Alpha Centauri Forums
The Game
Why SMAC SUCKS! Testimonials.
|
|
Alpha Centauri Forums
The Game
Why SMAC SUCKS! Testimonials.
|
| Author | Topic: Why SMAC SUCKS! Testimonials. |
| DerekM |
posted 03-31-99 09:44 AM ET  
Here are some of the complaints registered with the Society for Unremitting Complaints and Knocks. "I purchased SMAC and installed it, and expected to be instantly transported to the Alpha Centauri system. Instead, it was just a computer game! You call that realism? What a crock." "I was very disappointed that it did not work with my video card. I spent a lot of time assembling that card from spare parts, and SMAC refused to work with it. That is shoddy craftsmanship." "I went to the computer store and asked for Starkraft. The salesperson pointed to SMAC and said, 'there it is.' I questioned this, but assumed he must be correct. Well, needless to say, when I got home, I installed the game I was furious. The game wasn't real-time at all! It didn't have three races, just a bunch of factions! How could Blizzzerd false advertise like that?" "I brought SMAC home and tried to install it on my IBM AT, and it wouldn't even install! Why must software developers continually push the envelope on hardware? Some people only have average systems, like me." "Three years ago, I came up with a design for a game where a bunch of people would develop a civilization, with lots of fungus and stuff. Firaxis clearly stole my idea! What a rip-off." "I was shocked when I saw the glaring flaws in this program. I installed it, and played it for about an hour before a bug brought the game screeching to a halt. I was viewing the 'datalinks,' when I noticed a MISSPELLING. Yes, it's true. There was obviously no way I could continue after that. What a waste of $50.00." "I pirated my copy of SMAC off of the internet. There was a problem with my sound driver, and Firaxis tech support actually refused to help me. Can you believe that? Ingrates." "i wuz goin to by smac til i noticed that it was ritten in the usa, so it must suk" |
| Draxinusom |
posted 03-31-99 10:43 AM ET
You say it... Real Life Tragedy, that is.. One that has the German 2.0 version, read the manual and some posts here, not asking for non-US 3.0 patches every 2 hrs and generally really likes SMAC. |
| MikeH II |
posted 03-31-99 10:47 AM ET
Why can't I play by normal mail? I haven't got an internet connection why can't I print out my saved game so that someone else can scan it in at the other end? Why have Firaxis missed this obvious multiplayer variation? I'm never buying another computer game again ever!!! |
| HMFIC |
posted 03-31-99 11:23 AM ET
Man, the AI in this game really sucks. Since I have figured out how to cheat, the AI doesnt have a chance... what a waste of 50 bucks! |
| MoSe |
posted 03-31-99 11:38 AM ET
I've undergone a scrupulous parsing of the package and its cartaceous and e-media contents, and I found the JOMT syndrome nowhere to be mentioned! That caused severe damage (i.e. thrown down the sink) to my otherwise sparse (but still potentially devlopable) relationships life!!! If I apply for USA citizenship, may I commence a lawsuit versus EA? How many billions bucks reparation would you advise to ask for? Please, help needed on this issue (can afford only free voluntary USA lawyer support). |
| HMFIC |
posted 03-31-99 11:52 AM ET
Man, people who post positive things about SMAC suck. They obviously dont speak for the majority, like I do, and have no business expressing an opinion in opposition to mine. |
| 4Horses |
posted 03-31-99 11:56 AM ET
I have very limited intelligence and this game requires me to think too much. I got addicted to it and frustrated because I couldn't outsmart the AI. I went to the forums for help.......Now I'm addicted to the forums too. This game sucks!! |
| HMFIC |
posted 03-31-99 12:02 PM ET
Man, the graphics in this game really sucks. I mean, I can see everything ok, and can make out all the units and all, but come on, for 50 bucks it should have holograms. If Firaxis doesnt have this included in their next patch, then they suck too. |
| Khan Singh |
posted 03-31-99 02:53 PM ET
Why no joystick support? In this day and age it is just disgraceful that a high end release like this doesn't have force feedback built in. I want my money back. |
| agoraphobe |
posted 03-31-99 03:09 PM ET
