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Author Topic:   SMAC: too small, too fast...SMAC 2?

onepaul posted 03-28-99 05:56 PM ET
First of all, the game rules.
But why is it so small and goes by so fast. Finished the game in all possible ways (difficulty/endings) in under 2400A.D, also 7 factions? How many countries do we have today on Earth (>150)?
Solution is "simple":
- bigger maps; map size limit should be determined by how much ram you have (256MB in mine). Is there a way to change the size somehow? Is it the engine's limitation, or can it be altered by a patch.
- more factions; if can't create more than seven, how about faction splits (one faction into sub-factions with similar but not same characteristics?) I'm not talking about the charactersitics (these can be changed). I simply want more AI opponents (yes, MP kicks ass, but it's not avaiable 24/7)
- base squares: I really hate the base-radius limits. Make it a complete square not a cross. Have it expand beyond size 2 as the population grows (just like your "country's" boundry expands with new cities). Even if cities are close to each other, don't disable a square for one of the cities, simply have an option to share resources from the base square.
- include the ability to abandon the base (gather all the people into colony pod and relocate). This could only be allowed for small cities as it would be unrealistic to have 500,000 citizens leave a base.
- Sea bridges that could be build by formers to connect a nearby land mass (not too far away, maybe a distance of 1-2)
- ability to build a copy of a secret project. This copy would not be as effective , but it would help. This copy would only be avaiable after some heavy infiltrating. For example, you would have to enter another faction's city with a probe team and spend multiple turn in this city and bare the risk of being caught red handed every turn. This brings me to a new building. Ambassady (sic) would be built in another faction's city, which would give you an option for infiltration each turn at, a big energy cost, and a a much greater risk and consequences.
- unique units for each faction (hey, US has the stealth)
- Air bases, (flyable/movable), built with ground or sea colony pods, but would require much more time to be completed. These would have to be supported by other land-sea-based bases (nutrients). Air bases would probably more military oriented.
Anyway...any suggeestions, corrections, additions ?

Thue posted 03-28-99 06:55 PM ET
- bigger maps
I think it is possible to specify any size you like. I haven't tried it but look around.
- unique units for each faction (hey, US has the stealth)
That just plain old technological superiority
xgalaxy posted 03-30-99 11:23 PM ET
I like your ideas very much!
- Remember old Civ2, I especially like that city view where you get to see all the buildings you built
- How about some better multiplayer capabilities, come on only four players max?
how about a max of 7(hence 7 factions)and maybe some new tweaks, like a capture the flag
- Back to Simcity, how about an underground view, maybe for underground transit systems or spy facilities and even real underground bases
- Lets talk more 3d(thats the way the market is going), I want to see some bullets flying from those guns, and I want to see the subs actually go and move under water.
- Higher more help with your graphics team will ya, I want to see even more if not 100's of different terran looking features in one map!
- Get a little more creative with the mouse, where is the Intelli mouse enhancments? Also need work on that scrolling feature.
- AI is great and unsurrpased but I want to see it actually use and "learn" my tactics so it can get even better.
- Technology, sure 70 different techs is great but, I want to see the numbers in the 100's!
- NO Cheats
- Get rid of those annoying little interlude popup boxes or at least have a feature to turn them off.
- Have a more web intergration thing such as the ability to download new units every so often like in "Total Annihilation".
- I just the love the design your own unit thing, but lets do more with it, I dont care that I can add the same gun to every unit, what I care about is making my own gun to add to that unit!
- The Scenario Editor is sketchy at best, I want more features.
- Speaking of underground, how about in space, sure you had a little of that but you didnt actually see space and build anything up there. How about ability to build a Space Base or Space Station, kinda like "Star Trek"
- The Unibomber?(boom, haaa there goes all those facilities)
- You got the design your own units, how about design your own FACTION LOGO utility.
- Why do some of the units look bigger then their bases? Take a lesson from up and coming title :AOE: Age of Kings"(hence make the bases bigger then just one tile 'things')
- Sure the square grid is ok, why can't you do it in circles, make for more realistic fog o` war wouldn't it.
- I'm beginning to like this!:-) I might make a web page just for this, or email it to someone important. God, I have so many more ideas my fingures are getting tired
CyberSpyder posted 03-30-99 11:53 PM ET
- NO Cheats: Why? You don't exactly have to use cheats if you don't want to.
