posted 12-19-98 11:58 PM ET            

there will be two demo-versions; one with sound (20MB) and one without(10MB)
they will be restricted to 100 turns and tech-level 5, and the savegames will be compatible with the real game
He does NOT mention lack of multiplayer in this post (Jimbo2 is seeing a ray of hope)!

ups - I forgot the second (and most importent most will say) thing!

drums please...

Bryan Reynolds says SMAC will be out ca. feb 9.

a relevant post:

100-turn limit, no techs higher than level 5, no more than 10 bases.

Saved games are compatible with the full version, so if you get
something really cool started you can always continue it with the full
version.

Brian Reynolds
Alpha Centauri Designer
FIRAXIS Games

posted 12-20-98 05:40 PM ET            

-------
For internet games of more than 2 players, I'd say go with the
non-simultaneous movement. The short scenarios can probably be completed
in around 2 hours, but typically people seem to want to jump right in
with big games on big maps, in which case you can spend pretty much as
long as you care to :-)

If you're lucky enough to have a LAN, or have a very good connection or
very small # of players, you can try the simultaneous movement, where
everybody takes their turn at the same time. That normally speeds things
up considerably, but watch out because if there's enough lag out there
it will actually take longer than the non-simultaneous games & be
infinitely more frustrating.

Brian Reynolds
Alpha Centauri Designer
FIRAXIS Games

Non-Simeltaneous movement? We thought there was none! And you're recommending the fast way for short games and the long way for long games? Huhhhh? That makes no sense!

--------------
You can create custom factions by editing the faction files (or by
creating new faction files and art). It is up to you to do the
"balancing" of strengths and weaknesses, however, as there is no "point
system". It is possible we could add such a system in an expansion.

Social Engineering -> An earlier prototype of SMAC had the social
engineering system you describe, but we found this one to be more fun.

Brian Reynolds
Alpha Centauri Designer
FIRAXIS Games

So we have to hack our rules in order to create custom faction, and balancing them is up to us. Uh-oh. I was hoping for an easier system. And the "earlier prototype" he was refering too was the beloved conscript army vs. volunteer army system. Noo!

And lastly, I absolutely have to post this one:
----------
For now we have what you'd call a "basic replay" feature (and you can
make a saved game afterward to reload and see the replay again later).

A single-turn saved game of SMAC is pretty large, since SMAC maintains
quite a bit of data on its very complex world. Trying to save all of
that information for every turn over the course of the game would tend
to be space prohibitive.

As we receive input from players, we may decide to add some additional
features to our replay in a future patch. Surprisingly, replay seems to
be a feature everyone is extremely interested in.

Brian Reynolds
Alpha Centauri Designer
FIRAXIS Games

SnowFire wrote:
>
> > Ah, in that case, yes, there is definitely a replay feature in Alpha
> > Centauri.
>
> Is there a SAVE replay feature so that we can look at that replay a million
> times? And instead of just the overhead map, can we actually watch the
> game in flight, pause it, look at the cities, etc. as to get the full view
> of the game? I know that in Myth:TFL, saved replays of games between
> legends or games that had especially incredible tactical moves were
> everywhere on the Internet and people downloaded them and studied them. I
> can see the same thing happening with fantastic SMAC games being
> downloaded, or tough single player SMAC scenarios being saved and used as
> guides for newbies on completeing them.
>
> -SnowFire
>
> P.S. The only problem I forsee would be people in a multiplayer game saving
> halfway through to continue it later, and some lemur restarting his game
> with no one there, declaring himself the winner, saving the replay, and
> then examining each of his opponent's position, technologies, cities, etc.,
> before the game really restarts with the other players, thus giving him a
> huge advantage. This could be solved by what I think is already there in
> MP: you can't quit without saving, and you can only have one copy of the
> saved game. So our lemur would find his old saved game saved over with the
> end, and he wouldn't be able to continue with the other players.

posted 12-20-98 05:55 PM ET            

I'm assuming that there are performance problems with internet multi-play (not surprising, since this has plagued every recent FPS game lately, like Unreal and I believe Shogo). In simultaneous movement mode, there is constant back and forth communication between the machines. If there is a slow or laggy connection in the middle, it could seriously worsen gameplay. However, in a traditional turn-based mode, all the information is sent in one big batch chunk, which is probably easier to handle. I'm assuming that this is what Brian means.

As to the non-simultaneous option, I was surprised as well, considering all the posters on these boards a few weeks ago telling everybody that hotseat and PBEM would be impossible because the only way you could do multi-player was in simultaneous mode.

posted 12-20-98 10:28 PM ET            

Resources work somewhat differently in SMAC, since SMAC's world is fully
terraformable. Each square has a level of rainfall which (combined with
farming, soil enrichers, condensers, forest planting, etc), controls the
square's nutrient production. Similarly the rockiness level (combined
with mines, thermal boreholes, forests, etc) controls mineral output.
Solar collectors gather energy, which is determined based on altitude,
echelon mirrors, and so forth.

There are single-square "bonus resources" spread across the map, but
also major landmarks, such as Mount Planet, Garland Crater, the Monsoon
Jungle, the Uranium Flats, etc, which provide a special bonus to an
entire region.

There is a fairly elaborate Scenario editor built into the game, which
can also be used to "cheat".

Combat system includes special rules for long-range bombardment, long
and short-range artillery duels, naval bombardment and duels,
artillery/naval/aerial bombardment of terrain enhancements and roads,
disengage(retreat) for mobile units, sensor networks, air-to-air combat
(though certain specific kinds of air unit can still interdict squares),
ground-based SAM units, antigrav air units w/o range limitation, orbital
troop insertions, probe-team covert combat, psi combat, and plenty more.

Brian Reynolds
Alpha Centauri Designer
FIRAXIS Games