January 2012 Lost Eden Game of the Month: Stranger In A Strange World (SMAC)
The GotM has landed once again on Alpha Centauri and this time we have another surprise for you. Of course, we have custom factions, nice graphics and some well-written fiction, as usual. So what's so special about this new SMAC scenario? ???
(http://alphacentauri2.info/MGalleryItem.php?id=125)
Well, the author, Kilkakon (with the help of Buster's Uncle and Buster's Aunt) gives us a glimpse at his very unusual mod: Lost Eden (http://kilkakon.com/projects/losteden.html) which features new artwork, predesigned units with a wide range of tactical options, redesigned technology tree, original quotes... Well, it's not all in this scenario, but this should give you a small taste, so I should stop here. ;)
So, the January 2012 GotM is called "Lost Eden GOTM: Stranger in a Strange World"" and it's a SMAC scenario (no need for the expansion pack - SMAX). You'll step into the shoes of the innocent military genius Brother-General Tristan who fights against the intolerant original AC preacher-lady, Miriam. Hmm.. you've always wanted to teach her a lesson, haven't you? .. Now is the time!
:doitnow!:
If you remember Poke'mon fondly, or just think the very notion of it crossed with AC is funny, you ought to read the Kilkakon's story and check out the scenario (estimated time of play: 45-60 minutes). Deadline for submissions: February 29th, 2012.
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Lost Eden GOTM: Stranger in a Strange World
by Kilkakon
Tristan and his squad burst into the small room. Meora was nowhere to be seen, but the room was almost completely consumed an enormous Gateway. Tristan's silver eyes studied the instrumentation. The design of this particular portal was alien to him. His pale blue totodile hands tried each of the various controls until he struck gold.
An eerie yellow glow filled the room as the Gateway crackled into life. Tristan looked on with resolve. His cape swept majestically behind him as an otherworldly wind blew out of the portal. The air smelt strange, but the wind was warm against his otherwise naked body.
"Let's move out," Tristan ordered with a flourish, "Meora's attempting to flee and reinforce. But his reign is ending—he's just playing for time." With the pep talk complete, Tristan and his squad of charmanders entered the Gateway.
***
Within moments, it became clear to the party that the world beyond the Gateway was neither Earth nor Eden. They were standing in an apartment of some kind with daring dark wooden and obsidian décor. Strange plants and uncomfortable-looking furniture filled the room. Wogan, Tristan's trusted charmander aid and friend, walked over to the large window that took up an entire wall.
"Tristan, look!" he shouted. Everybody ran over and was equally shocked: this wasn't just an apartment, but an entire city! Large dark brown towers loomed overhead in every direction and hundreds of little floating cars were negotiating their way around them. Twin suns burnt brightly overhead, illuminating an alien sky.
"Where are we?" Tristan wondered aloud. His heart sank as he realised that Meora could be anywhere by now—any attempt to pursue him would be pointless. But there was another problem: they were strangers in a strange world, without any way to return to Eden. "My people, we have more pressing priorities now. We must find information, safety and supplies. Who knows what dangers lay out there? Or the rules that define this new world?"
Tristan was interrupted by the apartment door opening unexpectedly. A woman, middle aged, entered the room, and was shocked to see a dozen or so brightly coloured and heavily armed naked creatures in her living room. Instinctively she hit the security button outside the door before anybody could react.
***
"What?!" Santiago barked. "Hold on, I'll come down", she told the lieutenant. Stepping into the lift, she tried to master her anger at somebody's idea of a practical joke. A busy Colonel has no time for such childish behaviour. Heads were going to roll for this breach of discipline.
***
"You weren't kidding!" Santiago barely stifled laughter. "Is this Morgan's idea of a peace offering? Cute little naked creatures?" She sputtered. The already spooked Spartan guards did not know how to react to her discomfiture.
"Um yes hello?" Tristan spoke up in a funny tone. "We have no idea what is going on!" Recomposing himself he continued, "We are strangers to your world. We came here in pursuit of a great evil—but he seems to have gone. We are sorry for taking up your time and we'll be on our way now."
"Fine!" Santiago responded, finally losing her composure completely, laughing uproariously. "If you are planning to leave and set up camp somewhere, feel free to take one of our obsolete Colony Pods."
"Are you sure that's fine?" the totodile enquired.
"Oh yes; I've been needing to clear the surplus for ages," she snickered.
"Well thank you ma'am. Your gift will be most helpful. Perhaps we can talk about business again in the future. God Bless you."
