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Author Topic:   Suggestions for Forum Categories

Mike Ely FIRAXIS posted 12-18-98 07:28 PM ET
Since we got such good advice last time, now is your chance to give thoughts on the forum divisions. I'm thinking:
General Comments
Discussion of Game and Features
Strategies and Tactics
The Factions
Science and Technology
SMAC Stories
Any thoughts? I'll leave the Test forum around for awhile...
Gord McLeod posted 12-18-98 07:30 PM ET
Some of these may fit well into other categories but some that come to mind are:
Design Philosophy
Leadership Ethics and Morality
The Units
Frank C Manning posted 12-18-98 07:36 PM ET
Those are good. I would also have a non-SMAC stuff category. That way I would know where all the non-SMAC stuff is and can avoid it.
jsorense posted 12-18-98 07:36 PM ET
Dear Mr. Ely,
My only suggest would be under SMAC Stories: have one topic where players can post descriptions of games they have actually played (single and multi-player), and another topic for SMAC-based fiction.
I really loved it when people posted their multi-player SMG! games.
Thanks
DHE_X2 posted 12-18-98 07:37 PM ET
Multiplayer Forum(after the full game is released)
~DHE, just really damn happy...
DAT posted 12-18-98 07:40 PM ET
Perhaps:
Diplomacy
Enhancement requests
Bug reports

The Thomas A Stobie posted 12-18-98 07:54 PM ET
1.I would suggest a separate forum for just comments about the Demo. This should include difficulties, bugs (hopefully we will not see any), confusions, etc. I would name it "Demo Comments & Issues".
2. I agree with isorense that we need an area to discuss actual gameplay. This would be a good place for FIRAXIS to observe player react to SMAC. I would name it "SMAC Gameplay Experiences".
3. As General Comments tend to include a lot of off-subject talk, I would have a new forum where News about SMAC can be posted. This should include offical FIRAXIS announcements, postings about articles about SMAC, website references, etc. I would name it "Alpha Centuari News".
Imran Siddiqui posted 12-18-98 07:57 PM ET
Oh, I like jsourense's idea of having a game story forum...
Imran Siddiqui
Fluke posted 12-18-98 07:58 PM ET
Well now I don't know if there will be a sequel to SMAC but maybe a forum for what we greedy little buggers want in SMAC II.
Oh and a combined coconutstand and deepsea bar (fully stocked)
Zan Thrax posted 12-18-98 08:10 PM ET
I think that a couple areas for non-SMAC, non-FIRAXIS threads are a good idea, since its very unlikely that we will ever stay on topic.
My suggestions are:
Current Events (for War in Iraq I & II type threads)
General Debate (for political, historical, economic, and philisophical debates)
Kurn posted 12-18-98 08:11 PM ET
I would love to see a game story forum. I cant stop bragging when I start!
Antiam posted 12-18-98 09:47 PM ET
TStobie is right about a seperate news section. Actually, you may want to consider one that only allows FIRAXIS to post in it. That way newbies will be able to find important messages without digging through a month or two of posts.
Antiam
Aga1 posted 12-18-98 09:50 PM ET
Bug Report
Smac Comments
Off Topic Anyonumus
Hints and Stratergy
Multiplayer Comments
Fluke posted 12-18-98 10:07 PM ET
But there's already the news section on the web-site...?
Jimmy posted 12-18-98 10:13 PM ET
Why have an "off-topic" section? When the demo is released, there shouldn't be off topicness anymore, right? But if you must, I guess you must... (sigh)
My suggestions:
- technology research
- factions & ideologies
- strategy, tactics & diplomacy
- unit designs
- stories
- demo comments

Shining1 posted 12-18-98 11:00 PM ET
Sounds good.
Except that 'Discussion of Game and Features 'should be just 'Game and Features'. Of course were going to discuss it.
Also, there might be some SMACers who would like to see the CoFH divison revived, since Smac Stories would inevitably be about actual in game experiences. While I know that yyyh managed to post more individual stuff than the entire CoFH combined in the old forums, they were still an excellent read, if you took the time (no offense to yyyh).
