---

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-Or, How BU Spent a Couple Days This Week



Dare to Be Dull.

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One of the best features of Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri/Alien Crossfire is its wonderful modability - which, thanks to SMACer Ford_Prefect, has now been expanded.


SMACX, although a science fiction game, is a robust enough engine that modders have frequently want to do retro-mods.  There is a massive WWII scenario extant, and much work was done several years ago on a Middle-Earth TCM.


In such cases, the drawback of the SMACX platform was the proprietary, and obsolete, .cvr format units were in, which no one in the fan community could modify from their science fiction look, or alter into different science fiction looks.  Now, Ford_Prefect has created the first .cvr editor available to SMACers - and he’s looking for technical help to expand its modest capabilities.


AC2 interviewed Ford about his creation in April:


---


AC2:  How did you first take an interest in this project?


Ford_Prefect:  I wanted to try to make a smac clone.  So I googled around and found out no one knew how to read the calviar format(.cvr).  So I figured, what the heck... I'll give it a try.




AC2:  Why the .cvr part in particular, though?


Ford_Prefect:  It was the only major graphics component that no one could read.  I could use any of the other images for the terrain, faces, gui, etc, but the actual units were in the cvr file format.  I thought it would be quicker and easier to figure out the .cvr format than it would be to recreate the units from scratch in blender. (I was wrong.  )




AC2:  What can be done with your .cvr editor?


Ford_Prefect:  The editor allows one to re-texture any unit found in Alpha Centauri in its native cvr format.  Each part of the unit can be viewed independently for painting. The editor also can export what it knows about the current cvr file into a human readable text format.




AC2:  Could I turn the colony pod into a covered wagon with it?


Ford_Prefect:  No.   Currently, the tool only allows you to change the colors of the units, not their shape.  It is a paint tool, not a modeler.




AC2:  What do you think can be done in the future, assuming some breakthroughs?


Ford_Prefect:  Currently, there is enough known about caviar (cvr) to create a 3d version of the editor.  I might try to create this after I've improved my 3d programing skills.


One breakthrough would be if someone figured out where the rest of the color values are stored in the file.  Right now the last 10-20 colors are unknown for each model.  If someone figured it out, I could quickly fix the color palette to display the colors correctly.


A major breakthrough would be if someone figured out the values for normals... then almost anything would be possible.   Normals would allow us to truly modify the units to appear however we wanted them to be.  Knowing the normals would also allow us to export the units to blender and other games.




AC2:  Okay, define normal for non-tech types to whom that last would make no sense.


Ford_Prefect:  A normal tells the software how light should reflect off of a surface.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_mapping
I made a wiki page to hold what I know about the caviar file specification.
Caviar (.cvr) specification. (WIP)




AC2:  What do you want people to know about the project?


Ford_Prefect:
Modders can now give the SMAC units a paint job.
Help is needed to figure out the rest of the caviar file format.
The units in SMAC are a voxel based 3d (like minecraft)


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More information and a link to the editor can be found here:
http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=7866.0  Ford, and the rest of the SMACX modding community, would greatly appreciate your feedback and support.

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Longtime Civ fan community veteran Dale Kent has been working for developer Mohawk Games for two years, fulltime since October 2021.

Kent, a prominent modder, most notably of  Civ4 Road to War, and Civ4 Colonization, and former WPC co-owner, has long been acquainted with major fan-turned-pro Soren Johnson, the Design Director of Mohawk Games.

Kent worked part time for Mohawk as a QA tester / Community Manager from March 2020 to Oct 2021, and full time from Oct 2021 to the present as a Designer / Programmer.

He has worked on various parts of Old World, including the Achievements system, integrated Modio and Workshop into the mod browser, and is currently working on future content for the company.

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Bases 20



Bases are the most difficult aspect of a SMACX faction graphic to create, so it is hoped that these graphic goodie files will give beginners at faction modding a leg up.  See also the Portraits, Diplomacy Landscapes and Logos series, also in this Downloads section, and for info on art techniques and/or to communicate with BU and ask any questions, see the Graphics thread: http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=1237.0  These are a lot of work to put together, so please be sure to credit me in the empty space of the .pcx.  Posting to let me know you found it useful would be okay, too.

https://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=382

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This morning on the official 2k-controlled Civ Facebook account:

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Ultimate Faction Pack


A huge collection of fan-made custom factions, painstakingly curated and fixed up to actually work by Ete.