Tristan's party left Sparta Command, Santiago wiping a tear in their wake. Several mission years would pass, turning Tristan's fledging group into a small community, and turning Sparta and the Realm from being worlds apart into near allies.
***
Miriam gently blew over her stew before taking a small sip. Perfection. Her aides had prepared her favourite evening meal to exacting specifications. She was up late reading newly arrived intelligence reports. Here was confirmation of a Christian group forming in Fort Survivalist! This was joyous, albeit puzzling news; no missionaries had been there since the last set had been turned away years ago. Her fingers swiped the datapad continuously. There were many fragmented pieces of information to consider; photographs, status reports and eyewitness accounts. Nevertheless, the big picture was starting to fall into place.
Miriam's fingers stopped. Her stew fell, barely remaining in the bowl. She couldn't believe her eyes—a close-up of a man-sized orange and yellow monster, a bit of something that looked like a tool-belt around its waist showing at the bottom of the shot, seemingly in conversation with a soldier. It was holding something out… her fingers tapped the area to zoom in on the image.
"The Bible?!" she exclaimed. Her mind raced. Intelligent beasts, Christian ones, in Defiance Freehold? And why were they succeeding in converting the people when her own missionaries failed? She was the leader of the Church, and yet these… things were winning the hearts of the Spartan populace.
It was time to get to the heart of this matter and contact the Spartans. Picking up her datapad, she left her private study and began the short walk towards the communications centre, steeling herself for the upcoming conversation with Santiago along the way. Relations between the two factions had always been strained—and they had deteriorated further over recent decades.
The conservation between Miriam and Santiago that followed was standoffish at best. Miriam was fast to dispense with the formalities of military bragging and technological trade offers and got straight onto the topic of "rumours of intelligent creatures".
Bewildered by Santiago's unusually snickering tone, Miriam walked away with the creatures' commlink for a mere 25 energy credits.
***
Tristan stepped out onto his bedroom balcony and looked out over the base. It had taken some time to adjust to the technological developments of this new world but he had succeeded in creating a Realm colony here in this strange place. Unsurprisingly, however, the greatest challenge was dealing with the people of the planet rather than indigenous life forms.
Wogan politely knocked on the window before stepping out as well. Tristan began, "beautiful, isn’t it? God's been good to us, even in this barren place". Wogan stopped beside Tristan and gave him a friendly hug.
"We're receiving a transmission from a faction leader. Haven't seen their before but from the looks of things they might be Christians!"
Tristan turned to face his friend. "Really? This is great! I'll accept the call immediately. If these are brothers and sisters of ours, we should unite the family and work together as one."
The two quickly dashed over to the communications room. It was basic, being cobbled together from mostly obsolete Spartan components, but sufficiently functional for faction negotiations. Wogan motioned to the operator to accept the call, while Tristan stepped into the centre of the room. The hardware had issues focusing on close objects, so it was necessary to step back from the camera somewhat when taking calls. The viewscreen activated, showing only static while the operator frantically adjusted the various controls. "Come on…" Tristan mumbled to himself.
Eventually, the picture of a middle-aged woman, with orange hair, came into view. "I am Sister Miriam Godwinson of the Believers," Miriam introduced, "I have heard that you have built yourself a small empire on this rocky planet. I plan to embrace the truth of the Lord's Scripture and will brook no interference in this matter…" Her voice trailed off as she looked down upon Tristan's body.
Miriam's eyes widened as she noticed that Tristan was obviously male. How could this be? She'd been following an information trial leading towards intelligent Christian creatures, but this creature seemed to be neither of those. What sort of intelligent being, or Christian for that matter, reveals his genitals in public?
Tristan interrupted her train of thought with a flourish of his cape. "Greetings Sister Godwinson! I am Brother-General Tristan, leader of the Realm of Light. I welcome our meeting, knowing that are not the only people on this strange world seeking the will of God. You stated your intention; therefore I shall express my own: I seek to bring some sanity to this confused planet. I will offer them the Light of Jesus Christ."
"We are the children of God here," Miriam responded firmly, "You and the other naked creatures like you have interfered with our plans for this planet."
Tristan attempted to calm Miriam with a soothing tone. "Rest assured that our nudity is of innocence, not of perversion, Sister. I also fail to understand how we have interfered with your plans. Isn't the highest goal of all the desire to see God's message brought to every person in this world?"