Baldor posted 12-18-98 11:07 PM ET
A couple suggestions/agreements:
--Bug Reports
--Strategy Discussion
--Stories
--Tech Questions
--Off Topic
--Multiplayer Forum (For finding other users)
--Game Discussion
--FIRAXIS News
--Faction Debate (Who's best and why)
--Suggestions
--Hints & Tips (Cheats?)
Anyways... those are a few, along with some of the ones I have seen and thought were really good ideas.
--Baldor (No, I don't want a forum for myself ^_- )
CClark posted 12-18-98 11:08 PM ET
This pretty much just mirrors what others have been posting. Here's my votes:
- Bugs, Suggestions, Comments
- Technology and Units
- Gameplay Experiences and Stories
- Fan Fiction
- Strategies and Tactics
- The Factions
I don't think that we need a place for off-topicness. Hopefully that was all just a result of boredom and we won't have that much of it. If there isn't an obvious place for it, that should keep it to a minimum. (Remember, we don't want to crash the forums again! )
Mike, any chance of getting some of the short stories from the original forums back? Or is all that work lost forever? Some of them were quite good, if unfinished.
The DirectorGeneral posted 12-19-98 12:14 AM ET
tring to get rid of off-topicness on this board is a lost cause. However, i do think there will be considerably less after he release of the demo.
Jason Beaudoin posted 12-19-98 01:35 AM ET
I think that other than the original divisions of the forums, I believe that the following two sections should be added:
Demo Discussion
Bug Reports
BTW.... thank you Firaxis!
Jason Beaudoin
Beyond Alpha Centauri
DJ RRebel posted 12-19-98 05:09 AM ET
Jsorense .. a thread I created a while back called "Aaaaaaaaaaarrrrgh !!!" (I'm not sure how many A's, R's and !'s there were, but you get the idea) had some awsome Civ2 stories in them !!!
This was one of my favorite threads !!!
I'm guessing there might not be enough of these stories to have an entire forum, but it's not a bad idea !!!
Eventually, there should be a world builders forum, were people can meet to exchange maps and stuff !!! But I doubt the demo will have those features !!! LOL
Same thing might be good for Leagues ... but again, I don't see this meritting a forum until a little after full release !!!
Mike .. What will happen to the old old forum ???
With all the doubling of threads from what appears to be last months 2nd server (3rd overall ???), all those threads get doubled with some nasty out of sequencing effects I'm sure you're aware of .. ("Aaargh" being one of those threads) !!!
I'm hopping this will not mean they will be lost forever !!!
We had some good dicussions in there !!!
I suggest, having a sub-forum of old forums .. you could close the ability to respond to them, but at least they'd still be accessable for us to read !!! Hopefully, you could keep the "Test Forum" in that section too !!!
A multiplayer forum would be good, just so that we don't have 50 million posts everywhere else by newbies starting threads called "anyone want to play ???" LOL
As for an off-topic forum, there's no point, general and off-topic are the same thing in my POV !!!
And of course ... there should be an 8th Faction forum !!!
ah yes .. lol .. and one for Maya's quotes !!! =)
Kurn posted 12-19-98 05:15 AM ET
I dont know I think that the 8th faction forum might just overload the server, might have to scratch that one.
DJ RRebel posted 12-19-98 05:28 AM ET
Kurn .. LOL .. good point !!!
Jeje posted 12-19-98 05:33 AM ET
My opinion is:
(As Mike Ely suggested)
General Comments
Discussion of Game and Features
Strategies and Tactics
The Factions
Science and Technology
(Gord McLeod)
The Units
(DAT suggested)
Bug Report
Diplomacy
(And finally one that is missing)
Scenarios (Talk about the ones that exist now and later maybe of other peoples skenarios)
And Maybe an "OFF-TOPIC" forum is also needed.
Merry Christmas Firaxis! (I'm gonna have fun this Christmas, THX)
Vanilja posted 12-19-98 05:34 AM ET
1. Mike, what do you mean by "...and Features" in reference to "The Game..."? This isn't clear to me; perhaps it wouldn't be clear to others.
2. A multiplayer section would probably be quite helpful for a lot of people.
3. Of course, a section on SMAC 2(!) would be neat, also!
4. Perhaps in the near future there should be a separate section for EACH Faction.
5. A section for SMAC announcements only would be great!!
DJ RRebel posted 12-19-98 05:43 AM ET
actually, I think seperating the factions would just make things too messy, what do you do if you want to compare 2 or 3 factions ???