Yeah, that's right! How can I fly my Needlejets without a joystick - c'mon Firaxis, FIX THIS NOW! |
| CrayonX |
posted 03-31-99 05:02 PM ET
SMAC ruined my life. My girlfriend left me because I told her I had a "date with Deidre". I got fired from work because I got caught playing multiplayer with my friends from Savannah, Georgia and Juneau, Alaska. My parents have given up on me because I turned down some of mom's home cooking for another game, and told my dad I couldn't spend some quality father-son time with him. I lost all my stock investments because I wasn't paying attention to them slipping down while I PBed Yang. I have no recognisance of current events because I feign more interest in fictional events of 2100. What is this Kosovo thing everyone keeps talking about? I have carpal tunnel syndrome because of mousecapades with Santiago. I haven't bathed, slept well, or eaten much in 2 months. My twitch has gotten progressively worse, and rats, spiders, and cockroaches reside with me in my abode. My breathing is er rratic I can't s ee too gu d and no w I kan't seem to type to o gu d H E PL M E |
| Bluemax |
posted 03-31-99 05:24 PM ET
In addition to the lack of joystick support, needlejets and the other aircraft don't model correctly for the aerodynamics and gravity of Planet. What a ripoff. I can't understand how Firaxis can charge for a game with such an obvious flaw. |
| sandworm |
posted 03-31-99 05:28 PM ET
I can't play on a flat map. Planet is NOT flat. This game is too unrealistic to bother playing. |
| yin26 |
posted 03-31-99 07:28 PM ET
Dear Firaxis, Some things have really been burning my ass from day one about this game. First, did you ever stop to think for even a second about who your true fans are and what kind of computers they have? Obviously not. You see, I'm still using the 386 I had when I first installed Civ1 off of floppies. What was good enough for Civ1 should be good enough for SMAC, I say! But do you have ANY idea how long it took me at work to put the SMAC CD files on floppies so I could play at home? Do you think I actually enjoyed carrying several hundred floppies to my car? And need I remind you: We don't ALL have 30Mb super hard drives and 8Mb of RAM! I guess if you're trying to target the power user crowd, that's a marketing decision--and a bad one at that. While I'm here, I'd finally like to add that your so-called "automations" are a joke. Do you realize that I STILL have to make decisions and click the mouse a bunch of times? What kind of automation is that? Unlike you people, I'm a busy person. I don't have time to micromanage your silly game. I want the option to click my faction, choose whether or not I'd like to win, what my final score should be and how long this should all take. THAT'S automation. 4 clicks, leave, come back a winner. What's so hard about that? Here, try putting this somewhere in your obviously bloated code (sad that I have to teach you how to program, isn't it?): %(player_option(win?=y(display-YOU WIN!)(lose?=y(display-YOU LOSE!)*input_score)^TIME% Sloppy work Firaxis. Simply sloppy.
Angry in Atlanta |
| edromia |
posted 03-31-99 08:32 PM ET
I don't know what right you people have to complain -- imagine *my* shock after I read all the reviews, bought the game, threw away the receipt, pored through every content of the box including reading the manual cover to cover, installed it and started it up, only to discover at that moment that it was SCIENCE FICTION!! What's up with that? Fungus? Singularities? Solar Collectors? I don't understand any of this mumbo-jumbo! I can't relate to any of the technologies! I don't even LIKE science fiction! Where are the good old charioteers? In CIV2, you really knew you'd invented something when you got charioteers. Here, I get some crap like "Optical Computers." HUH?!?!? Nobody TOLD me this was a science fiction game. If Firaxis thinks they can charge good green US $$$ for this sort of indefensible bait-n-switch, they've got another think coming! -M. P.S. Human Genome Project my ass! |
| Shining1 |
posted 03-31-99 09:32 PM ET
Dar Fizxis, this game has chciks in it. Chicks suck. It is tootally unrealistic that a chick would be in charge of anything AND YOU HAS THREE!!! |
| Imran Siddiqui |
posted 03-31-99 09:36 PM ET
