Description: Scenario Name: A city called Armagedon SMAC/ SMAX: SMAC Author: Darsnan Date of original posting: 5/22/02 (posted 31-10-09 at WPC, if that was the original posting) Original host site: WePlayCiv
Location: UN Interplanetary Colonization HQ, Customs Inspection Bay 23
Ah, Customs Inspection, the place where all factions need to declare all goods they hope to take with them to colonize new worlds. Where the Believers languish in a Purgatory of bureaucratic red tape, the Gaians try to claim mindworms are pets, the University becomes indignant about witchunts against forbidden technologies, and the Hive becomes supersecretive as to their intentions. But for the Morganites, the natural businessmen of the Universe, Customs is simply an exercise in business by other means. And if anything, you are a true Morganite. You watch as the Customs Inspector makes his way to your loading bay where you have your wares spread out for inspection. You note the Inspector’s uniform is sharply pressed, and his hat pulled straight forward over perfectly cut hair: a very by-the-book man if you ever saw one. Having marked him, you put on the personae which you think best fits the environment, opening with a warm smile and pumping handshake. The Inspector ignores the warmth of your smile, perfunctorily shaking your hand before immediately moving over to the beginning of your bay. He pulls out a standardized checklist and immediately begins ticking things off against your manifest. After about half a minute he stops ticking things off and turns to you. “Mainframe”, he demands, sticking a hand out. Your mainframe computer, the one which will run all your interests on this planet. You reach into your pocket and hand him the computer. The Inspector eyes it keenly, noting the model and serial number before plugging it into a scanner. The scanner starts chugging along, reviewing all the mainframe’s files, ensuring there were no contraband techs. Fifteen seconds later the scanner’s light turns green. “Mainframe clean” the Inspector notes for the log, and hands your mainframe back. Next up is your equipment manifest -all your supplies which you plan on taking to the new world:
The Inspector stops at the asterisk, “how have you modified the equipment from original manufacturer’s design?”, he asks briskly. You instruct the Drone workers to open one of the crates, specifically one containing a Hovertank Transport. You point to the back of the machine, “the two tanks attached to the back are additional fuel tanks, in order to give our traders extended range on their journeys” you say, before adding with a smarmy smile, “our faction’s motto is ‘We go the extra mile for our customers!’ “. The Inspector stares at you blankly, then returns his attention to the transport, looking over the rest of the Hovertank Transport’s hull, “standard transport design, except for noted additional fuel tanks”, the man remarks for the record, before motioning the Drones to close the crate back up. The Inspector moves to the next row of crates. “Weapons inspection” the man dictates, and the Drones move to uncrate the first battletank. The Inspector waves his scanner over the machine, its wand querying the battletank for the machine’s specifics. The tank in turn spits out its manufacturer’s specifications to the scanner display. “Impactor Main turret gun, synthmetal armor, fission reactor, hovertank chassis”, the Inspector reads off his scanner display for the record, “weaponry within quarantine parameters”. He proceeds to walk down the still crated row of tanks and armored probes, scanning each one in turn. After reviewing the scanner’s data he adds, “all weapons platforms within acceptable limits of quarantine”. Finished, the Inspector stops at the far end of your bay and comments for the record, “Inspection complete. Morganite Faction cleared for transit”. The man motions you over, pointing to where you needed to affix your signature to the necessary triplicate documentation. He reviews hyour signatures, and once satisfied you have signed all three copies correctly, the man turns and walks away, completely oblivious to your outstretched hand. You continue smiling as you watch the Inspector go. You have payed good money to ensure you got an inspector who was completely “by the book”, one who would be perfunctory and thorough, but lacked the imagination to think outside the box. For if the Inspector had bothered to review his scanner’s readout he would have noted your mainframe is actually of University design, and as such has all of the prerequisite capabilities of immediately researching one technology – a significant boost up in a new trading environment! And if he had bothered to physically look closer at your transport’s “fuel tanks” he would have realized that they could be easily reconfigured into the compression chambers of artillery units. And the “Impactor Battletanks”? Well, that’s what the scanner said it was, so that was good enough for the Inspector. Yes, you think to yourself, some very well spent EC’s. A tingling at the back of your head causes you to turn, and you note a Gaian staring intently at you from across the inspection bay. The woman doesn’t waver in her gaze as she continues to focus on you, and you recognize the tell-tale sign of an empath reading someone’s mind. Can’t be, you think, empaths were outlawed from colonizing new planets, as they gave their respective factions a leg up against other factions! The woman smiles coldly at you before turning away, and you uneasily realize that if you were so easily able to beat the Customs Inspection, then the Gaians probably have learned their own tricks to get by the Inspectors as well. And if the Gaians had found a way to beat the quarantine, then how many other factions were beating the system in their own ways as well?
Directions 1. In your Alpha Centauri/ Scenarios directory create a subdirectory called Armagedon, and unzip the attached files into the Armagedon subdirectory. 2. Start SMAC. 3. At the main screen choose Scenario, Play Scenario, and load up Armagedon.SC 4. The game will automatically load up with the Morganites.
Enjoy! Posted by: Buster's Uncle May 03, 2014, 02:47:27 AM
And the Lord God said, 'Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language, and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech'.
~The Conclave Bible
6 new categories and 72 new items added to the shop!