-May take more than one try to download because of the size of the 7zip file, but worth it.  Keep trying - there's loads of gold in there.


https://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=381

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-The idea being to make SMAX look as much as possible like CivII.  Gameplay is already similar, if somewhat more advanced in SMAX.

-More at the link: https://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=22061.0

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WPC has been down for several months - Solver indicates that there was a tech error.  He also hints that if/when he gets around to fixing it, it will be an archive.


The management requests that anyone in touch with Solver join in nagging him to hurry up that fixing - a very large quantity of excellent SMACX and other content is at stake.

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The CFC forums will be taken down this Friday (15th July) morning (9 AM London time) for a forum upgrade. We expect to be back up sometime on Saturday (16th) in the afternoon or evening. Updates can be found on the CFC front page while the forum is down. Please check this thread in Site Feedback for information and updates!
https://forums.civfanatics.com/.../site-upgrades-are.../

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By request, this topic has been moved to Modding.

https://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=8459.0

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In the year 2101, six factions left the damaged hull of UNS Unity and made Planetfall. Colonel Santiago, Lady Skye, Provost Zakharov, Brother Lal, Chairman Yang, and finally – you, Captain Svensgaard – led their people onto this alien world. The Gaians proved to be the luckiest and landed in a rich jungle, which helped them rapidly expand throughout the main continent. You remained in touch with Santiago, as you two had forged some rapport onboard Unity. However, the fate of the rest is still a mystery. It remains to be seen if they are dead or thrive in some secluded areas.

You found a safe bay at the base of a dormant volcano called the Mount of Planet. After a while, in order to contain the Gaian expansion, you decided to send colonists onto the mainland. After founding the Outpost and New Hope, you managed to establish mining operations on a range of hills, deeper in the continent. Things were going well for a while.

But then, something… happened. Nobody knows for sure what. Some say the Gaians awoke some kind of force among the ancient Ruins. Others, that the will of Planet itself manifested in a physical form. Perhaps the strangest rumors talk about a young boy who got lost in fungus and miraculously developed new powers. But whatever it was, it brought havoc to human settlements. Gaian bases, one by one, succumbed to hordes of mind worms, beyond doubt controlled by some wicked intellect. Gaian citizens were forced into submission, while Lady Skye herself, humiliated, swore obedience to her new master – self-proclaimed Prophet Cha Dawn, leader of the Cult of Planet. Now she is the head of a puppet government, a fraction of her former glory.

Soon, yours and Spartans’ bases were quickly conquered as well. Despite heroic sacrifices of your people, they simply could not stand against ferocious attacks of countless mind worms. As the Spartans faced complete obliteration, you used your transport ship to evacuate some of their colonists to a small island to the North East. Colonel Santiago refused to come onboard the ship, but was grateful enough to sign a pact of cooperation with you.

Shortly, waves of attackers reached the Outpost, your last settlement on the mainland. In order to evacuate the civilians, you have dispatched a transport to the base, loaded with your best soldiers, the Shock Platoon. They reinforced the garrison and saved so many people that you cannot possibly evacuate all of them. You need to choose whom to save…

Your mission is to evacuate, find some territory to settle and rebuild your power, and then to reclaim Chiron for humanity. You’ll be damned if you surrender to some disgusting bugs, even if it means fighting the Planet itself.


------------------------


It is 2106 and you play the Pirates. The main continent is overrun by the mind worms controlled by Cha Dawn. He is very powerful and remains a serious threat even when you leave the mainland, so consider yourself warned.

You start pacted with Santiago, but it is not a permanent pact, unlike the vendetta with Cha Dawn and Deirdre.

Your mission is first to survive, then to conquer Cha Dawn’s HQ. This is the only objective in the scenario.

You start with a battleship, 8-3-6, but you have no technology for the components. Do not play any tricks to pull reverse engineering on it (although I’m not aware of such a thing).

There is no Planetary Council. Nobody has the time for ballots and politics when the entire mission is compromised and the humanity itself is on the verge of extinction.

Raising and lowering terrain is impossible.

Other standard rules apply – no reverse engineering, crawler upgrade, bug abuse, etc.

Other settings:

large map
victory conditions: conquest only
Spoils of War and Do or Die off
Supply pods and random events on
Direct research, normal tech rate.

