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Author Topic:   Alpha Centauri - What's missing?

Paulo posted 12-18-98 01:46 PM ET
SMAC is going to introduce a lot of new things to stategy gaming (customisable units, increased diplomacy, multiplayer, etc.) but what features are missing?
One feature I would like to see for the next SMAC type game is more internal diplomacy. For example, each city probably has a mayor. We should be able to communicate with them in order to deal with riots, revolutions, rebellions, ect. In addition, these mayors could start their own faction if they wish.
gladestrider posted 12-18-98 02:04 PM ET
Heroes. Military leaders, diplomats, scientists, philosophers, etc. It would be nice to have "personalities" that could offer bonuses to cities, diplomatic relations, research, military units, etc. It would also make an "assasin" unit *so* much more fun! Having a large pool of personalities to draw only a handful from for each game would enhance replayability--that's one of the reasons I still play MoM...
Steel_Dragon posted 12-18-98 04:37 PM ET
Inturnal polotic sounds like a great idea until you think of RAM it would take to give every city a personity that would effect gameplay in a meaningful way. Don't get me wrong I like the idea of civil war but that means increase the number of computer players quite substanully. Which may/may not be practical.
Zorloc posted 12-18-98 04:52 PM ET
Although the civil war part is a listed feature of Civ: CTP... would be cool to see it here as well.
Gord McLeod posted 12-18-98 05:58 PM ET
Steel_Dragon, I don't think it would impact performance too badly - it's a relatively common feature in many strategic games. Master of Orion II used heroes and personalities, and base governors, and that was designed to run nicely on much older hardware. I think the primary reason for avoiding such a setup would be micromanagement concerns, but that's easily dealt with in other ways - making them autonomous for instance, giving them orders to deal with the city they control on their own for a while.
smsluck13 posted 12-18-98 06:21 PM ET
I'm just curious if any one of you do any programing for fun or as a job? Programming in all of those personalty types and varis AI is a hard thing to do. Don't get me wrong, it would be cool if they did add that stuff in.
Jimbo2 posted 12-18-98 07:06 PM ET
The heroes and scientists and mayors are a good idea, but the RAM. Plus, it would make the game a bit too detailed for me and kinda turn the game more towards RPG almost.
AS for the civil war option, I started a thread on that a couple months ago. I really think it's a cool idea.
Marian posted 12-18-98 07:17 PM ET
I think we could think about alot that we would wish to have in the "perfect game".
The question is whether such a game can be realized.
Ciao
Marian
Editor of the Alpha Centauri Zone
http://www.juhu.de/hartel/alpha
Zan Thrax posted 12-18-98 07:59 PM ET
There were only a couple dozen heroes in MOOII, and you could only have four at a time, as well as four governors at one time. Plus, they weren't personalities that affected gameplay, they were a set of bonuses and penalties.
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Author	Topic: Alpha Centauri - What's missing?
Paulo	posted 12-18-98 01:46 PM ET SMAC is going to introduce a lot of new things to stategy gaming (customisable units, increased diplomacy, multiplayer, etc.) but what features are missing? One feature I would like to see for the next SMAC type game is more internal diplomacy. For example, each city probably has a mayor. We should be able to communicate with them in order to deal with riots, revolutions, rebellions, ect. In addition, these mayors could start their own faction if they wish.
gladestrider	posted 12-18-98 02:04 PM ET Heroes. Military leaders, diplomats, scientists, philosophers, etc. It would be nice to have "personalities" that could offer bonuses to cities, diplomatic relations, research, military units, etc. It would also make an "assasin" unit so much more fun! Having a large pool of personalities to draw only a handful from for each game would enhance replayability--that's one of the reasons I still play MoM...
Steel_Dragon	posted 12-18-98 04:37 PM ET Inturnal polotic sounds like a great idea until you think of RAM it would take to give every city a personity that would effect gameplay in a meaningful way. Don't get me wrong I like the idea of civil war but that means increase the number of computer players quite substanully. Which may/may not be practical.
Zorloc	posted 12-18-98 04:52 PM ET Although the civil war part is a listed feature of Civ: CTP... would be cool to see it here as well.
Gord McLeod	posted 12-18-98 05:58 PM ET Steel_Dragon, I don't think it would impact performance too badly - it's a relatively common feature in many strategic games. Master of Orion II used heroes and personalities, and base governors, and that was designed to run nicely on much older hardware. I think the primary reason for avoiding such a setup would be micromanagement concerns, but that's easily dealt with in other ways - making them autonomous for instance, giving them orders to deal with the city they control on their own for a while.
smsluck13	posted 12-18-98 06:21 PM ET I'm just curious if any one of you do any programing for fun or as a job? Programming in all of those personalty types and varis AI is a hard thing to do. Don't get me wrong, it would be cool if they did add that stuff in.
Jimbo2	posted 12-18-98 07:06 PM ET The heroes and scientists and mayors are a good idea, but the RAM. Plus, it would make the game a bit too detailed for me and kinda turn the game more towards RPG almost. AS for the civil war option, I started a thread on that a couple months ago. I really think it's a cool idea.
Marian	posted 12-18-98 07:17 PM ET I think we could think about alot that we would wish to have in the "perfect game". The question is whether such a game can be realized. Ciao Marian Editor of the Alpha Centauri Zone http://www.juhu.de/hartel/alpha
Zan Thrax	posted 12-18-98 07:59 PM ET There were only a couple dozen heroes in MOOII, and you could only have four at a time, as well as four governors at one time. Plus, they weren't personalities that affected gameplay, they were a set of bonuses and penalties.