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Author Topic:   Anaylsis of Screenshots

AUH20 posted 11-22-98 08:55 PM ET
With all the new Screenshots, and the much cleaners PC Gamer screenshots, I think it would be nice to create a new thread for them.
I have one question now, though: The screenshot for Titanic shows "Trained, Clean." I know that Trained is a morale level, but what the hell is clean? Are they going to get combat penalties for muddy decks or mops layed out on the floor?
AUH20 posted 11-22-98 08:57 PM ET
Perhaps they're special abilities-the ship didn't need support(clean-no janitors) and had higher morale-perhaps training represents a few extra weeks of boot camp for the troops.
Bannor posted 11-22-98 09:23 PM ET
clean probably refers to the amount it pollutes. I beleive it had a fusion reactor for power which would me it wouldn't pollute much. Thus the word clean. Of course all of this is just a complete guess
AUH20 posted 11-22-98 09:37 PM ET
Actually, it was fission, but then fission is much cleaner than fossil fuels.
DHE_X2 posted 11-22-98 11:10 PM ET
It could also refer to contamination by foreign organism, i.e. chiron wildlife, but the emission thing is probably more likely.
Bannor posted 11-23-98 12:01 AM ET
Looking at the pic "even an island needs defense" there are these little flower like things out in the water. Where in the pic "Getting pretty crowded" you can see these same flower things on land. I assume they are a native lifeform of some kind but how can they be on both water and land? Oh well guess I'll know in a few weeks if there in the demo anyway.
Shining1 posted 11-23-98 12:11 AM ET
There was something about a locust swarm alien that could transport mindworms through the air - could this be the 'flower thing'?
P.S where are these screenshots, anyway?
SnowFire posted 11-23-98 12:24 AM ET
I forget where it's from, but a clean reactor requires no support (it runs off the sea or the air, I guess) from home, but it's inital building cost is hideously expensive.
Also, did you notice the city names on one shot? New Austin, New Dallas? I thought they weren't going to do that. Could just be temporary names, of course. I forget what color they were in. Could sombeody check, so we know which faction uses names like that?
AUH20 posted 11-23-98 02:11 AM ET
Perhaps the flowers are a type of special resource, although I think the Locusts of Chiron option is more probable.
Bannor posted 11-23-98 02:46 AM ET
The pics are from the preveiw of smac at pc.ign.com. If you look at the pic with all the units it shows the swarm of chiron as a grayish cloud. The flower things are red and green with about 4 per square. They seem to all be located near cities so I think that they are mostlikely some sort of resource bonus ala civ.
MikeH II posted 11-23-98 06:11 AM ET
Perhaps it is a special ability and it can clean up pollution.
CClark posted 11-23-98 12:59 PM ET
More likely, the flowers could be the dreaded xenofungus that we've heard about. It isn't the Swarm of Chiron, as Bannor pointed out, there is a picture of those in the unit selection screen.
I had presumed that the "clean" applied to how much the unit pollutes.
And, as some have pointed out in different threads, there is a city named "Ohio".
Jimmy posted 11-23-98 05:07 PM ET
In the Council screenshot, it says that the Spartans are eliminated. It seems to me that the Spartans probably start off with a huge diplomatic disadvantage: all the factions will hate them right from the start and will join in an alliance against them in the event of a war. So, it seems to me that the Spartans should start off real pacifist in order to increase trust and prevent a multifaction alliance against them too early in the game.
SnowFire posted 11-23-98 05:44 PM ET
The amount of pollution a tank battalion of 5,000 produces compared to that of a city of 1,000,000 is negligible. Units will not pollute, it'll be cities.
It's extremely likely that the funny red and green things are xenofungus; production is terrible in these squares and they slow your units down to a crawl too, though it's actually a fairly good place for defense (like a forest). Xenofungus (remember Del Cotter's report) spreads around much quicker as more terraforming is done, and it takes awhile to get rid of it. Basically, it'll act like pollution (my guess) in AC, and if you aren't careful, an entire continent might be overwhelmed and left deserted by the dreaded fungus.
RM posted 11-24-98 01:13 PM ET
Interesting. Maybe it would be good to let the border cities pollute the environment to get xenofungus growing, since it is good for defence. Or maybe get more xenofungus growing in a neighbour faction to decrease their production. This could be strategies for the Gaians since xenofungus don't decrease their production as much as other factions.