LOL! Oh great stuff! Another thing: "Man Firaxis! This game isn't realistic at all! I mean come one, everyone knows that the future isn't gonna be like that! Unified Field Theory in 2300! What is up with that?" Imran Siddiqui |
| Victor |
posted 03-31-99 10:37 PM ET
Wait a minute! Why does the game start so late? I am going to finish off my light-speed spaceship next year and intend to be at Alpha Centauri before I'm 30! Have it star in 2010 or something! |
| will |
posted 03-31-99 11:23 PM ET
You folks at FIRAXIS are awfully clever on a lot of things, but you have the effect of key unit features all wrong. For example, everyone knows that a needlejet is more effective against a unit in rocky terrain than one in open ground. The attack modifier should be +41.2% against units in rocky terrain, and -17.5 against units in the open. Otherwise, the effect is totally unrealistic. |
| Seely |
posted 03-31-99 11:28 PM ET
Good grief, Firaxis! You promise all this customizability in your games and then I find out Yang is really some maddened tyrant and not a visionary humanist and I can't change a damn thing about it! Also, what's this "Walk with Planet" transcendental crap! If there's intelligent life in our nearest star system, I'd like to damn well see the proof! E-mail me your research notes and documents verifying the existence of intelligent life or an inhabitable, fungus-breeding Planet, you shameless profiteers! Sincerely, |
| Marslow |
posted 04-01-99 12:10 AM ET
I have this thing, that I bought from a guy. It plugs into my computer through one of the whatchamacall'ems in back. Please include support for this device in any future versions. If you do not I will find you and kill you. This means you Brian Reynolds! By the way Firaxis, Smac sucks and so do you. And so does anybody who is reading this post. Actually, everybody sucks, everywhere. Cordially, |
| mooman |
posted 04-01-99 12:28 AM ET
I dished out 50 friggin dollars for this piece of crap, 50 dollars! Do the people at firaxis realize how many newspapers i have to sell on the street to afford this product. I bring it home, my hands sweating in anticipation, I flip on the computer, and that c:\ thing comes up. I put the disk onto the coffee cup holder and shove it in. But to my horror, nothing works. NOTHING!!! What do you call this crap. I have rights too you know!!! Firaxis has deeply let me down this time. i will never buy another product from this company. Never!!! Smac deserves to be warezed!!!! |
| MikeH II |
posted 04-01-99 05:00 AM ET
i bort wormz the other day why dont the mindwormz fite lyke the wormz in that how do u make thoze kewl capital letterz |
| Haviland |
posted 04-01-99 08:05 AM ET
United Nations. Helicopters. It's obvious to even the meanest of intelligences that you are simply getting us accustomed to the New World Order. Add to that the use of Fusion Power (which has been kept secret by the Jewish/Masonic Conspiracy for over 100 years) and it becomes clear that Firaxis does not have our best interests at heart. |
| DerekM |
posted 04-01-99 09:16 AM ET
Is FIRAXIS paying attention? We obviously have some very disgruntled people out here, who want answers! I'm thinking class action suit. It worked when I burned myself with coffee. Oh, and by the way, don't think I haven't noticed your agents in the apartment across the street. It was VERY clever disguising them as a middle-aged couple with a wiener dog, but I saw right through THAT. |
| Bluemax |
posted 04-01-99 09:33 AM ET
Not only does the flight modeling suck, but also command of units. Oh yeah, here the game describes all the cool and customizable units I can create. But can I drive any one of them? No. Players should be able to take command of any of them and see a street level view of the action. Again, I can not beleive how this flaw was overlooked. Oh well, I guess we have to expect that from a start up company with little experience in the professional world of computer gaming. |
| MoSe |
posted 04-01-99 09:43 AM ET
Yes fire excess, you'd better take Bluemax seriuosly! In Dungeon Keeper I could do that, and smack doesn't even worth as gadget in DK's box!!! I want to SLAP that DeeDrum before I probe her undersea base!!! (pant, pant...) |
| December Man |
posted 04-01-99 09:59 AM ET
Firaxis: It's obvious that you bribed all those game magazines to give you excellent reviews. It has to be a conspiracy. How can ALL those game magazines agree that SMAC is so good? |