"Yes, but you have corrupted the Lord's Gospel when you sent missionaries to the Spartans. Why else would my missionaries, who preach the true Word of God, be sent away?!"
Tristan looked down. "I understand now, Miriam, why your missionaries failed. Somewhere, somehow, your message has fallen away from love. Without love, it is impossible to please God," he spoke mournfully.
"WHAT?!" Miriam roared.
Tristan spun and pointed at the viewscreen. "Your missionaries presented rules and laws and wanted to give them even more bondage than they already had. We gave them the truth that no one can escape the coming Judgement, but we can let Jesus into our dark hearts and let him set us free. And with his help there is no more fear or condemnation!"
Miriam disconnected.
***
The formal declaration of war arrived two days later. Tristan was uneasy. This was… wrong. War between Christians was the worst possible outcome. Regardless, he resolved to end the hostilities, quickly and without Spartan aid. It was time to exercise his strategic genius again. His goal: capture New Jerusalem with as few civilian losses as possible.
***
Tristan climbed the many steps leading to Miriam's Headquarters in New Jerusalem. Everything, so far, had proceeded according to plan. His forces had smashed the Believing war machine but left the civilian forces intact. As he approached top of the stairs, he outwardly appeared calm, hiding several concerns. Aware of the many lies that have been no doubt spread about him he knew that his next move was crucial.
With a flourish of his cape, Tristan entered the room. Miriam was seated on her command chair, held there softly by a few charmanders. Miriam's intelligentsia and aides were gathered in the background, knowing that they had lost. Upon seeing Tristan, their gaze shifted to him.
"Greetings my family", Tristan spoke, shattering the silence. "I trust you have not been harmed." Murmurs of shock and disapproval uttered throughout the small crowd. "You have been told many things about me. Remember what the Word says, that we are called to be what we are meant to be. Form your opinion of me based off my words and my actions, not hearsay you have heard in dark corridors. My name is Brother-General Tristan. I am the leader of the Realm of Light, a faction who seeks to restore God's family to the love of Jesus and the truth of the Word."
"You monster!" Miriam retorts.
Tristan turned slowly with a sly look. "You have acted inappropriately, Sister. Our conversation now could have been held without any bloodshed. Yet still I do not absolve myself of the responsibility of this war." He turned to the crowd again.
"Brothers and sisters in Christ, please forgive me for the part I played in this confrontation…" A tear formed in his eye. "I did what I could to minimise casualties… but sometimes these things get… messy." He shook his head, wiping away the tear.
Miriam watched as the totodile appeared genuinely upset over what had happened. Could it be possible that this creature means well and that he was taught poor doctrine?
Tristan continued. "I have no intention to subjugate your people. They answer to you and to God, not some random totodile from another world." He moves slowly towards Miriam, stopping a few steps away from her. "There is, however, an opportunity."
"An opportunity?" Miriam hesitantly responded. Tristan reached out his hand towards her.
"All have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. Both of us want to follow God's plan for getting back into a relationship with him. Let's work together to pull our people closer to the truth of the Word."
Miriam took his hand. Finally, peace and unity prevailed. Discussions of doctrine and protocol soon took place, allowing Tristan to achieve his goal: of injecting some sense into the Believing regime.
There was, however, a problem. Meora has remained a complete enigma. There has been no definite sign of him at all, even after the Believer skirmish. Maybe he never entered the portal and he doubled back, preventing himself from being seen by Tristan's party. Perhaps it was God's will for Tristan to arrive on Planet, so that he could save Miriam's Believers, and ultimately, bring lasting peace to the world.
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YOUR MISSION:
Brother-General Tristan (http://alphacentauri2.info/command-nexus/january-2012-lost-eden-gotm-stranger-in-a-strange-world-(smac)#00), you need to capture New Jerusalem to end the conflict.
However, you should reduce civilian losses as much as possible.
Each population unit in an original Believer base (whether you captured it or not) counts towards the score of this Game of the Month.
STANDINGS FOR THE January 2012 GotM COMPETITION:
The standings will be calculated using the following criteria (in this exact order):
- difficulty level;
- number of turns needed to reach the objective;
- total population of the Believers (the more, the better).
Meaning:
The games played on lesser difficulty level won't be able to beat a superior level.
On the same difficulty level, the scenario completed in less turns will outweigh the others.
If the objective was reached in the same number of turns, the total population of the Believers will be the tie-breaker.
2012 GotM COMPETITION
The three best results will receive points for the 2012 GotM Competition:
The best result will bring you a 'Gold victory' :1st: and 4 points in the 2012 Game of the Month Competition as well as a special badge visible in your profile and your post bits.