I provided this scenario in three different versions:

1) Light – for casual game, after evacuation you should get some peace for a while. Cha Dawn has no Projects and only a few IoDs.
2) Normal – quite a difficult version in itself. Cha Dawn has 2 Planet-related Projects and many units to keep you on your toes from the early turns.
3) Hard – look, some people just get off of pain and who are we to judge? Download this version if you’ve been naughty and deserve punishment. Cha Dawn has 5 Planet-related Projects and a horde of units to make your life miserable.

This is my first scenario, so feedback will be appreciated a lot!

Enjoy the game!

…

https://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=380

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SMAX Scenario: Odyssey
by Darsnan, August 4, 2013

Directions 

1) In your Scenarios subdirectory create a folder called "Odyssey", and download and unzip the “Odyssey” files into it.

2) Start up SMAX, then select "Scenario", "Play Scenario", and then go to the subdirectory "Odyssey" and choose the scenario. The game will automatically load with the Peace Keepers.

 

 

Background 

Other than hosting a small scientific outpost, the Morgrath solar system has been an unassuming backwater in the human confederation of planets. But recently a nearby anomaly called the Vemushan Artifact, an immense ice crystal cloud of indeterminate origin, has inexplicably started moving towards the Morgrath solar system and its one inhabited planet, Crete. After analyzing the density of the Vemushan Artifact and calculating its trajectory, the resident University outpost anticipates the planet Crete will be bombarded by enough water condensate from the Artifact to completely engulf all landmasses on the planet.

At the behest of the University, the Peace Keepers have dispatched a spaceship to coordinate the evacuation of Crete.

 

 

 Premise 

Your parents, citizens of the city New Ithika on the planet Crete, decided to honor their ancestors by naming their offspring after the heroes of ancient Greece, and so it came to pass that you were given the name Odysseus. You had never given this unusual naming ritual a second thought until the events of the last few days had unfolded: because of your position in the planetary government you had been tasked with being the liaison between the Crete planetary government and the U.N. Relocation mission headed by the spaceship Argos. After boarding the Argos to coordinate the planetary evacuation effort, the spaceship was attacked by a nannite-based weapon, disabling the spaceship and forcing it to crash-land onto the far side of Crete. During the descent to the planet the escape pods were ejected, haphazardly crashlanding on a remote coast on the farside of the planet.

Now, after taking nominal command of the surviving forces, you turn from your battleship's helm and stare out across the sea to the distant horizon. Somewhere out there is your home, and your family, both in mortal danger from the coming apocalypse. But there is one small, desperate hope at rescue remaining: the con from the Argos is still broadcasting. If that element of the ship survived, then perhaps other pieces of the ship survived re-entry, as well. You must gather the surviving elements of the expedition, locate the Argos and determine if the Stasis Chamber and Booster Rocket can be salvaged from the wreckage. It is a longshot at rescue, but with the remnants of the Argos crew looking to you for rescue you must lead and undertake a journey of epic proportions across the surface of your planet to the one functional spaceport – a journey, which if you survive, will truly be an odyssey rivaling that of yor!

Overwhelmed by the moment you shout out to the sea "I am Odysseus, and I will see my homeland again!".

 

Your Communications officers have homed in on the location of the Argos con (it is in the lower left hand corner of the map). Now you must gather your forces and salvage whatever artifacts you can from the Argos wreckage.

 

 

 Rules 

The object of the game is to get the Stasis Chamber and Booster Rocket to the DRACa at the spaceport. As such here are the rules for the game:

1. If the spaceport is destroyed, you lose the game.

2. If the DRACa (Drop Re-entry Assault Carrier - armored) is destroyed, you lose the game (Warning: there are no facilities on this planet to repair the DRACa).

3. If your Faction is eliminated, you lose the game.

4. If the Stasis Chamber or Booster Rocket are destroyed, you lose the game.

5. You cannot break your Pact with the University in order to teleport your units home.

6. You cannot build a city on top of the spaceport to protect it.

 

Other than that, enjoy the game!

 

Acknowledgements:

I would like to thank wgabrie for providing the textures for the game - I have always loved his texture update!

 

If anyone would like to re-host this scenario at the other SMACX sites, please feel free to do so. I only ask that credit be given to myself, and wgabrie for the graphics.