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Author	Topic: Anaylsis of Screenshots
AUH20	posted 11-22-98 08:55 PM ET With all the new Screenshots, and the much cleaners PC Gamer screenshots, I think it would be nice to create a new thread for them. I have one question now, though: The screenshot for Titanic shows "Trained, Clean." I know that Trained is a morale level, but what the hell is clean? Are they going to get combat penalties for muddy decks or mops layed out on the floor?
AUH20	posted 11-22-98 08:57 PM ET Perhaps they're special abilities-the ship didn't need support(clean-no janitors) and had higher morale-perhaps training represents a few extra weeks of boot camp for the troops.
Bannor	posted 11-22-98 09:23 PM ET clean probably refers to the amount it pollutes. I beleive it had a fusion reactor for power which would me it wouldn't pollute much. Thus the word clean. Of course all of this is just a complete guess
AUH20	posted 11-22-98 09:37 PM ET Actually, it was fission, but then fission is much cleaner than fossil fuels.
DHE_X2	posted 11-22-98 11:10 PM ET It could also refer to contamination by foreign organism, i.e. chiron wildlife, but the emission thing is probably more likely.
Bannor	posted 11-23-98 12:01 AM ET Looking at the pic "even an island needs defense" there are these little flower like things out in the water. Where in the pic "Getting pretty crowded" you can see these same flower things on land. I assume they are a native lifeform of some kind but how can they be on both water and land? Oh well guess I'll know in a few weeks if there in the demo anyway.
Shining1	posted 11-23-98 12:11 AM ET There was something about a locust swarm alien that could transport mindworms through the air - could this be the 'flower thing'? P.S where are these screenshots, anyway?
SnowFire	posted 11-23-98 12:24 AM ET I forget where it's from, but a clean reactor requires no support (it runs off the sea or the air, I guess) from home, but it's inital building cost is hideously expensive. Also, did you notice the city names on one shot? New Austin, New Dallas? I thought they weren't going to do that. Could just be temporary names, of course. I forget what color they were in. Could sombeody check, so we know which faction uses names like that?
AUH20	posted 11-23-98 02:11 AM ET Perhaps the flowers are a type of special resource, although I think the Locusts of Chiron option is more probable.
Bannor	posted 11-23-98 02:46 AM ET The pics are from the preveiw of smac at pc.ign.com. If you look at the pic with all the units it shows the swarm of chiron as a grayish cloud. The flower things are red and green with about 4 per square. They seem to all be located near cities so I think that they are mostlikely some sort of resource bonus ala civ.
MikeH II	posted 11-23-98 06:11 AM ET Perhaps it is a special ability and it can clean up pollution.
CClark	posted 11-23-98 12:59 PM ET More likely, the flowers could be the dreaded xenofungus that we've heard about. It isn't the Swarm of Chiron, as Bannor pointed out, there is a picture of those in the unit selection screen. I had presumed that the "clean" applied to how much the unit pollutes. And, as some have pointed out in different threads, there is a city named "Ohio".
Jimmy	posted 11-23-98 05:07 PM ET In the Council screenshot, it says that the Spartans are eliminated. It seems to me that the Spartans probably start off with a huge diplomatic disadvantage: all the factions will hate them right from the start and will join in an alliance against them in the event of a war. So, it seems to me that the Spartans should start off real pacifist in order to increase trust and prevent a multifaction alliance against them too early in the game.
SnowFire	posted 11-23-98 05:44 PM ET The amount of pollution a tank battalion of 5,000 produces compared to that of a city of 1,000,000 is negligible. Units will not pollute, it'll be cities. It's extremely likely that the funny red and green things are xenofungus; production is terrible in these squares and they slow your units down to a crawl too, though it's actually a fairly good place for defense (like a forest). Xenofungus (remember Del Cotter's report) spreads around much quicker as more terraforming is done, and it takes awhile to get rid of it. Basically, it'll act like pollution (my guess) in AC, and if you aren't careful, an entire continent might be overwhelmed and left deserted by the dreaded fungus.
RM	posted 11-24-98 01:13 PM ET Interesting. Maybe it would be good to let the border cities pollute the environment to get xenofungus growing, since it is good for defence. Or maybe get more xenofungus growing in a neighbour faction to decrease their production. This could be strategies for the Gaians since xenofungus don't decrease their production as much as other factions.