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Those of you who've been following my act for about the last year have heard all this before, but it's still true.
We've got a real opportunity here; this is the first forum I'm aware of BY SMACers For SMACers, without all the outside stuff getting in the way. That's a thing worth nurturing, if you ask me.
We can build this place into something fun, entertaining, informative and worthwhile - more than it is already. All it takes is all of us trying. Go to that little extra effort to post, generate content - whether art, modifications, how-tos, scenarios, AARs or whatever - recruit others, and generally get involved. If you're like most people reading this, you check by and read a little once in a while, wishing there was a more active SMAC(X) community to participate in. Much of our reason to be here is to socialize and be entertained by one another. Well, someone has to go first; I'm looking at YOU.
AC2 was a static skeleton at the beginning of February, but a handful of people quickly turned it into a real, live, forum. Now it's time to step up our game.
One person can make a difference - I've demonstrated this repeatedly. But it's never much of a show for long without someone to talk to. Two people can make a big difference. Everyone trying a little harder makes ALL the diference.
We need MPers, modders, hardcore players, scient fans/contributors, fan fiction writers, people with technical problems and people willing to troubleshoot. We need fun, thoughtful people to joke with in Rec Commons and science-oriented people posting articles/commenting in the science forums. (We need more Americans, 'cause it gets real slow on here in my evenings, between the Euros going to bed and the Aussies waking up.) We need whatever interesting, appropriate-to-a-SMAC(X)-forum, thing I haven't thought of/mentioned, because putting our heads together is what it's all about. It's all worthy and important, and we need all of it, and the people into each thing. We need active people, and we need to bring in more of them.
We need YOU.
Just pitch in however you can; make that extra little effort, because we we're greater as a group than as individuals. Try, please. Make that comment. Post that faction, story, art, ect. Get in on that MP game. Send those acquaintances a link to the forum. Post to entertain me, and I'll do the same. Let make a lot of friends here, and make the most active AC forum in the world 10 times busier.
We can do it.
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I am perfectly willing to pitch in, it's purely a matter of the skillset I have.
Also, I'd be horrible at multi-player games. I'd get killed within 5 turns somehow. But I am perfectly willing to contribute.
No way in hell's pits I am becoming an American, though. :p
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I'm willing to help.
I don't have much time, but I try to help bsing CMN where needed.
Mayby we should check who has the rights for the game, and if we can by them through KickStarter and make it open source, we might be able to renew the game and the comunity.
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Sure, I'm up for it to the best of my abilities. Personally, I think I've already learnt a lot in the last six months too. Always happy to pass that on as well.
We need more Americans
Ain't 330 million enough already??? There's a mere 62 million Brits and a paltry 11 mil Belgs to mention just 2 'minorities'.
(Oh, you meant American players
No way in hell's pits I am becoming an American, though. :p
That made me laugh, so HARD!!
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You guys are doing it right; just keep contributing as hard as you can bear to, maybe a tad more. It's an investment that should pay off in future entertainment.
And if anyone will just switch to keeping the sort of hours I do, I don't care if you're still one of them there godless furniers, or a furry, or whatever... Otherwise we need to recruit...
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I am a modder [Lite], player, and I did write fanfic... Don't see myself writing SMAC stories though.
"And so within 16 minutes of war being declared, the massive University flotilla of Elite Blink Hypometric Inertial Sky-Dreadnoughts [40!-24-23] utterly obliterated Sister Miriam's motley defenders, a few obsolete Impact Rover [4-1-2] convoys and some fanatical Silksteel Sentinels [1-4-1] squads..."
Anyways, if someone wants to have me beta-test a mod or Beta AC2, great!
If someone wants to ask for my input on moddability, okay!
Um... Okay.
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Check out the stories in the Planet Tales forum for a sample of the possibilities of AC fiction.
And Kilkakon would really, really, really like feedback on his Lost Eden mod, which you find linked in the Modding forum.
There's something for everyone to contribute somewhere...
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I am a modder [Lite], player, and I did write fanfic... Don't see myself writing SMAC stories though.
"And so within 16 minutes of war being declared, the massive University flotilla of Elite Blink Hypometric Inertial Sky-Dreadnoughts [40!-24-23] utterly obliterated Sister Miriam's motley defenders, a few obsolete Impact Rover [4-1-2] convoys and some fanatical Silksteel Sentinels [1-4-1] squads..."
We should read the official novels, and see how they did it. ;)
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...I should mention that I'm offering free art favors -or much better, lessons in GIMP/Photoshop- in the Taking Requests (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=2259.0) thread in Rec Commons. That's posting activity that's pure profit for you...
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Well, there are communities on older games that are VERY active. Age of Wonders 2 heaven at heaven games comes to mind. AoW:SM came out only 3 years later than Alpha Centauri. Like AC, there is no other game even into modern day that can match AoW:SM for the genre it does. Only Elemental: War of Magic comes close and it fails at it.
I even saw a community based on the old Forgotten Realms: Endless adventures which was based on the C64/128 and IBM 8086/286 construction set based on 2e DnD ising DOS emulators.
One of the things I think that confuses a lot of folks is that the community seems fragmented. There is a lot of "dont post here, post there..." stuff going on in PMs in other forums I have lurked on. Drama between you guys eons ago? Sheesh, not that I care. You have Aployton, Civ fanatics, WPC, 1BCciv, CGN, GoG, and probably a few I have not heard of.
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I couldn't say, not having seen or sent any of the PMs in question - save only the post here (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=community) half, occasionally. I'm not ashamed of recruiting.
I can only control my own behavior, not that of others; but our tribe does indeed need to lay off the poison PMs. I'm retired from the NerdWarsTM, my focus is on positivity and building the community, and everyone is welcome here. Period.
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NP, BU... Not trying to be negative. But one time years back, I only posted one thing asking a question. Mod googled and researched all previous posts on a dozen forums for my post history (for that handle) and PMed making claims against the established leadership of other forums. Damn, that is dedication.
Thank god over the 20 forums on various topics I visit, I have three handles. Even one old post on Civ Fanatics!
It just seemed a bit bizarre in one or two AC forums I visited and a bit clingy and desperate and made me not want to post there. You and sisko have refrained from that. I mean, damn, I was a lurker and only had one question! Thank you guys for not doing that.
Had to bring this up, even though it is a bit Nerd Wars-ish.
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No point in ignoring the elephant in the room.
Heavy sigh. That has to be who I think it is. Speaking as a bitter pedant myself, the last time I got burned somewhere, I ended declining to pursue revenge beyond depriving them of my participation - it would have hurt too much to spend the extra time thinking about them. In choosing to build instead of destroy, I act in my own best interest; it's nice that others profit from my need to feel like a good guy, but I'm doing this for me.
He's welcome here, but there ARE certain behaviors we won't tolerate.
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i've just checked the other forums.
civfanatics seems to have some interesting things going on, but no games.
all the others have nothing interesting going on...
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I wish it were otherwise, but this is the only place I'm comfortable at all. CFC is definitely my second choice. I have a severe, severe problem with over-moderation, just as I do with no moderation, but Petek is great, and you shouldn't ever have any problems if you stay in the AC folder.
One thing we're going to do here is treat each other decently. That applies to the Admins as well as the membership.
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Humanity is by nature tribal and hierarchical. I've gotten plenty of "stay here please" kind of PMs, especially from communities that are in decline.
I'm not into pokemon... but I'll give the mod a playthrough. http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=1172.0 (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=1172.0) right?
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Cool! Yes, that should make Kil happy.
...I should also mention the Game of the Month. We've got several, and it would REALLY do a lot to motivate sisko if people were to play them and comment, and post game saves.
The Zookeepers scenario, for instance, I Have no Name and I SLAVED over for two months - not only does it have the usual custom factions, it's a mod in other ways, as he did various things to the SE table and stuff like that. I did custom earth-style terrain, perfect for that friend of yours who says he can't get into SMAC(X) because the background is ugly/hurts his eyes, and custom units, including the Angry Birds before they hit it big. And virtually no one played it, probably because of the cartoony front page I made.
You want more GotMs? Let us know you (and by that, I mean everyone) care by playing them and entering the contests...
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You want more GotMs?
I want SMAC2.
That being said, if playing GOTMs will help SMAC2 become a reality... I'll do Lost Eden this Sat, and Zookeepers next Sat.
I'm indoctrinating a new player in SMAC- but he isn't much of a forum person. Most of my friends are into high end graphics and are rather taken up with multiplayer games- the sad truth is, SMAC2 is not only the true hope of this community but possibly the only thing that will revive it.
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I have a powerful suspicion that SMAC2 would be a disappointment... (I was already writing that post when you ninja'd me, but please do give it a go.)
My sister LOVED this training wheels faction (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=96) when she tried SMAC(X). It's not for a hardcore gamer, but SMAC is overwhelming the first time. Also, there's this one (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=98), reputed to be even easier - and they're both funny.
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I have a powerful suspicion that SMAC2 would be a disappointment... (I was already writing that post when you ninja'd me, but please do give it a go.)
My sister LOVED this training wheels faction (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=96) when she tried SMAC(X). It's not for a hardcore gamer, but SMAC is overwhelming the first time. Also, there's this one (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=98), reputed to be even easier - and they're both funny.
No no, you write it : ]
My crew is a bit... masochistic. We love brutally hard challenges- especially one of the girls. The other women... I'd make a custom faction for them- NOT.
I'll just tell him to play Transcend Difficulty Morgan on a medium sized map... :D
Bwhahaha!
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I have a powerful suspicion that SMAC2 would be a disappointment... (I was already writing that post when you ninja'd me, but please do give it a go.)
My sister LOVED this training wheels faction (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=96) when she tried SMAC(X). It's not for a hardcore gamer, but SMAC is overwhelming the first time. Also, there's this one (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=98), reputed to be even easier - and they're both funny.
No no, you write it : ]
My crew is a bit... masochistic. We love brutally hard challenges- especially one of the girls. The other women... I'd make a custom faction for them- NOT.
I'll just tell him to play Transcend Difficulty Morgan on a medium sized map... :D
Bwhahaha!
Ehh.. You could still pull that off if you beeline the right techs.
Make it a small map with Morgan and aggresive AI and abundant lifeforms on Transcend! You will need chemical weapons just to keep them off of you.
In addition, have these AIs:
Miriam (need I say more?)
Santiago (wheels of death and ownage and hates wealth)
Yang (Blue cockroach nests)
Domai (Build, build, built everywhere!)
Cha Dawn ( a monster on abundant lifeform maps)
or drop one and get 2 alien action.
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Check out AC2's first AAR (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=2304.0) by Green1, who has really stepped up to doing what he can to pitch in. Also, he's an American. :danc:
Have a look at his AAR -DAR, really, because the game's in progress- anyway, and let 'im know you're enjoying it. He doesn't mind kibbitzing.
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With the horrid start and Miriam boot stomping me, it did not go well.
But, who better to get stomped by than Miriam! It is almost tradition ;miriam;
Still, I stuck it out. Hope they enjoyed my noobishness. As I mentioned in thread, you always see these guys owning face in AARs. I have only seen one AAR which someone lost. he just did not play it anymore. Wuss.
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he just did not play it anymore.
i hope this won't be your case. you did a great job there. :)
now, some advice for future AARs: make some planning ahead and let the audience know about it, try to engage the audience in making (at least) the most important decissions (polls can help). of course, this will slow down the game, but i guess it's ok if one can build an audience and at the same time still enjoy the game. summarize every 10 turns or so: achieved objectives and what's left to do. ask for advice. if you have already built an audience, then you can even designate official advisors (e.g. for military or for expanssion), name bases or special units after them etc..
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what is AAR?
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what is AAR?
we have Datalinks (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=autoindex) for that: http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=484.0 (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=484.0)
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Green has started another one (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=2310.0), BTW...
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It is a fine, fine thing to see so much activity - everyone's having a good time. This is how it works.
To you (human) lurkers: sign up and get involved. Ask questions. Chip in your two cents. (Don't worry, the captchas go away after a couple of posts.) We do not newb-bash, ever, and we want you participating here. This community is a big tent, and has room for growth.
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Ugh, BU, would you mind me postponing Pokemon for a AAR? Or DAR, in this case...
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Why not a Lost Eden DAR, hmm? Or one of a GotM like The Zookeepers?
But by all means, do an AAR.
...
I've noticed your avatar looks like a stylized smiling beardy space king...
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Happy Beard King has started his DAR here (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=2320.0). Check it out.
All contributions to the AC community are welcome and appreciated. Every little bit helps.
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Detailed AAR (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=484.0)s are very good bringers of the lurkers.
I was told somewhere only 10 to 20 percent of a game's players actually do forums. But when they do, they are generally looking for these 2 things:
[[T:AAR]]s.: Now Youtube has LPs, too. Grimthr and Quill are the guys that do those. But these videos are LONG. Games of SMAX can last days sometimes. A person can read forums from his phone at a boring job or out and about faster than watching 50 part epic videos. Forum based AARs get tons more views than Youtube LPs for this reason. Don't believe me? CFC's AAR threads for Civ 4/5 have awesome view counts. Does not bring posters, but brings traffic if it is detailed because lurkers love to read strategy. I do.
mods: BUT only certain types. Most lurkers are very much purists. Mods do not usually do well for ANY TBS. But, the wildly successful ones fill a need.
-The best mods are bug fixes and enhancer mods that do not change things up. Examples: Brutix's Civ Patches. Upatch 1.4 for Age of Wonders, Scient and Kyrub's patches for SMAC and SMAX.
-Followed by graphics packs. Examples: Blue Marble for Civ 4.
-The least played would be TCMs. Someone on another forum said TCMs are like poetry. Everyone writes them but no one reads them. HOWEVER, I would like to add Green1's corallaries to that rule.
corallary one:
TCM WILL be played if complete a genre that is not represented that the player base clamors for! Examples would be Civ 4 Fall from Heaven (popular genre with no competition - even commercial) and Warcraft 3 DotA. DotA is the only reason people still played WC3 till LoL. However, this is rare and a mod maker's wet dream.
corallary two-
It is MORE acceptable for TCM add content and not change core things. ie: an "unoficial expasion!" if it can not follow by corallary one. Examples: Multiple mods over many 4x games that extend tech tree and other modular things. Too many to mention. Players love this too. But, it must agree with the other points of corallary one.
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It was custom factions for me.
I tried SMAniaC, and the SE changes didn't do it for me, but the new factions did - I got to digging around for more, most of what I found was really old and needed fixing or had no/default/Hive graphics, I started fixing those a little, got to looking around for how-to information, ended up making a webpage of my work, wanted to share - and a lot of art and slap-fights later, here I am. A good deal of my activities for the AC community are actually supplying what I was looking for as a lurker.
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I can vouch for this. BU is one of the top
crack dealers suppliers of custom factions and custom faction graphics.
As for my avatar- its what was available, and I find IA the most critical early game tech possible. IA lets you 'win' the food game- makes it possible to win on Transcend.
No lie, I don't think I'd win even 10% of my Transcend games without Crawlers.
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I AM the top supplier of graphics. Me. I've done about a million faction graphics. I am great. ;D
I made that Beardy Grinning Space King avatar - and as a matter of fact, the supply of pre-installed, free SMAC avatars just got a LOT bigger a couple of days ago...
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I AM the top supplier of graphics. Me. I've done about a million faction graphics. I am great. ;D
I made that Beardy Grinning Space King avatar - and as a matter of fact, the supply of pre-installed, free SMAC avatars just got a LOT bigger a couple of days ago...
Yeah.. not trying to kiss up or anything, but your artwork is pretty damn good. I have seen examples of your art for years lurking. That avatar is the male Miriam I take it from a previous project of yours to try to give different pics when you change gender of a faction leader?
If the community was ever to do a Upatch or open source SMAX, we would be set for the art department. Coding, though would remain elusive.
Custom factions --- I guess that fits in with corallary 2. I forgot to add that. Only thing that hurts that with this game is that (and I beat the dead horse AGAIN) that durn 7 faction max bug! (Yes, Virginia, it is a bug in my world view)
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It's something scient has talked about looking into someday - room for 14 factions on a huge map sounds pretty sweet, don't it?
Yeah, when I first signed up here, sisko had some of my custom faction avatars already installed - Brother Manuel is the protagonist of the best AC fan-fiction I've written, and looks a bit like my late dad, to boot.
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Actually, I think that should be priority #1, since it is the worst bug with the most severe amount of coding needed to correct it.
Balance tweaks would be next with the much needed ability to change terrain tilesets for a Blue Marble update.
I have other ideas, but since I am no coder and there is nothing worse than an armchair game designer, I keep my mouth shut. (Although I think some of my dreams would not make mad the purists and actually add even more depth, but this thread is not the place for me to bore folks with wild speculation)
New factions... hmm. Always been a purist. But it does seem all the cool kids have at least a few of them, even the few Youtube LPers out there. Hard to balance for MP, but for a private sandbox, I can see the allure. Maybe one day I should sit down and try to make one.
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Brother Manuel is the protagonist of the best AC fan-fiction I've written, and looks a bit like my late dad, to boot.
BU
No dis intended to your late dad, but yr icon evokes images of Brother Duke Nukem with me.
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@Green1
Balance tweaks would be next with the much needed ability to change terrain tilesets for a Blue Marble update.
Do you have a copy of this handy? The most recent accomplishee in tileset rebranding is probably Kilkakon for his LE rewrite although I have difficulty seeing what's happening with the beige on tan on buff colouring.
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Blue marble was a famous mod for Civ 4 made by folks at NASA that totally redid the terrains of that game. It was so beautiful that almost all packaged mods for Civ 4 just had to include it.
When I refer to a 'Blue Marble" type mod, I refer to a possible simular mod for SMAX.
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Oh my... you mean Kilkakon has actually changed the tiles? That shows promise at least on that front of solving the main things with AC.
If that could be accomplished without fundamentally changing gameplay, you would recieve 2k+ downloads or more as per scient/kyrub. Particularly if it is modular.
EDIT...
BUT, it would have to be DAMN good and a vast improvement. Blue Marble was based on NASA sattelite photos.
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Bro Manuel is actually from a photo of Texas rockabilly figure Rev. Horton Heath playing the guitar. And yes, Daddy was Duke Nukem. I' on the other hand, actually look more like this:
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Blue Marble? Try the Zookeeper scenario; I did an earth terrain for that. I think the attached files are them.
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lol. Nah, BU.
Duke Nukem had a punkish "sticking up straight" haircut.
Brother Manuel is a Real Christian™ and would NEVER go for those shennanigans or even a beard. Even if Jesus wore a beard. Plus Manuel is a red head.
Oh yeah, I guess I will have to DL mods and actually see what yall have that is possible so I can discuss from a more informed viewpoint. I am just used to the way more modern mod makers handle it.
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I'd temporarily forgotten the Zookeeper texture rewrite. In fact I'm still mildly traumatized from that scenario and keep promising to have another go. Great art - as you'd expect.
Green1
Try simply copying ter and texture to your SMACX dir. Nothing else needed for an unusual planet :)
Use your imagination!
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...But don't let it stop you from trying the GotM...
ISTR it was tres' difficult, D?
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I'd temporarily forgotten the Zookeeper texture rewrite. In fact I'm still mildly traumatized from that scenario and keep promising to have another go. Great art - as you'd expect.
Green1
Try simply copying ter and texture to your SMACX dir. Nothing else needed for an unusual planet :)
Use your imagination!
I guess I should come clean with this strange dream I have with SMAX and terrain, and why I have been poking and prying about research on terrain. But, I will take that to another thread and have to present my case. Don't worry. No TCM "poetry", but a crazed idea that ties into the weaknesses of this entire genre!
For Mod reviewing, I will not have time today since it is Monday and I need to make a trek on bike out to Metairie in about two hours. But i will put that on a to do list for tomorrow definently!
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..I need to make a trek on bike out to Metairie in about two hours.
nice subject for the Recreation Commons if you have some pictures to share..
i promise to share my mountaibiking adventures if you're willing to do the same.
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...But don't let it stop you from trying the GotM...
ISTR it was tres' difficult, D?
Yes, exceptionally so, and the whyto and wherefor I can not discuss openly, but it's the only SMAX related game that I can remember that's had me trembling and I've had some bad ones over the years.
I'm probably just subconsciously developing an alternative strategy and haven't realized it.
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I guess I should come clean with this strange dream I have with SMAX and terrain,
Let me guess.
;deidre; or ;roze; in a leafy glade ;lol -- but you obviously draw the line at ;aki; , ;miriam; or (God forbid) ;caretake;
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Correction: ;deidre; AND ;roze; --- probably ;santi; & ;aki;, too.
...But don't let it stop you from trying the GotM...
ISTR it was tres' difficult, D?
Yes, exceptionally so, and the whyto and wherefor I can not discuss openly, but it's the only SMAX related game that I can remember that's had me trembling and I've had some bad ones over the years.
I'm probably just subconsciously developing an alternative strategy and haven't realized it.
For some people, "ruined Davyboy's week, it was so tough" is a big selling point. :D
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..I need to make a trek on bike out to Metairie in about two hours.
nice subject for the Recreation Commons if you have some pictures to share..
i promise to share my mountaibiking adventures if you're willing to do the same.
In New Orleans, most of us ride bikes. It is a way of life here. But I am, shall we say, a bit more anarchist. Think stealth camping and doing so for months undetected while working and paying off bills rent free. I was at one time a sysop for Steal This Wiki, but you know how drama queens can mess good things up over ego. Fortunately, a cohort saved our writing!
The saved work we did is here, if curious:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/64088059/Steal%20this%20Wiki/wiki.stealthiswiki.org/wiki/Main_Page.html (https://dl.dropbox.com/u/64088059/Steal%20this%20Wiki/wiki.stealthiswiki.org/wiki/Main_Page.html)
But... that is for another thread :D
@Davyboy
No man, it has to do with sattelites, interplanetary warfare, moon/planet warfare, and multiple maps. Lol...
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I stand corrected about the 'strange dreams' jibe.
And yeah, if that'll help encourage people to play that bloody GOTM use it. I'm not too proud to object ;)
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If not, just to see what yall did.
But, I still keep with The Law of TCMs and Green1's two corallary to mods. I have just been lurking too long to deviate from that observation.
BUT...possible terrain differences make me happy. I will have to research .pcxs and resolution limitations for those terrain textures.
Mars images would do fine since Planet is kind of Marsy. Still, even a Blue..take that back...Red Marble non-TCM would be popular IMO.
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...Didn't someone try to do a space mod once upon a time, sisko? Do you recall anything coming of that?
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...Didn't someone try to do a space mod once upon a time, sisko? Do you recall anything coming of that?
Only one I know of was a wierd obscure mod for Civ 4. But, their approach was not what I was thinking of. The illustration below is how they handled it. The regular Civ 4 map was divided into 4 rectangles separated by black space terrain.