 

D


Changelog

 

The following are some (but not all) of the changes to the alphax.txt file:

 

#RULES

 

- Max Artillery Range is now 4.

- Combat % -> intrinsic base defense now at 40%

- Combat in range of friendly sensor has been increased to 30%

 

#RESOURCEINFO

- Ocean squares yield 1/1/1.

- Monoliths give 2/3/2

- Boreholes induce -2 nutrients: simulates the horrendous working conditions the laborers have to endure down in the holes.

 

#CHASSIS

- Needlejet movement has been reduced to 6.

- Copter movement has been reduced to 4.

 

#WEAPONS

- most weapon values have been reduced by one.

 

#DEFENSES

- most armor values have been increased by one.

 

#UNITS

There are 44 units in the alphax.txt for this game. Because this is a themed scenario, I would recommend not viewing these beforehand.

 

#FACILITIES

To simulate a different environment than that of SMACX I've renamed some of the Centauri-specific facilities.

 

FACTIONS

There has been heavy modification to the factions involved in this game. One item is that all factions have been given the ability to capture native units.

https://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=379

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SMAX Scenario: Hammertime!
by Darsnan, July 20, 2014 WPC

BACKSTORY

Location: Dynesian Low Grav Training facility, Greater Pol Sphere

 

Background: with a gravity of only 0.623 standard and little atmosphere, the Dynesian Low Grav facility is considered one of the best training facilities for low gravity warfare in human space.

 

 

Episode 1: Ambushed!

 

As they walked across the dusty planetoid surface, Brevit-Commander Antonio Al Mudeh realized the visiting Morganite dignitary had said something and was now awaiting a response. "Yes Councilor", Al Mudeh offered, "it is very typical of our organization that we form our new units with a mixture of old hands and new recruits."

"But how can you guarantee their integrity in battle?", the dignitary, Councilor Leonidas, responded, getting quickly to the point, "You have nothing to back your claim as to how they will perform as a unit under the rigors of an actual combat situation". Leonidas stopped and turned to face Al Mudeh in order to highlight his point, "you understand, we are not in the habit of hiring 'show battalions' . The units we contract with will be expected to go and fight where we tell them to, and under extreme and varied environments. A physical unit with a proven record of working together in such environments would be viewed much more favorably than a group of soldiers just picked up off the streets". Leonidas turned and resumed walking, inviting Al Mudeh to respond.

Al Mudeh had enough experience with civilians to understand that the conversation was now more about the contract, and the price he could get for his brigade of troops, than the surface insult which had been directed at him. He turned and walked with Leonidas, "Oh, I agree Councilor, units with experience should be able command more for their services” Al Mudeh paused to emphasize his point, before continuing, “for instance, The Legion deserves every credit their outfit earns: they’ve drawn some of the worst assignments on record, and have come out with a stellar record.” Al Mudeh’s oblique point as to how much it would cost to hire The Legion’s services made, he redirected the conversation, “However the contract you submitted to my organization specifically stated that it would involve deployment to a low gravity environment, and my unit was assembled specifically with that request in mind”. Al Mudeh motioned to the units displayed before them in parade formation, their combat armor in Garrison mode, “All these troopers have experience in low grav combat”. Al Mudeh continued, pointing to the armored chest on one of the Infantrymen before them, “and one of the methods we use to build cohesion within our units is to allow soldiers to wear citations they’ve earned in previous operations”.

Leonidas studied the citations on the trooper’s chest. One emblem caught his attention, “I’ve seen that before – what is that?”

“That citation was for the defense of New Stalingrad”, Al Mudeh answered, hoping Leonidas would pick up on the fact Al Mudeh had taken the time as commander to know each of his soldiers and their backgrounds.

“Oh really”, Leonidas responded, “I heard at one point in the battle they used dead combat troopers to fortify their foxholes – the frozen corpses were enough to stop railgun rounds”. Leonidas turned his attention to the trooper before him, “Is this true?”

There was a slight pause from the trooper, the eyes lost focus for a second and a far away look passed over her face, as if she relived the ghosts of those moments one more time, before the steel of the combat veteran returned, “Yes sir, that was true”.

Leonidas nodded. His question answered, he resumed walking down the line of soldiers, “and what about you, Commander? You seem a little young to be commanding a Brigade of combat troops”.