As for a news section, there already is one in the main web page !!! The only reason Firaxis should put a section like that in, is if they start to develop a new game, and find they don't have much time to devote to the forum (sound familiar ??? ) .. anyways, then they could have one forum that they could concentrate on, instead of going through all the other ones !!!
MikeH II posted 12-19-98 07:07 AM ET
I think Mike's original ones are a great start:
General Comments
Discussion of Game and Features
Strategies and Tactics
The Factions
Science and Technology
SMAC Stories
But I would also like sections for: MultiPlayer. (A must in my book I guess Mike just forgot to put that one down)
Possible bug reports. (Hopefully this will be even emptier than the old The Site forum. You might want to call it something else)
I think there is a danger that we will have too many forums with nothing in them, most stuff will go in General Comments anyway. So I'll limit myself to 2 extras.
If you are interested Mike the latest version of the UBB is 5.15
http://www.ultimatebb.com/news/HTML/000008.html
It doesn't have many fixes but it includes the 5.10 updates which claim to make some processes 90% faster.
MikeH
Yo_Yo_Yo_Hey posted 12-19-98 10:09 AM ET
Shining1 is always making fun o' me! I'll be taking offense soon! Watch it!
Anyway, I like Mike's original ideas. I just want to add a multi player section where we can brag about winning against other people(esp. forum posters), & the people who lost can rebut. Imagine this, "I beat YYYH!!! Hahahahaha!!!!" "Yeah, well you wouldn't have beaten me if you didn't nuke my cities & steal my techs you bastard!" To quote Imran's Yahoo! profile, "Oodles of fun!" Thank you.
Al Gore sucks
Thank you.
Your faithful & hell-bent NIMadier general,
YYYH
tOFfGI posted 12-19-98 11:06 AM ET
I think there are two important categories missing in Mike Ely's original lineup.
(1) Help. this would be a place where beginners can ask experienced users for help.
(2) Scenarios and customisation. This would be a place where users can upload and dowload other people's scenarios, as well as discuss them...
Victor Galis posted 12-19-98 11:43 AM ET
We need a section like Old Test Forum, or maybe Old-Timers Forum where the discussions and athmosphere of this forum may live on.
P.S. The 8th faction forum is on another server.
Keith Bennett posted 12-19-98 12:09 PM ET
I like the initial forums, but I'd suggest 2 more:
Units and combat (seperate from strategy and tactics - given the customizable units, I'd think they deserve a board of their own)
Bug or Feature? - for people to post complaints and bug reports about the game.
Thue posted 12-19-98 12:33 PM ET
Would it be possible to have a chat room?
Frank Moore posted 12-19-98 12:40 PM ET
I think a forum for each faction is a good idea.
Also I think a forum dedicated to the AI of the game would be helpful. Players could discuss both the good and frustrating experiences with the AI.
Zan Thrax posted 12-19-98 05:57 PM ET
A story forum and a units forum are good ideas.
News and Scenario sections would be seperate sections of the site, rather than forums.
DarkLight posted 12-19-98 07:01 PM ET
How about we emulate the Pilot's Lounge?
(DarkLight turns and runs from the ravenous hordes. He appears from around another corner a few minutes later, out of breath.)
It was a joke, darn you all!
Forumer: It was a very BAd joke! KILL THE DROW!!!!
Oh, dear...
(DarkLight dashes off, setting a world record for speed and distance.)
SnowFire posted 12-19-98 11:03 PM ET
Arrghh, been away for a tad. I agree, too many forums spoil the broth. In any case, here's my list, kind of a compilations of other's ideas with some of my own in.
News from Firaxis
I'd amend the previous suggestion: you can post replies in here, but not new topics. That insures only Firaxis topics are there. I'm assuming UBB allows this.
General Comments
This will probably become the off-topic forum. But we shouldn't have one in name, just title it "Discussion about ANYTHING."
Help for Beginners
As it says. Veterans help new players, or they send them to the Technical Help Forum if it's a system problem.
