until the events of the last few days had unfolded: because of your position in the planetary government you had been tasked with being the liaison between the Crete planetary government and the U.N. Relocation mission headed by the spaceship Argos. After boarding the Argos to coordinate the planetary evacuation effort, the spaceship was attacked by a nannite-based weapon, disabling the spaceship and forcing it to crash-land onto the far side of Crete. During the descent to the planet the escape pods were ejected, haphazardly crashlanding on a remote coast on the farside of the planet.
Now, after taking nominal command of the surviving forces, you turn from your battleship's helm and stare out across the sea to the distant horizon. Somewhere out there is your home, and your family, both in mortal danger from the coming apocalypse. But there is one small, desperate hope at rescue remaining: the con from the Argos is still broadcasting. If that element of the ship survived, then perhaps other pieces of the ship survived re-entry, as well. You must gather the surviving elements of the expedition, locate the Argos and determine if the Stasis Chamber and Booster Rocket can be salvaged from the wreckage. It is a longshot at rescue, but with the remnants of the Argos crew looking to you for rescue you must lead and undertake a journey of epic proportions across the surface of your planet to the one functional spaceport – a journey, which if you survive, will truly be an odyssey rivaling that of yor!
Overwhelmed by the moment you shout out to the sea "I am Odysseus, and I will see my homeland again!".
Your Communications officers have homed in on the location of the Argos con (it is in the lower left hand corner of the map). Now you must gather your forces and salvage whatever artifacts you can from the Argos wreckage.
Rules
The object of the game is to get the Stasis Chamber and Booster Rocket to the DRACa at the spaceport. As such here are the rules for the game:
1. If the spaceport is destroyed, you lose the game.
2. If the DRACa (Drop Re-entry Assault Carrier - armored) is destroyed, you lose the game (Warning: there are no facilities on this planet to repair the DRACa).
3. If your Faction is eliminated, you lose the game.
4. If the Stasis Chamber or Booster Rocket are destroyed, you lose the game.
5. You cannot break your Pact with the University in order to teleport your units home.
6. You cannot build a city on top of the spaceport to protect it.
Other than that, enjoy the game!
Acknowledgements:
I would like to thank wgabrie for providing the textures for the game - I have always loved his texture update!
If anyone would like to re-host this scenario at the other SMACX sites, please feel free to do so. I only ask that credit be given to myself, and wgabrie for the graphics.
D
Changelog
The following are some (but not all) of the changes to the alphax.txt file:
#RULES
- Max Artillery Range is now 4.
- Combat % -> intrinsic base defense now at 40%
- Combat in range of friendly sensor has been increased to 30%
#RESOURCEINFO
- Ocean squares yield 1/1/1.
- Monoliths give 2/3/2
- Boreholes induce -2 nutrients: simulates the horrendous working conditions the laborers have to endure down in the holes.
#CHASSIS
- Needlejet movement has been reduced to 6.
- Copter movement has been reduced to 4.
#WEAPONS
- most weapon values have been reduced by one.
#DEFENSES
- most armor values have been increased by one.
#UNITS
There are 44 units in the alphax.txt for this game. Because this is a themed scenario, I would recommend not viewing these beforehand.
#FACILITIES
To simulate a different environment than that of SMACX I've renamed some of the Centauri-specific facilities.
FACTIONS
There has been heavy modification to the factions involved in this game. One item is that all factions have been given the ability to capture native units.
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