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Mars images would do fine since Planet is kind of Marsy.
Check...
[Mars factions may need FUNGNUTRIENT 1 like Deirdre. On a largely waterless arid random planet with or without wormies she tends to run off into the distance because of that while everyone else scratches for crumbs.]
...are you now posting from your bike?
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We should continue discussing this - in the Modding forum, shouldn't we?
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aye
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Yeah maybe it needs its own thread.
Green1
You weren't thinking of Civ4BTS Final Frontier were you? A bit 2D but -- unusual.
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I'm all about the modding, and at your disposal...
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And very good at it you are.
I'm currently refreshing my memory by playing this one ;deidre; in a huge Chiron SMAC game.
Pretty certain I said somewhere that it's a lot harder than AX -- I'd forgotten how much. Sure, sure, 2263 and I'm way in front but having to build all those Aerospaces and E banks can divert your war effort. And there are some handyfacs missing of course.
No aliens though. Unless you count Yang.
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Yeah maybe it needs its own thread.
Green1
You weren't thinking of Civ4BTS Final Frontier were you? A bit 2D but -- unusual.
Yeah.. that is the one.
I started the thread.. but a little nerdgasmish. I kind of lose control because you are unable to discuss these type things with normal folks IRL.
Yeah, it was a wierd little mod. But, the only game (or mod of one) that has ever dealt with non FTL travel to my knowledge. Even if it was 2D.
Plus, the vision I had was actually three mods. Graphics, UI/multiple maps, then possible primitive MMO 4x play over many planets. But, what the hell. I am a nerd.
But... if there was some way to get two maps, say one for for planet's Moon then another for Planet itself with sattilite warfare and lunar colonies, it would be interesting. No civ game has ever really "gotten" it.
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SO - this is useful feedback about what people google for, and make no mistake, that's super-important; what can/should we do about it that we're not already doing?
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SO - this is useful feedback about what people google for, and make no mistake, that's super-important; what can/should we do about it that we're not already doing?
Well, and this is how I came to frequent AC2, start with what you know works - and go on from there.
(Track down a copy of Caviar converter as a plug in for 3D studio max and you or even I could have fun with the unit graphics)
The thing about game progressions in my view is that , say, Command and Conquer was a lot of fun, so was Red Alert; but Tiberian Sun was a long time as vaporware and could be heard barking in the next alley.
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start with what you know works - and go on from there.
This is what we've been doing, and it does work.
(Track down a copy of Caviar converter as a plug in for 3D studio max and you or even I could have fun with the unit graphics)
Yessir; yes, we would.
That would rock as hard a more than seven factions at a time, maybe harder.
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From a conceptual pov the closest GGame that comes close to SMACX is CIV3, its sister game. There was some valliant attempt at a modpack but it just seemed to fizzle out.
I've played the Planetfall Civ4 modpack (as Deirdre natch) - got put down next to her best friend Morgan and the only things that disturbed me were a few errant worms. Nice graphics, very nice graphics, and a tour de force in designing it for sure. o why have I only played it once and then for only 300 turns?
The answer is probably that the Sid-like "do something clever - and get ahead" features aren't there. The SE manipulation in SMACX is FAR more flexible and subtle and the DW adds subtleties of its own.
Don't even start me on Civ5.
We've been over all of this before though....
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No harm done. Communities build consensus; it's part of what makes them communities, and we're doing that.
I think Civ2 is closer, though. It's like SMAC on Earth, a little more primitive, but basically the same. I've played a lot of C2, of course.
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No harm done. Communities build consensus; it's part of what makes them communities, and we're doing that.
I think Civ2 is closer, though. It's like SMAC on Earth, a little more primitive, but basically the same. I've played a lot of C2, of course.
You're right, Civ2 is closer to SMACX. I didn't state my point very well. The successor to SMACX should have been drawn from CIV3, then the movies and text editing are more in keeping with modern GGames. It would have to have a DW in any event or it wouldn't be AC2. SMAC via CIV3 - with the promotions possibly ?
On the subject of C2 I dug up this well worn nugget the other month
;
; TECHNOLOGY TREE
;
; Name, id, ai-mil, ai-tech, ai-infra, ai-colonize, preq(1), preq(2), flags
;
; Name = Name of technology
;
; id = 3 letter id code; this code is used when assigning
; the tech as a prerequisite.
;
; power = military value
; tech = advance-of-knowledge value
; wealth = infrastructure value
; growth = colonization value
That's straight out of alpa(x).txt and shows how it was a straight lift from Civ2. They couldn't even change it to 4-7 letter id code.
Trivial - I know, but after my first post today on a different thread, I've already found 2 different alpha.txt files - both unmodified by me, both authentic Firaxis stuff.
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No harm done. Communities build consensus; it's part of what makes them communities, and we're doing that.
I think Civ2 is closer, though. It's like SMAC on Earth, a little more primitive, but basically the same. I've played a lot of C2, of course.
Back from my little trek.
I agree somewhat. SMAC is WAY more advanced than Civ 2, maybe 3. 4, ehh Civ 4 BtS was pretty good. Civ 5 is eye candy but I prefer Civ 4.
The Planetfall guys, I agree Davyboy. It's friggin gorgeous. Give Lord Tirion or whoever else did that a medal! How many times I wish I could just take the durn graphics and just put it in SMAX! Nothing on SMAniAC, but Civ 4 is missing a lot more stuff to recreate SMAX than SE. But, damn... a more canon deal with that is what we need. Maybe update tech slightly based on the more recent transhuman lit and discoveries, but that is it.
You really need a friggin powerful open source construction set, but I have not seen any attempt at that since the days of the Commodore 64. Even that set was not very powerful.
I agree with SMAniAC on Civ 5. Civ 5 has some interesting features like buying territory with culture, but it would not work due to unit per tile restrictions in addition to a myriad of other things.
Also, no Civ has the terraforming! I could cope without complex weather pattern algorithms, but altering the map is just too cool.
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It is cool.
Maniac himself once said to me that cIV is a great modding platform, but in itself, rather sterile. SMAC(X) has a story, which is what I think makes it special. The Civs come off rather generic without that creative hook.
I contributed to Planetfall in a very minor way - the Empath button. Man, I didn't know how to do ANYthing back then.
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It is cool.
cIV is a great modding platform, but in itself, rather sterile.
That... is eloquently put. It feels... sterile.
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but altering the map is just too cool.
Yep
It is cool.
And it makes the game..
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Any mod, TCM, recreation, even Jesus coming down with a flash drive with AC 2 on it would be universally rejected without that feature.
BTW, speaking of graphics,Planetfall, etc without derailing too much, sisko DLed some art. Where is this from? Was there some kind of other attempt at improving SMAC/X?
There are other ones, too buried in the art archive.
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I believe those are pre-release publicity shots of designs later regected for whatever reason. At least some of the factions went through earlier iterations, also. There are artifacts of stuff like that left in the SMAC(X) art files, too. I once pieced a regected interface design into a datapad I used in a GotM setup story, and proto-University bases and logo (from when they were the "Archons", I think) in a custom faction for another.
-
Archons
Labyrynth
Conclave
And there's a different Deirdre spec in alpha.txt with a point less efficiency and +25% Psi attack
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Interesting.... Very interesting stuff. Maybe it was rejected because many folks were still having to use P1s and low end 486s at the time. Those seem to use more textures and I do not think the onboard VRAMs or Trident 4MB PCI or ISA cards would handle it. Maybe it was a smart move in the day so the game could fit on more systems.
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The smilies (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=1433.0) project of the last week is part of building the community, of course, just like the forum banners (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=2311.0) and getting back on finishing saving/reconstructing the Firaxis AC site (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=1244.0).
Well, I think I can claim that the default lineup above the Reply Box is much improved, at least for consistency and organization. I might do some organizing in the Popup yet, as that doesn't mess up other sets and isn't a big chore. Notions for how it ought to be ordered are welcome.
A real benefit of building a site from the ground up is that some of the old hands would not like looking at my versions of certain favorites of theirs.
All new or freshly-revised:
:) ;) :D :( :o 8) ??? ::) :P :-[ :-X :-\ :-* :'( :mad: ;lol ;excite; ;grrr ;troll ;goofy; ;clenchedteeth :salute:;popcorn ;rotflmao ;buttdance ;lynchmob ;spock ;leia ;lalala ;king ;jesus ;...
There is always an advantage to being involved in a project when it first starts. You get tons more autonomy to tinker around as there are less toes and other folks' "space" to avoid stepping on.
Though for forums, its a slow process. One guy I know who set up one for the Gulf South mini gamers ended up having to post news items for himself for a year or two before he ended up getting community. But, since the news items were really hard to get info on events in two states, he eventually got it. Of course, he is not making a living of it and still occasionally deals with nerd wars in his little niche from other groups.
We had a lot stronger start than that when we got serious about AC2 in February, but a good six months in the middle there weren't all that different, with the typical day in May seeing nothing but me posting a few science articles. THese things take time and stamina, which is tougher to keep up than it sounds.
Still, aside from sisko liking to put apropriate icons on threads and us occasionally moving or splitting a thread, you realize that we don't really do any moderating of people, or need to?
This is a good crowd - we just need moar! people in it.
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This is a good crowd - we just need moar! people in it.
One of the good things about the 4x crowd is they are a lot less drama usually than, say, the FPS crowd or some of the MMO crowd. I am sure you get dummies from time to time and the occasional politics. But no where near what other gamers go through. Team Xbox anyone? In general, it is a more mature crowd. I think at one time Frogboy on Stardock forums claimed he was SO glad he was developing a wargame now over a DotA game like Demigod was for the maturity of community.
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A really top-notch, smart, articulate crowd, absolutely. That has more to do with my ongoing interest in the community and my participation thereof than love of my favorite game. But it only takes one Aspergers case to rile things up, and we get those. We've had good luck here so far, though.
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So for some reason, traffic among groups smaller than thousands comes in unexplainable clusters. It's true on a forum, just as it was at a convenience store I spent 1991 flying solo on third shift. There were predictable time-based ebbs and flows to the traffic, but especially during the naturally slow times of the night, two solid hours without a single customer would end with three or four unrelated cars pulling up within five minutes of each other. They especially liked to do this as I was halfway out to the edge of the huge parking with a broom in my hand, and make me walk all the way back.
I don't think it's for any reason but that traffic comes in clusters a lot, but the last several days here have been like that. We've had several signups by persons known to me to be persons, but less activity than y'all have spoiled me into hoping for lately. [shrugs] These things happen, and I do think it's just cluster traffic at work, but we have to keep on keeping on in building the place; it takes time to build a community into something large and robust enough that activity depends on no particular handful of people. It takes time and persistence.
Being in charge and a minority North American on a majority European board (w/ a few Aussies) makes my afternoon/evening around here like third shift clerking. It's 3:30 in the morning right now in convenience store time, quiet and lonely.
I'm not idle while I wait for Kilkakon to tell me to resume work on the Firaxis pages. I've gotten a lot done towards getting all my backlog of graphics tutorial material ready for prime time, and have/will be posting one a day for a while. I added three smiles yesterday, one of them original, and did a tad bit of further organizing on the above-the-reply-box lineup; I thought we needed the ;b; and ;q; up there a lot more than :luv:, which you can still find in the popup. I devoted a few hours yesterday to another forum project that I can't talk about yet - and made sisko lol doing it, to boot. I spent a couple hours today fixing up some user CP gallery avatars, and am presently dividing my time between secret project icon avatars and punching up tomorrow's graphics how-to. This is not an all-inclusive list of my AC2 activities; I haven't booted AOE2 in over a week - been too busy. Haven't been making any headway on my ongoing Bases file project, either, priorities being what they are.
Folks, I've made it out to the far edge of the parking lot, and gotten some sweeping done; it's past time a few of you pull up for cigarettes and Mountain Dew to make me walk all the way back inside. It keeps me sane and motivated, if not as productive in the short term.
But please don't rob me. That would be rude.
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As far as community building.. god, AN is huge for an industry site. Sisko would do well to study it even if the subject matter is alien to him. That is a WELL DESIGNED forum. The best industry forum I have ever seen with tons of features. You can even friggin bookmark topics. The articles are connected to FB! It is not pron. trust me, you do not want a nurse. they are drama queens. And.. they are all married. Being a male in a female dominated field is not all roses :) AN is not just RN, either... you have LPN,MHT, PCT, and CNA. All post and write industry articles.
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But as far as community building.. god, AN, is huge for an industry site. Sisko would do well to study it even if the subject matter is alien to him. That is a WELL DESIGNED forum. The best industry forum I have ever seen with tons of features. You can even friggin bookmark topics. The articles are connected to FB!..
we have some FB integration on our site too. you can connect your AC2 account with the FB one through your profile and then you can share/send/like every thread on the forum.
also, threads from certain forum section are automatically replicate on the AC2 facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/alphacentauri2info/231706663564067 (https://www.facebook.com/pages/alphacentauri2info/231706663564067) (we could use some likes in there..)
on the bookmarking, i think i can install here a such a plug-in if you guys think this is a must have.
i guess i have to register to AN to be able to see all the features available. we're talking about allnurses.com, right?
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Yeah. The big change is the way they do thier articles. They link articles link to FB, so you get more readers. The articles are also user generated.
FB for gamers tends to be a bit less effective. Most gamers have 2 FB profiles- a IRL one and game one. Thankfully, FB and forum handles are not linked. I could see people on AN getting fired for some of those posts. Those folks over there, though are addicted to FB.
The second thing that is cool is they have a "bookmark" function. The way they have it on the panel is very cool.
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The advantage AN, and the Halloween Forum for that matter, have is they are industries that don't wax and wane in interest or popularity. They steadily grow. From what I can tell of AN, they are also very focused in their content.
Gaming sites, however, have something of a life cycle. The only thing that could really increase the community here QUICKLY would be an actual game coming out. Honestly, we'd have to make that ourselves (and call it something else) if I understand all the state of things.
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I'm not sure I want AC2 to grow THAT quickly - when we got serious about this place in February, my thinking was that it would probably take a year or more to get where we are now. But communities change too much if they grow too fast, and I like the tenor our community has now. I'd be very happy if we got to, say, four times the activity after six months to a another year. -Whatever reaches that critical mass that the community would keep going on healthy if I dropped dead.
It's actually a more realistic goal than it sounds like for a forum focused on such an old game; there are thousands and thousands of SMACers out there that have yet to find us. We just have to persevere with what we're doing and make everyone welcome. If we stay on top of making it a good forum, my goal of being able to converse and read new posts all day without doing much else, is slowly coming into reach. [mad scientist gleeful handrubbing and maniacal expression]
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Nobody minds if I move the community building talk to where it belongs, right?
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Articles.
We could use more Articles, and there's a place you might want to pitch in to building the community. Look at some of the stuff that's mostly the older threads in Theory of Everything. Write something thoughtful like those, post there, and also submit in our Articles section, where sisko might approve it to publish if it's good.
If you think you have the analysis/knowlege under your belt, but not the English writing skills, I will help you and not care about credit. We can use articles about almost anything - hardcore playing strategies, most any sort of how-to (though ones about modding should go in Modding, and I'm most of the way through a series of Graphics tutorials - we could use more on the tech end) a look at the comparitive power of various weapons - you name it.
SMAC(X) is a fountain that you can drink from always, without ever drinking it all. Deep thought, written up, is welcome.
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I asked t-ras, as our second CMN, to step up his leadership in MP a couple of nights ago while sisko was asleep. (You'd be surprized how much time we have to spend working that doesn't show in running this place, and sisko needed a deputy in MP for relief.) He has impressed us with his enthusiasm and energy so far. ;b;
So first off, let's hear it for t_ras for stepping up and doing his part! :clap: :danc: :clap:
Secondly, he's emarked on an ambitious interactive, eductional AAR (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=2380.0) playing all the factions initially. Give it some attention, and help him out with comments and advice. The latest talk is that once factions meet, someone needs to take one over - we're still working out the details, but volunteers will be needed for the first MP AAR I've ever heard of. I think this is an exciting idea, and can't wait to see how it turns out.
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There are many people actively interested in SMAC/X. The challenge which you/we are rightly exploring is how to concentrate this interest in one place. While searching online for SMAC/X art I happened on this Anonymous discussion thread. The surge of interest and joy of communing with fellow believers ;miriam; , erm, I mean SMAC/X fans is palpable
https://archive.foolz.us/tg/thread/19931200/ (https://archive.foolz.us/tg/thread/19931200/)
This artwork featured on that thread was particuarly diverting ;lol
https://0-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/tg/image/1333/85/1333859773195.jpg (https://0-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/tg/image/1333/85/1333859773195.jpg)
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Thank you Res - sisko is always extremely interested in this kind of thing - he may be the foremost living expert on obscure SMAC-holes on the web, being multi-lingual and spending a lot of time searching.
There is another way to contribute to building the community, folks; try to find SMAC(X) threads, forums, DeviantArt fan art, what have you - that sisko doesn't already know about. He's too busy to live, so you can stump him. Give us your links. We're always looking to find the thousands of fans out there who've never discovered the mainstream SMAC(X) community.
The fan-art thread in Theory of Everything can always use more art, and while you're copying/linking something, why not make a reasonable attempt to make a courtesy contact with the artist, incidentally letting them know we're here?
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thanks for the link, Resonance! we know there's still interest out there for this old game.
this site aims at becoming the meeting point for all those who want talk to about the SMAC universe and we appreciate everyone's contribution.
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HNNNNGGGG if only Miriam were that cute in game...
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Yes, if only she was. Have you seen my de-uglified alters of her in the fan art thread in ToE forum?
..................................................................................
sisko and I have been so pleased with the results of empowering t-ras in MP that we put our heads together and decided to empower him further by making him Moderator of The Command Nexus. I don't think anyone's told him yet. :D
You don't have to call him sir, and we expect him to not let it go to his head or use his powers too much, but this is a measure of how pleased we are with him and how much trust he's earned already.
Once again, let's hear it for t_ras! :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: ;lynchmob (Oops.)
This forum is booming, and Fun Is Being Had. People are stepping up to pitch in, and it's working. We can do this. We are doing it.
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BU, there is some deuglification, then there is HNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
(https://1-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/tg/image/1338/37/1338373739883.jpg)
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Yeah, I saw that one as I scanned the thread. I thought of Kilkakon - if you like anime style that much, why haven't you played his mod yet and reported back? :D
You didn't answer my question - though posting there would be better.
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I believe I said I don't like Pokemon on that thread.
That is somewhat untruthful. As a child, I hated Pokemon with a burning passion.
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Dude, I'm 47 - that's one of those horrifically annoying kiddie fads to me. It doesn't change the basic excellence of the craftsmanship of the graphics, and it doesn't lessen what I'm told is the technical excellence of the mod. He made custom units, SE changes, and moded facilities and techs. There's a lot more to it than than the weird little monsters that irritated us so in the early 90's. I Have No Name thought it was very interesting and played it extensively, and not for the pokestuff.
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http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=104 (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=104)
I just wanted to bring up how much we appreciate Earthmichael - this is far from the first thing he's uploaded. ISTR that Davyboy has put a few things up, too.
Adding content to our Downloads section is one of those things that forum members tend not to think of, because they don't use the section that much - many of the files tend to have already been posted in someone's project thread, or where the converation that inspired them happened. But the Downloads section is very often the first exposure to a forum random lurkers and googlers looking for goodies have. It's how I first found the community - as bait, it does work.
So, this is yet another way to pitch in on our meta-project of building the SMAC(X) community; share useful files in Downloads. Check out the section and grab yourself some goodies - much is old stuff from before AC2. If you see any empty spots you can fill; it's not a lot of trouble to upload -remember to write up a nice description page, telling what the file is and why it's useful- and we end up with a treasure chest, inexhaustible and open to all, and everybody wins.
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Two members have mentioned recently that they'd avoided getting involved in the community in the past over concerns about moderator tendency to go all nerdbadge on people. The very fact that most of you can figure out what I mean with the term 'go all nerdbadge' just supports the proposition that there really is a problem out there in the overall 4x community; something about 4x drawing very detail-oriented people, I think, so a lot of aspies with no sense of perspective end up moderating. We are very glad to hear that our style has passed the smell test with some discriminating consumers. So a few words about our managment philosophy are in order.
You're all adults, and my partner and I are adults, and we all act like adults, and we're going to keep acting like adults, and treat each other like adults. If you're not an adult, you're going to act like one anyway at AC2.
It's really as simple as that. That is the rules here, in a nutshell. Be a Man. (Or Woman, as the case may be.)
Now, adults get to joke and clown and woop it up - that's a lot of the purpose of this forum. We're here to have a good time, and we're not crowding the saturation point for silliness yet. Party on with your own bad self. Just - be considerate, and always tease only those you respect. The other members are my friends, and I have my friends' backs. You, too, 'cause I'm your friend, too, and have your back.
Be man (or woman) enough to never hide behind your keyboard, and comport yourself like we can see you and know your real name and could punch you, if it came to that. This has always been my credo online, because I am proud and I am not a coward. Be proud.
I know a forum where acting like a yard-ape punk boy is virtually manditory. I know a forum where you are guaranteed to be treated like a kid. I know a forum with a very malicious person in charge, and it's dead. I know one that was born trying to find a happy balance, but the owners are virtual absentee landlords and their favorites can troll without let or hinderance. Allowing everything is no good, allowing nothing is only good for kids, which is what they get. Running a forum as a private kingdom and to settle scores has kept one from living, and never acting except hypocritically will be the death of another soon enough.
sisko and I have seen it done wrong, and we learned. Aside from moving posts occasionally, and sisko liking to put the right icon on a thread, we haven't had to moderate a human being at all yet - a trend we hope continues. We know we're not better than you (or at least not because we have nerdbadges :P), and we hope that shows. I want all of you to ignore that it says Adminstrator in my postbit when I'm talking to you, unless I make it clear I'm speaking officially. This includes when I'm commenting on your posting behavior and/or manners. I don't NEED such minute control of this enviroment that my every whim is law; I'd rather pursuade than give orders. I expect you to be smart and mature and wise. I expect those things of myself.
You can sass us to your heart's content under the same limitations you're under about anyone else; don't piss us off. :)
We're here, we're active and on top of things, and we're pledged to try to make everyone happy and treat them with respect (including ourselves, as is only fair). You can take that to the bank.
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One night while sisko was afk asleep, I was thinking about the state of our multiplayer section -it could have been running better- and realized we had a second CMN, who had recently expressed/demonstrated interest in doing what he could to help build our community. Now, MP is sisko's territory/responsiblity, but the nature of forum business is that everything tends to need to have happened yesterday, so I took executive action. The PM below (what I sent - don't go divulging what people sent you without their consent) is quoted verbatim, save a censored vulgarity and one comma added for clarity. There is much about leadership therein.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: t_ras
Subject: Building MP: Your mission, should you accept it
I'm willing to help.