Al Mudeh resisted stating that all his officers’ dossiers were provided to Leonidas as part of the contract proposal. “I graduated as an officer candidate out of the Variable G Warfare School on Neumar”.

“Ah, always wanted to lead drop troopers, eh?”

Al Mudeh nodded, “I’ve made fifteen orbital assaults since then, ten at the company level leading combat troops. I was then promoted to battalion HQ”. Al Mudeh paused to let Leonidas consider this, before continuing, “on the last drop my HQ was wiped out and I assumed command of the battalion”.

“Ah yes, the Darneth Affair. You weren’t going to take ‘no’ for an answer there, were you?”

So Leonidas had at least glanced at Al Mudeh’s dossier! “In a low gravity environment speed and mobility are paramount. I took advantage of this more so than my adversaries”.

“If I recall correctly you achieved the objective by leading the survivors of your drop and systematically eliminating the other assault forces”.

Al Mudeh shrugged, “When the other assault forces weren’t trying to secure the objective, they were too busy trying to attack me where I had been, and not where I would be. This made them predictable in their movements”.

“Some might say your adversaries merely underestimated your ragtag group”.

Now it was Al Mudeh’s turn to smile, “Would you underestimate me, Councilor?”

Deciding this was not going to be a profitable approach to the conversation, Leonidas took a different tack, “as you had stated earlier, our contract involves a low gravity environment. It also involves the defense of a specific objective, which your troops would be assigned to protect against any incursions onto the planetoid surface”.

“A garrison assignment?”, Al Mudeh asked skeptically, “and you feel you need an entire brigade to protect this facility?”

“Let’s just say the issue of ownership of this facility may come into question during your assignment”, Leonidas responded, before continuing, “thus we have brought you here to our corporation's training facility”.

Al Mudeh nodded, “you want to assess our capabilities under a similar environment”.

“Yes”, Leonidas agreed, “you say that your soldiers have experience in low gravity environments, and you say that your unit can fight cohesively in this environment, but you have no proof of this" Leonidas paused, before continuing, "what my corporation intends to ascertain is whether your claims are factual or not". Leonidas took a step back and made a flourish with his arm, "and thus today's demonstration".

Al Mudeh studied Leonidas for a second. The man had gone passive, a faint smile tugging at the sides of his mouth. "I'm not following".

"When your brigade arrived we had them armed with simulators".

"Yes - you claimed you wanted a demonstration in marksmanship. We are ready to begin whenever you wish".

A new voice piped in over Al Mudeh's command channel, "Sir, tracking multiple bogeys approaching from the north".

Al Mudeh's eyes narrowed as he continued to scrutinize Leonidas: the man remained passive, however the smile on the corners of his lips seemed slightly more pronounced, as if the man was enjoying a private joke. Understanding swept over Al Mudeh - this was the "demonstration"! He snapped into command mode, "All units attack plan Delta", Al Mudeh took a second to assess the map data his combat suit's HUD was feeding him, then "Infantry, bearing West North West, Armor bearing West!"

The units before him responded: almost as one the combat armor of the individual soldiers went from garrison mode to field deployment, their combat suits' choosing the camouflage patterns best suited for the surrounding barren terrain. Infantry began deploying forward in skirmisher mode, while the turrets of the mobile artillery began slewing towards the danger, their tracked vehicles then beginning to follow the infantry.

The armor, the last to respond, moved slowly out from the surrounding garrison area. "Your not going to have your armor engage the threat?", Leonidas asked?

"Its overkill", Al Mudeh responded, pointing for emphasis to his receding infantry who were already approaching the near horizon of the planetoid, "in the low grav environment infantry can cover significant ground, and with the artillery support they are more than comparable to a battalion of hovertanks".

Al Mudeh's command com squawked to life again, "Commander, we are tracking incoming long range artillery".

Al Mudeh turned a quizzical eye to Leonidas, "how are you simulating an artillery strike?", he demanded.

Leonidas was taken aback, the smile fading from his face to be replaced by a puzzled frown, "I.... I don't know", the Councilor responded, "no one said anything about an artillery simulation".

Again Al Mudeh's eyes narrowed as he assessed things, "come with me" he said to Leonidas, and for emphasis he grabbed the collar of the Councilor's environmental suit and began dragging him towards the nearest bunker. Simultaneously Al Mudeh barked into this command com, "Trajectory?"

