posted 05-17-99 04:55 AM ET        

So Firaxis are doing Civ III & a new vision of having a 'Sweep of Time' 3 game saga.

Game 1: Civ
Game 2: ?
Game 3: Alpha Centauri

Some news snippets state that players finishing 1 game can use the save file as input to the next game in the series.

This will I feel, require a major update of
CIV & AC. The problem currently is if you
"win" CIV, your race/faction are usually way way ahead of everybody else.

Would it then make sense to start way way ahead in the next game. Would there be any interest?, would you care?.

Then the problem of the middle game, what will this be about?

What I would like to see is:-

Game 1: Civ3 (3D enhanced graphics and a round planet). Game ends as races move into
the space age.

Game 2: Colonization of the Solar System and
then onto nearby systems.

Game 3: Colonization of 'our' area of the Rim. AC, although a great game, seems very
strange to me when you can discover INCREDIBLE technology and then the factions
remain on the same planet?

i.e. your a Peacekeeper you have the tech of matter transmission & advanced spaceflight. Your being planetbusted on Planet...why not just pack up and leave and find another planetary system?

The game just doesn't make any sense in some places.

How the boys(& gals) at FIRAXIS sort all these issues out....well..I don't know..I'm
just a grunt..hell..I looked through the jobs advertised on this site and it sort of went....hmm can't do that..no nor that..nope..no.no..no..no.no..hmmm...Chicken Soup Vending Machine Repair Man..Yes!

posted 05-17-99 08:42 AM ET         

"Some news snippets state that players finishing 1 game can use the save file as input to the next game in the series."

posted 05-17-99 07:58 PM ET         

I'm wondering, why do you want a round planet? To me it seems like a whole lotta work in the graphics, pathfinding, AI, scenario-editor, gameplay and control areas just to have a round map which will, for the most part, have little or no ramifications in the actual end-product of the game.

I myself think the timeline would go:

Civ3 - Same old up the the launch to AC game.
SMAC - It currently exists
"MoO3" - The battle for the galaxy game.

posted 05-17-99 08:40 PM ET            

1. SMAC ( remember, after you transcend you find out that there is once again civilization on Earth)

2. Civ3 (you go back to earth for this game)

3. Untitled MOO type game....

BR will do Civ3 and Sid does the third game.

posted 05-18-99 04:54 AM ET            

Al: Why a round planet? Well more realism for one and why not? If their (FIRAXIS) are going to try for the big one (i.e. wandering nomads to galaxy conquering entities), *I* feel that doing the programming slog to achieve a fully 3D, round planet would hold FIRAXIS is good stead when the later space empire games get into full gear.

You will need a way to look at each planet in your empire and we all know planets look nicer from space. 8-)

Other points: Having AC as a middle game doesn't make sense to me. *IF* their (tm) going to design a 3 game system where you can transfer saved games from the previous game, then how will this work from CIV to AC?

I think (or do I?)

Civ3 : forget all the nice cosmetic changes and general Civ improvements for a moment. Lets just talk 'The Span of Time' points.

1) Again I think, building a spaceship in Civ to go off to AC is premature. There is a whole solar system to explore and assimilate yet. Lets face it, taking control of the solar system will be a good learning experience when you move into the MOO game.

I would like to see CIV stop as soon as a race shoots a colony pod to Mars (The First Hundred). The Computer would then calculate the times it would take the other races to reach a similiar position and then save the game at this point. You would then load this
CIVsave into the next SoT game.

Conquest of the Solar System: (Middle Game).
So the colony pod shot at the end of Civ gets
to Mars and you start colonisation all over again. The other races arrive at predetermine time intervals.

Hmm, how will you co-ordinate on Earth and colonize on Mars & then the rest of the solar system? We need a pretty impressive
interface. This game should allow the player to colonize nearby systems AC, Wolf359, Sirius, etc. The game ends as you discover warp tech ?.

Game 3: MOO Mega Death Frenzy

As stated but now the player is galactic emperor of the known universe (sic)

This kind of mega nomads-to-supreme-beings would really make a great online multi-player game. This is the kind of concept that the Internet was made for.

Right back to "work".