posted 12-08-98 11:42 PM ET        

When DOOM came out there were only two ways to play multi-player: cooperative and deathmatch. Nowadays, there are a lots of different ways to do multi-player in first-person shooter type games (capture the flag, teams, etc.). I think "enhancements" to the multi-player experience could be possible for SMAC as well. The default multi-player mode in SMAC is going to be a straightforward "every man for himself" affair. However, I think it would be possible to come up with lots of interesting ways to play multi-player games. Some of these would require support in the game itself (for example, Rang's "Nemesis Mode") and some of it could be done by the players deciding ahead of time on what the "rules" were. I'll give an example of the what I mean by reprinting my "King of the Hill" plan from the Nemesis Mode thread. Hopefully, other people will post their ideas for what would be a fun way to play.

King of the Hill
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You start with a custom crafted map with a really great location right in the middle (e.g. lots of resources, very defensible, etc.) with pretty poor lands everywhere else. For every turn that a faction holds a base in this favorable spot, they get one point. Thus, everyone will want to control this one base, so everyone will want to gang up on whichever faction currently has it. The person with the most points at the end wins. Being "king of the hill" is the only way to get points. The point leader will be motivated to try to end the game as soon as possilbe, so he'll work toward transcendance or something. Everyone else will be motivated to stop him, until they can get enough points to win. Assuming custom maps will be possible in multi-player, this mode of play can be implemented completely through agreement of the players on the scoring, and the method of declaring the winner (although if Firaxis wanted to make this automated, they could certainly help).