I don't have much time, but I try to help bsing CMN where needed.
You are a good man, sir. I don't think anyone has told you how grateful the players, sisko and I are for you stepping up like you did on We'll meet soon, but everyone is.
So you went and said the quoted stuff in Building a Community, and as I said at various places in the thread, what's needed isn't everyone doing everything; each needs to do what he can, where he can. For you, that's as the only other CMN we have besides my overworked partner.
MP needs Leadership - it not only needs games set-up in a timely fashion, it needs on-going encouragement and judicious prodding. I don't mind working with new guys a little to make them feel welcome and get them started, but I'm not an MPer, and I'm a little embarrassed to try to tell anyone established what to do. But somebody needs to be agressive about addressing anytime something stalls and generally work on keeping morale up and things running smoothly.
sisko has been in an awful bind juggling RL demands on his time; since he came back, he's been spending more time here than he can afford to. Running a forum has horribly complex behind-the-scenes technical demands that are beyond me, and a great deal of what he does for AC2 is invisible even to me, because he doesn't have time to tell me what he's doing, or even that he's doing it or did it. He thinks I don't know that. He's so busy lately that he doesn't have time to read half of the forum business stuff I post at him in the staff room, which I imagine pisses him off as much as it does me.
SO, I feel [like a tool] for stomping into his baliwick, MP, and doing this, but I figure it's my duty to AC2 and him to take action. I'm 'hiring' you as sisko's deputy for MP.
I don't remember if you were around in the earliest days of WPC when vyeh was running MP, but he did a fantastic job - things happened on time and promptly, morale seemed to be great, and the games kept moving along. There was leadership. I don't think it's necessary for CMNs to take themselves and everything MP -especially thread discipline- nearly so seriously as he did, but agressive leadership about addressing problems like stalled games and a lot of cheerleading to keep up morale works. Period. MP was really humming along in those days.
In one sense, the job description is very simple: Make Everyone Happy, Keep Everyone Happy. The rest is details about how you do it.
You and sisko are going to want to put your heads together about this, but what I envision is: you do what you can to make sure everything that needs doing gets done, and see that nothing falls between the cracks. You're sisko's guy, and you encourage him, and you post a lot to encourage the other MPers (that's the leadership, in a nutshell). I'm making a private CMN subfolder as soon as I send this, so you two can skip the PMs - he doesn't really like them - and efficiently discuss who does what and why and whatever.
None of this makes you better than anyone else or gives you much real power, but if you act like a leader, encouraging instead of ordering, and leading your people where they want to go, they WILL follow. You will be overworked and underappreciated, but this is like that line in The Postman about leadership: "If I don't do it, who will?"
I am personally rather astonished to find myself now a leader in the SMAC(X) community - I'm a misanthrope who's terrible at getting along with people, and was a general in the NerdWarstm. I just thought healing was needed, started a thread, made a speech or two trying to talk anyone else into taking point, found out I got listened to and taken a lot more seriously as a moderator, no one else was willing to take over, but several were willing to pitch in, including you, and I've kept stepping in and doing what I thought needed doing that I could and persuading others to do what I couldn't - and I guess, like the reluctant protagonist of The Postman, I find myself a leader, even though I feel like a fraud. I just wanted more people to talk to.
I encourage you to look at it the same way - you want MP to run better - this is how.
Thank you in advance for doing whatever you can do to help. This PM wil not destruct in five seconds.
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Gentelmen! I see many posters here who are not multiplaying :o
C'mon and prove your self! :ches:
Just each one peeks one game and I'm sure you'll keep playing.
Think you'r good - GET IN THE RING!
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I might try out Multiplayer but, I have never played multiplayer for email on this game before and im not aware of how it works. And IP playing was extremely buggy for me, and LAN is out of the question as I doubt anyone lives near me for us to meet up. So, what I might do instead is a AAR that is run entirely on the decisions of players. Its the closest to "multiplayer" I can get.
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Email is prity easy, just try it.
I suggest you try this
alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=2438.new#new (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=2438.new#new)
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So, what I might do instead is a AAR that is run entirely on the decisions of players. Its the closest to "multiplayer" I can get.
i would be very interested in following such an AAR :look:
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http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=2380.0 (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=2380.0)
here it is.
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http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=2380.0 (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=2380.0)
here it is.
so, you're inviting JarlWorlf to participate in that game, as an advisor for one of the factions?
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Sure!
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@T-ras
Why don't we have a New (M)Player's League?
I'd enjoy a match between myself, BU, Green, and anyone who considers themselves a complete newb to MP.
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you can participate in the "Very Green" section of the AC League. you can move up if/when you will feel up to the challenge.
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@T-ras
Why don't we have a New (M)Player's League?
I'd enjoy a match between myself, BU, Green, and anyone who considers themselves a complete newb to MP.
There are limits to the grenades I'm willing to throw myself on for AC2, and I'm getting blown up too much already - MP has never appealed to me, and my two brief experiences with trying it did nothing to change that. It's too much of a time commitment for something I don't want to do. Call me chicken, whatever. Good luck with it, though, and hope you spank Green. Or is that the other way around? :D
Note that there are a few brand-new-to-MP guys, lorddraggonhat and Rainbow Lizard, looking for the same thing you are. Go speak up in Command Nexus.
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An advisor.. hmm. Describe to me what sort of duties I have, and do I choose which faction I advise or is it random?
Also, Sisko, once I either complete my custom faction, or think of an interesting idea to try, I will definitely inform you and anyone else who is interested, and post my story. Expect something very soon, as I have a challenge for myself.
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An advisor.. hmm. Describe to me what sort of duties I have, and do I choose which faction I advise or is it random?
well, you will have to guide t_ras in playing one of the factions. not only you have the choice of the faction, but you get to choose even the extent of your involvement in running the faction. strategic decissions only or micromanage every base, it's up to you!
as for the factions, i think 5 of them are still available as someone expressed a preference for the Believers and PKs are controlled by the AI.
Also, Sisko, once I either complete my custom faction, or think of an interesting idea to try, I will definitely inform you and anyone else who is interested, and post my story. Expect something very soon, as I have a challenge for myself.
;excite;
@everybody: you should know that your efforts towards building this community are appreciated and we want to reward contributors.
new badges (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=profile;area=listAwards) will be awarded to content creators like AAR (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=484.0) / fiction (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?board=14.0) writers or modders (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?board=13.0) (once they submit new entries in the downloads section).
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You may or may not have noticed that we added a subforum the other day.
Alpha Centauri en Español (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?board=19.0)
AC2 was born international. sisko, our owner/founder, is not a native speaker of English. At least half of the active membership isn't, either. SMAC(X) itself is a multicultural game in its selection of faction leaders - an admirable touch, having been made by a bunch of North Americans.
I enjoy all the international friends I've made in this community. Friends are friends, and that you can't help educating me is a bonus. I hope I demonstrate that not all US natives are hopelessly jingoistic and boorish.
So, this new folder arose as soon as we discovered that new moderator (and hard worker on behalf of the community) t_ras is a native speaker of Español. It's a gimme - there's a whole parallel Spanish-speaking world out there that we've always wished we could recruit in.
Translation software is also in the works for the forum, but everyone knows that isn't worth much.
Now, I know that SMAC(X) was also released in Francais, Italliano, and Deutch (I'm spelling those from memory without special characters, so forgive me if I garbled any.) We'd like to have folders in those languages, too, but we need fluent speakers to do some recruiting - likewise if there's any other languages that have major AC fanbases. Any folders in languages sisko isn't comfortable in will eventually need moderators we can trust. All will need leadership from the beginning.
Boddisey, I'm looking at you. JarlWulf, are any of the languages you're good in something we should cover? I know a lot of Eastern Europeans are big on Science Fiction, so I wouldn't be surprized if there are a lot of Russian AC fans, and I KNOW there are Polish ones. NewAge, can you read/write Mandarin or Cantonese by any chance? A lot of you MPlayers should be able to chip in somewhere, being mostly Europeans.
Thanks to the members who have already noticed the Spanish folder and added their greetings. Pitching in in even small ways is always good for the community, and always appreciated.
We can do it.
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speaking of releases, i just found out there was a SMAC Russian release:
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Multi-culturalism and anti-racism is all fine and dandy, but logistics/trade/diplomacy not only favors but heavily selects for a universal language.
That is turning out to be English, with more non-native English speakers than native speakers... And is a good thing. The world can be more intellectually united in a more egalitarian way through this common bond.
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Absolutely. I'm, frankly, too selfish to want to burden our bandwith and our server just to do people who will never talk to me a favor. However, I DO want to do my friend ariete, who has much trouble communicating in English, a favor. If we can find him some Italian SMACers to talk to here, he'll spend more time here, and maybe come out and talk to me in the rest of the forum more. Some of those other Italian speakers might be able to get by in English, too, and everybody wins.
This is another thing we want to do as bait, to be honest. I think this will produce members for the whole forum, or I wouldn't be pitching it so enthusiastically.
Now once again, you've failed to answer a direct question. Do you speak Chinese? Any interest in chipping in for the community?
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I speak but cannot write/read well. I used to read novels in Chinese, but its been over a decade since I've been in China.
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And I can read and write English, and speak it to a good degree, but my online language is English. Offline I speak Russian. The only thing that is in Russian on my machine is my settings and menu.
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Oh, an important thing:
There is only one (well, two if you count Simplified) Chinese language, in terms of writing. All dialects- (I speak Mandarin/Hunan-hua, aka Changshahua) use the same character and grammar system when written.
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Doggonit, I knew that and forgot.
...
Are you guys interested in doing a little people searching? One imagines that some time spent googling Alpha Centauri in particular languages ought to yield many leads on fans who post in those languages...
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Jarl, I don't know anything about Cyrillic keyboard stuff, but I imagine you could find some workaround software or something online fairly easily if you looked.
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You guys are doing okay for a legacy game. SMAX is now in cult classic status. 100+ on FB and 10 to 20+ on forums (all games only 20 percent do forums including blockbusters like some MMOs). Sounds about right.
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Good to know.
Thing is, my ambition for gathering good people to talk to is limitless - any suggestions in that direction that fall within the site's mission?
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Hello people. Looks like you guys've got some cool stuff going on. Have been vaguely thinking about continuing with the datalinks update project for a while, which forum do you think would be most appropriate for that? Also, does anyone have a copy of the original SMAX datalinks files (entirely unedited)?
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Theory of Everything, our general discussion forum - although projects big enough can have their own folders pretty much for the asking, at least temporarily.
I imagine I can find you a copy of the virgin files pretty quickly - refresh my memory about the filenames, please.
Very glad to have you here. Let me know what you need, and don't be afraid to ask questions.
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Is this the right file? It is from my special kept-clean-and-unaltered AC folder.
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Thread up, and yep, that's the right file. Turns out I still had it hidden away along with the other one needed, but thanks anyway!
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Jarl, I don't know anything about Cyrillic keyboard stuff, but I imagine you could find some workaround software or something online fairly easily if you looked.
It's all fine. This way I keep my English up to par, and considering most of the bigger online services and such, games even, are normally in English, I will just keep it as is. That and I am a little lazy when it comes to tiddling with programs.
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Here I stand. Honor, loyalty and justice will be served.
(Fairness should be in there -first- but doesn't seem to translate into Latin.)
At last, we SMACers are masters in our own house. There has never before been an all-AC forum, let alone one run in what I consider the right way. AC2 is special, the good kind of special. We've got a great thing going here, and it's only going to get better as membership and content accretes.
Thanks for keeping me company so far, my friends. Enjoy the ongoing ride, and keep pitching in however you can.
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If you need me to act as a moderator for some French speaking part of the forum count me in.
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The first step is to do some recruiting. I imagine you know some people - the crowd in the Francaise game last year seems an obvious starting point. I'll talk to sisko and see about a folder.
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new folder (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?board=20.0) created and new moderator (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=profile;u=11173) appointed! :clap:
now let's get to work. :whip:
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Vous êtes maintenant Bod le mod.
The moderator should start a greeting thread...
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I joined the AC online community on 12 March 2009 - there was only one place on the English-speaking internet that had much action going. It was only my second forum ever, the first being a state chess association website where I racked up less than 40 posts over four years, so I was a newb so green that I was covered with moss. But I had been lurking various places on the net for years, and had some idea of the etiquette and knew my place as a newb. I had gotten obsessively involved in custom faction creation, and I wanted to share - I wanted people to talk to about this thing that had consumed my every waking hour for six weeks straight. -Which was a little frustrating when it took two days for any of my posts to draw replies. -Which has everything to do with my newb-care policies to this day; I remember being a newb.
Still, there was no one around doing AC game graphics in those days, and being prolific and glad to do little art jobs for anyone who asked, I made myself reasonably popular. Only six weeks into all this there was a mass migration to a new site. I could have cared less about what was/why it was going on; I just went where my new friends were.
It was there that I met sisko - at the last place, the MP had been an entirely separate folder and like a lot of MPlayers he didn‘t seem to come out of the Multicave much, but here MP was a sub of the SMAC general forum, and our paths crossed. He was a new CMN, I believe, and we were both associates of another member who took great interest at this new place in how forums work and what goes into building them, and taught us a lot about that. sisko and I didn’t get to know each other extremely well, but he was cool and I liked him, which I think was mutual. Another new friend.
The first six weeks at the new place where the most fun I’ve ever had on a forum. It was really busy, full of great people, and a lot of old hands were excited like they hadn’t seemed to be in years. The SMACers had, hands-down, the busiest on-topic spot on the whole forum -take THAT Civ- and it was just pure heaven.
Then some stupid stuff went down, about which I will only say that lax management let a situation get bad and idiotic nerdbadge behavior on the part of some of the managers created a serious crisis for several members. My dad is dead, and no one but me is entitled to an opinion about what treatment I will and will not put up with. I voted with my feet for five months. All this is relevant to our current management style here at AC2.
When I finally went back, things were very quiet by comparison to before. In retrospect, it was inevitable cooling off of the opening party fervor of the new forum to blame as much as anything, but I felt at the time like too much of it was my fault and wanted to make amends. I had been a key player in a hurricane of stupidity and immaturity that ultimately cost the forum the AC moderator and my former mentor. sisko had gotten left holding the bag running MP without, to my knowledge, having ever been told why several of us suddenly disappeared or what was going on. It kind’ve left him in charge of AC, ‘cause there was no one else trying. He was game; he’d been doing a good job. He initiated the GotM that summer while I was away, and was the single person most responsible for luring me back in from the cold. His cheerleading kept the place alive, near single-handedly.
In the good times, we’d both been hard citizen workers for the health/growth of the AC community; it was natural for the two of us to fall back into those sort of activities when the community truly needed it. The GotM team came together as part of that, which came with a private folder which we naturally also used to talk more openly about the running of the place - recruiting issues, for instance, can get obnoxious if you talk openly about them all the time. I’m proud to say that I shortly talked one of the owners into making him moderator, which made a lot of things easier, but over several years of co-conspiring, we came to treat each other as partners in our mutual hobby of making a great online home for SMACers and trying to get the word out.
Early this year, we got serious about this forum, not least because it was past time for a focused forum For SMACers, By SMACers. At last we SMACers are masters in our own house. It’s a lot of work. A LOT of work, an UNBELIEVABLE pile of work always, but it’s all coming together.
For me, the motivation is simple and always has been; Alpha Centauri attracts great people, and I want more of them to talk to. sisko is about the best friend I have in the world, but he’s never told why it’s so important to him. I’m pretty sure his reasoning is about the same, though, and I know more important things about him. We work well together, often like two lobes of the same brain. We agree about enough to make a smoothly-functioning team, but also disagree about enough to have a much wider idea base and greater wisdom to bring to bear on problems and their solutions. We’ve watched the bad nerdbage moderating and learned, as well as moderation done right, and learned from that. We studied these things together; we know that the least moderation is usually the best moderation, BUT that lax moderation lets disasters happen. We’ve seen so much pain caused by over-aggressive mods, and so much caused by lazy ones. We’re not going to make those old mistakes.
(Yes, to head off some wag -probably NewAge or Green- we’re going to invent our own NEW mistakes. Hopefully, we‘ll find solutions, too.)
I know that I couldn’t do this without sisko; I’m not useless with the tech end, but it just doesn’t interest me. And the technical demands of running a forum are huge. I know that he couldn’t do it without me, either. He doesn’t have time. And most important of all - I know I can trust sisko. He’s proven it for years. This is my first place where I could trust the guy at the top, which is how I know it’s also my last place. Here I stand. I know I can trust him, and I know you can, too. He’s good people, and I want to be the first in line to welcome our new SMAC(X) overlord.
Lady and gentlemen, I give you our Captain, Benjamin Sisko, Emissary and son of the Prophets. Hail the leader!
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So, I mentioned in my last that when I signed up at an AC forum for the first time, I posted custom game art and it was two days before anyone talked to me.
...That's no way to run a forum. That reflects poorly on the community. That ain't gonna happen at AC2. Fortunately, one of the admins here is a strange person with no life who believes that newbs are our future, but he does go AFK for as much as a whole hour in the course of an average day, and has to sleep five or six hours a night whether he wants to or not. He needs all the help he can get.
We WANT people to talk to. We WANT contributors. Maniac was a newb once. I was a newb once. You were too, and you turned out to be a good egg and a pillar of our community, didn't you? Everybody started out a newb, and newbs are where our future superstars come from. And at AC2, we don't eat our young.
NO question is too stupid. Greet everyone. Go out of your way to talk to the new people - anyone you see with under ten posts, even if they signed up before you, even if you've only got four posts yourself. It don't matter. THIS is how a healthy community works. This is how it grows. This is how we overcome the inevitable attrition of community members getting hit by busses or taking up Duke Nukem Forever forever. This is a way that YOU can contribute to building the community. Make people welcome and give them someone to talk to. It pays off.
I WISH it went without saying, but nobody's going to be rude to newbs on these boards three times. (Not even sisko, if he wants me here, not that he would do that.) This ain't 4chan or Usenet. I am not joking at all. Test me on this, and enjoy your vacation.
:) SO some of you have been reading my suggestions in this thread for how to chip in, and come up lemons. Well, we've been getting more humans than bots registering for months now, and a gratifying portion have actually posted. Talking to those people and making them comfortable here is a way everyone can help out. Thank you in advance for doing your part.
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I applaud your efforts Buncle :b: While I don't have much to contribute myself other than the occasional OT post/thread I'll do my best to send over as many SMAC'ers from WPC as I can...
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;b; In the end, that's all it takes to build a community into something great; everyone doing what they can to pitch in. ;b;
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I applaud your efforts Buncle :b: While I don't have much to contribute myself other than the occasional OT post/thread I'll do my best to send over as many SMAC'ers from WPC as I can...
good to see you here again Zoid!
..and a big thank you for that link ;)
whether you want it or not, you are now part of our team. :D
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as part of our effort to build a multilingual forum, the Game of the Month team is looking for people willing to translate the presentation and text files of our scenarios.
this is a good time to give us a hand as the promotional effort for the Nomads scenario is not over yet.
so, any volunteers?
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This is my first post on this forum, and I wanted to just say that after lurking a bit and reading through the various posts, I decided to register and, hopefully, become an active member of this community. Posts like this show me that it's a good group of people assembled here that enjoy the game and enjoy one another's company.
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:D That's exactly the idea, and I'm glad it shows and that you get it. ;b;
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Welcome, zstrong24! Every active member counts, as BUncle wrote. I second what he said about sisko and will add that sisko is exactly the kind of person a forum needs. Patient, welcoming to newbs, not the one to go looking for conflict, that is, he acts like an adult. Also, he's good at the tech stuff. :)
BUncle is also the kind of guy you'll want on your favourite forum - talented, enthusiastic, hyper-active and always willing to lend a hand.
We feel strongly about this community. It's a great chance to have a place of our own. I hope you'll like it here.
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Also? We ain't got nothin' against having fun within the sensible limits of consideration of each other. This thread makes it sound like we're all serious, all the time, and it ain't so - just talking about the big, important ideas is srs biznis... :D
I like hyper-active, Rym. That's well-put. ;)
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That is a compelling story, BU. Many media rable rousers potray gaming as an anti-social thing. Yes, in the days of the Atari, Commodore, and early 8088's before the internet and only a scattered few BBSs, that may have been true.
But, what outsiders do not realize is there is an incredible amount of socilizing in most game communities. Some more than others. The MMO crowd in the right guild is like a drunken gamer convention of the 90s, girls and all! 4x, less so, but we type more intelligently and write a lot.
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sisko and Me is compelling? Good to know; the story is important to me, having been there and felt it passionately, but of course there was a point. Several points, actually, but mainly it's my answer to anyone who wonders what happens the next time I get P.O.ed. Answer being that it's not a problem when I'm treated right. I have my issues, but I can get along with almost anyone who respects me and listens when I say they're pushing a button of mine. It ain't gonna be a problem here.
-Also, all that stuff about doing your part and leadership and newbcare. It's all connected, and I've been thinking about these things a lot for years.
But yeah; I've always been terrible with people, and it's weird to find myself doing so well as a manager, though I got some of that running a RL chess club, too. I guess I'm growing up in my old age.
Ab so LUTELY to 4x people being quality and literate.
as part of our effort to build a multilingual forum, the Game of the Month team is looking for people willing to translate the presentation and text files of our scenarios.
this is a good time to give us a hand as the promotional effort for the Nomads scenario is not over yet.
so, any volunteers?
Just wanted to bump this; it's important.
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I applaud your efforts Buncle :b: While I don't have much to contribute myself other than the occasional OT post/thread I'll do my best to send over as many SMAC'ers from WPC as I can...
good to see you here again Zoid!
..and a big thank you for that link ;)
whether you want it or not, you are now part of our team. :D
:) ;b;
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Check this out: http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=2530.0 (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=2530.0)
That's the new Game of the Month, Nomads. Try it. Enter the contest. Comment in the thread.
We need your feedback. It helps us stay motivated. Making goodies like that is a lot of work, and we need participation to help us stay on-task. Also, I hear it's a lot of fun. Like most of our GotMs, it includes a custom faction. This one has some really nice bases, at that. Download it, and make my day. Thanks.
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What does AC2 not have -yet- that you think it should? Be realistic, but we are interested in giving all our partners -that's you if you do your part here- what they want in an Alpha Centauri forum. We'll work with you and back your play on anything within reason.
Thoughts? Requests?
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Rymdolov has taken on a tedious task that sisko and I haven't gotten to over the months - posting all the GotMs to Downloads. Go check that stuff out, 'cause it's all gold, and we sweated blood making them, and we want them in the hands of people who will play and appreciate them. Also, all the fiction is good, if I do say so myself.
If I can remember how to do it, I'm going to go badge Rym as a Downloads contributor right now. Posting content is a huge contribution to the community.