Suggestions for Firaxis
This is "Game and Features" renamed. It's subtitle would be "Possible patches, expansions, or even SMAC II." Game and Features would basically become a suggestion board as they are set, else a newbie help board where the game is explained to them.
Strategies and Tactics
Oh yeah. This will be a VERY popular forum.
The Factions
Subtitled "Which is best, faction-specific strategies, custom factions." This one will get a lot of "We're better than you!" Stuff.
Science and Technology
Another classic. "Which techs are best, good tech paths, and general debate on technology." This one, due to the last clause, might get a tad off-topic as well.
SMAC Stories
This would be the gameplay experience one. "Exciting stories from played games, and download posted replays of them." You DO have the option save replay, don't you? There's a section on how I suggest implementing it without letting cheaters save in the middle and view all their opponents.
SMAC Fiction
Same as the old CoFH forum.
Scenarios and Mod packs
Again, a place where posters can put URL's of their custom scenarios and get people to download them. Also tips for newbies on building scenarios.
Multiplayer
One word, and yet says a lot.
<space>
These will be the only moderated forums to insure pranksters do not warn of nonexistent bugs that format your hard drive.
Bug Watch
Subtitled "An empty forum, right?"
Technical Problems
Tech wizards help newbies who say "the game won't run right." Subtitled "Not in the Technical FAQ? Come here." "Technical FAQ" will be a link to, er, the Technical FAQ, and will probably reduce pointless posts on the board considerably.
Mortis posted 12-20-98 12:07 AM ET
Bug watch and SMAC stories are a must and an off-the-topic forums wouln't go astray either. Althought off-the-topicness will initialy drop, once all the dust settles and SMAC is just another game the forums (if they are still alive) will be even worse than now.
Borodino posted 12-20-98 12:24 AM ET
Refining previous comments:
General Comments:
As they were before, a free for all
Technical Problems:
As SnowFire suggested
Bug Reports:
As SnowFire suggested
Strategy and Tactics
Hopefully self-explanatory
Science and Technology
As SF suggested
The Factions
As SF suggested
Hints & Tips
Cheats(?), to beginners, perhaps this is really a rehash of the Strat/Tac?
Scenarios, maps, modpacks, and other customization
I'm sure a more condensed form of this title can be created
Multiplayer
Mostly for finding others to play with
Gameplay Experiences
As others have suggested
CoFH
My favorite forum. BTW, will the information in the old CoFH forum ever be retrievable?
Demo Forum
Suggestions, comments, complaints, bugs (perhaps a replacement for bugs above), and offers of bribes for the full game...
Old Forums
The posts that existed prior to the Great Collapse, plus this forum, plus possibly the demo forum once the full game is out.
Steel_Dragon posted 12-20-98 01:50 AM ET
General Comments on the World
As off-topic will happen I think it is a good idea to have it clearly mark So that it can be found/avioded per user.
Discussion of Game bugs and wanted Features
A place to add suggestions for patches, not to fix the noexist bugs but to improve the game
Strategies and Tactics
A help forum
The Factions
The On-topic off-topic disscusions
SMAC Stories and Fiction
Multiplayer
A place to skudule games, maybe set a league or leave a link to the Alpha Centauri zone.
Markus posted 12-20-98 02:46 PM ET
One forum that may be very helpful is a forum for tech support questions. If someone with a certain hardware config is having trouble they can post a question for anyone else with that particular config.
Of course, we all know that there are only three or four combinations of hardware out there right
Markus
SnowFire posted 12-20-98 03:58 PM ET
A quick clarification: In the Suggestions for Firaxis explanation, I said
"This is "Game and Features" renamed. It's subtitle would be "Possible patches, expansions, or even SMAC II." Game and Features would basically become a suggestion board as they are set, else a newbie help board where the game is explained to them."
The last part I'm not describing the forum I'm picturing (that would be done in the Help for Beginners forum), just what I thought the original "Discussion of Game and Features" would become. I'm simply trying to title it to say what it really is.
I'm still not sure in my stance on this test forum, a possible Demo forum, and the old forums. Maybe they could be archived so that they could be looked at, but not posted to? Then if someone finds an interesting discussion they can always cut&paste the text of it into a new thread that can be replied to.
