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Author Topic:   Enhancement List

The Thomas A Stobie posted 03-17-99 04:02 PM ET
I created this topic to discuss significant enhancements that would add to the enjoyability and flexibility of SMAC. Feel free to add if you like.
1. I would like the ability to have unit chassises go through stages, become better and cheaper with new stages. For instance, the first needlejet would have less movement, and cost more, the second would be faster, and maybe cheaper, and a third would be even faster and maybe cheaper. This allows for the creation of new technologies to represent that stage of development corresponding to the stage of the chassis. I would have the old stages expire with the coming of the new one (and allow upgrades to the newer ones).
2. A Faction editor would be great.
3. I would add bridges (across up to 2 water squares), canals (that form a navigatable river), undersea tunnels and mag tubes.
4. I would allow for more specials per unit. Many times two are not enough. I would allow any unit to be clean regardless of its others specials.
5. I would add a unit manager accessable for the design workshop that allows you to quickly gives orders to and/or update specific units of a given type.
6. I would enhance grav formers to better use the sea.
7. I would add an new space improvement, spy satellite, which would provide active intelligence on other faction's activities. The more satellites the more complete the intelligence.
8. I would add a new special ability for units, Cognescent, arriving with Digital Sentience, that gives a special +25% to combat, with an initial two level morale penality, and the clean advantage built in.
9. I would like to see special bases for native life that cannot produce normal units, just native ones. These bases would be able to produce facilities as well (perhaps as modified for nativity).
10. I would expand the action available to the council (I have already added to a list I saw going around (which Brian has access to).
11. I would expand the range of worlds to include low pressure worlds, worlds without surface water, low oxygen content in the air, etc. I would add the appropriate technologies to allow terraforming from these, add penalties to construction for how much more difficult the thing being built is given the current environment, etc.
12. I would add a secret project, Core Tap, which greatly increases energy (geothermal), and enhances research. This project is the drilling down through the crust and mantle of the planet down to its core.
13. I would allow multiple factions to share the benefits of a project and would handle this through diplomacy.
14. During communications outage, I would permit factions with adjacent units to communicate, and also penalize combat abilities of air units, like by 25-50%, as the interference would affect them as well.
15. I would have a symbolic display of facilities/project at a base as well as the text display.
The Thomas A Stobie posted 03-17-99 04:12 PM ET
Re: #6. Should have said auto grav formers.
Purple posted 03-17-99 05:23 PM ET
I would really like a shortcut key to activate the main Menu. I don't know all the shortcuts for the various commands yet, and until I do, I hate having to use the mouse to get to them.
Seems like an easy one, but so useful.
Purple
Andrew Goldstein posted 03-18-99 12:53 AM ET
16. For PBEM, I would like to see an autoname feature that uses the following format: PBEMgameName_NextFactionToPlayName_Year.sav.
17. For PBEM, I would like to see a folder (call it something wild, like "PBEM"!) that's child of the "saves" folder where PBEM files will default to.
18. For PBEM, I would like to see a utility built into SMAC that would automatically zip my save game files.
Rathenn posted 03-18-99 02:40 AM ET
19. Have the option when clicking on a currently terraforming former to 'activate after terraform complete' or something similar, which switches it off automatic when the mine it's building is complete, for example.
20. Make the faction boundaries across 'planetnecks' more visible (ie. longer)
21. In diplomacy, having the ability to bribe other factions to stop building a certain SP (if you know about it), and vice versa.
22. In diplomacy, being able to request air cover from a pact brother/sister for a certain base of a mutual enemy (which you are attacking with ground troops). And for them to ask you on occasion.
23. In diplomacy, for a pact brother/sister to request immediate help in defending a certain base(s) from the enemy, and vice versa.
24. In the council, for there to be more options - perhaps having each faction pursue a specific 'resolution' along the lines of their agenda - ie. gaians and limit ecodamage agreements, morgans already have global trade pact, hive already has repeal UN charter...peacekeepers could have ability to enforce what their name actually suggests, spartans could have...well i don't know! something for other people to think about more thoroughly.
MrSparkle posted 03-18-99 02:51 AM ET
I know I've mentioned this from time to time on the forum, and its been bourne out by some of the above posts, but I think there's almost no way to have a diplomatic system that's too complex. The more diplomatic options the better.