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...Oops. Turns out I haven't made that badge yet. Who can keep track? Soon, I promise; soon...
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Gentlemen, do you realise that AC2 has added roughly 2,000 posts, an increase of about 1/5th to the total, in the LAST 12 DAYS? :danc:
We've got something going here.
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A conversation I find deeply related to the themes of this thread has broken out here: http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=2608.0 Check it out.
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I just want to mention that Google and other search engines are this forum’s best single hope for getting the word out to the many thousands and thousands of cool SMACers out there who‘ve never heard of the online AC community. There’s an easy way you can help.
One day in March, sisko pointed out how I could leave over 36,000 copies of our URL laying around for the search engines to find and thereby bump up our page ranking on them a good bit in one fell swoop - change my sig at another place and add a hyperlink. Naturally, for AC2 I went and did it - likewise at two other forums, getting it to nearly 38,000 copies. And we’re doing very well on the search engines these days, and doing well for signups from members who googled SMAC(X). I’m only part of that, but my part matters - most of it, one sig change.
But we could do even better. Got room in your sig at other forums to link AC2? Please do, for the SEO. And if it’s the sort of forum that draws our sort of gamers or actual SMACers? If you’re a member at Apolyton, CFC or CGN? Not only flog us in your sig, get involved in their AC subforums. You’ll have to create activity at ‘poly and CGN, frankly, but that’s good for them and good for us. This is not a zero-sum game. I’m a regular at CFC AC these days, just posting when I feel like it, and have posted nearly half the posts made in two months at ‘poly.
Let’s make a project of reviving these once-proud homes of the community - more places for SMACers out in the cold to find signs of life is more online SMACers and a bigger community. Point them here, of course, but no one has to choose just one forum. Make those places part of your regular forums you check. Petek is good people, and we owe him some support back. And make extra effort at those other places that need it more. Everyone will profit in a huge multi-forum win-win. A rising tide really can lift all boats.
I think it's a thing worth trying, and not so tough to do if several people try at once and keep it up for a while. And don't forget about those sigs. :whip:
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Had a little inspiration. Check this: http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=2579.msg13283#msg13283 (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=2579.msg13283#msg13283)
Anyone interested?
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Does no one have anything to say? I write these long essays about things I deem VERY important, and have no way of knowing if anyone has even read them, absent comments...
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...Also, I've gone into a less-energetic spell, and on slow evenings it's getting tougher to entertain myself lately. I need someone to talk to after supper, or eventually, I have to give up and go read and nap. Then I'm not here when YOU need someone to talk to.
Get back online and entertain me, people! :whip:
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Well im usually active from anywhere early morning 5-6 AM to 3 PM in the afternoon, then I usually take my pills, eat and just relax for a while and eventually go to sleep. I live near Vyatka, in case you are wondering about time zone.
Catch me at any point between then and maybe we can have a chat. If you have Skype, voice chat is also an option if you get tired of text nonsense.
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Dunno. Skype is great, but that doesn't grow the forum, and I'm all about growing the forum...
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Have I talked about this here in the last two weeks? http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=2530.0 (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=2530.0)
Nomads, the latest Game of the Month is out. It's a cool scenario. It's a contest to see who can reach the scenario win conditions fastest/best. It's SMAC(X) content for the community to enjoy.
Go to the thread and give it a try. Enjoy the novelty of playing as a custom faction - it adds freshness to an old game. Let us know what you think. Post a save of your win - you might win the contest. Encourage a hard-working GotM team to keep working hard to entertain you by playing it and saying so.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
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Been doing my best to
spam, er, add meaningfull content...
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Yes you have, and don't think for a second that I didn't notice you stepping up your contributions to Rec Commons immediately after I started this thread to appeal for just that kind of thing. -And it's paid off, I think. RC was pretty much just you and me before that, and has gotten a lot more robust. You're at the top of my list for when we establish an AC2 hall of fame. Seriously.
Every little bit from every single member counts. We can do it. ;b;
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...There's only so many ways for me to say that this is YOUR community and YOUR responsibility to chip in to build/rebuild it. It will be a year since we got serious about AC2 in less than a month, and hard as sisko and I have worked, it would still be an empty forum without the participation of so many others. Lately, sisko is up against a lot of RL demands on his time and I've, frankly, been crashed out and too tired tired to do much...
But look around the forum - Kirov, Yitzi and ete, especially, have done a lot to keep AC2 active, as have many others. We're over halfway to where we need to be as a self-sustaining community. Activity levels on the boards have been good, and human registrations have continued to happen at a healthy rate. This makes my heart glad.
So do remember that together, the differences that each of us make by posting and contributing to the SMAC(X) community add up to something special and worthwhile. We not only CAN do it, we ARE doing it. Thanks for doing your part.
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I should have mentioned this long ago, but in the interest of encouraging/rewarding contributions in certain areas, new threads in the science subforums of Rec Commons are worth double EC, triple in Planet Tales, and quadruple in Chiron News Network, where you have a thread autoposted when you post something in Downloads - just changed that last.
Eventually, we're going to find more goodies to spend those EC on in the Shop...
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I should have mentioned this long ago, but in the interest of encouraging/rewarding contributions in certain areas, new threads in the science subforums of Rec Commons are worth double EC, triple in Planet Tales, and quadruple in Chiron News Network, where you have a thread autoposted when you post something in Downloads - just changed that last.
Eventually, we're going to find more goodies to spend those EC on in the Shop...
;b;
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I love that I see stuff like this all the time lately. We not only CAN do it, we ARE doing it!
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Oh, come on, I'm active too! D:
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Yes you are; you posted something just today.
-I love seeing this, too.
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Do not forget your lurkers. I would say most of the traffic to sites like this lurk, hoping to learn something or download something.
Oh.. and read our rumblings and such.
There are many forums I never post at but love to read, as is probably the case with a lot of folks.
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And God bless the lurkers -they bring up our hits for SEO and ad rates- but they'd have more fun if they joined the conversation.
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And God bless the lurkers -they bring up our hits for SEO and ad rates- but they'd have more fun if they joined the conversation.
;)
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Here's a little thing you can to do to help grow our community: http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=2972.0 (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=2972.0)
Your help will be appreciated!
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My friends, ete is working like a mad dog on our SMAC(X) wiki - he could use your help and encouragement. enter the IRC channel -he and I are in there right now, for the second afternoon in a row- and talk to him about whatever your particular focus is. This wiki is a thing worth doing. How's about pitching in?
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I know a guy - he's bright, fun and funny, a fine artist and one HECK of a tech modder. Easy to like, and he's been a major asset to the SMAC(X) community in the past.
The trouble is, in private, he's a hater. Hasn't a kind word to say about anyone behind their back. It gets very hard to take very quickly, even when he's right about their shortcomings- which isn't more than half the time. I do not want to constantly hear about the failings of my friends -people who have stood by me- especially when they don't make those failings my problem, especially from someone who makes his self-centered hatefulness my problem and by his failure to have my back when I needed it, has made it clear that he is not my friend. That takes more sheer brazen hypocritical gall than I'm prepared to tolerate.
It's a shame and a huge waste, and it's just sad.
You know what the trouble is with being that guy? Purely from a selfish perspective, consider this: I always assumed Hater-Lad gave ME the same treatment behind MY back. (As it happens, few in this community are any good at keeping their mouth shut, and I know it for sure, as if that made a difference.) If you spend too much time badmouthing, anyone with at least half a brain is going to figure the same thing.
It's not an indicated long-term strategy towards keeping friends and being happy. Loyalty pays.
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So what does this mean to our community? Well, it's a common enough type of innerwebs nerd I'm talking about, and I want to say this: we haven't had trouble with this kind of person at AC2, and we're not going to. If you lack the wit and guts to find a diplomatic way to speak your piece in public, don't be a weasel who does it bluntly in secret through back-channels. We don't want you here if your bile is that hard to control - AC2 is a community of adults, and we're going to act like adults.
This is a brand of the poison PMs problem I talked about before, whatever the actual back-channel in question. Don't be that trouble-maker; for your own sake, if not everyone's. It won't stay secret and you won't get away with it for long. I've seen it in action, and it's cost the community some very talented people - the perpetrators, largely.
We've put that kid-stuff behind us, and it isn't welcome back.
Be positive and diplomatic, for your own sake, if not everyone's. Remember Matthew 7:3, and try not to make your hang-ups my problem - you can expect the same in return. That's what adults do. It's what makes healthy communities, where they hold a consensus against back-biting; that's us.
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...I'd like to point out that, as I complained in the OP and since, it gets quiet around here in my evenings - surely not everyone only posts from work or is a European and asleep?
Get back online and entertain me!
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You cannot have failed to notice that we've got some .exe coders running around AC2, and we've given them their own forum.
I should mention that I'm no techie - just been trying to notice quirks in the game while I play, make some screenies, post some saves, and I've managed to report a number of things that are new to scient (and the other two .exe modders we have active, kyrub and Yitzi.) Yitzi is mostly focused on modding for game balance, BTW, kyrub on improving the AI - scient, as you probably know, on fixing bugs/exploits. The Bug/Patch Discussion forum is quite active of late, but the dialogue could always use more testers, reporters, and participants in the discussion.
And this from scient:
No coding required.
If you're interested in testing the patch please let me know. I put any changes I make through heavy testing but there are a few experimental patches that would be nice to test their effects on AI. I prob won't release them as part of patch unless they've been vetted properly. If you're interested, send me a PM on AC2 and I'll share current release class. Looking for some help updating the French and German files. The installer that I made for patch will be able to handle different languages. It's only English for now until I can get help updating other languages.
The same goes for any language - at a minimum, we'd like to cover all the languages SMAC(X) was released in -French, German, Italian, Spanish and Russian, to my knowledge- but any language under the sun would be welcome. If you know Esperanto and English and want to, we'd like your help; just as well boost AC and build the community by making it accessible to as many people worldwide as possible.
...
Activity is up this month - this is just one of the ways you can contribute to making AC2 fun and interesting. Get postin' on your area of special interest, whatever it is!
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Um...
Maybe I'm blind and just haven't noticed, but I suddenly seem to have some limited mod powers in the OT forum. (lock/unlock topics, but not edit/delete individual posts).
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This is news to me --- but y'know what? Keep 'em, if you'll act responsibly and with restraint.
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Hmm...responsibly and restrained....
I was more concerned maybe something got flipped on the 'user' mask and maybe everyone suddenly had them.
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No one else has reported anything...
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Those of you who've been following my act for about the last year have heard all this before, but it's still true.
We've got a real opportunity here; this is the first forum I'm aware of BY SMACers For SMACers, without all the outside stuff getting in the way. That's a thing worth nurturing, if you ask me.
We can build this place into something fun, entertaining, informative and worthwhile - more than it is already. All it takes is all of us trying. Go to that little extra effort to post, generate content - whether art, modifications, how-tos, scenarios, AARs or whatever - recruit others, and generally get involved. If you're like most people reading this, you check by and read a little once in a while, wishing there was a more active SMAC(X) community to participate in. Much of our reason to be here is to socialize and be entertained by one another. Well, someone has to go first; I'm looking at YOU.
AC2 was a static skeleton at the beginning of February, but a handful of people quickly turned it into a real, live, forum. Now it's time to step up our game.
One person can make a difference - I've demonstrated this repeatedly. But it's never much of a show for long without someone to talk to. Two people can make a big difference. Everyone trying a little harder makes ALL the diference.
We need MPers, modders, hardcore players, scient fans/contributors, fan fiction writers, people with technical problems and people willing to troubleshoot. We need fun, thoughtful people to joke with in Rec Commons and science-oriented people posting articles/commenting in the science forums. (We need more Americans, 'cause it gets real slow on here in my evenings, between the Euros going to bed and the Aussies waking up.) We need whatever interesting, appropriate-to-a-SMAC(X)-forum, thing I haven't thought of/mentioned, because putting our heads together is what it's all about. It's all worthy and important, and we need all of it, and the people into each thing. We need active people, and we need to bring in more of them.
We need YOU.
Just pitch in however you can; make that extra little effort, because we we're greater as a group than as individuals. Try, please. Make that comment. Post that faction, story, art, ect. Get in on that MP game. Send those acquaintances a link to the forum. Post to entertain me, and I'll do the same. Let make a lot of friends here, and make the most active AC forum in the world 10 times busier.
We can do it.
I can help you in the fan fiction department.
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Good man. Extra points for new threads in Planet Tales, y'know.
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So, let's have a little fun here - anybody want anything within my power to bestow?
Extra points for entertaining requests....
:D :danc: :D :danc: :D :danc: :D :danc: :D :danc: :D :danc: :D
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I'm back on the forum again. Thanks to all of you for maintaining a community for me to return to.
:clap: :clap: :clap:
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:clap: :clap: :clap: indeed. Really good to have you back.
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It's been a busy(er) month - which comes as a surprise in the middle of Northern Hemisphere summer.
Everybody goes through phases of greater or lesser interest in our mutual hobby, and late-May through all of June was pretty slow, which is fairly typical for that time of the year, at least in the 4x forum circles with which I'm familiar. So, it's pretty heartening to me to see a resurgence before September. Multiple people I hadn't seen around in months are springing back to life, and we've had enough competent modders sign up out of nowhere this month that I've actually lost count.
Activity creates more activity, so all this is good news.
My point? All I'm saying, really, is that now might be a good time to strike while the momentum is building and the iron is hot. Business really does tend to come in clusters. If you've been considering a project, or contacting another SMACer, now might be an ideal time to get to it. People taking initiative, and supporting each other's initiatives, is what made this forum. It's a winning formula.
There are a lot of wonderful people out there who haven't heard about AC2, people we'd enjoy knowing, if only. We need to A.) keep at making this a wonderful place to share our work, hang out, and enjoy each others company, and B.) spread the word about how well A.) has worked out. Now is always the time, the present surge of interest being better than some others. So do me and yourself a solid, and get to work.
We CAN do it.
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I have a friend I've known online for a while now, migrated from the Age of Mythology game with. He's been lurking for a while and he'll probably read this post once im done posting this and I know you are reading this you moldy. I told him to create an account and get on with it. We'll see if he does, I think he'll enjoy the place.
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That's the spirit.
Everybody: get out there and spread the word! And don't forget that everyone can contribute to the forum - it's not just big projects we need. Every bit counts. The community is less in the "important" content than in the dialogues in which we engage. I'm in this for the company of bright people, and I suspect I'm hardly alone in that. Every comment is worthy of response. Join the conversation; post! Post! POST!
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BU, I was just looking over the stats, you've been online almost twice as long as the next highest nine people put together. I would not be surprised if you've been logged in longer than the top 200 users put together, looking at the way it's decaying. And if you discount sisko, you've been online over four times as long as the rest of the top ten added together.
How do you find that much to read or do on here? Do you reread topics a lot, or just leave it logged in overnight/in another tab?
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There are times when I'm not doing anything but AC2 stuff, though most of that is related projects and art and such - but most of the time I just keep a tab open while I'm entertaining myself elsewhere on the innerwebs, and check back frequently. This is the first place I come when I sign on in the morning, and the last tab I close at night, except for checking email. I don't have a life outside my hobby of building this place; I'm a caregiver, but my mom and sister rarely need anything that takes up a lot of time.
A part of it is a sense of duty; I made a commitment to AC2, and I don't want ANYTHING to EVER go wrong here just because there was no one around in charge and on top of things. I've seen that happen too often on other forums. It's evolved, over the course of my partnership with sisko, that a big portion of my end of the division of labor is I mostly do the people management. I gotta be around as much as humanly possible to be effective at that. It's a suitable gig for a crusty hermit like myself, given an effort to keep a good/positive attitude in general and working at applying my best people skills. I can't handle people very well in RL, but through the distance of the internet, I do pretty well, and it makes up for RL loneliness somewhat.
Seeing as how I have way too much time on my hands, it works out. When I feel like it, I take on big projects. Even when I'm pretty depressed and lethargic -a non-trivial portion of the time, BTW- keeping on top of what's up isn't a problem (though having anything to say can be).
Bottom line is, the job gives me something back - I get to chat with you. Not blowing smoke when I say that means a lot to me.
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Hrm. I am retired for the most part but I do the odd construction job and project, but for the most part I keep to my property, sometimes I go out with old friends and family. So this forum is a nice little way to piss some time: and I always love doing creative work so making factions and AAR's is probably my best niche, I can be sociable but I've become very bitter over the years so I like to keep it brief in terms of contact: I'd rather not sour any relations I garner here and keep it light hearted, as you may have noticed.
What I think this forum could use is a youtube channel of sorts: an Alpha Centauri channel, devoted to updates, new factions or patches, the forum itself and gameplay if possible. Promote it off and on and that should gather new blood.
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I think there's definitely something to the idea of an AC2 YouTube channel. With strong branding -everything mentions AC2 forums and has a link prominently appended - we're talking some serious traffic potential. Something like this could be huge. Hard to beat YouTube for a place to be visible.
But there are question to be answered; who takes care of this? I don't wanna.
And more importantly, where are these videos going to come from? Who's gonna make them? Most of what we do here isn't directly video-friendly; the game itself is turn-based, and lacks actual motion. Are you suggesting something in the line of news reports?
I'd love to see this happen, and would throw my support behind such an effort, but it's a major, major project for someone - or several someones. It's certainly an opportunity for someone comfortable with video-making and narrating, comfortable with YouTube, and looking for a way to boost this community.
Anybody game?
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I think there's definitely something to the idea of an AC2 YouTube channel. With strong branding -everything mentions AC2 forums and has a link prominently appended - we're talking some serious traffic potential. Something like this could be huge. Hard to beat YouTube for a place to be visible.
But there are question to be answered; who takes care of this? I don't wanna.
And more importantly, where are these videos going to come from? Who's gonna make them? Most of what we do here isn't directly video-friendly; the game itself is turn-based, and lacks actual motion. Are you suggesting something in the line of news reports?
I'd love to see this happen, and would throw my support behind such an effort, but it's a major, major project for someone - or several someones. It's certainly an opportunity for someone comfortable with video-making and narrating, comfortable with YouTube, and looking for a way to boost this community.
Anybody game?
Problem is... Alpha Centuari HATES Fraps. GrimithR (Youtube) and Quill18 (Civ Fanatic AAR/Youtube) do it, but I have not found out how they have done it.
Otherwise, either I would have been on it or Kilk would have.
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Fraps? Whazzat?
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Fraps? Whazzat?
Video recording software.
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Well lets get their support. There is bound to be people who will teach us it. Also, I am willing to help narrate, I don't mind commentary its just the technical side of things I am garbage at. Kilk already has a youtube channel, we just need to figure out how to record AC. Maybe even stop motion... who knows?
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Fraps? Whazzat?
Fraps is the standard for recording video games. I have a registered copy on my machine. Almost all the kids on Youtube use it. Works great for most games, but Alpha Centauri does not like it.
I will PM GrimithR on Youtube. Hopefully he will get his head out of awful ASCII 1990s PC games to answer.
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I noticed that at a given time there are usually between 5 and 8 Guests logged on here, which means there's a good chunk of people that are reading out stuff here but haven't joined.
We may be able to encourage them to contribute, and here is how: turn AC2 into the new Network Node. We can set-up an email for people to send their faction txts and graphics to, and make weekly/biweekly/monthly faction design contests for all comers. That way in addition to bringing in more activity we would expand AC2's stock of faction options.
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I noticed that at a given time there are usually between 5 and 8 Guests logged on here,...
spambots trying to get in? ;)
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I noticed that at a given time there are usually between 5 and 8 Guests logged on here,...
spambots trying to get in? ;)
That would suck, but if even a few of them are actual humans then it would help build up the forum.
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I know for a fact that only 1 or so of them is a spambot most of the time, the rest are actual people looking at topics. Because sometimes I direct people here, and I did an experiment to look at specific subjects at one point and they matched correctly. (I only did it once mind) so I am guessing we have a fair number of lurkers.
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There are some communities I go to where it is an unstated fact YOU DO NOT POST UNLESS YOU KNOW YOUR STUFF.
One is NASAspaceflight, which even has paywalls that enforce this where if you are not an industry insider, no posting read only. Fortunately, this is not one of them. we get lurkers because we are a 4x site, and most 4x players are lurkers by nature.
Of those Lurkers:
A) Many do not care to be on a forum. They like patches, factions, etc and just are entertained reading our banter and AARs. Because, let's face it, we are an intelligent and entertaining bunch. They would feel that they would have nothing to offer. (like I thought at one time)
B) Folks from previous forum boards that for some reason, be it historical or whatever, will not post here but like to see what's up.
C) Traffic from GOG. GOG does have a forum to AC, too. But, while GOG's forum is more casual, we tend to get more.... fanatical :D It is always cool as a casual to check up on the obsessed nuts. We have cooler toys.
D) Folks searching for "Alpha Centauri' or "Alpha Centauri 2" remembering that crazy game they played years ago and bump into us.
I think, as Jarl said, we only get a few spam bots. You have an active admin and an active mod that updates captchas/ whatever. Forums like that, spammers are invisible to the users.
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Oh yes, on the subject of youtube.
Alpha Centauri LPs tend to generate only about 1k views with the folks that do them. You monetize that, it is not a lot, but it is a beer. If I was to do one, I am not being selfish but I want that cold brew in my hand. Most of the money on youtube is from established folks that got into this early that have good equipment and software. I will say older games would not need all that. There are still folks that do older games and a small market for it if you are entertaining and have a decent voice/ okay editing skills and windows movie maker. If I can coax World of Warcraft (2004) and fraps at 30 FPS on a dual core Celeron B and 8GB laptop with crappy Intel HD internal graphics, AC would be a breeze.
However, I would unlike most plug AC2. It is just the cool thing to do.
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The thing about an Alpha Centauri video LP is that it won't work if it's just one person talking over turn based action unless that person is absurdly interesting. More likely you would need at least two people, maybe three talking together discussing strategy, mechanics, modding, what they ate for breakfast, etc to make it compelling.
It seems difficult but I've seen a semi-successful LP on Something Awful that was just people talking over ASCII Nethack, which is even less visually compelling than SMACX.
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Well SMACX isn't abhorrid to the eyes: Its not like Dwarf Fortress or some other pukish looking game, it actually has some aesthetic appeal.
But I agree on the multiple commentator bit: and also if we get a rotation of people commentating it makes it interesting. I'd be willing to volunteer for such a thing personally.
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Displaying our international nature would be a good thing...
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Displaying our international nature would be a good thing...
Hell, maybe we could even have commentaries in Russian!
On second thought I'd be the only participant then :C
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I like the idea of a version in Russian alongside the usual English. It's one of the languages AC was released in, and Russians are very SF-oriented, I hear.
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Maybe enable Russian subtitles? I could do some translation work.