"Sir, projectiles just clearing the horizon now". A slight pause, then "Parabolic calculated: they are targeting your position. Repeat: HQ targeted!".

Al Mudeh reached the bunker and pulled Leonidas in behind him, and they hunkered down and waited. The final few seconds ticked off as the incoming rounds, bound by Newtonian physics, descended towards their position, and only at the last did the rounds become audible, screaming in through the thin atmosphere and detonating on their position.

The concussions shook the bunker, knocking Leonidas to the ground. Al Mudeh rode through the reverberations, his attention completely on his command channel, "Report", he demanded as the last of the detonations subsided.

"Minor injuries", the reply came, "they were targeting the parade ground - good call moving the unit out".

Al Mudeh ignored the compliment, "Belay the Infantry orders - tell them to skirmish Zebra. Repeat: Skirmish Zebra"

"Skirmish Zebra - acknowledged", then, more urgently, "Sir, more artillery being tracked. Same trajectory".

Al Mudeh turned to Leonidas. His eyes had narrowed again, but now there was a look of complete rage on the commander's face, "I have my soldiers moving towards what they believe is a simulated engagement", he paused in order to add emphasis, "but this is a trap, isn't it, Councilor?"

Leonidas, still on the ground from the last aftershock, looked up at the enraged commander, "I have no idea what you are talking about", he began, "its true that we wanted to see how you would respond to a surprise attack, but that was all it was intended to be - a simulated attack!". Leonidas cringed as Al Mudeh then took another step towards him in response, looming threateningly over him, "If any of your soldiers are killed, we will of course compensate you accordingly!" , Leonidas said almost pleadingly.

Al Mudeh's contempt reached its limit, "Morganite!" he spat contemptuously at the prostrate man before him. Then, regaining his control, he pulled a data pad from his combat armor, "then you will have no issues signing the contract". Al Mudeh proferred the tablet to Leonidas, "this will allow me to switch my men to live fire mode and protect themselves".

" I don't have the authority to sign this!", Leonidas protested.

"Then we are all going to die, Councilor", Al Mudeh responded. The second volley of incoming artillery rounds reached their target and began detonating on the parade grounds outside, nearer this time. The concussions again rocked the bunker, adding emphasis to Al Mudeh's words. The Councilor, just barely recovering from the first round of explosions, was again tossed around from the reverberations. He noted Al Mudeh rode through the concussions and remained standing - no doubt a product of the man's training in variable gravity warfare.

The command com came to life again, "Incoming rounds clearing the horizon, this time in force", the man responded, before adding, "they've bracketed us".

As the last of the previous round of concussions subsided Leonidas looked up at Al Mudeh. The command com was still open, and in the background the screams and moans of the injured could be heard. Al Mudeh stared back at Leonidas, the tablet still profered. Leonidas locked eyes with Al Mudeh for a second, and knew it was a mistake. Gone were the soft outlines from the face of the diplomat Antonio Al Mudeh, replaced by the barely controlled fury of a combat soldier. Leonidas closed his eyes and looked away, relenting. He sub vocalized a command, sending his acceptance of the contract to Al Mudeh, "its done. I've accepted the contact".

Al Mudeh waited for the electronic receipt, then reviewed Leonidas' acceptance of the contract. Once satisfied, he accessed the command com. "Joaquim".

"Yes Commander?"

"Unleash Hell".

 

PREMISE

You are Commander Anthony Al Mudeh, newly promoted commander for your mercenary organization, and your unit is currently being evaluated for employment into a low grav environment. However something has gone horribly wrong with the simulation: instead of the AIs using the simulator weapons, they are firing live ammunition! It is now up to you Commander to respond: your job is to knock out the enemy bases!

 

OBJECTIVES

1. Destroy the initial Peace Keeper attack.

2. Immediately locate and conquer the simulator "Peace Keeper" bases.

3. Destroy all remaining AI units, to include all Hunter-Killer Satellites in near-orbit



Changelog

The alphax.txt file for this game has been set up for a low grav environment, with some of the more notable modifications as follows:

 

#RULES

- Movement rate along roads is now 4. Rationale: simulation of a low grav environment

- Max Artillery range is 6. Rationale: simulation of a low grav environment

- Max Airdrop is 15 tiles. Rationale: simulation of a low grav environment.