The one thing that SMAC (and both of Sid's prior Civ games, for that matter) needs is more non-military interaction with the AI players. I would guess that three-quarters of all of the interaction with computer controlled players is combat and the declaration of wars/truce/peace. This can certainly stand some improving.
Alexnm posted 03-18-99 11:53 AM ET
I agree with MrSparkle. I usually play my games in a non-militaristic fashion, and I would like to see more options in diplomacy. For example, if you do something that irritates other faction (to a point where it will declare Vendetta upon you), it should throw out your ambassadors first and then declare Vendetta after few turns. This would allow you to seek peaceful forms to resolve the conflict before military clashes could have place. But, if you would want to start a war, you would have to do it WITHOUT important intelligence informations.
But this is a point that deserves a little more brainstorming upon it.
Alexnm
Freddz posted 03-18-99 12:40 PM ET
Artillery units should have a small chance of destroying buildings inside a base. It would make me use them more, and certainly make them cooler.
SnowFire posted 03-18-99 03:26 PM ET
25) A real scenario editor that exists outside the game instead of the cheat mode in the game. Even a map editor would be a step in the right direction.
26) I posted this on AGFAC awhlie ago and got no response, but there needs to be more faction-specific AI. I'm refering to the little box that you can see in the scenario editor that has things like "lost of probes" checked for Morgan, "lots of missiles" for Miriam, "lots of colony pods" also for Miriam. And of course, there are otehr options designed for the scenarios like "teams up against human player" "wantonly commits atrocities" "shamelessly betrays human play." There should be more boxes like these. I'd like to see a box, for instance, called "Lots of artillery" and this would be what the current AI is. Hopefully, this new option would now be unchecked for most of the factions. And another thing- where do these settings come from? I can't find the lines in faction.txt that say Morgan has a probe fetish, for instance, so I don't know how I would give one to Miriam without turning on the scenario editor. Lastly, a little randomization in the features might be nice- like perhaps there being a 50% chance at the beginning of the game that one feature normally on/off for a faction is flipped to the reverse. If that does occur, then there's another 50% chance that the faction will have another attribute flipped.
28) AI sea bases that build sea formers sooner rather than later.
29) Larger tech curve as the game approaches the end- you're getting the technologies too darn fast.
30) When buying the Ascent to Transendance, it should cost 3x as much as normal, and supply crawlers add 1/3 less than normal to try and make it take longer than two turns to build.
I have more, as soon as I think of them. Firaxis, we realize this may be too late for 3.0, but please at least take them into consideration for 3.1 if not 3.0. Thanks again!
Thue posted 03-18-99 04:55 PM ET
31) Being able to queue more than one orbital facility
32) Make fungicidal sea formers aware that they can do other thing than clear fungus (As long as there is but one patch of fungus they will rather travel across the world to clear it than make a kelp farm. irritating when you just upgraded all your sea formers to fungicidal status )
Shining1 posted 03-18-99 05:59 PM ET
Probe team identification: The faction name still turns up in the unit description for that square. Dumb. And it would be good to be able to see the health bar, if it is possible to remove the flag and keep this (I suspect not).

City Building list: Do base facilities in white (non-military) and red-pink (military), with secret projects in Blue, automaticially gained facilities in Grey, and obsolete facilities in bright red. Have the cost of each given as a number in a column down the far right side.

City information box: Add a button to the bottom of the base facility list in each city, which when clicked will activate a popup giving you the social/morale stats for that city. For example:
U.N Headquarters

Growth: +2 (Childrens crech)
Base morale: +2 (Childrens crech)
Ground Defense: +125% (Perimeter defense, Sensors)
Air Defense: +25% (sensors)
Labs Bonus: +100% (Network node, Fusion lab)
Energy Bonus: +50% (Fusion lab)
Pysch bonus: +50% (The Virtual world)

Ground unit morale: +4 (Command centre, Bioenchanment)
Naval unit morale: +2 (Bioenhancement)
Air unit morale: +2 (Bioenhancement)

Mouse view facility (interface): Be able to view the terrain info for any square under the mousepointer as soon as the mouse is moved into it.