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Whatever would be most accessible/best return on your effort. Probably just re-narrate in Russian, post, and crosslink.
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Eh. It'd be more time consuming to re narrate plus its more editing/video file to deal with. I talked to my daughter and adding captions and the like on youtube video's isn't too hard: so I think going that route is better. It also makes sure that if I was commentating with you folks that any Russian viewers get to hear your voices and thoughts, rather then me just voicing everything. (They can read and match, and the majority of Russians who would be into SMAC or catch onto to it have a knowledge of English anyways.)
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I look at all the activity in Modding lately, of people helping each other out with feedback and how-to tips, and I'm reminded of the value of our online community. We help each other out; we spread knowledge. We enable each other to do better work.
I see people generating base names in Theory of Everything, making possible a more satisfying future gaming experience on large maps, where "Gaians 54" bases are so much less likely to ever happen. The AC2 Wiki continues to accrue content, and that's a resource for everyone forever.
I see a lot of conversation about all sorts of geeky goodness happening in Rec Commons. It's fun to talk about that stuff with bright people.
I think about CGN shutting down, and the loss to the over-all AC community. A healthy AC2 is more SMACers contributing, more potential people posting at CFC or Apolyton AC. Likewise, the reverse. Many of us are multi-forum, and I've posted at CFC's and 'poly's AC forums in just the last two weeks, as it happens. We need to all be regularly checking those places and speaking up when we have something to contribute. Newbs are our future, and it's good for the community to have more places for lurkers to find and decide to get involved.
We're involved in a good thing, here; we help each other, and that raises the level for everyone. It's working, and it's still growing.
Keep up the good work, people, and please forgive yr. humble cheerleader for shouting "MOAR!"
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Your our resident Morale Officer, so its expected.
On that account, I personally think the more ways we offer easy interaction to people, the more people lurking are tempted to join our community. Getting people interested is half the battle; getting people involved is the other half.
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We've got a good collective attitude, yes. We've got such an impressively diverse membership, and literate, too, and I LOVE! how much I learn from all of you. And when I commenced this project, I never would have BELIEVED how little moderating I have had to do in over a year-and-a-half.
Why can't everywhere on the internet be like AC2? That sounds like public self-fellatio, but go look at comments on almost any YouTube video, and then come back and look around here.
Fellatio for everyone! AC2! AC2! AC2! AC2!
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Two reasons:
1. SMAC is philosophical game that is old. Anyone who is devoted enough to join a community for it has to be mature on some level, or at least devoted. Look at comments on Youtube for SMAC video's, even there the comments are more intelligent then the rest of Youtube. The game itself is one of the biggest reasons, it attracts a certain community.
2. While new people do find SMAC, SMAC/X's community is still rather tight knit. Many of you know each other in real life or have been acquaintances beforehand, and the rest of us form a rather tight knit community both due to the common interests of the community and the general size of the community.
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Mostly 1., I think. SMAC(X) rewards patience and meticulous attention to detail, and being receptive to the wonders of the universe, too. It tends to draw, as a result, people of, as you say, a certain level of maturity higher than a real time shoot 'em up does. It's also, with all the backstory and the datalinks and interludes, more rewarding than most games to literate people. So we get members who care about their spelling and grammar. I like it that way, and think literate writing makes a better forum browsing experience in a very important way.
And 2.? We've got a wide range of community experience here, with the majority active at most points tending strongly to the newer side. That's, by and large, a good thing, too.
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Hello. I've mentioned a number of times, posting from my main account as BUncle, that I want people to ignore my Admin status most of the time. Well, thing is, that tends to be wishful thinking on my part. Much as I want to be listened to as a citizen, not The Guy Who Can Ban you, and be able to relax most of the time, it's not going to happen unless I make everyone really aware of the difference between my normal mode as BUncle, [modhat off], and when I'm being The Boss - something I avoid as much as possible. I accept that I have duties here, and my status doing the work of taking care of forum business and ultimately having the final word on issues of enough importance thrusts me into a leadership position.
But - I have some serious issues with authority. I hate The Man. Finding myself The Man is uncomfortable, and I am as gentle in that role as I can humanly manage - but it's impossible for everyone to ignore that The Man is The Man when he talks.
Uno made a very helpful suggestion about handling this problem - make an account to BE The Man with.
So when you see that hat, well, [poop] just got real, or whatever. I expect the Hat isn't going to be a big presence on these forums, but I'm going to have to use it a lot more than I'd rather just to keep the membership aware of the difference. Maybe I'll try to remember to put on this DL for the cheerleading speeches in this thread, and when I make policy announcements in the future.
Hopefully, this will raise happiness levels for everyone, 'cause me in a bad mood is bad for AC2, and this will hopefully help that a teeny little bit. I'm not going to slip into this identity for ever little thing that comes up, but when you see me like this, it should serve as a sign that whatever's at issue is deemed important and I'm acting officially in my capacity as Guy In Charge; BUncle is just that guy with no life who's always here, wants to be your friend, and doesn't expect any respect he hasn't earned. (Though we should all treat each other respectfully as a default mode.)
Please be patient with me while I (and my therapist) work this out. :)
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I'm not sure the hat fits...
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ooo, kinda goes with the silly face..
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I'm not sure the hat fits...
I am. I decided that the whole banhammer theme would be too much for me even for this. I think the hat is just right. -And your Thor looks a little too homoerotic for my blood.
Funnier ideas will be entertained, of course... Captain whatisname is certainly funny, but a bit off the theme needed?
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You know, I wish there was some way to get everyone to read these motivational posts.
I wish I generated more of them - but there's only so many ways to say "Post! Post MOAR! Spread the word! Get excited and make things! We're all in this together, we've got a Good Thing going, and we're winning!". Sometimes I have trouble getting inspired - so when I see people taking the ball and running for the goal, it feels pretty good. -And I see people doing that, each in their own way, all around me.
We are a thriving community, and the word is getting spread (though we [you] could do even more). Activity is up, creativity is up, and we've had a mess of signups in the last week, most of whom are human, and have posted. All these newbs can't be wrong; a community where we're good to each other and take care of each other is hard to beat.
So keep up the good work, my friends, and see if you can't redouble your efforts during this time of upward momentum.
MOAR! :danc:
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Heh. Give us some time to dance and play on Chiron instead of posting. ;deidre;
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I just want to mention that Google and other search engines are this forum’s best single hope for getting the word out to the many thousands and thousands of cool SMACers out there who‘ve never heard of the online AC community. There’s an easy way you can help.
One day in March, sisko pointed out how I could leave over 36,000 copies of our URL laying around for the search engines to find and thereby bump up our page ranking on them a good bit in one fell swoop - change my sig at another place and add a hyperlink. Naturally, for AC2 I went and did it - likewise at two other forums, getting it to nearly 38,000 copies. And we’re doing very well on the search engines these days, and doing well for signups from members who googled SMAC(X). I’m only part of that, but my part matters - most of it, one sig change.
But we could do even better. Got room in your sig at other forums to link AC2? Please do, for the SEO. And if it’s the sort of forum that draws our sort of gamers or actual SMACers? If you’re a member at Apolyton, CFC or CGN? Not only flog us in your sig, get involved in their AC subforums. You’ll have to create activity at ‘poly and CGN, frankly, but that’s good for them and good for us. This is not a zero-sum game. I’m a regular at CFC AC these days, just posting when I feel like it, and have posted nearly half the posts made in two months at ‘poly.
Let’s make a project of reviving these once-proud homes of the community - more places for SMACers out in the cold to find signs of life is more online SMACers and a bigger community. Point them here, of course, but no one has to choose just one forum. Make those places part of your regular forums you check. Petek is good people, and we owe him some support back. And make extra effort at those other places that need it more. Everyone will profit in a huge multi-forum win-win. A rising tide really can lift all boats.
I think it's a thing worth trying, and not so tough to do if several people try at once and keep it up for a while. And don't forget about those sigs. :whip:
I haven't noticed any action on this one; it's hugely important, and many of you have accounts at other forums... We could have saved CGN, if only, and our SEO could still use those AC2 siglinks mentioning SMAC(X) (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=community)... :stickpoke:
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Personally, while I respect authority I find I am the type who isn't really intimidated or even caring for hierarchy, titles or positions of authority at all. I'm a firm believer that the badge doesn't make a policeman: It's the act of properly policing and safeguarding a community that does. A man who beats people or exploits his position with a badge is just a brute.
My disregard for hierarchy is probably why I've always gotten into trouble and why I would never be able to live in a feudal society. I'd be hanged within the hour, some nobleman comes trotting his trousers along and asks me to bend a knee because he came out of a specific woman.
In terms of forums or online communities, its also why I've never joined clans. Authority doesn't come from rank or title in my humble opinion: it comes from the power you have and the way you use that power. And BUncle is proper authority. He may be the friendly benevolent reach out goody guy type but I think there is pragmatism and experience behind that benevolence which makes it solid. Your profile says wants to be your friend but obviously you aren't just here to kiss arse and be friendly with everyone, you do so as to make everyone's experience on the forum much better, its not just a shallow ploy of which I've seen some figures use on other communities.
While the hat may symbolize what mood/status you show BUncle, my position, hat or not hat is the same. But take that as a compliment, you may resent being The Man but there is a wisdom garnered from the burden the authority it gives and enacting it properly, and that's something most people can't accredit for.
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Well, I've learned a lot from seeing it done wrong on other forums.
If I run this place like it was the army, it's a place I wouldn't support as a member. We've all done our time, in real life, as children, in the military, at our RL jobs, dealing with RL bureaucracy, -being treated like our time is worth nothing and we ourselves are unworthy of respect. Intercourse that cacophony, I say. I'm here to have a good time. Period. And I'm willing to invest the work into this community it takes to gather enough people to have my good time. And I'd be stupid to hand out treatment I wouldn't take myself; aside from my pride in not being what I hate, harsh moderation would drive off the proud people I'm most likely to understand and enjoy. The logic scans, doesn't it?
And since the last time I mentioned never having to moderate people in this thread, I banned a troll for two weeks. It's the only trolling I know of happening at all in the history of AC2, but it was the third trolling attempt in days, and we ain't gonna have trolling here. I've seen what happens when there are no real rules. That free-for-all ocean of insults and harassment may be some people's idea of a good time, (and I used to be a nasty-mouthed 13 year-old, so I do understand those guys) but it ain't mine. Somebody's got to be in charge.
So, you know, the velvet glove seems like a good idea, and it's the only way I could do this and stand myself. I'm a bossy, aggressive, angry person, and being gentle is the way I ride heard on my bad tendencies. It's wonderful that that's good for everyone else.
And I really do want to be your friend, absent you giving me a reason not to. I've been lucky in that, as in so much else, here at AC2.
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Some stats: this month, we've already had more views than in all of June or April, and not far behind the total views we've been getting in even the best months (and over 2/3 the total views in all of 2011). We have more than double the average posts of a full month this year (and more posts than any month bar July this year). We're under halfway through this month.
Having a load of active projects apparently massively boosts pageviews as well as activity. We're bringing together the old and new players, and there's still enough people interested in these games to build a very healthy community.
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Projects and interaction is the path to prosperity for this forum. As long as we have something going on, people will stay interested.
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So this month we're now at:
Three times the total posts in 2011.
More than double the posts in the previous most active month this year, and most active month overall.
Most pageviews (more than 2011 combined).
Most new members since the spambots were mostly killed.
Most new topics since the spambots were mostly killed.
Additionally, this year we already have more pageviews than last year despite having over four months of this year left.
And I've now been online for over 1/25th of the time BU has been online (Jarl, you're at 1/27th)!
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:danc:
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Yeah... I have been pretty impressed.
It is not like we have 300 posting members, but then again it is a pretty old game. But between about 30-50 of us, quality.
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Quality. ;b;
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I was wondering: do we have any mean of knowing the nationality of the members here? (we may have but it's 2 AM here and I'm not keen in exploring this forum now :-* )
I know there are guys suspicious about the use of too many personal data (and the subsequent abuse by NSA and its friends) but let's say it's on a voluntarily base (as for giving ICQ and the likes).
Why not one of those global maps with dots figuring the members?
Or a new column in the member list?
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Hmm. I have at least a vague idea with almost everyone I've gotten to know, but I don't think anyone but me reads everything posted.
I bet it would be doable to create some sort of interactive map and encourage everyone to anonymously mark their location...
Tech inclined people? Talk to me. I'd like to see something somewhere along these lines happen. We're an international crowd, and I think our diversity is interesting.
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I was wondering: do we have any mean of knowing the nationality of the members here? (we may have but it's 2 AM here and I'm not keen in exploring this forum now :-* )
I know there are guys suspicious about the use of too many personal data (and the subsequent abuse by NSA and its friends) but let's say it's on a voluntarily base (as for giving ICQ and the likes).
Why not one of those global maps with dots figuring the members?
Or a new column in the member list?
As long as it's completely voluntary, and you can mark a "general location" or highlight an area of the map, rather then a specific point. I'd prefer not using a tracking system as I feel its an invasion of my privacy, and its why I use proxies to begin with. I will state my nationality/residence is Russian, but not where in my country. I'm a very paranoid person.
I'd only tolerate it if its truly voluntary... otherwise, no go.
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Yeah; something where people can attach as much or as little information to a location as they choose would be ideal. I should think on a scale where a map of the world shows on a single page, specificity shouldn't be a problem.
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IP geolocation is pretty easy. You should know everybody's IPs, BU. Pushing those into one of those free geolocators from Bing or Google or whatever will tell you the location of their ISP. It won't tell you their house, but it'll give you the general province or state.
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Nooooo.
I want something entirely voluntary and anonymous - being able to attach a handle to a dot on the map would be good, but only as an option. A map would be cool is all, but it has to be voluntary and anonymous.
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Ah sure, well that'd be something you'd have to ask people for then. :)
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IP trackers for me is bugged. When you use cellular 3G/4G the IP is out of whatever tower it routes you to to route out off of satellite. I am in Baton Rouge, but Virgin Mobile gives me a different IP each time I cut on wifi. One time it was Dayton, Ohio. Another it was Hackensack New Jersey. The next it was Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
It at least would give you the correct country.
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IP geolocation is pretty easy. You should know everybody's IPs, BU. Pushing those into one of those free geolocators from Bing or Google or whatever will tell you the location of their ISP. It won't tell you their house, but it'll give you the general province or state.
Unless they use proxies, which can disguise country and general location. I currently use 3, I forget which is the one I am using currently. But even so, what BUncle said.
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So, I'm asking about the feasibility of making a map that members may choose to go stick a pin in - perhaps with a couple of fields available that no one has to fill in if they don't want. I KNOW it's doable - how HARD to do?
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Talk to warpus at CFC. He made a map to track the Yeti that's being sent around the world (a project started by contre - to send a stuffed Yeti named Bumbles around the world, taking a picture or two at each stop, and sending it on to the next person; the pictures get posted in the Tavern section of OT there).
As for saying where I'm from... I've never seen any reason to hide that. It's actually helped diffused an argument (or a half dozen) when people realize I'm Canadian and therefore don't understand a lot of political, historical, and pop culture references that are US-centric.
So... I'm in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. If you look at the map, you'll see the cities of Edmonton and Calgary in the province of Alberta. Red Deer is exactly halfway between those two. We're a Prairie city, just 90 minutes away from the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, and 2 hours away from the mountains themselves.
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Are we talking about something more elegant than downloading a map, marking it and reposting? That would be the simplest thing to do, I guess - I was thinking of some sort of .html thingy installed as a forum function members could access, but that would certainly be workable, provided the map was in a format everyone could open and save...
(Nunavut? When was the territory renamed?)
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I don't know how warpus' map works. It's supposed to track where the Yeti is, and each stop along the way should have a picture associated with it. You'd have to ask him (best thing would be to PM him at CFC). Even if the kind of map he's using for the Yeti project isn't suitable for here, he might be able to point you to some other kinds of mapping sources.
According to Wikipedia, Nunavut became its own territory on April 1, 1999. I remember the hoopla about it, but hadn't recalled just when it happened.
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I once had a hoser tell me Canada ran the Queen off a long time ago. I didn't argue with a native, but I did google it at the next opportunity and am still a-boogle that someone could be more ignorant of their own country than a yank.
Nunavut is a new one by me, though.
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There are lots of people who see the Queen as useless, and resent every time any of the Royal Family comes for a visit (since it costs $$$$$$ for security, diplomatic gifts, causes inconvenience for the public when certain roadways and buildings are off-limits for the duration of the visit - ran into that one myself when Princess Margaret came to Red Deer for a short visit back in the '80s; security wouldn't let me go into the public library to return a book).
But it's important we keep the Monarchy, since it's the Governor-General who does the royal assent on the bills that get passed, and also (s)he is a necessary part of the checks and balances that prevent the prime minister from becoming too much of a despot. We don't have any mechanism to impeach a PM who does something illegal (or really immoral).
I'm guessing the person you talked to was confused about the repatriation of the Constitution in 1982.
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I'm guessing the person I talked to was confused.
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There are lots of people who see the Queen as useless, and resent every time any of the Royal Family comes for a visit (since it costs $$$$$$ for security, diplomatic gifts, causes inconvenience for the public when certain roadways and buildings are off-limits for the duration of the visit - ran into that one myself when Princess Margaret came to Red Deer for a short visit back in the '80s; security wouldn't let me go into the public library to return a book).
But it's important we keep the Monarchy, since it's the Governor-General who does the royal assent on the bills that get passed, and also (s)he is a necessary part of the checks and balances that prevent the prime minister from becoming too much of a despot. We don't have any mechanism to impeach a PM who does something illegal (or really immoral).
I'm guessing the person you talked to was confused about the repatriation of the Constitution in 1982.
Why not just reform your government to be more efficient and remove such outdated nonsense? Follow our example, we showered our royal family with gifts: sure, they were made out of lead and went straight through their lungs and chest, but we were pretty generous. ;lol
(I joke of course. From what I hear your country follows a Parliament system: meaning nothing gets done.)
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How I personally feel about the Royal Family is this: I wish William could take over directly from Elizabeth because I lost all respect for Charles many years ago. However, it doesn't make any difference at all to Canadians' daily lives. The Governor General is more relevant to us.
Our current government actually does a lot. Mind you, not much of it is beneficial to regular people, and it's infuriating to anyone who is capable of actually thinking beyond the end of the current mandate.
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The monarchy is relatively powerless in actual government though isn't it?
I'm a simpleton when it comes to politics. If a system is just bloated and not progressing, or even despotic/over bureaucratic and corrupt im the type of guy who'll just boot down the door, start shooting and worry about democracy later. Once a government stagnates, or comes to the point they aren't doing their job and when change is needed, but the system isn't allowing it, forcive measure can be taken. I have a feeling there is going to be similar action in my own nation soon, given at how bought the elections are. Of course, that is just my opinion, but I've been right before so who knows.
Edit: Note, not saying I am a terrorist. There is a difference between a democratic government with proper process, and a stagnated circus that gets nothing done.
Plus, I doubt Canada is nowhere near as corrupt- or dangerous and violent- as my country is.
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The Royal Family hasn't had anything to do with our government for a long time now that isn't strictly ceremonial. The Queen is our formal head of state, but her representative, the Governor-General, is the person who takes care of the Royal Assent part of passing bills and the formalities of dropping the writ for elections. They can also veto shenanigans like proroguing Parliament, although they don't usually do that. Thing is, the Governor-General is appointed by the Prime Minister, so it's a rare time when the GG will go against his/her wishes (yes, we've had a female Prime Minister...).
We haven't had very many political assassinations in our history. The last time was in 1970, when the FLQ (a militant separatist group in Quebec) kidnapped a couple of politicians and killed one of them. The only other one I recall knowing about was back in 1885, when Louis Riel was hanged. Some would consider him a traitor who deserved to be hanged (because he led a rebellion to secure recognition and fair treatment for the Metis people), but others consider that he was unjustly executed.
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I'm not even going to touch my nation's history. Possibly one of the bloodiest in the whole world to be honest.
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I'm not even going to touch my nation's history. Possibly one of the bloodiest in the whole world to be honest.
surely, expecially when it was communist :P
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I'm not even going to touch my nation's history. Possibly one of the bloodiest in the whole world to be honest.
I bet China will even contest that. ;)
"We are the bloodiest! No, we are!"
Do you really expect a civil war to erupt, or more territories making an attempt to secede from central authority in Moskou somewhere in the next decade?
Besides a commie cell, and a gang of extremists going on a killing spree back in my teenage years, I can't recall (political) terrorism happening here in Belgium.
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Ariete, please watch what you call Communism, and I suggest you don't even approach the subject. I know your english isn't refined and you don't mean insult... but there is a fine line between Stalinism and even socialism, let alone Communism. Communism is a great ideal that suffered slandering by being associated by self proclaimed groups using the name as a veil for their operation in the same way "freedom" or "democracy" has.
And a subject I'd rather not broach overall.
There won't be territories making a split for themselves... that's ended in failure and lets face it, were all interconnected at this point...
I think the incompetent nationalism and nationalist faction in this country and the greed of the entire system and of all the oligarchs is going to come tumbling down due to massive unrest and a Socialist resurgence will hopefully take place. Hopefully better then the autocratic Soviet system and more of a Democratic Socialist take, unpoisoned by the claws of Stalinism. It'll b a movement that involves the entire region, not just small states.
Though, there is also the chance of Fascists taking power as well in portions, but that's unlikely and would be likely stamped out by the fire of the pressure and tension building up within the majority populace. What will happen I am thinking is the disgruntled portions of the military will lead a coup within the next 10 to 20 years or there will be a large amount of public outcry eventually demanding change and Socialist reform. Or both, people are unhappy here and the lack of care this government is showing is appalling.
Onto other subjects though, I seriously don't want to talk about this at the moment...
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Yes.
Has anyone done any recruiting lately? Let's be doing recruiting. Good work with Red and Ulti, Jarl.
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Red/Arbee is thinking of bringing a friend on the forum.
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;b; :danc: ;b;
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ahahhaha great jarl, i was joiking, it was a funny provocation. i'm waiting your reaction ... ;lol (i've friends ''comunists'', as you intend, in my country but i regret they are used by trade unions and parties for their dirty speculations in the name of the people)
i know people who believe in politics, religion or any other fundamentalism, are very sensitive to the slightest mention.
personally i don't belive ideologies and religions will save men, indeed, precisely because made and leaded by other men, will prove to be always false promises for the guidance of collective moral in one way.
with this i'm not saying that democracy is the perfect system, indeed is an illusion also that.
maybe someone can think i don't belive in nothing ... i belive in my little big family, in my real friends and in love, for everybody and everything, the only can save men, and even if preached by everyone it's always opposed.
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I'm no idealist Ariete. If anything im a very bitter man, its just I'd rather avoid the subject because I am not a very kind and temperate person, and I don't want to marr this forum with such bad behaviour. I have more respect for its denizens then that.