#TERRAIN

- all terraforming has been disabled. Rationale: this is a training simulator, so there are no terraforming tools available. If you lose a terrain enhancement at one of your bases, there is no way to replace it!

#CHASSIS

- Infantry, Speeder, and Hovertank movements have been increased by one. Rationale: simulation of a low grav environment.

- there are no choppers or aircraft. Rationale: there is negligible atmosphere on this planetoid, so aircraft cannot fly.

- there is a missile-based drone available immediately for you to build. Rationale: in a low-grav environment missiles require less lift.

#WEAPONS

- Conventional Warhead changed to 6. Rationale: scenario balancing

- the Tectonic weapon value has been changed to 7. Rationale: aesthetics

#UNITS

- the only unit I am going to go in-depth about here is the E-Drone Mk1. This is a reconnaissance drone designed specifically for low grav/ low atmospheric environments. The unit has a missile chassis, as well as drop pods for extended range. Also, because it is flying high above the ground, it has enhanced visibility of the surrounding terrain. The E-Drone Mk1 has limited offensive and defensive abilities: because it is a military craft, the chassis is hardened (armor value of 3-Pulse), and offensively it has a weapon value of 6, so it can put out a punch, however as with all missiles it is destroyed once it attacks.

#FACILITIES

- Recon Satellites are available with Industrial base.

- Hunter-Killer Satellites are available with Applied Physics.

FACTIONS

- the Spartan Faction has been modified to receive a free Aerospace Complex in every base. Rationale: scenario balancing.

GAME SETUP

- no terraforming. If you lose an enhancement, its gone forever!

- Spoils of War is on.

- No native life

- no colony pods can be built

- no technology advances

- no technology trading

- no planetary council

 

 

Directions:

 

1. In your Alpha Centauri/ Scenarios folder create a new folder called "Hammertime".

2. Download and unzip the attached files into the subdirectory.

3. Start SMAX.

4. Select "Scenario", then "Play Scenario".

5. Navigate to the "Hammertime" subdirectory and load the scenario. It will automatically start up with the Spartans.

https://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=378

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SMAX Scenario "One if by Land, 2 if by Sea"
by Darsnan, August 24, 2014 WPC

Welcome to the SMAX Spartans Scenario "One if by Land, 2 if by Sea". History on this one is that I recently CMN'd a PBEM for Kirov and Kataphraktoi, and while playtesting the PBEM I thought to myself that this would make a great scenario. This game is the result.

Highlight of this scenario is that it uses a low grav mod in that movement values for most units have been increased by one. And the only other thing I'm going to say about that is that its a good thing that the Spartans get to use 2 military units for Police purposes! 

 

 

Directions

 

1) In your SMACX Scenarios subdirectory create a folder called "1 Land_2 Sea", and download and unzip the “1 Land_2 Sea” files into it.

2) Start up SMAX, then select "Scenario", "Play Scenario", and then go to the subdirectory "1 Land_2 Sea" and choose the scenario. The game will automatically load with the Spartans.

 

 

 

Changelog

 

The alphax.txt file for this game is using a low grav mod, with a majority of the various chassis receiving +1 movement. Infantry now move 2, Speeders 3, Hovertanks 4, etc. Other notable changes are listed below:

 

#RULES

- Max Artillery Range is 6: the AI rarely uses it, however it is "in theme" for a low grav mod in that ballistics should be able to travel further in a low gravity environment. Have fun with it!

 

#RESOURCEINFO

- Ocean squares yield 1/1/1.

- Monoliths give 2/3/2

 

#WORLDBUILDER

- Global Warming has been reduced significantly.

 

#CHASSIS

- As noted above most chassis have increased movement points.

 

#DEFENSES

- most defensive armor types have been increased by one.

 

#UNITS

- There are 41 units in the alphax.txt for this game. It is advised to review these units at game startup, and develop your strategies accordingly.

- Several of the base units (such as Colony Pods, Probes, Scouts) have been aquatized, meaning they have the Amphibious Pods ability.

- The 8th Faction has been replaced by my own set of units called the Sentinels.

 

 

#FACILITIES

- The Virtual World has been moved to Social Psychology. Rationale: watering down the beeline to Industrial Automation.

- The Cloudbase Academy has been moved to Monopole Magnets. Rationale: watering down MMI.

 

FACTIONS

AI factions have been modified to make them more challenging.

 

D

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