The second best result will bring you a 'Silver victory' :2nd: and 2 points in the 2012 Game of the Month Competition.
The third best result will bring you a 'Bronze victory' :3rd: and 1 point in the 2012 Game of the Month Competition.
PRIZES:
The winners of the 2012 GotM Competition will receive prizes consisting of downloadable games from gog.com (http://www.gog.com/).
All gog.com prizes are courtesy of alphacentauri2.info (http://alphacentauri2.info).
DIRECTIONS
1) Download the zip file (see link bellow) and place it into your main game directory. usually this is: C:/Program Files/Firaxis Games/Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri/
2) Unzip it there. Confirm overwrite if asked (ONLY FOR WINDOWS USERS)!
3) Start up SMAC, then select "Scenario", "Play Scenario", and then go to the subdirectory "LEGotM" and choose the scenario.
Direct download link for Librarian difficulty level: http://alphacentauri2.info/downloads/?sa=downfile&id=29 (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=downloads;sa=downfile&id=29)
Download link for Transcend difficulty level: http://alphacentauri2.info/downloads/?sa=downfile&id=30 (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=downloads;sa=downfile&id=30)
GOOD LUCK!
*Important: for everything concerning submissions, AARs, prizes please use this thread: http://alphacentauri2.info/command-nexus/january-2012-lost-eden-gotm-stranger-in-a-strange-world-(smac)/ (http://alphacentauri2.info/command-nexus/january-2012-lost-eden-gotm-stranger-in-a-strange-world-(smac)/) or use this email address: submissions [ @ ] alphacentauri2 [.] info
*Kind of important: please use the [ spoiler ] [ /spoiler ] tags if you want to talk about strategies. some players want to give it a try before reading the others' experiences.
*For the full Lost Eden mod, and discussion of same, see this thread (http://alphacentauri2.info/the-theory-of-everything/lost-eden-moddingsuggestionscommentscharmanders-thread/).
*The most important: if seeing an anatomically correct Poke'mon with no britches on will ruin your day, best not to download this - if your curiosity gets the better of you, you were warned.
Players about the scenario:
Thanks for creating the scenario and running the contest! I hope these contests result in a resurgance of interest in SMAC(X), still the best civ games ever created!
...the whole shebang ended in defeat and humiliation. It was kind of fun to play though. I like the custom Social Engineering choices.
Good job with the scenario! Looking forward to the entire mod. I guess it's testimony to the greatness of Alpha Centauri that I suck at it so badly and still enjoy it so much.
I have tried this scenario twice and posted a report about the first attempt elsewhere. I repost it here for your amusement (a second report will be coming up):
Well, I had a go last week.
Since I play mostly for immersion I have a tendency to get confused when I'm supposed to do things quickly. I just started building and exploring like I would have done if I'd started a new single player game, singing "Tum-dee-dum-deh-deeeee / Let's build a societeeee!"...
Soon I realized I had to do something about the borders. I found the Believers soon enough, but if I hadn't it would have been apparent from where their hordes of howling troops came from. At first I figured I had to build up a ridiculously large army so that I could sweep through Believing land like your average grasshopper invasion and be able to avoid all bases except the prize (New Jerusalem). The onslaught from the enemy meant that I wasn't really left alone to do my recruiting. In the end I sent out a bunch of Charmander Troopers (I have no idea what they are, being completely unfamiliar with the Poke'mon universe, but they were very use- and powerful) to watch and patrol the border, making short raids to overcome any invading Believers.
This took a lot of time, especially since I'm a builder at heart and couldn't resist setting up a few facilities, especially recycling tanks, rationalizing that once in place they would help me build my army so much faster. I also sent out a ship to do some exploring. This ship found New Jerusalem and a master plan started to form in my head. I would build my ridiculously large army and send it by sea to New Jerusalem. This way I could conquer the Believing headquarters with a minimum loss of civilian casualties. Also it would be a really cool sneak-attack style of winning the game and I would forever be admired by everyone in the SMAC for my intelligence and cunning.
This soon turned into a bit of an obsession. The fierce fighting along the borders went on as I built my army, moved it to the sea base and started to build enough transport foils to move them all. The plan was to research probe teams and then switch to atheism (once the research penalty didn't matter anymore), to have better support, allowing me to build a large army. I thought I was going to send in a probe team or two to take out the perimeter defence at NJ, thus allowing me to kick rear-end quickly and with a minimum of civilian casualties.