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with this i didn't certainly want to say that i'm a good Samaritan, i gotta enemies too, and maybe more than you, unfurtnaly out is not a love world, but i guess i'm open to all, more than a lot of people who see only in one direction, its.
i repeat that was a joke provocation, and i think we can discuss about everything without not respect someone.
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never mind...wrong thing...
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So, I'm asking about the feasibility of making a map that members may choose to go stick a pin in - perhaps with a couple of fields available that no one has to fill in if they don't want. I KNOW it's doable - how HARD to do?
We've tried that on the Halloweenforum, and a couple usergroups I'm in, and it always becomes a mess.
Poly USED to have a little country flag icon you could tick in your profile...maybe that's the sort of thing that would work better here?
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I'd really hoped the map thing was workable. It would look so cool...
I wouldn't doubt that the flag thing could work, if there's a plug-in, but 'poly has me with a flag I don't even recognize, and I never found where to correct, so there's that - and it wouldn't be the same, and using any plug-ins you can avoid causes all sorts of agro when there's an upgrade or something of the sort.
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Haven't been over there in ages, mind you, but I used to flip mine around to random obscure countries just for fun.
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Anyway...I've always seen people try to do the map thing through google maps. It loads like crap once you get a few pins in, and the popups with info are even worse. Then you typically have to lock the thing because people spam it, then it's someone's JOB...and etc.
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I don't mind janitor work unless the spambots find a way in. There's no end to that.
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A thing I've been remiss in announcing (being so busy with all the themes and new avatars and moving hosting of My Custom Factions Page (http://alphacentauri2.info/My%20Custom%20Factions/Custom%20Factions.htm) here last week) is that I've taken a half-ownership in the forum. I paid the server bill for half the year slightly over a month ago. I spent my own money, because this place matters, and if something happens to sisko now, we can soldier on. Changes nothing, really, except that much more security in the future of the site.
...
On a different note, you ever notice how slow it can be on weekends? I bring this up in the cause of encouraging anyone who checks by on a slow day and feels a little disappointment to try to do something remedial. I see some of the usual suspects hanging around -- Do the same thing we did to build this site into something alive and special in the first place; post moar. Go to a little extra effort to create activity - the Funny Pictures thread isn't getting any longer without us posting more funny pictures. I'll back you up.
I'm still mad at Labor Day anyway - it damped the momentum that made August the most active month ever for AC2. But we can get that back pretty quickly; it wouldn't take a whole lot of people trying a little bit harder to start a snowball effect. We've done it before and we'll do it again.
Who's with me?
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I paid the server bill for half the year slightly over a month ago. I spent my own money, because this place matters, and if something happens to sisko now, we can soldier on. Changes nothing, really, except that much more security in the future of the site.
hi uncle and thank you for the opportunities you give us, and personally thank you to had teached me how make graphics of custom facs, i'll always remember, i've lived a life doing things i felt without expecting anything, and in real life is so rare peoples follow this philosophy, and between friends should be do it.
unfortunately we don't know us in real life and i'm not properly so able to take part of a community as the veterans. it's the first forum where i try to share, first because i'm only 3 years i've the possibility to connect, and then i've an english all mine.
one thing is sure, here is the place where i expose me most of all other 3 or 4 forum where i'm registered.
surely you've thought about it but probaly you've chosen not, why not insert advertising? could help you and i think members can tolerate it.
p.s. your tone scares me : it seems if one of the owners dies, are killed or enter in prison the web site goes on at the same.
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We tried ads for a while earlier this year - sisko didn't tell me when he gave up, so I don't know much except that they weren't making much money. I don't have an awful lot of money myself, but server bills are cheap compared to cigarettes, and I'll be okay. I do not spend money casually -I'm cheap, which is why I have any money- but AC2 is important to a lot of us. It's worth it.
A lot of how you do in the community is up to you. English is a barrier, but half or more of the members here aren't native speakers, and everybody understands that you're trying. Keep trying, and your English will improve - recruit more Italians who can get by in English, too, and you'll have more people to talk to and to help with that.
P.S. Nobody here's dispensable, but it would suck if sisko got hit by a bus and I had no way to take over and keep going - that's why I stepped up and took on half the expenses. Now to get this place so healthy that it would survive without me... ;)
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As has been discussed at length in the BE folder, a new game can be a danger to a fan community as well as a building opportunity - witness what happened to the Civ forums after Civ5. But this is a HUGE opportunity for all of us, and please never forget that.
We’re all over everyone getting excited; the BE announcement drove more than double the usual activity over the weekend, and several new members signed up and have posted. This is all good, of course. We can expect more over the next six months, as new developments arise.
If Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth turns out to be good, Alpha Centauri 2 Forum stands to benefit enormously, being uniquely positioned for a game like BE. If not, well - -
We can still win big. I always knew there was a lot of love for SMACX out there among the CIVillians, but I’ve been very struck by HOW MUCH since the announcement Saturday morning. A lot of people have been reminded of SMACX forcefully, and no few have been pulling out their old copies to install on their current rigs. I have seen it happening.
So what does this mean to we, the hard-core SMACX fans already in place, and what can we do to benefit our community?
No matter how satisfying BE turns out to be -or not be- we need to stay the course, only more so. Keep playing SMACX, posting about it, modding it, reporting bugs, posting AARS and fanfic, playing MP games, being good to each other, and all the things we already do to make a good fan community - only do even more of it. -Right now, six months from now, in-between and on into the future, however BE turns out.
This is an extraordinary opportunity to build, to get more people in here posting to entertain each other - we only have to keep making a nice place to hang out. BE will draw a lot of people to have a look at our inline home, so let's pretty it up; SMACX will still be there and still rock, no matter what.
We can do it. ;b;
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As has been discussed at length in the BE folder, a new game can be a danger to a fan community as well as a building opportunity - witness what happened to the Civ forums after Civ5. But this is a HUGE opportunity for all of us, and please never forget that.
A question- what happened to the Civ forums?
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Well, everybody was very VERY excited about ciV, much much activity happened - and about three weeks in, most people concluded that it sucked. Then as much of half the membership at various places wandered off. Sucked almost all the activity out of the WPC AC section, for example, and those people didn't come back to SMACX when disappointment set in. Mart was in the middle of running a SMAX demogame, then 5 happened and it ended with pretty much just him and Vishniac.
We need to do us a Demogame here, BTW.
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As has been discussed at length in the BE folder, a new game can be a danger to a fan community as well as a building opportunity - witness what happened to the Civ forums after Civ5. But this is a HUGE opportunity for all of us, and please never forget that.
A question- what happened to the Civ forums?
They got more than a little uncivilized. I was a moderator there at the time, and very glad that the Civ V forums weren't my assigned area.
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Now, I didn't see any of that at Woopcie. I suppose that explains the obnoxiously aggressive moderation I'm seeing now in the most casual and brief of skims in the CFC BE folder.
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The Civ V game brought in a flood of new posters, some of whom had NO idea how to behave on discussion boards. Naturally, some of the old-timers got annoyed at that, told them off, and when infractions should have been handed out, ainwood said, "Oh, don't infract them too badly, they might get mad and leave." ::)
It was a madhouse. I was doing A&E at the time - trying to sort out the rules for that, since it was pretty new, and getting the hang of OT. Somebody asked if I'd consider Civ V and I said no - mostly because I've barely played Civ III (and honestly feel that Civ moderators ought to be familiar with the games whose forums they moderate) and the rest because I just didn't want to have to deal with being nice to a bunch of rude twits who had no concept of manners. I know it's a moderator's job to be diplomatic, unbiased, tactful, etc., but some of these new people just went out of their way to be obnoxious.
So if the current staff is being strict from the get-go with this newest game, I don't really blame them. It's easier to let up on the rules later, than crack down later when it's been unusually lenient early on.
This all said, I haven't even looked at the new forum there - just collapsed it, since I don't do much there anymore, since the email notifications quit working.
(sorry, I know you prefer to leave other forums' problems there, but a question did get asked...)
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No problem; that's educational at my favorite hobby. As I said Saturday morning
It's the kind of problem you WANT to have, yes, but I sincerely dread the thought of too many newbs at once. We've formed a forum culture that's exactly the way we want it - except I've never drummed up as much activity in the Rec Commons as I'd like. I just desperately don't want to spend a lot of time banning rude kids, and no way that wouldn't happen unless we failed very badly at capitalizing on this...
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This reminds me to mention, in fact, that my mostly-official policy is - well, you know I consider newb-bashing a hanging offence, but -and you'll clearly recall the specific case I have in mind- some people demonstrate that they're pure poison pretty quickly. If you can't make it 10-20 posts without creating problems, some animals are more equal, and you're not one of them.
It is a profound mistake to abuse the rest of the members pretending otherwise.
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Activity was already on a mild upswing when the BE announcement caught us by surprise, and it's driven a lot of traffic. Member visits have roughly doubled, and people are posting. Alas, the news has not paced out to give us new dribs and drabs to keep up BE interest directly, but it's still inspired two SMACX mod projects that have stirred up a lot of excitement. New member sign-ups are on the rise, and an unprecedented percentage of those are actually posting.
This is exactly what we need to be doing - keep SMACin'. Get our house in good order, so we can retain some people drawn by BE whether it turns out to be good or not. ;b;
Where we're not doing as well is in MP - I've done what I can to encourage a resurgence, but the MPlayers have to do that for themselves. It would help if everyone would go take an interest in the effort to get a Democracy Game going. It would also help if I got off my dead butt and got the GotM in the works out the door. We need more GotM scenarios.
We need more AARs. Everybody loves AARs, and Planet Tales could be busier w/ new fanfic.
I realized today that we have more on-topic activity than Apolyton and WPC combined - two places with enormous advantages over us. So we're doing great, but we can do even better. BE is coming.
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I'm sorry, a lowtime is comin' a-up for me. Travels limits SMAC'ing time. :'(
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All you have is all the community can ask...
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gwillybj posted an invitation to come check out AC2 to two modders on a Usenet group today, and to that I say
;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b;
;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b;
;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b;
;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b;
;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b;
...Who have you invited? Know anyone? Miss anyone from the old days? Know of a place SMACers would see an invitation? Filling our ranks with good people to post and entertain us is always in order. ;nod
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:P ;realdog
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Hello Gentlemen
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Sigma!
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I'd only been moved home for not quite a week when the BE news broke, and RL duties and online have seen to it that I've never recovered from being tired.
People, I've had numerous members for weeks now pointing out things I need to do better, and my back's starting to get up. I'm only human, and getting criticized daily for how I do my thankless job running this place is now officially old. Just be aware that I feel like I'm getting it in the neck from all directions and too many helpful suggestions too often start to all sound exactly like "YOU SUCK!". Please frame helpful suggestions as positively as possible, because my feelings done been hurt too many times lately, and I'm sensitive now. Please.
It is worth noting once again that we're doing more on-topic activity than Apolyton and WPC combined lately. AC2 is bursting at the seams with vitality and growth right now, a thing that makes me happy. However, that also means that I've got a lot on my plate while I try to get a big project taken care of. I'm juggling an awful lot of eggs.
Ask yourself if that PM you mean to send me really needs to be private - if it does, fine, ping away, but PMs eat up my time and aren't activity on the boards. I like maximum feasible transparency in how the forum is run, too.
Don't post to reassure me; there's always too much chatter in this thread burying motivational addresses I really want everyone to see, and a little relief is all I need. Instead, be recruiting members, working on projects, posting about SMACX, talking light-hearted crap in Rec Commons, and reviving MP -and all the million helpful things I'm leaving out- those are all the reassurance I need.
And posting here to talk about building the community -and how- is always in order.
I love you guys, and it's going to be okay. This community is a-buildin'!
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Now that's clearly a community I want to be part of!
When I first posted here (2~3 days ago?), I thought it would just be that post in the French section, and maybe a weekly check for feedback… All I wanted at the moment was to share my work in building a full archive allowing to turn an English version of SMAC to a French one (it took me several sleepless nights, I badly want it to be used!)
But it wouldn't be that easy ;)
Being a SMACer to death, I think I've found the place I didn't even think to look for during all those years…
Am I turning sentimental?
Might be the first symptoms of sleep deprivation…
Maybe I should allow myself a good day of sleep and come back here for a good night of reading and posting.
(no, I'm not a vampire, but you know how Internet can steal your sleep away so easily)
Hey, I'm sure this forum was lacking some Linux SMACers ;)
Did I tell you I already love this place?
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I have a wish for this forum: is it possible that, when clicking on "Quote", it doesn't take you to the Quick Reply window down there but opens the full-options Reply page?
I always must copy-paste the quote and click Reply to have my smileys and everything.
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I don't know any way to set that up. What I do is hit the Preview button after Quote, which loads the Reply page with the smilies and all the buttons.
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I don't know any way to set that up. What I do is hit the Preview button after Quote, which loads the Reply page with the smilies and all the buttons.
It works! ;b;
Thanks, Man!
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:D
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I've been thinking about the inadequacy of the capacity and reliability of our Downloads section. It's just not good enough, and this is an area I'm pretty helpless to do anything about. I'm not a real tech guy, more an accomplished user, and both my tech support guys have been AWOL lately with RL time concerns. There are also other important tech things not getting taken care of...
So two questions for those strong with The Tech; what can we do about getting a better Downloads section without spending money? And would you be interested in helping directly? ('Cause I might not understand your answer completely, depending, let alone be able to implement it competently - I'll try to get sisko to swing by and have a look at any responses.)
In the meanwhile, I cannot too strongly urge those of you with big files hosted offsite to plaster the page with backlinks and encouragement to check out our forum. A big part of what we MUST have a good Downloads for is as lurkerbait...
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If there's an extension or relatively intuitive config change available which would fix the problem, I'd almost certainly be able to get it working. If, however, as I suspect the problem is with something deeper in the server (AC2 has slightly inconsistent page loading, hinting that there's something generally wrong with the server's connection which could easily interfere with downloads, especially big downloads) the best route would probably be to change servers.. which I could also probably do/help with, but would take some effort and is definitely not happening until I get home (if done I suggest: copy over software, test it out, shut down/editing posting here, copy over db, test new server, and only if everything works right actually shut down the old server, and keep backups anyway). Out of curiosity, I took a look at the current host to try and compare it to some I've been recommended. Their main page (http://www.wildcard.net.uk/ (http://www.wildcard.net.uk/)) says has site under construction, which is not super reassuring.. it'd be handy to have the price per month and a couple of general statistics for the site (bandwidth, total storage), plus know if anything else is hosted on the server if going that route. Oh, and OS would be nice too.
Other option: Keep track of available downloads on the forum or wiki, but have the actual file hosted off-site. So people did not actually visit other sites, just the download came from them. Disadvantage is on forum it would be super annoying to maintain the indexes by hand, and on wiki people have to upload elsewhere then edit the wiki to get something up. Both also lose the ability to easily count downloads and a degree of handy integration with the forum.
Edit: Looked around more I would not be surprised if host was the issue. They've got a site saying they'll have a site soon, but the links to their twitter/blog show total two tweets and one blog post from 2013, nothing from 2014. Maybe they just don't pay much attention to web presence, but if they're into hosting it seems pretty neglectful to have quite so little. Infrastructure decay?
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I suspect we're bumping up against the server package's limit lately with the recent activity surge - I've been getting more errors. Money is a problem - the server bills really add up. The traffic is such that we could probably break even if we took on some ads, but I doubt the next level of server capacity would only be twice as expensive, even shopping around, and we're up against all we're willing to go out of pocket.
My guess would be that better extensions would be hard to come by - our SMF forum software is crowd-sourced, and they don't tend to jump all over it when someone reports a problem limitation. The entire mod/admin interface is, frankly, a poorly-integrated mess, and no use complaining. It, however, has the considerable virtue of the price being right.
I will direct sisko's attention here...
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Money is a problem - the server bills really add up. The traffic is such that we could probably break even if we took on some ads, but I doubt the next level of server capacity would only be twice as expensive, even shopping around, and we're up against all we're willing to go out of pocket.
I'd rather give some money to help soften the cost of hosting the forum, than seeing our nice place polluted by ads.
I won't make a difference alone, but I hope I'm not the only one willing to help here!
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All kinds of hassles involved in accepting donations, not least that it's not an ongoing renew stream, but the begging for contributions would be ongoing.
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All kinds of hassles involved in accepting donations, not least that it's not an ongoing renew stream, but the begging for contributions would be ongoing.
Sorry, my English skills left me for the part I've put in blod…
Here in France, accepting donations can sometime be such a mess than it ends up costing more money than what is raised through the said donations.
From what I understand, it's not really better where you are…
I wish I had the skills to provide real technical help with hosting problems, but all I can do today is providing my full moral support.
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Keep participating in the community -activity draws more activity- and you've contributed in the most important way.
I had a typo. It should have read "ongoing revenue stream". -That's business-speak for I'd rather have $20 dollars a month from AdSense than $50 from you today. I don't want all the complications that come with accepting donations and having to ask all the time forever.
Ads on forums suck, but I can get them to not use the political ads on us, and nobody cares about the rest - you stop noticing, quick.
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Okay, I got your point and I think I could live with it ;)
Anyway, with my custom browser I don't see a lot of ads on the Web: any cross-site request is blocked by default and I have to allow them case-by-case.
Should this forum rely on ads for supporting hosting and bandwidth cost, it'll go in my (very small) whitelist of sites allowed to use such cross-site requests.
(might sound a bit pedantic, but I nearly never do this unless I truly want to support the said website)
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Donation accepting is not necessarily all that messy, using GitTip (which is a weekly tip service) gets around the issues with paypal or credit cards and the monthly being better than one time thing. Would make it much easier for more than just BU/sisko to fund the site. Take a look around their site: https://www.gittip.com/ (https://www.gittip.com/)
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Ads on forums suck, but I can get them to not use the political ads on us, and nobody cares about the rest - you stop noticing, quick.
I'd rather have the political ones and not the commercial ones.
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If the download section is using a lot of bandwidth you could reduce your costs by hosting it elsewhere. I can provide fast and free static file hosting quite easily for non-commercial content. (I currently host about 9 GBs of content for an ARMA group and must have used hundreds of GBs of bandwidth).
There might be a possibility of hosting the whole forum for a moderate sum with the same people but I'd have to ask a bit and the forum would have to be strictly non-commercial (no ads at all). If you want me to look into that, let me know, but bear in mind it might not be possible.
If you let me know what your current costs and requirements are I can have a look around commercial hosts too (I have plenty of friends who do this professionally, so there's a possibility of finding somewhere cheaper).
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Nothing personal, but I have zero interest in any server host who tries to tell us what we can and cannot do. I'll give sisko a heads-up, though.
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I'm part of a computing society that provides free hosting for individuals and low cost hosting for societies and maybe a couple of other non-commercial entities. The resources of the computing society are colocated in the University, and it would be a bit inappropriate to use their utilities (power and network) for free if we were hosting commercial entities.
It's an offer. Hosting the downloads would be trivial and I can do that on my personal account. Hosting the forum would be a bigger thing that we might not be able to do, but that might be good for the forum because it would be cheap for the quality.
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I hope sisko will think over the Downloads part - what we need there is capacity and reliability w/ good site integration/backlinking/AC2 branding. I don't recall ads ever displaying in there when we tried them previously, so that part shouldn't be a problem.
The forum as a whole, though, we'd like to stop spending our own personal money to maintain. I don't mind spending a good deal of my waking life running this place, but backing it with money, too, is a bit much.
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I understand.
A low cost, no advertising solution might be what you want if the existing costs less the advertising revenue are still less than the hosting from my folk. If AC grew large enough that that equation looked to be tipping the other way it would be simple enough to move back to a commercial host and set up adverts.
I don't particularly want to encourage you to use the Computing Society anyway, just throwing it out there because you were complaining about the existing performance and cost.
As I said, let me know your deets if you want me to check with the hosts I know about, or not if you've got it sorted. Just trying to give you some options; I don't want you and sisko to be paying out of pocket for this place either.
If you did want me to mirror or host the downloads section, branding wouldn't be a particular issue. OTOH, there's no' much point moving the downloads somewhere else unless they're costing you significant bandwidth or something.
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Combining DrazharLn's offer with a GitTip account may work pretty well to achieve what BU wants in the short term, if we can get a small handful of people putting like 30 cents a week in. This place is not exactly resource intensive, it's a smallish forum and a small text based low activity wiki, plus some static downloads. Requiring non-commercial is fine so long as it's cool that we accept donations to cover hosting/domain costs.
If sisko's okay with it I'd encourage the basic specs needed to run AC2 be posted publicly, along with what you're currently paying. There's no real reason to have it hidden and having it in the open would help people to help.
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This idea does not thrill me - I already said what I think about accepting donations.
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Your objection was that one off donations are not sustainable (and secondarily that it adds complication), which is specifically and entirely solved by the site I suggest.
Take a look: https://www.gittip.com/ (https://www.gittip.com/)
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Too late to think. Brain hurts. Bed.
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Sleep is important!
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Especially a reliable cryogenic or stasis version if you want to go interstellar! ;zak;
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Okay, here's the thing, since a diplomatic and true answer wasn't good enough, I'm forced to put my foot down. I had a traumatic experience with a forum that took donations, and turned out to have justice for sale. Even though I'm on the other end of it and that won't happen here, we'll take donations over my. dead. body. It may not be rational, but I don't care. Not going to happen here, no matter the safeguards/anonymity/dependability of money, and I'd rather not hear about it again.
Besides, I cannot imagine how the dependability could possibly be fixed. Not. Interested. -Period.
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In other words, we're going to see ads on the forum? Just asking, not complaining.
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I have yet to obtain a response from my co-owner. Basically, my tech support guys hate the idea but would help implement, and if sisko ever speaks up, I have to think he'll say yes - reluctantly. We both hate ads, but we're also both tight with a penny.
Some options about hosting are under discussion, so the question could end up being moot, anyway.
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we'll take donations over my. dead. body. It may not be rational, but I don't care. Not going to happen here, no matter the safeguards/anonymity/dependability of money, and I'd rather not hear about it again.
Besides, I cannot imagine how the dependability could possibly be fixed. Not. Interested. -Period.
You'll excuse me for not being privy to all the subtleties of the internet, the law and the donations but...what if someone just send the money to you and you use it for the forum?
Nothing official.
If we are going to get ads, I want them to be like that:
Rob Maness TV Ad - Gator (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBNQBx6JOcw#ws)
:D
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Man, I'm just not reasonable on the subject and don't want your money.
Aeson at 'poly -a member here and a friend I talk some owner shop with- counsels me, BTW, that I could have the ads display for no one but lurkers, which is where the bulk of the hits come from anyway - so no downside for members, if we can rig it that way.