- Get rid of those annoying little interlude popup boxes or at least have a feature to turn them off: There is a feature to turn them off. Look under the preferences.
- Have a more web intergration thing such as the ability to download new units every so often like in "Total Annihilation": How would you have to download units? All the units are simply variations on a theme. All you would have to do is have a description of the unit, and you could make it.
what I care about is making my own gun to add to that unit!: How could these guns be different? There are only 2 different features, type and power. Well, 3, if you could psi. Designing different guns would require a substantial revamping of the combat system.
- The Unibomber?(boom, haaa there goes all those facilities): I presume you're talking about a unit, but that would just be like a whole bunch of probe teams, plus it would be severely unbalancing.
- You got the design your own units, how about design your own FACTION LOGO utility: Such a thing exists. It's called "Any graphics editor that can edit .pcx files."
- Sure the square grid is ok, why can't you do it in circles, make for more realistic fog o` war wouldn't it: Do you think circles fit together without overlapping? Try to fit together 50 basketballs without any overlap or open spaces.
SMACademician CyberSpyder
Imran Siddiqui posted 03-31-99 03:07 AM ET
More than 7 factions? Well, why don't you then, come up with another ideology that would be balanced in SMAC? eh? (actually in the add on, I'd like to see a true socialist and true fascist group!)
Imran Siddiqui
doc posted 03-31-99 04:28 PM ET
What about some factions that make sense to europeans (Other than morgan
sandworm posted 03-31-99 04:31 PM ET
NO cheats in MP.
xgalaxy posted 03-31-99 06:19 PM ET
CyberSpyder
First of CyberSpyder, you have no idea what your talking about, at least not in this Topic area. You can read can't you. The title askes for suggestions about SMAC 2, NOT a patch for SMAC 1! Oh and yes you can do a circle grid. It wouldnt neccessarily be a grid but it works. If you don't believe me consult your local store for a copy of "Age of Empires". There whole system for Fog of War is based on circles for more realistic shadowing! Who wants to go and open a seperate utility to make your own Faction Logos? I would rather have a tool inside the game that does it, and even have it have extras on the cd you can use. Oh, and since we are talking about SMAC 2 here, maybe they will totally revamp the combat system.
Thanks anyway "jack", but why dont you stick to the "TOPIC"
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Author	Topic: SMAC: too small, too fast...SMAC 2?
onepaul	posted 03-28-99 05:56 PM ET First of all, the game rules. But why is it so small and goes by so fast. Finished the game in all possible ways (difficulty/endings) in under 2400A.D, also 7 factions? How many countries do we have today on Earth (>150)? Solution is "simple": - bigger maps; map size limit should be determined by how much ram you have (256MB in mine). Is there a way to change the size somehow? Is it the engine's limitation, or can it be altered by a patch. - more factions; if can't create more than seven, how about faction splits (one faction into sub-factions with similar but not same characteristics?) I'm not talking about the charactersitics (these can be changed). I simply want more AI opponents (yes, MP kicks ass, but it's not avaiable 24/7) - base squares: I really hate the base-radius limits. Make it a complete square not a cross. Have it expand beyond size 2 as the population grows (just like your "country's" boundry expands with new cities). Even if cities are close to each other, don't disable a square for one of the cities, simply have an option to share resources from the base square. - include the ability to abandon the base (gather all the people into colony pod and relocate). This could only be allowed for small cities as it would be unrealistic to have 500,000 citizens leave a base. - Sea bridges that could be build by formers to connect a nearby land mass (not too far away, maybe a distance of 1-2) - ability to build a copy of a secret project. This copy would not be as effective , but it would help. This copy would only be avaiable after some heavy infiltrating. For example, you would have to enter another faction's city with a probe team and spend multiple turn in this city and bare the risk of being caught red handed every turn. This brings me to a new building. Ambassady (sic) would be built in another faction's city, which would give you an option for infiltration each turn at, a big energy cost, and a a much greater risk and consequences. - unique units for each faction (hey, US has the stealth) - Air bases, (flyable/movable), built with ground or sea colony pods, but would require much more time to be completed. These would have to be supported by other land-sea-based bases (nutrients). Air bases would probably more military oriented. Anyway...any suggeestions, corrections, additions ?