If you wanted to have fewer forums, I suppose that Bug Reports and Technical Help could merge into the same forum, SMAC Stories and SMAC Fiction could be just one as well, Help for Beginners could be relegated to General Comments, and even the Scenarios and Multiplayer Forums merged. I still standby the original list though.
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Author	Topic: Suggestions for Forum Categories
Mike Ely FIRAXIS	posted 12-18-98 07:28 PM ET Since we got such good advice last time, now is your chance to give thoughts on the forum divisions. I'm thinking: General Comments Discussion of Game and Features Strategies and Tactics The Factions Science and Technology SMAC Stories Any thoughts? I'll leave the Test forum around for awhile...
Gord McLeod	posted 12-18-98 07:30 PM ET Some of these may fit well into other categories but some that come to mind are: Design Philosophy Leadership Ethics and Morality The Units
Frank C Manning	posted 12-18-98 07:36 PM ET Those are good. I would also have a non-SMAC stuff category. That way I would know where all the non-SMAC stuff is and can avoid it.
jsorense	posted 12-18-98 07:36 PM ET Dear Mr. Ely, My only suggest would be under SMAC Stories: have one topic where players can post descriptions of games they have actually played (single and multi-player), and another topic for SMAC-based fiction. I really loved it when people posted their multi-player SMG! games. Thanks
DHE_X2	posted 12-18-98 07:37 PM ET Multiplayer Forum(after the full game is released) ~DHE, just really damn happy...
DAT	posted 12-18-98 07:40 PM ET Perhaps: Diplomacy Enhancement requests Bug reports
The Thomas A Stobie	posted 12-18-98 07:54 PM ET 1.I would suggest a separate forum for just comments about the Demo. This should include difficulties, bugs (hopefully we will not see any), confusions, etc. I would name it "Demo Comments & Issues". 2. I agree with isorense that we need an area to discuss actual gameplay. This would be a good place for FIRAXIS to observe player react to SMAC. I would name it "SMAC Gameplay Experiences". 3. As General Comments tend to include a lot of off-subject talk, I would have a new forum where News about SMAC can be posted. This should include offical FIRAXIS announcements, postings about articles about SMAC, website references, etc. I would name it "Alpha Centuari News".
Imran Siddiqui	posted 12-18-98 07:57 PM ET Oh, I like jsourense's idea of having a game story forum... Imran Siddiqui
Fluke	posted 12-18-98 07:58 PM ET Well now I don't know if there will be a sequel to SMAC but maybe a forum for what we greedy little buggers want in SMAC II. Oh and a combined coconutstand and deepsea bar (fully stocked)
Zan Thrax	posted 12-18-98 08:10 PM ET I think that a couple areas for non-SMAC, non-FIRAXIS threads are a good idea, since its very unlikely that we will ever stay on topic. My suggestions are: Current Events (for War in Iraq I & II type threads) General Debate (for political, historical, economic, and philisophical debates)
Kurn	posted 12-18-98 08:11 PM ET I would love to see a game story forum. I cant stop bragging when I start!
Antiam	posted 12-18-98 09:47 PM ET TStobie is right about a seperate news section. Actually, you may want to consider one that only allows FIRAXIS to post in it. That way newbies will be able to find important messages without digging through a month or two of posts. Antiam
Aga1	posted 12-18-98 09:50 PM ET Bug Report Smac Comments Off Topic Anyonumus Hints and Stratergy Multiplayer Comments
Fluke	posted 12-18-98 10:07 PM ET But there's already the news section on the web-site...?
Jimmy	posted 12-18-98 10:13 PM ET Why have an "off-topic" section? When the demo is released, there shouldn't be off topicness anymore, right? But if you must, I guess you must... (sigh) My suggestions: - technology research - factions & ideologies - strategy, tactics & diplomacy - unit designs - stories - demo comments
Shining1	posted 12-18-98 11:00 PM ET Sounds good. Except that 'Discussion of Game and Features 'should be just 'Game and Features'. Of course were going to discuss it. Also, there might be some SMACers who would like to see the CoFH divison revived, since Smac Stories would inevitably be about actual in game experiences. While I know that yyyh managed to post more individual stuff than the entire CoFH combined in the old forums, they were still an excellent read, if you took the time (no offense to yyyh).