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Aeson at 'poly -a member here and a friend I talk some owner shop with- counsels me, BTW, that I could have the ads display for no one but lurkers, which is where the bulk of the hits come from anyway - so no downside for members, if we can rig it that way.
A handmade/kept list of who isn't privy to ads? Quite a stick behind the door for those ignoring "hat on" remarks. ;lal;
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ah, I see where your reluctance comes from then. Still, looked at objectively it seems to be a good option, with "justice for sale" not working if the guys being donated to don't accept it, which I trust you two won't.
Ads are ugly in more ways than just the visual. Specifically, it's easy for a site to stagnate if the owners start making a consistent profit from it, because they have no/much less incentive to pass leadership on once they move onto new projects, and on a healthy forum the users will keep making useful content to draw people in indefinitely. That's something I have long and painful experience of and would greatly prefer not to happen to AC2.
I would be more comfortable with ads if:
1. finances were made public, at least to staff
2. at minimum a significant majority of any profits after paying back past/current hosting costs, was earmarked for a fund to be used for AC2-projects (e.g. prizes for GOTM winners, upgrading the server, having an emergency fund)
3. advertising was used at a minimal level to support necessary hosting and other costs, rather than going for maximum profit.
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Let me think it over before I respond in full - I have no problem with sharing the numbers with the staff. Staff is trusted or they wouldn't be staff.
A handmade/kept list of who isn't privy to ads? Quite a stick behind the door for those ignoring "hat on" remarks. ;lal;
Ad display as punishment? That's a funny idea I'll think about.
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A few related thoughts not intended as an answer in full:
I'm for maximum transparency, you're for maximum transparency, everyone's for it. There's stuff best not discussed in public -people, mostly, but you know there's little of that in the Staff Room (because we've got a genuinely good crowd and don't need it; the closest we've got to a troublemaker around is, IMO, harmless and on our side). I like to discuss recruiting in public to encourage members to engage in recruiting (though there is plenty of that in there, mostly because you can discuss it in public too much and turn people off - also, sometimes details of this promotion or that outreach are pretty boring to anyone not devoted to the promotion or outreach).
We already have pretty close to maximum transparency, witness the Rules thread, for example, where I thought Yitzi's detail-oriented nature was perfect to chair member-sourcing the rules, which are for you guys - I don't need 'em if you don't, and folks seem happy with how AC2 is run and they are treated.
And this - I'm not comfortable talking about my money to anyone. Southern cultural thing, I guess. I'm bending on that, but let's not get carried away about talking about my money, and the numbers thereof, ok? I know I raised the issue here repeatedly, but it's presuming, by my standards, to enquire into specifics on something I'd rather be private about in public. I've told people with a need to know privately, and having my druthers respected in this would be nice.
There's going to be similar feelings involved when I've thought out what I think about distribution of potential future profits. Those ideas have merit, but they're in conflict with the fact that I've poured two years+ of my life into this place and backed my devotion up with my own scant funds since last year. If I manage to make this imaginary profit, no one has any right to tell me not to put my half in my pocket and keep it, or think less of me for it. I've earned that imaginary future money, for real - look at my accumulated total hours logged in. (Logged in: 390d 10h 40m at this writing.) I'd be inclined to share the bounty with deserving staff out of a sense of fairness, but that turns into mighty small pieces of a pie terribly unlikely to be worth splitting, and with no one spending a fraction worth mentioning of the time I do. That's my money you presume to give away for me, ete - you should be happy with the idea of me and sisko maybe ending up getting something (besides the company of my many friends here, which is what I'm in this for in the first place) back for our selfless efforts to make this place for everyone.
I'm here to stay, and don't have any prospects of a life developing to take me away, and little drama of note in two years + here. If this turned into a business -which I have trouble imagining, but play along- I'd definitely be inclined to roll early profits back into the enterprise with an eye towards making more profits - server capacity and all that, super file hosting, try to make the pie big enough to be worth dividing among the staff with a pay schedule that motivated them to be here working and making the place better, to draw more traffic and make me more money. Greed would still motivate me to do right by everyone - that's the way I think.
I do love the idea about diverting some into prizes, though (not in the greedy mode now). sisko loves to run contests when he has the time - what the heck; we're never going to make serious money doing this, and it might give those contests a serious kick. Pray for that.
I'm still thinking it over... ;)
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I hope you bear in mind two things when reading and replying:
1. My highest priority is to make AC2 as good a host and nurturing ground for useful content as possible.
2. I have spent literally years working on and around sites with frustrating and poor leadership, specifically because the leaders had an incentive to stay in the top job and collect the $ rather than passing over the controls and access to people who would improve the site, which resulted in inordinate wasted contributor-time due to poorly maintained systems and politics.
You've got a handful of things which are raw nerves for you and you ask people to respect, this is one of mine.
That's my money you presume to give away for me, ete - you should be happy with the idea of me and sisko maybe ending up getting something (besides the company of my many friends here, which is what I'm in this for in the first place) back for our selfless efforts to make this place for everyone.
I'm sorry, but I have a different philosophy on this and cannot agree. You have spent by far the most time on here, and sisko's contributed a significant amount of technical effort setting this place up, but the reason those pageviews happen is not primarily you two. You are necessary, but not sufficient. The contributors to a site produce far more useful content than the leaders, and while leadership is hard (I've founded and run projects bigger than AC2, and been involved as staff in ones which dwarf it), it's also rewarding and satisfying.
As sisko's profile says "This place is yours, not mine.". I like that. I like that a lot. The owners of a site which is popular on the backs of its users should, in my opinion, not consider income generated by that site their by default, and only given away for future profits, or for charity. The money should by default be considered the community's, and only given directly to owners if that seems like an appropriate and agreed upon investment for part of the community's income.
I am not saying no site community owner should make any money. I am saying in my experience they have a frequently neglected a moral duty to not try and maximize their own income at the expense of the community, and that transparency of accounts is one of the few things which will hold an owner to account if they're profiting without pumping a large portion of the revenue the community generates back into the community. Your discomfort with talking about money is not something I am ignoring, but sunlight disinfects.
For the record, if AC2 does end up in a position where there are funds which need sharing out, my vote will go to sending sending all the non-essentials to you and sisko until you've been payed back for hosting costs, and even once that's repayed a significant portion going to you two if you're still active. Having profits assumed as yours and numbers not disclosed is a very different situation from the community giving back to you for your activity in my mind.
I am saying I am uncomfortable with how things could go and the incentives placed on you. Pushing as hard for recruiting and building as you do when you just love the community is one thing, pushing hard for recruiting and working harder if you're making money of of other people's work feels much more questionable to me.
I'm going to post the plans which you seemed to be fairly positive about and encouraged me to share with others that we discussed earlier in the staff forum, and ask sisko and others to look over them. I'll post at least a summary of them in public within the next few days. It's long term, so if you've had enough of paying for the server for now, I offer to take over your contribution to running the site in full, with nothing changing in terms of your or my position in the staff. I care about getting this right and am willing to put my money where my mouth is.
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I hear you and do not disagree - my last was one side of my head talking, not my complete opinion, which is going to take time to sort out.
I don't want your money, and I am going to take severe offense if people keep offering.
And man oh man, I am nothing but raw nerves - I fly into a rage IRL when my coffee spoon isn't where I left it in the morning. I'm proud of how well I succeed in suppressing those impulses online, but that I'm that way can't come as a shock.
However, I'm in this for the community and the people - I never thought I might make money. I don't hate the idea of that happening, but I'd never considered it until recently. This is a genuinely altruistic scam to get me people to enjoy talking to enterprise. ;)
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-And furthermore, I want to point out that you'd be getting a much better reaction if you were asking instead of demanding. I'm getting frustrated here. I do that when people don't back off when I point out a button. Most people do. Try to meet me halfway, like I'm trying with you.
Please?
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I am trying to explain, ask, and convince, not demand. If that's not how it's coming across, I apologise, but "demand things" is not what I'm going for here.
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Okydoke. I'm feeling pushed, and it's a challenge to suppress nastiness when I feel defensive.
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Ete, BUncle isn't the only admin of a Civ-related site who has stated flat-out that he doesn't want to accept donations. Thunderfall has said this as well, over at CivFanatics.
I'm sure BUncle would be inclined to listen to politely-worded suggestions, but it's rude to push against the boundaries he's set. He said he won't accept donations. It's up to the rest of us to respect his wishes and not argue about it.
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My 2 cents...
- donations are unreliable ... look at Wikipedia ... they have to run ads begging for donations many years just to cover costs, and they have more public goodwill than most sites. Their traffic is worth several hundreds of millions of dollars, with their costs in the teens of millions.
- donations introduce a form of leverage that specific posters will have over the entire site. It can lead to decisions being made in order to fund the site, rather than in order to improve it. Especially problematic for smaller communities where a single donor might be the main contributor (and thus have to be catered to if the site will survive).
- profits from ads allow sites to be improved. Contests and giveaways, professional services, better hosting, and even advertising to draw in new visitors. Those are things profitable sites can do. (Or do more of in cases where someone is already doing so while taking losses.)
- ads are pretty easy to target. You can show them just to search engine traffic for instance. Search engine traffic usually being the most lucrative anyways. People who come back day after day and see the same ads day after day will go ad blind. They know where the ads are subconsciously and just skip them.
- ads can be used as a promotional tool to drum up activity. You can set achievement levels where ads won't be shown anymore.
- for those who really don't like ads, ad blockers exist.
- the worry about profit demotivating ownership is almost always going to be backwards. Profit motivates owners to improve their sites. Because online if you aren't actively improving your site, your profits are diminishing. There's always someone else out there working diligently to get your customers/members.
There's really no downside to ads.
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Welcome newb - behave or be destroyed.
(:D Aeson is my buddy who took over ownership of Apolyton about the beginning of the year, and I think he's going to turn the place around - please get in the habit of checking by 'poly AC regularly and see if you feel like commenting. He's been very supportive of cross-site promotions I've done there, and we'll profit from growing the Greater SMACX Community by encouraging the health of his AC section. Forums are not like girlfriends - you can have more than one.)
(Aeson makes his living off running internet gaming sites, and I've watched him treating people right at 'poly anyway, and he knows what he's talking about. -Also, he signed up here because he's gotten SMACX in the BE news wake, like a lot of people. He's one of us, now. -And really a newb.)
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He's one of us, now. -And really a newb.
Send him to the thread about a new game! :D
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He's not ready for MP, pal-o-mine, much as I'd like to throw you some fresh meat. :D
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Forums are not like girlfriends - you can have more than one.
Wait, you can't have more than one girlfriend at a time?
Where is the fun in such artificial limitations?
:D
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But you're French. It's different most places. :D
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BU, if you don't want to hear about donations, don't read this. I'm replying to Aeson, and putting my thoughts on his thoughts out there for others.
Aeson: Most of those are reasonable points (and thank you for using logic rather than underlined foot putting down and dead bodies, let it never be said that I don't like a calm debate), but both of the models I'm suggesting do not run into most of the problems you bring up, and brings many of the advantages. Specifics: I am in favor of a primarily recurring donation model, which does not rely on one-time donations at all. If donors demand unreasonable things, they should be ignored, and adverts available to switch to as a backup source of income so no one can hold a site hostage. I am also in favor of an open and accountable use of adverts, where the income is deemed worthwhile to the community. If what the money is being spent on is out in the open and the community gets a fair say in what to use it on (not actually voting on it or anything, just knowing what's happening and the admins listening to their suggestions), I am actually cool with adverts. Again: I am okay with adverts if they're done reasonably. However, I have worked on a site which had poor administration due to the leader making money off the backs of contributors without giving anything back for years, ads with everything kept secret do come with potentially major disadvantages beyond making a site look ugly.
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I don't think you can blame ads for a bad owner. Ad-free sites can have bad owners/management too. I can understand being upset if you find out that you've been doing a lot of work for someone who is now profiting off that work.
It's important to judge the situation as it is, rather than to try to draw parallels to other situations where there are obvious differences. BU has proven that he's not here for the money. He's worked diligently to improve the site even though he's been paying out of pocket to keep it going. So I think he deserves respect in that regard, and in regards to his intentions. If he says he'd plow back in the profits to improving the site, I would trust him on it. He's already shown he's willing to take a hit (time and money) to do that, and having some extra money from the site would only make it easier to do. He hasn't given us any reason not to trust him. The amount of money we're talking about isn't likely to change a person either ;)
Recurring donations have the same problem as one time donations. They aren't reliable. People can stop them any time they want, for any reason they want. Switching from donor support to ads can be problematic in it's own right. You could get past donors up in arms about how you're profiting off a site they helped build (essentially as investors). There may even be legal ramifications there.
As for what to do with the money, ultimately it's a decision that's in the hands of ownership. I would agree that transparency is a good thing. But it's important to bear in mind that users have been happy to use the site, so implicitly their compensation is the site itself, and the work that's been done to improve the site. The site benefits from their participation, and they benefit from the site.
For staff, that's between the owner and staff. There's important work being done, but also a component where the staff are benefiting from the site (or even from being on the staff). I'd just respect whatever agreement they come to about what compensation, if any, is to be given.
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As for the game, I used to play a lot of SMAC. It's been years since I last played it so I'm probably quite the noob. I did install it just after BE was announced, but I haven't been able to fire up SMAC yet. This is one of the problems of management of a website/forum. There's always more work to do if you're a "hands on" type ...
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In regards to hosting concerns, I've moved all my sites over to DigitalOcean now. Best place I've found for unmanaged VPS. Good prices, good performance.
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ete, why don't you spit off the conversation about governance, finances and transparency into its own thread? Title at your discretion . It's important stuff, but not about motivating the membership, my purpose for this thread.
Incidentally, I've had the thought that if I had 20 bucks in hand earmarked to reward some people with, Yitzi would likely get the lion's share - not because of his staff status, but obviously for his diligent labor on a very popular patch. Content is king, and all, and as a modder-heavy community, we have a lot of content contributors who ought to be high on the priority list. I also like it when people take an interest in the health of the forum and how it's run, so I'll embarrass you, ete, by pointing out that you'd do really well for that and your long labors on the AC Wiki...
This is only the beginning of an idea without proportions or details worked out...
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While unfortunately the way things go is that the admins will usually bear the financial burden, I do not feel anyone would feel put upon if you put a non discreet "tip jug" somewhere on your site.
I do not believe google adsense will pay for the costs because you really need about 50 times the traffic for that.
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With respect, we're not going to take donations and the subject is closed. This exact thing is an example of why forums do not work as democracies. We are nerdz, and will argue forever. Someone has to make final decisions, or the chaos is eternal and crippling. I've been on the webs more than five minutes, and I'm expressing an observation of unvarnished fact.
I struggle to work in all the democracy I can, being an authority-figure-hater myself, and terribly uncomfortable in that role. It does NOT say Admin in my postbit (except when I'm uploading something to Downloads, because tech stuff) for a very good reason - this is, as sisko wisely says in his sig, your place. However, he may not consider it also his, but I do. It is yours and it is also mine. I am a member here, too, and my management style is founded in my style as a pushy common member who took an interest in the health of my forum and how it was run; I got in on the ground floor of a promising new place as a newb before I came here. I try to position myself as first citizen rather than king, leading through persuasion rather than bringing my powers to bear. I edited a post the other day for language, something I hadn't had to do (use any of my admin powers on someone) in months - normally, I ask people to regulate themselves and/or do their own edits, but this was a case where I felt anything that could be taken as a scolding might hurt the member's feelings. I have to balance many factors in this job, and sometimes it's difficult to explain all of them.
Another problem I face is getting satisfactory participation in many efforts to include the membership in decision-making. You (generic whoever's reading) may not care about smilies if you're even aware of the thread in Rec Commons. Fine, but when only Geo comments, only he and I get a vote. That's democracy in action, and if you read that thread, you'll find me indulging myself very little and consistently seeking input and making revisions based on any input I can manage to get. This is an ongoing fun forum project of mine, and when there's little attention paid, I am bothered as a creator and as a manager alike.
The more people give me feedback, the more democratic AC2 is. Period. That has always been the case, and forgive me if as a person and a member, as well as a manager, I find suggestions based in the assumption that I am or will be less than egalitarian deeply offensive, and wrong as a matter of widely-demonstrated provable fact.
But someone has to make the calls, and I got stuck with the job here.
Democracy begins with people taking opportunities to vote and be heard. The citizen Rules thread is stickied below this one. Considerable power is there to be grasped by anyone who choses and can make their case.
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You have answered your own questions. Do as you feel you must. There are many forums that exist small and large as charities and purposes in life because the admins want them to be. They vary from cool places to eventually nonexistent depending on those admins. Is this worth money to the admins? If it is a charity, let posters hear no more. Do the posters care or just want content and things to discuss? Welcome to the fold.
Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily. Can it be? You bet, given the right circumstances.
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I achieved bronze!? When did that happen? :o
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Bronze? What?
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3th overall poster of the forum. :P
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Oh that - you've been in 3rd place since late May, or something. I may have mentioned it in BU's Obnoxious PC Thread...
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I've talked about this plenty of times before, but it bears repeating: the release of Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth on October 24th is both a danger and an opportunity for our community, and if we pull together and step up doing what we already do best, we'll surf that wave high.
This community, like soylent green, is made of delicious, delicious people. -People who have the power to make their online home work, and to shape it in their own image. We need help in the run-up to the BE release with finding and posting news, with commenting and contributing however you can in the next two months +. I already spend more time working here than I would on a mere full-time job, and I can't do it all, all by myself.
More than that, we need, as before but even moreso, more SMACX content. Modding projects. AARs. MP games. Fanfic. Whatever I haven't thought of but you have.
Our best hope for the future is to not get too distracted by the shiny new thing, and, as happened a few years ago with Civ 5, have far too many people wander off bored when they find less shine than they thought. Just as in the spring, when we saw a very large activity bump happen with the BE announcement - there should be many new BE-heads and old CIVilians coming around, and we'll do very well from a focus broadened, but not lost.
It's largely in YOUR hands. In the next month would be a very propitious time to commence, or resume working on, and posting about that SMACX project of yours, commenting on the work of others, and in general, posting MOAR! We're going to have a lot more like-minded nerdz at AC2 by the end of the year to talk to, and it's gonna be great!
We can do it. ;nod
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...Additionally, the same sort of thing goes for Recreation Commons and Other Games. Again, a focus not lost, but broadened...
And a big one: Facebook is undeniably a VERY useful and productive promotional tool. Our AC2 Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/pages/alphacentauri2info/231706663564067?ref=stream) could be doing more to draw eyes our way, and the simplest thing you can do to help is go there and "Like" the page. That spreads the URL around and makes it more visible to your contacts.
Thank you for your support.
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Yitzi has done it again.
http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=10782.0 (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=10782.0)
Check it out. Make bug reports. Request modifications (that Yitzi will say are not at the top of his priority list presently ;)). Give the man feedback - it's the least we can do.
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Request modifications (that Yitzi will say are not at the top of his priority list presently ;)).
Although it should be noted that the biggest modification in this patch was the result of a request.
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About increasing profile of AC2
As some may know I am struggling with recording the game.
My end goal is to setup recordings of MP games where each person recordings his own turn, commenting at the time or editing the video file to add comments after each turn.
Then each turn would me spliced together and the edited video posted after the game ended.
I think that that would make for an entertaining watch on you tube, especially as a finished playlist could be linked to here.
Or correct me if you think I'm wrong, mad, degenerate or whatever!
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No, I think that is an idea chock-full of super-excellence. We could really use a YouTube presence w/ loads of link-backs.
;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b;
As I say over and over, there are far more SMACers out there than have ever found the online community - one of our biggest missions is to get the word out for those people to find.
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I had a thought at this time. In order for my idea to work I would need to use a free easy to use Video Screen Capture Software so all the player in the MP could use it. OBS might be to complicated for this. Some are listed here http://www.ghacks.net/overview-best-video-screen-capture-software/ (http://www.ghacks.net/overview-best-video-screen-capture-software/)
I think that I will have a muckaround with some of these to see what is suitable.
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Those of you who've been following my act for about the last year have heard all this before, but it's still true.
We've got a real opportunity here; this is the first forum I'm aware of BY SMACers For SMACers, without all the outside stuff getting in the way. That's a thing worth nurturing, if you ask me.
We can build this place into something fun, entertaining, informative and worthwhile - more than it is already. All it takes is all of us trying. Go to that little extra effort to post, generate content - whether art, modifications, how-tos, scenarios, AARs or whatever - recruit others, and generally get involved. If you're like most people reading this, you check by and read a little once in a while, wishing there was a more active SMAC(X) community to participate in. Much of our reason to be here is to socialize and be entertained by one another. Well, someone has to go first; I'm looking at YOU.
AC2 was a static skeleton at the beginning of February, but a handful of people quickly turned it into a real, live, forum. Now it's time to step up our game.
One person can make a difference - I've demonstrated this repeatedly. But it's never much of a show for long without someone to talk to. Two people can make a big difference. Everyone trying a little harder makes ALL the diference.
We need MPers, modders, hardcore players, scient fans/contributors, fan fiction writers, people with technical problems and people willing to troubleshoot. We need fun, thoughtful people to joke with in Rec Commons and science-oriented people posting articles/commenting in the science forums. (We need more Americans, 'cause it gets real slow on here in my evenings, between the Euros going to bed and the Aussies waking up.) We need whatever interesting, appropriate-to-a-SMAC(X)-forum, thing I haven't thought of/mentioned, because putting our heads together is what it's all about. It's all worthy and important, and we need all of it, and the people into each thing. We need active people, and we need to bring in more of them.
We need YOU.
Just pitch in however you can; make that extra little effort, because we we're greater as a group than as individuals. Try, please. Make that comment. Post that faction, story, art, ect. Get in on that MP game. Send those acquaintances a link to the forum. Post to entertain me, and I'll do the same. Let make a lot of friends here, and make the most active AC forum in the world 10 times busier.
We can do it.
;nod Looking over this, we are doing a fairly good job. To set a goal for myself (and I hope the community) I want to try and be as active as possible until we get at least say... 15 posts per day? Maybe add 1 new thread in there too.
I almost want to make an active members list, just to see how many people actually post.
Lets see...
BUncle
JarlWolf
Ete
Yitzi
Sisko
...And thats about all the people I've seen post that I can think of. I feel like there's one more name I cant put my finger on.
Still, for a game from more than a decade ago, sister of something as ancient as Civ II, thats pretty good.
And you know what? It makes me feel like when I do that Reaganites or Red Unit faction, that I'm actually contributing rather than adding to the endlessly growing list of random crap on a forum.
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No, I think that is an idea chock-full of super-excellence. We could really use a YouTube presence w/ loads of link-backs.
;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b;
As I say over and over, there are far more SMACers out there than have ever found the online community - one of our biggest missions is to get the word out for those people to find.
Woopee just recorded the first vid with OBS. Unfortunately changes to windows 7 basic, but its recorded. going to bed now.