Kinda like the system in Total Annihiliation, whereby the power/metal/job information for each unit appeared in that lower left box. I would like to see this implimented in SMAC, so that you can view the stats for an enemy unit, or, more importantly, checkout the terrain around a base for terraforming, without having to go L-click in each individual square.
Yeah, I REALLY WANT this feature.
Shining1 posted 03-18-99 06:53 PM ET
Expand the social engineering to including population and happiness as well (i.e the PK's two main advantages).
For instance:
Population:
-3 Hab limits reduced by three
-2 Hab limits reduced by two
-1 Hab limits reduced by one
0
+1 Hab limits increased by one
etc
Happiness
-3 extra drone for every 3 citizens
-2 extra drone for every 4 citizens
-1 more drones for inefficiency
0 Normal happiness
+1 fewer drones for inefficiency
+2 extra talent for every 4 citizens
+3 extra talent for every 3 citizens
Thus Morgan would have Population -3, Lal would have Pop +2, Happiness +2, and Zakarhov would have Happiness -2.
This can easily be added to existing government types, for instance police state should receive happiness -1, indicating greater citizen unease but more ability to control them, as well as population +1, for the ability to get more people to live together. Free market keeps its police -5, for the lack of control over citizens, and suffers a -1 population, -2 planet instead of -3 planet. Fundamentalism gets +1 Happiness, while green gets +1 happiness but -1 population. Etc.
googlie posted 03-18-99 07:18 PM ET
More ability to do things as pact brothers. EG Ocean level rising, I'va all my cities pressure-domed, but want to terraform up. get message that this will irritate pact sister whom I've either infiltrated or have access to her data (can't remember which) and she's pressure-doming like mad but won't make it (and doesn't - loses 3 cities) Why can't she have the option of agreeing, or of at least asking me to pay for any eco-damage to her cities (20% of my wealth maybe). In any event,making a eventual desert (I was west of her) would have been preferable to her than losing the city to the flood.
Other possible pact collaberations ; joint research that might be faster but more expensive (I guess we can each research different techs then swap). Or joint development of a new prototype (a la Concorde)
As an aside, has anyone done the "joint planning & attack" option for a pact? how does it work (I'll try tonight)
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Author	Topic: Enhancement List
The Thomas A Stobie	posted 03-17-99 04:02 PM ET I created this topic to discuss significant enhancements that would add to the enjoyability and flexibility of SMAC. Feel free to add if you like. 1. I would like the ability to have unit chassises go through stages, become better and cheaper with new stages. For instance, the first needlejet would have less movement, and cost more, the second would be faster, and maybe cheaper, and a third would be even faster and maybe cheaper. This allows for the creation of new technologies to represent that stage of development corresponding to the stage of the chassis. I would have the old stages expire with the coming of the new one (and allow upgrades to the newer ones). 2. A Faction editor would be great. 3. I would add bridges (across up to 2 water squares), canals (that form a navigatable river), undersea tunnels and mag tubes. 4. I would allow for more specials per unit. Many times two are not enough. I would allow any unit to be clean regardless of its others specials. 5. I would add a unit manager accessable for the design workshop that allows you to quickly gives orders to and/or update specific units of a given type. 6. I would enhance grav formers to better use the sea. 7. I would add an new space improvement, spy satellite, which would provide active intelligence on other faction's activities. The more satellites the more complete the intelligence. 8. I would add a new special ability for units, Cognescent, arriving with Digital Sentience, that gives a special +25% to combat, with an initial two level morale penality, and the clean advantage built in. 9. I would like to see special bases for native life that cannot produce normal units, just native ones. These bases would be able to produce facilities as well (perhaps as modified for nativity). 10. I would expand the action available to the council (I have already added to a list I saw going around (which Brian has access to). 11. I would expand the range of worlds to include low pressure worlds, worlds without surface water, low oxygen content in the air, etc. I would add the appropriate technologies to allow terraforming from these, add penalties to construction for how much more difficult the thing being built is given the current environment, etc. 12. I would add a secret project, Core Tap, which greatly increases energy (geothermal), and enhances research. This project is the drilling down through the crust and mantle of the planet down to its core. 13. I would allow multiple factions to share the benefits of a project and would handle this through diplomacy. 14. During communications outage, I would permit factions with adjacent units to communicate, and also penalize combat abilities of air units, like by 25-50%, as the interference would affect them as well. 15. I would have a symbolic display of facilities/project at a base as well as the text display.