| swampy |
posted 04-01-99 10:30 AM ET
No real-time = a big waste of time. Get with it Firaxis, this is the 90s. Nobody wants to sit around and take turns. |
| Khan Singh |
posted 04-01-99 11:58 AM ET
I bought this game because I heard it had a datalinks feature built in. So I pay $250 for this game (games are a little more expensive up here in Canada) and take it home expecting to be able to play a few quick rounds on the datalinks. But I was shocked to find that, apparently, golf plays NO part in the game WHATSOEVER. There isn't even a golf course base facility. I can't even get my formers to build a course, despite the fact that I have plenty of useless forest surrounding my bases. Is this a bug? Or do I just need a special driver... |
| Griff |
posted 04-01-99 12:11 PM ET
Well SMAC really sucks because it doesn't have the all-important Contraception Secret Project! What was Firaxis thinking? |
| Hammer911 |
posted 04-01-99 09:15 PM ET
Now you've done it!This game sounds so bad I just have to buy it to find out what everyone is talking about! |
| Mcerion |
posted 04-01-99 09:35 PM ET
I paid $50 for this game and it doesn't even work on my PlayStation! What a rip-off. Am I supposed to read the system requirements on every program I buy? |
| eNo |
posted 04-01-99 09:51 PM ET
This is funny. "SMAC sucks! I havn't even seen the game on a computer but just look at the box! Seven giant decapitated heads floating over a a planet. The planet has all sorts of red crap on it and the land doesn't even come close to matching Earth's! What kind of sick mind thought this idea would sell?" |
| Marslow |
posted 04-01-99 11:01 PM ET
I call no puns! If anybody makes another rotten pun I will find them and kill them. This means you Khan Singh! |
| Travathian |
posted 04-02-99 12:00 AM ET
I have a CRAY supercomputer with 4 gigs of RAM, 2 terabytes of HDD space, a set of virtual reality goggles, and you mean to tell me when my scout invades an opposing factions base, I cant go to a first person perspective and start kicking some a$$ like in Quake? What the hell! I spent two weeks allowance on this computer and some pocket change on this game and I want it to play like Quake damn you! You better make that next patch make it work right or I am gonna tell my dad, and he works for a big company, with lots of lawyers, and they is gonna sue you dead, you hear me, now get to work, and I expect it done by the time I am done with my afternoon cookies and milk. Got it! |
| Dim Cat |
posted 04-02-99 12:51 AM ET
I bought this game in a bundle with a racing game (you know, they usualy do it for bargain bins), so I thought it's kinda same type of fun: you know, pedal to the floor, hit the rover ahead of you, kick all those monolyths, drive through fungus and so on. What a dissapoitment: SMAC does not even support steering wheel! I don't even mention that it's completely useless with my Intensor chair. And how about this manual? Is this a game or a history class assignment? C'mon guys! If I needed a book to read, I'd go to a library and get a book twice thicker absolutely free. So I decided: no more Firaxis titles from bargain bin. By the way, I heard Activision is gonna make a cool game for racers.. something like Call to Powerwheel... I guess I'll look for it in the bargain bin tomorrow  |
| cousLee |
posted 04-02-99 02:22 AM ET
My server was down for 2hrs! It must be Firaxis' fault cause I have SMAC on my computer! And BTW, it would be nice if Firaxis would quit attacking AOL and NetZero with their programs. |
| MoSe |
posted 04-02-99 03:35 AM ET
My other 1st post here was a joke, but yesterday... For once I get a date, I nearly forget it, lingering after hours at the office, in the forums! And when later she says goodnight (i.e. NO, not tonight) I think 'whew, now for my JOMT night'! NOW!!! Let's start some serious talking! Not contributing to mankind's evolution |
| agoraphobe |
posted 04-02-99 09:31 AM ET
Yeah, and why aren't the Peacekeepers equipped with BLACK choppers, huh? That SUCKS! |
| Chris Pine FIRAXIS |
posted 04-02-99 09:52 AM ET
DerekM... YES! I AM THAT WEINERDOG!!!! YOU CAN'T STOP ME!!! MWAA-HAAA-HAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Chris "Please Punctuate for the Programmer to Parse" Pine |
| Chris Pine FIRAXIS |
posted 04-02-99 09:53 AM ET