Baldor	posted 12-18-98 11:07 PM ET A couple suggestions/agreements: --Bug Reports --Strategy Discussion --Stories --Tech Questions --Off Topic --Multiplayer Forum (For finding other users) --Game Discussion --FIRAXIS News --Faction Debate (Who's best and why) --Suggestions --Hints & Tips (Cheats?) Anyways... those are a few, along with some of the ones I have seen and thought were really good ideas. --Baldor (No, I don't want a forum for myself ^_- )
CClark	posted 12-18-98 11:08 PM ET This pretty much just mirrors what others have been posting. Here's my votes: - Bugs, Suggestions, Comments - Technology and Units - Gameplay Experiences and Stories - Fan Fiction - Strategies and Tactics - The Factions I don't think that we need a place for off-topicness. Hopefully that was all just a result of boredom and we won't have that much of it. If there isn't an obvious place for it, that should keep it to a minimum. (Remember, we don't want to crash the forums again! ) Mike, any chance of getting some of the short stories from the original forums back? Or is all that work lost forever? Some of them were quite good, if unfinished.
The DirectorGeneral	posted 12-19-98 12:14 AM ET tring to get rid of off-topicness on this board is a lost cause. However, i do think there will be considerably less after he release of the demo.
Jason Beaudoin	posted 12-19-98 01:35 AM ET I think that other than the original divisions of the forums, I believe that the following two sections should be added: Demo Discussion Bug Reports BTW.... thank you Firaxis! Jason Beaudoin Beyond Alpha Centauri
DJ RRebel	posted 12-19-98 05:09 AM ET Jsorense .. a thread I created a while back called "Aaaaaaaaaaarrrrgh !!!" (I'm not sure how many A's, R's and !'s there were, but you get the idea) had some awsome Civ2 stories in them !!! This was one of my favorite threads !!! I'm guessing there might not be enough of these stories to have an entire forum, but it's not a bad idea !!! Eventually, there should be a world builders forum, were people can meet to exchange maps and stuff !!! But I doubt the demo will have those features !!! LOL Same thing might be good for Leagues ... but again, I don't see this meritting a forum until a little after full release !!! Mike .. What will happen to the old old forum ??? With all the doubling of threads from what appears to be last months 2nd server (3rd overall ???), all those threads get doubled with some nasty out of sequencing effects I'm sure you're aware of .. ("Aaargh" being one of those threads) !!! I'm hopping this will not mean they will be lost forever !!! We had some good dicussions in there !!! I suggest, having a sub-forum of old forums .. you could close the ability to respond to them, but at least they'd still be accessable for us to read !!! Hopefully, you could keep the "Test Forum" in that section too !!! A multiplayer forum would be good, just so that we don't have 50 million posts everywhere else by newbies starting threads called "anyone want to play ???" LOL As for an off-topic forum, there's no point, general and off-topic are the same thing in my POV !!! And of course ... there should be an 8th Faction forum !!! ah yes .. lol .. and one for Maya's quotes !!! =)
Kurn	posted 12-19-98 05:15 AM ET I dont know I think that the 8th faction forum might just overload the server, might have to scratch that one.
DJ RRebel	posted 12-19-98 05:28 AM ET Kurn .. LOL .. good point !!!
Jeje	posted 12-19-98 05:33 AM ET My opinion is: (As Mike Ely suggested) General Comments Discussion of Game and Features Strategies and Tactics The Factions Science and Technology (Gord McLeod) The Units (DAT suggested) Bug Report Diplomacy (And finally one that is missing) Scenarios (Talk about the ones that exist now and later maybe of other peoples skenarios) And Maybe an "OFF-TOPIC" forum is also needed. Merry Christmas Firaxis! (I'm gonna have fun this Christmas, THX)
Vanilja	posted 12-19-98 05:34 AM ET 1. Mike, what do you mean by "...and Features" in reference to "The Game..."? This isn't clear to me; perhaps it wouldn't be clear to others. 2. A multiplayer section would probably be quite helpful for a lot of people. 3. Of course, a section on SMAC 2(!) would be neat, also! 4. Perhaps in the near future there should be a separate section for EACH Faction. 5. A section for SMAC announcements only would be great!!