The Thomas A Stobie	posted 03-17-99 04:12 PM ET Re: #6. Should have said auto grav formers.
Purple	posted 03-17-99 05:23 PM ET I would really like a shortcut key to activate the main Menu. I don't know all the shortcuts for the various commands yet, and until I do, I hate having to use the mouse to get to them. Seems like an easy one, but so useful. Purple
Andrew Goldstein	posted 03-18-99 12:53 AM ET 16. For PBEM, I would like to see an autoname feature that uses the following format: PBEMgameName_NextFactionToPlayName_Year.sav. 17. For PBEM, I would like to see a folder (call it something wild, like "PBEM"!) that's child of the "saves" folder where PBEM files will default to. 18. For PBEM, I would like to see a utility built into SMAC that would automatically zip my save game files.
Rathenn	posted 03-18-99 02:40 AM ET 19. Have the option when clicking on a currently terraforming former to 'activate after terraform complete' or something similar, which switches it off automatic when the mine it's building is complete, for example. 20. Make the faction boundaries across 'planetnecks' more visible (ie. longer) 21. In diplomacy, having the ability to bribe other factions to stop building a certain SP (if you know about it), and vice versa. 22. In diplomacy, being able to request air cover from a pact brother/sister for a certain base of a mutual enemy (which you are attacking with ground troops). And for them to ask you on occasion. 23. In diplomacy, for a pact brother/sister to request immediate help in defending a certain base(s) from the enemy, and vice versa. 24. In the council, for there to be more options - perhaps having each faction pursue a specific 'resolution' along the lines of their agenda - ie. gaians and limit ecodamage agreements, morgans already have global trade pact, hive already has repeal UN charter...peacekeepers could have ability to enforce what their name actually suggests, spartans could have...well i don't know! something for other people to think about more thoroughly.
MrSparkle	posted 03-18-99 02:51 AM ET I know I've mentioned this from time to time on the forum, and its been bourne out by some of the above posts, but I think there's almost no way to have a diplomatic system that's too complex. The more diplomatic options the better. The one thing that SMAC (and both of Sid's prior Civ games, for that matter) needs is more non-military interaction with the AI players. I would guess that three-quarters of all of the interaction with computer controlled players is combat and the declaration of wars/truce/peace. This can certainly stand some improving.
Alexnm	posted 03-18-99 11:53 AM ET I agree with MrSparkle. I usually play my games in a non-militaristic fashion, and I would like to see more options in diplomacy. For example, if you do something that irritates other faction (to a point where it will declare Vendetta upon you), it should throw out your ambassadors first and then declare Vendetta after few turns. This would allow you to seek peaceful forms to resolve the conflict before military clashes could have place. But, if you would want to start a war, you would have to do it WITHOUT important intelligence informations. But this is a point that deserves a little more brainstorming upon it. Alexnm
Freddz	posted 03-18-99 12:40 PM ET Artillery units should have a small chance of destroying buildings inside a base. It would make me use them more, and certainly make them cooler.
SnowFire	posted 03-18-99 03:26 PM ET 25) A real scenario editor that exists outside the game instead of the cheat mode in the game. Even a map editor would be a step in the right direction. 26) I posted this on AGFAC awhlie ago and got no response, but there needs to be more faction-specific AI. I'm refering to the little box that you can see in the scenario editor that has things like "lost of probes" checked for Morgan, "lots of missiles" for Miriam, "lots of colony pods" also for Miriam. And of course, there are otehr options designed for the scenarios like "teams up against human player" "wantonly commits atrocities" "shamelessly betrays human play." There should be more boxes like these. I'd like to see a box, for instance, called "Lots of artillery" and this would be what the current AI is. Hopefully, this new option would now be unchecked for most of the factions. And another thing- where do these settings come from? I can't find the lines in faction.txt that say Morgan has a probe fetish, for instance, so I don't know how I would give one to Miriam without turning on the scenario editor. Lastly, a little randomization in the features might be nice- like perhaps there being a 50% chance at the beginning of the game that one feature normally on/off for a faction is flipped to the reverse. If that does occur, then there's another 50% chance that the faction will have another attribute flipped. 28) AI sea bases that build sea formers sooner rather than later. 29) Larger tech curve as the game approaches the end- you're getting the technologies too darn fast. 30) When buying the Ascent to Transendance, it should cost 3x as much as normal, and supply crawlers add 1/3 less than normal to try and make it take longer than two turns to build. I have more, as soon as I think of them. Firaxis, we realize this may be too late for 3.0, but please at least take them into consideration for 3.1 if not 3.0. Thanks again!