...and another thing... Nothing pisses me off more than alliteracy on the forums... |
| HMFIC |
posted 04-02-99 10:00 AM ET
Chris' reference to him being the weiner dog made me think of that agent in GET SMART that you never saw but was always hidding in mail boxes, etc....ok old timers...what was that agents number? |
| Khan Singh |
posted 04-02-99 11:20 AM ET
(grumble, grumble) I bet Civ:CTP has golf courses. It probably has Professional Golfer units too! I shud haf saved my munie for Civ:CTP. (grumble, grumble) |
| DerekM |
posted 04-02-99 11:40 AM ET
Alliteracy? Is that a combination of illiteracy and alliteration? BTW, Chris, I'll get you back for that ficus. It was my favorite. Damn wiener! (As DerekM types, he hears a scraping sound behind him. He stops typing...he listens. He starts typing again, when I high-pitched yipping starts from RIGHT BEHIND HIM. He spins, reaching for the revolver in his desk drawer, but too late. His last sight is of a brown cylinder of fur and teeth, gnashing as it leaps for his throat...) |
| spgfcs |
posted 04-02-99 01:25 PM ET
This is more liberal bull****. In all my games the commie Yang always beats upentreprenuer Morgan and tree hugger Diedre always defeats the devout Miriam. I know this is programmed into the 'game'. I am sick and tired of seeing more religion bashing like this crap and bashing the of the USA. If you like commies so much sell your crap to cuba instead. |
| SnowFire |
posted 04-02-99 01:29 PM ET
Iliteracy is not being able to read. Aliteracy is being able to read, but never doing so, so you sound like a moron when trying to have an intelligent discussion. Literacy is a technological advancement in CivX. {Checking Planetary Datalinks} HMFIC, there were two agents that did that, Agent 13 and Agent 44, depending on the season. Now me, the reason I hate SMAC is I hear about the new designer workshop. I think, Great! So I go straight to it as I start the game, and I want to make a rover that has a planet buster weapon on it, has psi defense, moves 20 squares per turn, ignores base defenses, has thrusters that enable it to go airborned and cross oceans, have nerve gas pods, and makes extra science points as it moves. I go to the design screen, and what crap do I get? All I can do is make lousy scout patrols?!? What's up with that? |
| Ronbo |
posted 04-02-99 02:21 PM ET
Alliteration is the repeated use of a single phoneme as the initial sound of a sound (such as Mr. Pine's "Please punctuate for the programmer to parse" tagline). |
| Ronbo |
posted 04-02-99 02:24 PM ET
Correction to the above idiocy on my part... Alliteracy is the repeated use of a single phoneme as the initial sound in a string of words. I was having a blond moment in my earlier post. |
| tfs99 |
posted 04-02-99 04:48 PM ET
SMAC sux becuz it is GAY! The gay UN Chatter, the gay Dezine Wurkshop, the gay Diplomacee, the gay fractions, the gay zenofunguss, the gay formurz, the gay spesshul you-nit abillitease and itz all based on gay psiens friction like Star Track and Babble On 5. ITZ JUST PLANE GAY, THATS ALL! Get reel! We kneed gaimz that r based on thangz laik WWF restlin! Give me Civ: Call to Powur, now their iz a man's gaim! |
| Bluemax |
posted 04-02-99 05:04 PM ET
Another thing that tells me this game sucks is lack of support. It was never beta tested. No demo was ever released so players could try before they buy. The company just released it and will never support it. Do you think they'll pay attention to us players? NO! Do you think that ever put out a patch to tweak it to improve play balance? NO!. Do you think they'll give us on opportunity to post our feelings? NO!. Do yo think they will ever find Yin 26 and sick the weiner dog on him? NO! Somehow it seems, SMAC's silksteel singularity submarine silently sinks sucking salty sargasso seawater. |
| Chris Pine FIRAXIS |
posted 04-02-99 10:26 PM ET
And ******** Firaxis never even ******* looks at these ********in' forums!!! ********in' *********ers! <twitch> "Alliteration" is just what ronbo said it was the first time. (He was right the first time, I think.) "Alliteracy" is just some cornball programmer trying to make a pun out of alliteration (which I used) and illiteracy (which is what I was really railing against (just can't help myself!)). |
| Alexnm |
posted 04-02-99 11:12 PM ET