Thue	posted 03-28-99 06:55 PM ET - bigger maps I think it is possible to specify any size you like. I haven't tried it but look around. - unique units for each faction (hey, US has the stealth) That just plain old technological superiority
xgalaxy	posted 03-30-99 11:23 PM ET I like your ideas very much! - Remember old Civ2, I especially like that city view where you get to see all the buildings you built - How about some better multiplayer capabilities, come on only four players max? how about a max of 7(hence 7 factions)and maybe some new tweaks, like a capture the flag - Back to Simcity, how about an underground view, maybe for underground transit systems or spy facilities and even real underground bases - Lets talk more 3d(thats the way the market is going), I want to see some bullets flying from those guns, and I want to see the subs actually go and move under water. - Higher more help with your graphics team will ya, I want to see even more if not 100's of different terran looking features in one map! - Get a little more creative with the mouse, where is the Intelli mouse enhancments? Also need work on that scrolling feature. - AI is great and unsurrpased but I want to see it actually use and "learn" my tactics so it can get even better. - Technology, sure 70 different techs is great but, I want to see the numbers in the 100's! - NO Cheats - Get rid of those annoying little interlude popup boxes or at least have a feature to turn them off. - Have a more web intergration thing such as the ability to download new units every so often like in "Total Annihilation". - I just the love the design your own unit thing, but lets do more with it, I dont care that I can add the same gun to every unit, what I care about is making my own gun to add to that unit! - The Scenario Editor is sketchy at best, I want more features. - Speaking of underground, how about in space, sure you had a little of that but you didnt actually see space and build anything up there. How about ability to build a Space Base or Space Station, kinda like "Star Trek" - The Unibomber?(boom, haaa there goes all those facilities) - You got the design your own units, how about design your own FACTION LOGO utility. - Why do some of the units look bigger then their bases? Take a lesson from up and coming title :AOE: Age of Kings"(hence make the bases bigger then just one tile 'things') - Sure the square grid is ok, why can't you do it in circles, make for more realistic fog o` war wouldn't it. - I'm beginning to like this!:-) I might make a web page just for this, or email it to someone important. God, I have so many more ideas my fingures are getting tired
CyberSpyder	posted 03-30-99 11:53 PM ET - NO Cheats: Why? You don't exactly have to use cheats if you don't want to. - Get rid of those annoying little interlude popup boxes or at least have a feature to turn them off: There is a feature to turn them off. Look under the preferences. - Have a more web intergration thing such as the ability to download new units every so often like in "Total Annihilation": How would you have to download units? All the units are simply variations on a theme. All you would have to do is have a description of the unit, and you could make it. what I care about is making my own gun to add to that unit!: How could these guns be different? There are only 2 different features, type and power. Well, 3, if you could psi. Designing different guns would require a substantial revamping of the combat system. - The Unibomber?(boom, haaa there goes all those facilities): I presume you're talking about a unit, but that would just be like a whole bunch of probe teams, plus it would be severely unbalancing. - You got the design your own units, how about design your own FACTION LOGO utility: Such a thing exists. It's called "Any graphics editor that can edit .pcx files." - Sure the square grid is ok, why can't you do it in circles, make for more realistic fog o` war wouldn't it: Do you think circles fit together without overlapping? Try to fit together 50 basketballs without any overlap or open spaces. SMACademician CyberSpyder
Imran Siddiqui	posted 03-31-99 03:07 AM ET More than 7 factions? Well, why don't you then, come up with another ideology that would be balanced in SMAC? eh? (actually in the add on, I'd like to see a true socialist and true fascist group!) Imran Siddiqui
doc	posted 03-31-99 04:28 PM ET What about some factions that make sense to europeans (Other than morgan
sandworm	posted 03-31-99 04:31 PM ET NO cheats in MP.
xgalaxy	posted 03-31-99 06:19 PM ET CyberSpyder First of CyberSpyder, you have no idea what your talking about, at least not in this Topic area. You can read can't you. The title askes for suggestions about SMAC 2, NOT a patch for SMAC 1! Oh and yes you can do a circle grid. It wouldnt neccessarily be a grid but it works. If you don't believe me consult your local store for a copy of "Age of Empires". There whole system for Fog of War is based on circles for more realistic shadowing! Who wants to go and open a seperate utility to make your own Faction Logos? I would rather have a tool inside the game that does it, and even have it have extras on the cd you can use. Oh, and since we are talking about SMAC 2 here, maybe they will totally revamp the combat system. Thanks anyway "jack", but why dont you stick to the "TOPIC"