However, the research took its own good time, so the army was practically finished once I had probe team tech. By that time I had a) gotten a little unpatient with my lack of progress and b) gotten a message saying that the scenario time limit was due in twenty rounds! Aaargh, one might say. So I gambled everything on moving my entire army by sea to NJ and attacking it Red Army style (by this time I was an atheist, remember?). Who could put up resistance against such awesome power?
The Believers could, it turned out. I hadn't brought he probe team along, since its home base was under siege by mind worms at the time and also impatience, time limit, etc. I didn't stand a chance at conquering New Jerusalem! The bastards held the fort like so many rappers claim to do. Once Rymdolov's Army had been annihilated I decided to resign and let younger pocket monsters take over.
Looking back I realize I should have gone for demonism to get the research done quickly, then switching to atheism to build an army quickly. Or I could have just gone over land and to heck with sneak attacks.
Anyway, the whole shebang ended in defeat and humiliation. It was kind of fun to play though. I like the custom Social Engineering choices.
Good job with the scenario! Looking forward to the entire mod. I guess it's testimony to the greatness of Alpha Centauri that I suck at it so badly and still enjoy it so much. :D
Here we go submission for transcend.
Took me longer than I had hoped. Miriam decided to send a hoard of useless rovers towards my bases, I kind of overreacted with the defense I also waited until I had 7 transports and an IotD Could have easily went when I was at 5 transports and still easily overrun New Jerusalem's defenses. Those two reasons combined cost me maybe 5 or 6 turns.
The new sargasso(probably spelled wrong) is an interesting wild card in this scenario. I got a kelp farm, 100 ec, a free tech, and an IotD spawn. I don't think I noticed that on my first time playing. Would be very useful to get probeteam tech from that, but I got I think information networks. Not 100% sure but it was useless to the premise of the scenario whatever I got. If anyone is able to get probes from one of those and can successfully remove New Jerusalem's perimeter defenses with a probe team that would make winning incredibly effortless.
- You dont need LABS - so change ratio to 80-20 and use energy to speed up production
- I had strange issue, at beggining Charmander cost 45 MINERALS, and 4-2-2 grav 36 MIN, but after a while both of them cost 36 MIN - maybe i found some tech in NEW SARAGOSSA...
- if you are going with - conquer ALL , be prepared for massive defense in last city (NEW JERUSALEM) - she had like 10 * 1-3-1 defenders + sensors + PD - even my ELITE charmanders had only ~50% chance to win this.
-... and thats why u need WORMS, they are having 1:1 ratio when attacking NEW JERUSALEM (with only one MORALE UPGRADE - with more they are ahead)
Here is my transcend submission where I "Go Directly For New Jerusalem". I captured New Jerusalem on turn 2183. I have attached the winning save.
The pods were not so useful. I got a useless Networking tech, a Unity Rover (using IOD), completion of a transport, and an IOD (which I captured).
I did reverse engineer Charmaders to lower their defense (and cost), which I thought was legal.
It was a fast victory, but not nearly as satisfying as completely eliminating Miriam, in my earlier submission.
@Earthmichael: your sneak attack was indeed a fast one, but in this save you are not able to keep the base at the end of the turn to see the message:
CONGRATULATIONS!
Brother-General Tristan of the Realm
YOU HAVE WON THE SCENARIO!
so, this submission is not valid. i'm sorry, but knowing your skills, i'm sure you will be a strong contender, if not the one to beat, in the following months.
(Speaking about foolproof, I think that in 'Warcrimes II' there is no condition about: harder difficulty winnings, always beating easier difficulty winnings.)
I just checked and you are right! The victory objectives definitely need to be updated to include difficulty level as the first critera!
Extending the deadline to March 10 is a great solution. Thanks!
This was a very interesting scenario, where a precison navel sneak attack can be done much faster than bulldozing your way through on the ground. It was also interesting that you could have +2 Planet near some heavy land and sea fungus, so that you could troll fungus on the sea and on the land. And it is sort of exponential. I was lucky that I captured an IOD very early with my starting ship. Because my ship could only troll 2 fungus/turn, while the IOD can troll 4 fungus per turn, giving 3x as much chance of discovering another IOD. And once you get the second IOD, you can troll 10 fungus per turn, and so on.
Thanks for creating the scenario and running the contest! I hope these contests result in a resurgance of interest in SMAC(X), still the best civ games ever created!