Thue	posted 03-18-99 04:55 PM ET 31) Being able to queue more than one orbital facility 32) Make fungicidal sea formers aware that they can do other thing than clear fungus (As long as there is but one patch of fungus they will rather travel across the world to clear it than make a kelp farm. irritating when you just upgraded all your sea formers to fungicidal status )
Shining1	posted 03-18-99 05:59 PM ET Probe team identification: The faction name still turns up in the unit description for that square. Dumb. And it would be good to be able to see the health bar, if it is possible to remove the flag and keep this (I suspect not). City Building list: Do base facilities in white (non-military) and red-pink (military), with secret projects in Blue, automaticially gained facilities in Grey, and obsolete facilities in bright red. Have the cost of each given as a number in a column down the far right side. City information box: Add a button to the bottom of the base facility list in each city, which when clicked will activate a popup giving you the social/morale stats for that city. For example: U.N Headquarters Growth: +2 (Childrens crech) Base morale: +2 (Childrens crech) Ground Defense: +125% (Perimeter defense, Sensors) Air Defense: +25% (sensors) Labs Bonus: +100% (Network node, Fusion lab) Energy Bonus: +50% (Fusion lab) Pysch bonus: +50% (The Virtual world) Ground unit morale: +4 (Command centre, Bioenchanment) Naval unit morale: +2 (Bioenhancement) Air unit morale: +2 (Bioenhancement) Mouse view facility (interface): Be able to view the terrain info for any square under the mousepointer as soon as the mouse is moved into it. Kinda like the system in Total Annihiliation, whereby the power/metal/job information for each unit appeared in that lower left box. I would like to see this implimented in SMAC, so that you can view the stats for an enemy unit, or, more importantly, checkout the terrain around a base for terraforming, without having to go L-click in each individual square. Yeah, I REALLY WANT this feature.
Shining1	posted 03-18-99 06:53 PM ET Expand the social engineering to including population and happiness as well (i.e the PK's two main advantages). For instance: Population: -3 Hab limits reduced by three -2 Hab limits reduced by two -1 Hab limits reduced by one 0 +1 Hab limits increased by one etc Happiness -3 extra drone for every 3 citizens -2 extra drone for every 4 citizens -1 more drones for inefficiency 0 Normal happiness +1 fewer drones for inefficiency +2 extra talent for every 4 citizens +3 extra talent for every 3 citizens Thus Morgan would have Population -3, Lal would have Pop +2, Happiness +2, and Zakarhov would have Happiness -2. This can easily be added to existing government types, for instance police state should receive happiness -1, indicating greater citizen unease but more ability to control them, as well as population +1, for the ability to get more people to live together. Free market keeps its police -5, for the lack of control over citizens, and suffers a -1 population, -2 planet instead of -3 planet. Fundamentalism gets +1 Happiness, while green gets +1 happiness but -1 population. Etc.
googlie	posted 03-18-99 07:18 PM ET More ability to do things as pact brothers. EG Ocean level rising, I'va all my cities pressure-domed, but want to terraform up. get message that this will irritate pact sister whom I've either infiltrated or have access to her data (can't remember which) and she's pressure-doming like mad but won't make it (and doesn't - loses 3 cities) Why can't she have the option of agreeing, or of at least asking me to pay for any eco-damage to her cities (20% of my wealth maybe). In any event,making a eventual desert (I was west of her) would have been preferable to her than losing the city to the flood. Other possible pact collaberations ; joint research that might be faster but more expensive (I guess we can each research different techs then swap). Or joint development of a new prototype (a la Concorde) As an aside, has anyone done the "joint planning & attack" option for a pact? how does it work (I'll try tonight)