SMAC sucks because I am ugly, my girlfriend dumped on me, my car was stolen last night and I lost my job today. So SMAC sucks. It's simple and plain logic. Oh, and my dog died few hours ago. SMAC sucks more than ever!!!! Alexnm |
| Ronbo |
posted 04-03-99 01:00 AM ET
Yes, I managed to screw up the correction as well...I used the correct word in the first post, but I messed up the definition (It didn't make much sense because I used the word "sound" twice. Use the second definition with "Alliteration" and everything will work out okey-dokey. |
| SMACTrek |
posted 04-04-99 06:55 AM ET
(hm.. My contribution.. 'ahem...') I find it very distresssing that the Network Backbone SP movie makes fun of Microsoft. I think that it's a sign of a larger problem taking place in America today. I mean, here's porr Bill Gates with his company that isn't hurtling anybody and the Justice Departmant is trying to rip him a new one just because Microsoft dares to innovate. Doesn't the government have anything better to do than pay Ken Star lots of money to chase good peeple? There is simply no other way for me to interpret your SP movie than as tacit support for the government and their efforts to hunt us down like dogs and take our goodies away. Firaxys, you really let me down. |
| Mortis |
posted 04-04-99 07:18 AM ET
What's "SMAC" mean? |
| Mortis |
posted 04-04-99 07:26 AM ET
"Also, having predetermined units is better too. SMAC pisses me off sometimes how you end up with like 1000 obsolete units in your designs, and it takes you forever to prune them off. Also, lots of the special abilities are dumb, the only ones I ever use are blink, amphibious, the two terraformer ones, and nerve gas (nerve gas kicks ass, especially after getting that gay UN charter repealed)" Note: This is an actual quote said by an actual person. |
| Imran Siddiqui |
posted 04-04-99 02:52 PM ET
Yeah, SMAC sux, because all these losers who type on a game message board like it and stuff! Imran Siddiqui |
| DerekM |
posted 04-04-99 03:53 PM ET
Ahem. I am back, now that the bite marks have all been stitched. I'm not sure how, but somehow the weiner survived the thirteen story fall from my apartment window, and is still out there. It is obvious that Chris Pine is not REALLY responding to these posts, as it is a KNOWN FACT that EVERYBODY KNOWS EVERYWHERE, even in Kosovo, that Firaxis employees never respond to any forum posts. Why, Brian Reynolds never responded to my post asking him why SMAC doesn't work on my Amiga, or whether they would have a Commodore 128 version soon. Was that barking? |
| tfs99 |
posted 04-04-99 04:20 PM ET
DerekM, you almost got that right. SMAC sucks because nobody from Firaxis ever responds on the Civ:Call to Power forums on the other sites. And it clearly sucks because you never see any Activision staff over here! I'm glad I finally woke up. This thread (and Imran's Civ:CTP 100% one) has helped me see the light in how immensely gay SMAC and these forums really are. Thanx Imran, thanks you guys, now I can go out and buy Civ:CTP with a clear conscience. CCTP |
| Evk |
posted 04-04-99 04:32 PM ET
SMAC is gay! Everyting gay. Sid gay brian gay you gay/! everyone hav a gay party!!@!!!11!1!111?1!!11 |
| SMACTrek |
posted 09-07-99 12:02 AM ET
From the depths, rise!!! |
| edgecrusher |
posted 09-12-99 10:11 PM ET
what gives? i paid fifty beans for this cool shiny frisbee and when i throw it, it only goes 20 ft, not 200 like the commercials said! dammit, FIRAXIS, do something. **reaches down and pets the cute little weiner dog** |
| Empath |
posted 09-13-99 07:09 AM ET
Mindworms are a lot stronger than that. The average mindworm boil will bore through a singularity field in less than .8 seconds. Didn't your programmers do any field research before releasing this sim? Don't you realize what problems this will cause later on? People are going to land on ACA3 & be eaten by mindworm boils because you have them convinced that any elite scout unit can kill mindworms by the dozen. Thousands will die and it will all be your fault. This sort of work is just what I would expect from a programmer from planet Dirt. |
| Freddz |
posted 09-13-99 08:20 AM ET
SMAC doesn't suck. It is almost as good a Civ1 was. Not bad for a sequel... |
To close this thread, click here (moderator or admin only).  |
Powered by: Ultimate Bulletin Board, Version 5.18
© Madrona Park, Inc., 1998.
]
n ... Ted S.