DJ RRebel	posted 12-19-98 05:43 AM ET actually, I think seperating the factions would just make things too messy, what do you do if you want to compare 2 or 3 factions ??? As for a news section, there already is one in the main web page !!! The only reason Firaxis should put a section like that in, is if they start to develop a new game, and find they don't have much time to devote to the forum (sound familiar ??? ) .. anyways, then they could have one forum that they could concentrate on, instead of going through all the other ones !!!
MikeH II	posted 12-19-98 07:07 AM ET I think Mike's original ones are a great start: General Comments Discussion of Game and Features Strategies and Tactics The Factions Science and Technology SMAC Stories But I would also like sections for: MultiPlayer. (A must in my book I guess Mike just forgot to put that one down) Possible bug reports. (Hopefully this will be even emptier than the old The Site forum. You might want to call it something else) I think there is a danger that we will have too many forums with nothing in them, most stuff will go in General Comments anyway. So I'll limit myself to 2 extras. If you are interested Mike the latest version of the UBB is 5.15 http://www.ultimatebb.com/news/HTML/000008.html It doesn't have many fixes but it includes the 5.10 updates which claim to make some processes 90% faster. MikeH
Yo_Yo_Yo_Hey	posted 12-19-98 10:09 AM ET Shining1 is always making fun o' me! I'll be taking offense soon! Watch it! Anyway, I like Mike's original ideas. I just want to add a multi player section where we can brag about winning against other people(esp. forum posters), & the people who lost can rebut. Imagine this, "I beat YYYH!!! Hahahahaha!!!!" "Yeah, well you wouldn't have beaten me if you didn't nuke my cities & steal my techs you bastard!" To quote Imran's Yahoo! profile, "Oodles of fun!" Thank you. Al Gore sucks Thank you. Your faithful & hell-bent NIMadier general, YYYH
tOFfGI	posted 12-19-98 11:06 AM ET I think there are two important categories missing in Mike Ely's original lineup. (1) Help. this would be a place where beginners can ask experienced users for help. (2) Scenarios and customisation. This would be a place where users can upload and dowload other people's scenarios, as well as discuss them...
Victor Galis	posted 12-19-98 11:43 AM ET We need a section like Old Test Forum, or maybe Old-Timers Forum where the discussions and athmosphere of this forum may live on. P.S. The 8th faction forum is on another server.
Keith Bennett	posted 12-19-98 12:09 PM ET I like the initial forums, but I'd suggest 2 more: Units and combat (seperate from strategy and tactics - given the customizable units, I'd think they deserve a board of their own) Bug or Feature? - for people to post complaints and bug reports about the game.
Thue	posted 12-19-98 12:33 PM ET Would it be possible to have a chat room?
Frank Moore	posted 12-19-98 12:40 PM ET I think a forum for each faction is a good idea. Also I think a forum dedicated to the AI of the game would be helpful. Players could discuss both the good and frustrating experiences with the AI.
Zan Thrax	posted 12-19-98 05:57 PM ET A story forum and a units forum are good ideas. News and Scenario sections would be seperate sections of the site, rather than forums.
DarkLight	posted 12-19-98 07:01 PM ET How about we emulate the Pilot's Lounge? (DarkLight turns and runs from the ravenous hordes. He appears from around another corner a few minutes later, out of breath.) It was a joke, darn you all! Forumer: It was a very BAd joke! KILL THE DROW!!!! Oh, dear... (DarkLight dashes off, setting a world record for speed and distance.)
