I really want to like SMAC, but I cant

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Author Topic:   I really want to like SMAC, but I cant

kobyashi posted 03-11-99 05:34 PM ET
I know you have probably heard all this before but having played civ1 & 2 age of empires etc I really am finding it hard to enjoy SMAC. I think it is that with other games you sort of understand what a legion does or a battleship, or a temple, but with SMAC who knows (or cares) what a tachyon sledge is or a network node etc etc, they dont mean anything so you can build anything without really having anything to base your decision on, it may be deep but its not fun.
oh and its so sloooooooow

kobi
fkloster posted 03-11-99 05:41 PM ET
You must dig deep and hard kobi to find true pleasure and fulfillment! (wow, did I say that?)
kobyashi posted 03-11-99 05:50 PM ET
thanks for your reply.
I guess that as I spend most of my day on a computer I just want to be entertained by a game, I dont want to sit there and be bored rigid hour after hour and receive no fulfilment with the hope thsat if I play it long enough something remotely interesting will happen, as its turn based I cant even let it bore itself for an hour or two.
Giant Squid posted 03-11-99 06:43 PM ET
"Who knows (or cares) what a tachyon slege or a network node is."
Answer: Us. Some people keep up with science fiction or just have good imaginations. For example, tachyons are a theoretical particle which can never travel slower than light. Do you really expect that an 18th century person would know (or care) what nuclear fusion was? Firaxis is being imaginative. It would be idiotic to think we could reach another star system without getting something a little better than fossil fuels.
HGB posted 03-11-99 06:56 PM ET
Although I like SMAC more than you do, I think you identify the principal reason why the game doesn't supply the same jolt that Civ2 did: it's just too abstract. The benefits offered by the technologies, base facilities, and projects are not intuitive--nothing in the game gives the same satisfaction as, for example, when Leonardo's Workshop upgraded my units to musketeers upon the discovery of gunpowder. Building Michelangelo's Chapel, the Cure for Cancer, or Hoover Dam (especially the first few times) provided a sense of awe absent from all of the Special Projects (but I would be remiss if I didn't state that most of the movies are pretty neat to watch). Although much of this problem is inevitable given the SF premise of the game, Firaxis exacerbated this by representing the facilities solely by icons; some kind of visual rendering of the facility would have helped give the game a more palpable impact. Although it seems like nitpicking, the game also would have been helped by giving distinctive sounds to the different units and weapons (remember the bugle call when the cavalry went into action in Civ2). Although I thing SMAC is a very good game, for primarily these reasons it is not the classic game Civ2 is (and I'm anxious to boot up CTP nect week).
kobyashi posted 03-13-99 03:10 PM ET
Sure, I like science fiction, I have imagination, it just doesnt do the same for me, in Civ I know the a Musketter is going to knock seven bells out of a legion say, however in SMAC you can find out if you really want, but it is not intuitive. Also everyhthing seems to make the same noise. and why is it so slooooooooooooow
kobi
Aeongusha posted 03-13-99 03:18 PM ET
You can make it run faster in the game settings by making the units "jump" to destination. As for the abstraction your wright but it's still fun to use planet busters or grav ships.
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Author	Topic: I really want to like SMAC, but I cant
kobyashi	posted 03-11-99 05:34 PM ET I know you have probably heard all this before but having played civ1 & 2 age of empires etc I really am finding it hard to enjoy SMAC. I think it is that with other games you sort of understand what a legion does or a battleship, or a temple, but with SMAC who knows (or cares) what a tachyon sledge is or a network node etc etc, they dont mean anything so you can build anything without really having anything to base your decision on, it may be deep but its not fun. oh and its so sloooooooow kobi
fkloster	posted 03-11-99 05:41 PM ET You must dig deep and hard kobi to find true pleasure and fulfillment! (wow, did I say that?)
kobyashi	posted 03-11-99 05:50 PM ET thanks for your reply. I guess that as I spend most of my day on a computer I just want to be entertained by a game, I dont want to sit there and be bored rigid hour after hour and receive no fulfilment with the hope thsat if I play it long enough something remotely interesting will happen, as its turn based I cant even let it bore itself for an hour or two.
Giant Squid	posted 03-11-99 06:43 PM ET "Who knows (or cares) what a tachyon slege or a network node is." Answer: Us. Some people keep up with science fiction or just have good imaginations. For example, tachyons are a theoretical particle which can never travel slower than light. Do you really expect that an 18th century person would know (or care) what nuclear fusion was? Firaxis is being imaginative. It would be idiotic to think we could reach another star system without getting something a little better than fossil fuels.
HGB	posted 03-11-99 06:56 PM ET Although I like SMAC more than you do, I think you identify the principal reason why the game doesn't supply the same jolt that Civ2 did: it's just too abstract. The benefits offered by the technologies, base facilities, and projects are not intuitive--nothing in the game gives the same satisfaction as, for example, when Leonardo's Workshop upgraded my units to musketeers upon the discovery of gunpowder. Building Michelangelo's Chapel, the Cure for Cancer, or Hoover Dam (especially the first few times) provided a sense of awe absent from all of the Special Projects (but I would be remiss if I didn't state that most of the movies are pretty neat to watch). Although much of this problem is inevitable given the SF premise of the game, Firaxis exacerbated this by representing the facilities solely by icons; some kind of visual rendering of the facility would have helped give the game a more palpable impact. Although it seems like nitpicking, the game also would have been helped by giving distinctive sounds to the different units and weapons (remember the bugle call when the cavalry went into action in Civ2). Although I thing SMAC is a very good game, for primarily these reasons it is not the classic game Civ2 is (and I'm anxious to boot up CTP nect week).
kobyashi	posted 03-13-99 03:10 PM ET Sure, I like science fiction, I have imagination, it just doesnt do the same for me, in Civ I know the a Musketter is going to knock seven bells out of a legion say, however in SMAC you can find out if you really want, but it is not intuitive. Also everyhthing seems to make the same noise. and why is it so slooooooooooooow kobi
Aeongusha	posted 03-13-99 03:18 PM ET You can make it run faster in the game settings by making the units "jump" to destination. As for the abstraction your wright but it's still fun to use planet busters or grav ships.