SnowFire	posted 12-19-98 11:03 PM ET Arrghh, been away for a tad. I agree, too many forums spoil the broth. In any case, here's my list, kind of a compilations of other's ideas with some of my own in. News from Firaxis I'd amend the previous suggestion: you can post replies in here, but not new topics. That insures only Firaxis topics are there. I'm assuming UBB allows this. General Comments This will probably become the off-topic forum. But we shouldn't have one in name, just title it "Discussion about ANYTHING." Help for Beginners As it says. Veterans help new players, or they send them to the Technical Help Forum if it's a system problem. Suggestions for Firaxis This is "Game and Features" renamed. It's subtitle would be "Possible patches, expansions, or even SMAC II." Game and Features would basically become a suggestion board as they are set, else a newbie help board where the game is explained to them. Strategies and Tactics Oh yeah. This will be a VERY popular forum. The Factions Subtitled "Which is best, faction-specific strategies, custom factions." This one will get a lot of "We're better than you!" Stuff. Science and Technology Another classic. "Which techs are best, good tech paths, and general debate on technology." This one, due to the last clause, might get a tad off-topic as well. SMAC Stories This would be the gameplay experience one. "Exciting stories from played games, and download posted replays of them." You DO have the option save replay, don't you? There's a section on how I suggest implementing it without letting cheaters save in the middle and view all their opponents. SMAC Fiction Same as the old CoFH forum. Scenarios and Mod packs Again, a place where posters can put URL's of their custom scenarios and get people to download them. Also tips for newbies on building scenarios. Multiplayer One word, and yet says a lot. <space> These will be the only moderated forums to insure pranksters do not warn of nonexistent bugs that format your hard drive. Bug Watch Subtitled "An empty forum, right?" Technical Problems Tech wizards help newbies who say "the game won't run right." Subtitled "Not in the Technical FAQ? Come here." "Technical FAQ" will be a link to, er, the Technical FAQ, and will probably reduce pointless posts on the board considerably.
Mortis	posted 12-20-98 12:07 AM ET Bug watch and SMAC stories are a must and an off-the-topic forums wouln't go astray either. Althought off-the-topicness will initialy drop, once all the dust settles and SMAC is just another game the forums (if they are still alive) will be even worse than now.
Borodino	posted 12-20-98 12:24 AM ET Refining previous comments: General Comments: As they were before, a free for all Technical Problems: As SnowFire suggested Bug Reports: As SnowFire suggested Strategy and Tactics Hopefully self-explanatory Science and Technology As SF suggested The Factions As SF suggested Hints & Tips Cheats(?), to beginners, perhaps this is really a rehash of the Strat/Tac? Scenarios, maps, modpacks, and other customization I'm sure a more condensed form of this title can be created Multiplayer Mostly for finding others to play with Gameplay Experiences As others have suggested CoFH My favorite forum. BTW, will the information in the old CoFH forum ever be retrievable? Demo Forum Suggestions, comments, complaints, bugs (perhaps a replacement for bugs above), and offers of bribes for the full game... Old Forums The posts that existed prior to the Great Collapse, plus this forum, plus possibly the demo forum once the full game is out.
Steel_Dragon	posted 12-20-98 01:50 AM ET General Comments on the World As off-topic will happen I think it is a good idea to have it clearly mark So that it can be found/avioded per user. Discussion of Game bugs and wanted Features A place to add suggestions for patches, not to fix the noexist bugs but to improve the game Strategies and Tactics A help forum The Factions The On-topic off-topic disscusions SMAC Stories and Fiction Multiplayer A place to skudule games, maybe set a league or leave a link to the Alpha Centauri zone.
Markus	posted 12-20-98 02:46 PM ET One forum that may be very helpful is a forum for tech support questions. If someone with a certain hardware config is having trouble they can post a question for anyone else with that particular config. Of course, we all know that there are only three or four combinations of hardware out there right Markus
SnowFire	posted 12-20-98 03:58 PM ET A quick clarification: In the Suggestions for Firaxis explanation, I said "This is "Game and Features" renamed. It's subtitle would be "Possible patches, expansions, or even SMAC II." Game and Features would basically become a suggestion board as they are set, else a newbie help board where the game is explained to them." The last part I'm not describing the forum I'm picturing (that would be done in the Help for Beginners forum), just what I thought the original "Discussion of Game and Features" would become. I'm simply trying to title it to say what it really is. I'm still not sure in my stance on this test forum, a possible Demo forum, and the old forums. Maybe they could be archived so that they could be looked at, but not posted to? Then if someone finds an interesting discussion they can always cut&paste the text of it into a new thread that can be replied to. If you wanted to have fewer forums, I suppose that Bug Reports and Technical Help could merge into the same forum, SMAC Stories and SMAC Fiction could be just one as well, Help for Beginners could be relegated to General Comments, and even the Scenarios and Multiplayer Forums merged. I still standby the original list though.