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...And thats about all the people I've seen post that I can think of. I feel like there's one more name I cant put my finger on.
;lol ;b;
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...And thats about all the people I've seen post that I can think of. I feel like there's one more name I cant put my finger on.
;lol ;b;
*Ahem* There are some of us who aren't SMAC players but are still very much active posters here and who have links to this forum on our own sites and on other forums.
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Yeah, you did miss out on quite a few more then a single name, BlueFlux. ;)
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;nod
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I expected that.
I've mostly been active in the modding thread, so anyone who posted there recently I've noticed, but not so much in the Council Room.
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;nod
Sorry, just quoting to get your attention. When I post in a thread, I get kicked back to the main board/ homepage (if these are the right terms). How may I prevent this from occurring.
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There's a setting somewhere in your user profile to make this the default.
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There's a setting somewhere in your user profile to make this the default.
Thank you, you definitely a gentleman and a scholar.
Edit:sorry I can't find it!
EDIT2: Yes I did and changed my look to black ops, much better on the eye. Was seeing blurred rainbows after one session last week. Now I'll try to change yahoo and Firefox look. Might as well make some effort to save my eyesight.
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I'm reminded of something I cherish very much about our community here at AC2 - we do a lot to entertain and educate each other; when people are willing to chill out and work at getting along, our differences make us MORE valuable to each other, instead of being something to fight over. This is an OT, after all, where atheists can and do discuss religion with people of profound faith - and have conversations instead of arguments. Respect! ;b; :D
Many of us, myself definitely included, are touchy geeks who struggle to control our moods and get along with people. We generally manage that very well in this environment we've built together. Most of the rest of the internet could really learn from/use what we have right here at AC2.
That makes me very glad and proud.
The above bears repeating, from time to time...
-But my real reason for posting today is to point out that everyone who wants can have a custom user title to go between your handle and your post rank. I've been having some fun lately teasing Flux and Geo with silly user titles - until I finally hit on something each liked, at which point I've stopped for now. Just ask. Funny is a plus - something that naturally ends in "Citizen", or whatever your post-rank, is a plus. If some sort of little logo is desired, like Uno's jack-lantern or Green1's supervillain skull, it would be more work for me, but not much, to create a usergroup just for you - coming up with something that amuses me is a plus.
-If you want something but don't know what and don't mind being teased, let me know, and I'll try to come up with something silly. Try to be thicked-skinned if you go this way; I'll change anything instantly if the victim objects. I will eventually find a keeper title if we do it this way...
I'm here to make you happy, in hopes you'll hang around and talk to me. Everyone posting at AC2 at all is a volunteer, and contributes something that matters. You all matter, and all are worthy of respect and reward - and this it a small goody I enjoy handing out, not least because everyone who wants it deserves it; we're nothing without you, pal.
Just ask.
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I still want a logo......
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You a computer artist, m'man - make something, and we'll see.
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You a computer artist, m'man - make something, and we'll see.
Usergroup: "BU's Apprentice"
And I'll try to come up with something interesting. I haven't made a smilie in a really long time, but this needs no animation anyway.
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...Animation is an option - it'll take gifs...
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...Animation is an option - it'll take gifs...
If it were to be BU's apprentice, it would have to represent you.
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If you're in a one-man usergroup, BTW, you can have your handle display at the top of the page and in Who's Online in a custom color. Flux, you can pick your color by picking/customizing in GIMP and telling me the number.
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I think the thing I hate most about computer art is not knowing what to animate.
Like, I really want to make a 15-frame animation for my logo but I have no idea what I should do for it.
And [184] dark blue is a nice color.
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[184] does not compute. Check the attachment...
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Check the attachment...
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0000b8 it is. The HTML notation is the number the forum will want when you have an icon ready. (28x35 is ideal, but wider would be okay, if needed. Keep it down to 35 pixels tall, though.)
Maybe if you added a Robin mask to the attachment before you reduced it? Think of something funny...
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0000b8 it is. The HTML notation is the number the forum will want when you have an icon ready. (28x35 is ideal, but wider would be okay, if needed. Keep it down to 35 pixels tall, though.)
Maybe if you added a Robin mask to the attachment before you reduced it? Think of something funny...
I'll think of something a little bit funnier so you can look like a enlightened teacher.
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I'll think of something a little bit funnier so you can look like a enlightened teacher.
;lol
Sure!
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0000b8 it is. The HTML notation is the number the forum will want when you have an icon ready. (28x35 is ideal, but wider would be okay, if needed. Keep it down to 35 pixels tall, though.)
Maybe if you added a Robin mask to the attachment before you reduced it? Think of something funny...
I'm just really not in the mood for this right now.
Tomorrow. But I'll make you look enlightened....
I'm tempted to put an all-seeing-eye on your forhead, but that symbolism goes against everything I stand for. So I won't be able to morally.
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I'm busy with people in the house, so no rush.
Let's do it right, instead of fast, 'cause I can't change an individual usergroup casually the way I could click on your profile and change "Boy Wonder" to "Li'l Stinker"...
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Title Request: "FluxBunny"
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Done.
We aim to please.
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*Looks at BU's new profile pic*
Oh god....
It's so....
Disgusting!
You made a bunny cry! You should feel ashamed!
Welp, at least it's not you. It has no beard....
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Looks a lot like my late dad, though.
I'll probably switch back to the self portrait soon enough...
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Have you seen this?
http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=1377.msg3516#msg3516 (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=1377.msg3516#msg3516)
Best story I ever wrote, I think.
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Have you seen this?
http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=1377.msg3516#msg3516 (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=1377.msg3516#msg3516)
Best story I ever wrote, I think.
Reading it now...
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Have you seen this?
http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=1377.msg3516#msg3516 (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=1377.msg3516#msg3516)
Best story I ever wrote, I think.
MOAR!
Yes, I think it's really good. :)
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I'm not sure if this is the correct place to mention this, but here goes anyway (feel free to move it if this isn't the right place):
The profanity and other filters have been set in such a way that results in this:
Walter Koe[person of African ethnicity](the navigator, Chekov).
I get that the "n-word" is prohibited. But when that results in an inability to type an actor's full last name, that's ridiculous.
Can the profanity/objectionable word filters not be set for the exact word instead? It's downright silly that on a forum where there is an active group of Star Trek fans, we can't even have one of the Original Series' actors' full names showing.
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Most of the items in the swear filter are racial/ethnic/national slurs, put there by sisko, to whom English is not a first language. I basically need to overhaul the entire list - our membership is unlikely enough to use said slurs that I'd rather just take care of it manually if it ever happens. That particular one that ends Mr. Koenig's name (I know several bypass tricks for our crap swear filter) comes up a lot, also occurring as a common typo in gerunds, as it does - and before I added a space at the end, it used to come up every time people used common words like "night".
Basically, the problem is that if I change anything, I have to change everything; the interface is a nightmare to deal with. -So it goes on my to-do list, at the top, but I'm not looking forward to it.
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-So it goes on my to-do list, at the top, but I'm not looking forward to it.
:whip:
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No refunds.
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Has anybody else noticed what all Mart's been up to since he got active late last year? He keeps generating fun activity-raising projects - GotMs, AARs, his MP CMN organizing/leadership, the succession game - we'll have a
good great demogame going before he's done, and I'm looking forward to it. He's doing the right things - even the TOE polls that always turn out to relate to something he's working on have their own value for generating activity.
ete has done a lot of this kind of thing, with the wiki, participating in faction modding, AARs, organizing for the .exe patchers and many other things, and the value to our community is beyond price.
t_ras has done a lot of good things beyond CMNing, with an attempt to get a collaborative AAR going, and a lot of stuff that doesn't show on the tech end, and taking initiative on recruiting activities. I've always loved, too, how completely he got what I'm doing at AC2 and what and how I want others doing. I selfishly wish he didn't have a life.
The thing these guys have in common? Industry, good ideas, a lot of stamina and patience in working for the good of the community and -this is key to me as a manager who spends a lot of time trying to talk people into things I believe will be good for them and the rest of us- they constantly take initiative.
If I had ten more of these guys, I'd have to shift my activities over to moderating full time.
And THAT's why it says "MVP" over Mart's handle. -Just so everyone knows how much it pleases me when members do recruiting and content/activity-generating projects, and keep at it. If you have something in the back of your mind along those lines that you've considered taking initiative on - my reaction is most probably a very supportive and pleased YES!
This is YOUR community, and it depends on your industry and contributions, even just trying to post more. Everybody has something -and most likely several things, because you're a bunch of gifted people to an astonishing degree- and we can do it. Our future is in your hands, if only you'll take it.
Thanks Mart. Thanks everyone.
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BUncle, thank you for very kind words! :)
What I could add, what is for example very important for me, are constantly added new features and corrections. What scient did, kyrub, PlotinusRedux and especially Yitzi is keeping the game interesting and fresh after 16 years (already?) It makes it so much easier to be around SMACX.
Demogame?... Let us see. I have mixed feelings about, if we can start one very soon. That's a broad topic in itself.
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Mart, thank you for being so thankable - I've just recovered from a very extended indolent spell, and your industry has done more than anyone to generate activity and keep the place worth checking by while I was depressed and not always even going through the motions.
We can talk in the Staff Room about demogame stuff if you like. I'm close to making a post there myself, briefing on the interforum cooperation/cross promotion/mutual support stuff I'm currently talking up to people at three Civ forums - and this could possibly connect to that. Wouldn't a forum team competition be awesome if we could arrange it? -Not that we don't need one or two simpler ones under our belts first...
The patches are our most valuable content asset, for sure - and yes, especially Yitzi, as active and always updating - and contributing knowledge from reading formulas out of the game code. I'd also mention Dio for his contributions to the .exe stuff. ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; ;b; to all.
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We can talk in the Staff Room if you like. I'm close to making a post there myself, briefing on the interforum cooperation/cross promotion/mutual support stuff I'm currently talking up to people at three Civ forums - and this could possibly connect to that. Wouldn't a forum team competition be awesome if we could arrange it? -Not that we don't need one or two simpler ones under our belts first...
...
Ok, but if this forum team competition would be only part of the interforum cooperation, then we could discuss such game in a separate thread.
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I'm not sure I follow - and I hope you caught the first paragraph I edited in.
But forum team competition is only a thought about something that shouldn't prove difficult to get cooperation on. A demogame is worthwhile in itself and I believe it was just last year there was a spell of talk in favor of working one up. -Purely as a simple deal local like we did at WPC, (before the Civ5 release gutted it along with the community) we want to talk it up out in public as much as we can, as part of stirring interest and participation.
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So we talk about demogame here? Or in another thread, open to everyone? Maybe you choose.
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Here, a new Site thread, and probably one in TOE & Rec Commons linked to a main one in MP to make sure we get everyone's attention.
We can start here and expand everywhere else as we get ready - Chiron News Network, putting it on the Front Page and linking the MP thread, for sure when we get there, by your judgement.
You have the keys to the kingdom, sir, should we get this off the ground - I can make subforums (private or otherwise) in minutes, and I'm always around. Mod powers where needed. I'm on the bus and pushing at the same time. You know what's needed; let's rock.
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Ok, so if we consider demogames in SMACX, I had experience from Apolyton mostly. And was there from around middle of ACDG2. Apolyton had really 3 good demogames:
ACDG1 - singleplayer.
ACDG2 - 5 teams!
ACDG3 - 4 teams.
There was also Hive singleplayer intended/started, but it really never took off.
ACDG4 and ACDG5 were only limited participation ones.
WPC demogame was also a limited one, it quickly lost interest.
There is some my observation, that apart from the very first singleplayer demogame, ACDG1 (shortly after game release) all singleplayer ones were not very successful. Like on WPC singleplayer won in voting, but later players lost interest.
Some other sites may have SMACX demogames, these sites may be devoted to civ playing, but are not so popular as major ones. For example, there was that (and probably there still is) a German site, where I know people played at least 2 demogames, with 2 teams. Interesting approach, when there is not many players. So there may be games in other languages, that we do not know about. Maybe quite popular. Or they were some years ago.
So I think, that some next demogame should be multiplayer. Even 2 teams would do it. Though 3 teams would be more interesting. Our succession game is kinda singleplayer demogame, although my intention was rather a succession game, not a 100% team play. Multiplayer gives more meaning, like you not only compete against AI.
Demogames do take more involvement, at least from core faction members, those, who turn-play, draw strategy plans, do diplomacy, write reports, etc. Other people can make occasional comment or simply take care of some selected part - e.g. former works, navy, facility advisor, etc.
How many members of the forum would play MP demogame today? From moderate to core-involved, I think 5 to 7 or 8? Maybe more? Is it enough? For 2 factions this is probably minimum. And what is more, the game will take like a year to 1.5 years. Will all be continuously participating? Here game pace is important, it cannot be too quick, cause the game then dilutes. You maybe draw some strategy plans, and finally turn-player skips 10 turns after which all these issues you were thinking for several days are no longer there. And there are new ones that are already half-solved. That is discouraging the same or even more than long periods of stagnation, when there is no new turn for weeks.
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I think two teams. The WPC game was both too complex for SMACX/demogame newbies, and too simple, being against the AI, and having no element of drama from competition. I wonder if we can't get Uno involved - he's demo vet. Impaler was expressing interest last time -I'll Skype him a heads-up right now (he's on and I just did- also pinged Solver and Maniac, who are not on ATM). I can think of a few others - the succession game bunch is probably a natural core group - somebody should contact Darsnan and tell him I'm not looking for payback, and he should come. DarkCloud checks by 'poly a few times a year -worth trying. Maybe Black Cat, and I'm trying to lure Elok over here, and CEO Aaron is a member here who has never posted.
It would be so cool if we could lure some oldtimers in out of the cold. Rubin is still active at CFC, though he thinks I'm -- I have no idea, but maybe he'd get an education if he came and looked around. And of course Lefty and Petek. Sorry for the tangent.
I still think the WPC demogame was killed by the Civ5 mania. Everybody ran over there all excited, including most of the demogame participants, and just wandered off when 5 turned out to suck. Even I did that a little, though not because I ever cared about 5.
I do sort of think we should organize the locals, but also recruit openly everywhere and leave open the possibility of organizing into forum teams if there's enough interest. I 'spect Lefty and Petek will be too busy to play much, but interested in organizing a team.
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I'm just thinking out loud at this point and my thoughts haven't organized yet.
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You know, the AC2SG (succession game) is now so discussion-oriented, that it uses a lot of energy, that would be good for a demogame. I hope it will cool down a bit.
I think it is best, when old-timers return to SMACX, that they have opportunity to play some games singleplayer. One needs to recall a lot of things. And then, only some of them will find it worth playing more, like MP or demogame. I guess, that when gathering all people from ACDG3 (last DG with so many participants) only some percentage of them would return to play for longer.
How to increase that percentage? I think, that when indicated all the features:
- bugs corrected, e.g. probe roll-over, the big one destroying gameplay.
- new features introduced by Yitzi.
- interface, what PlotinusRedux made with PRACX.
These can bring more people back, cause there is something new and better in SMACX.
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I like how you're thinking.
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I don't doubt that you're right about the oldtimers needing to get back up to speed, but I think if we take a run at ambitious recruiting, and I think a demogame and talk about patches is good bait, we need to offer something soon.
I just can't decide if we should come up with a format yet, or recruit with flexible plans. I suppose we ought to root around and find that MP thread from the last surge of interest in a demogame, see who was talking it up then. I don't recall much.
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I think, that if there are 3 people dedicated to play in a DG faction per faction, the game would start. But this is minimum. So if there are 6, we can have 2 teams. If by any chance there are 9, we could start 3 teams DG. And this is in my opinion optimum for now. I would propose limit per faction 48 hours to make a turn. This makes up to 6 days per mission year. If there is less to do, turns will flow quicker, so we may do 2 MY per week, or so. From ACDG3 on Apolyton, I think this is optimum time. There are turns, which just have more issues. 2 full days is good time. We all have RL also.
Like I was playing in civ4 demogame with limit of 24 hours per turn. It was too fast. Not enough time to talk about strategy when events became 'dense'. But civ4 has hundreds of turns and not like 150 to tech victory, so civ4 players do want to speed through turns.
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Check the topped thread in GotM for a detailed briefing of what I've been up to and what I'm planning to try today.
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I've spoken to Ming at 'poly and am trying to get some delegation to someone who has time at the other places. I don't have my hopes set on that forum team thing, but you never know and recruiting is recruiting... Maybe we get some guys participating as a vs. AC2 team, at least, or just some individuals.
I know we can get enough guys no matter what. Somebody's got MP really humming lately, and this will add to that.
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I just tripped over the link to a previous demogame thread I started, Mart
http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=8329.0 (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=8329.0)
-Which has a link in the second post to your previous talk in that direction - and people responding...
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I'm friggin' here dagnabit whurrr did mah smaileyz go?
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The plant one?
I'll add it later today - everybody get's a free request on that if they really want it. Later additions, you have to talk me into.
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Mart? Have I gone too far?
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Our succession game has slowed down. I am curious, how it is going to continue.
Let us see, if it is going to keep interest for longer time.
I have an idea for a "question" thread asking about what people think about it.
You mentioned that previously, but we haven't talked about it: each team would have a private subforum here? Accessible only for team members?
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Yes. Whatever it needs/takes.
Of course if any other forum ends up in, I intended to encourage them to host their own - when it's made visible afterwards, content for them. Gotta make it a good deal for them.
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The way I imagine this, we have a DG here. Some people from other sites participate. That increases interest in SMACX, so after this future DG such forum-based teams may form.
And as I think about it, I am almost 100% sure, this next DG should be 3 teams.
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Yes. I'm realistic about trying to organize something more complex - nobody in power elsewhere is as interested in this as I or I'd have gotten quicker responses. I suppose your point is one I should make in future followups - that encouraging participation will definitely make it easier and more feasible in the future. A lotta SMACers are something(s) else, too, where we don't compete, or they'd already be over here, so we pose little threat.
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...I'm talking to self biased now -he became a BE mod at 'poly when the subforum was created last year, and we've talked about activity building stuff a lot in the past; he's supermod, and could expand his portfolio if he wanted. He used to participate in AC Stories there before my time. He's actually only made grunts of acknowledgement that I was talking to him - but that's a big improvement on what I've been getting from everyone but Solver, whom I'm also IMing with...
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BTW, I can think of a few places I could talk up a demogame on Facebook - not team stuff, except for a 'polytubbie nexus I know of, but we might pull a few blokes that way.
Go or wait a bit, Mart?
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Maybe we can do announcements after threads with discussions start here? There should be something to talk about. And it is better to have clear idea what DG it is going to be. Otherwise, we can end up "diluted."
Meanwhile, I think about details. The succession game shows something, like we generally do not like too large games. I mean large maps, many bases, stuff like that. Important hint for the settings. It does follow trend that there was from ACDG1 to ACDG3.
Also, from number of downloads I can see, only some people watch game very closely. Core players would do it, or would need to do it. Casual players will read posts not necessarily taking closer look into turns.
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Makes sense. It would probably be a mistake to pull attention and then make them wait however long it takes us to get a lot closer to ready. ;nod
The succession game is only going through a slow week, you know. It's a good game, and it's going to continue to be good. Geo having a bad week has been a temporary problem. I'm following in the sense that I'm enjoying the discussion a LOT more than the average TTT... -Not so much with the looking at turns saves. I expect I'm far from alone, and I bet you'll find views out of proportion to posts. I haven't checked yet...
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I just made a post and realized it was one of my 'Kirk speeches' -as you'll all have noticed, this thread is for motivational pep-talks to the citizens and policy statements about how we run things and why, to get us all on the same page and pulling together- so here:
No, the core 'business' of the forum is either the Rec Commons or multiplayer, with modding a strong second.
Beg to differ. OT is the heart of what's in it for me - this forum is my scam to get interesting people to talk to, as I've freely owned before. But OT is a tail that always tries to wag the dog of gaming, if a robust OT like I still hope for, and that way lies 'poly and the Troll Pit w/ no on-topic worth mentioning besides a fairly healthy Spanish language sub - and that includes their BE, which self biased hasn't given up on, and is a little healthier than our BE - you ought to check it; it's actually moderated.
But we are and must remain, a gaming forum, or all the drama crap we started a specialty shop to get away from happens. Currently MP is most active - that changes all the time according to who's fired up about what, and who notices and has time lately. I could bring Modding back on top for non-me activity in a few weeks if I had time right now. I wish we had more of the casual lightweight "who's your favorite leader" stuff that's about all that has legs at CFC AC, and more (even hardcore) strategy discussion - something lurkers who have mastered beating easy level love.
Wherever the most activity is, our core business is talking SMAC. ;nod
AC2 is by SMACers, for SMACers, and we're committed to that. We can do it.
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Couple of things following on that last: it's from an exchange about my current thoughts on the proper place of BE and Bug/Patch in the forum structure, (and the description labels on various subforums) and I'm looking for feedback. This is your place, and you have a say in things.
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Mart, (keep it up with the taking patchable issues to Yitzi, BTW - that's valuable to the community on multiple levels at once.)
MP is in its current powerhouse activity state mostly because of your efforts in the last seven months - MP is great and important, but MPlayers do have that unfortunate tendency to not crawl out of the Mcave as much as other members with different interests participate in multiple parts of our forum; part of my enthusiasm for the demogame is as a way to leverage our present activity strength there into growth/excitement/diversity of content for all of AC2 and especially MP.
I take it we're sorta waiting for the succession game to wind down before we bear down on firming up the plan and going full-court on talking it up to people (or talking then firming w/ feedback)? And who do you see in charge of the demogame as it's in progress? I assume you intend to do setup, but if you want to play -if that's ethical for the one who set up in a team game- I'll have to unless sisko or someone steps up. Just wondering.
And finally - I do have this vision of demogame progress reports, perhaps AARs, which would be an interesting exercise if each team was doing one to inform and entertain the spectators w/o giving too much away to the competition...
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AAR's are so much work. Even more then medium demogame turn reports. ???
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Thank you for your kind support, sir.
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AAR's are so much work. Even more then medium demogame turn reports. ???
Yes, they are. For example, I am going to complete "Gaian Luck" but have no definite deadline.
What I have though, is graphics, that is there for later use. Re-usability, it will help future posting.
So, what do you think about "Blind research" setting in the next DG? Succession game gives some feeling how that would be.
Having no Industrial Automation in 2230 convinces me, that was really as the game was intended to be played.
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I take it we're sorta waiting for the succession game to wind down before we bear down on firming up the plan and going full-court on talking it up to people (or talking then firming w/ feedback)? And who do you see in charge of the demogame as it's in progress? I assume you intend to do setup, but if you want to play -if that's ethical for the one who set up in a team game- I'll have to unless sisko or someone steps up. Just wondering.
?
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I was hoping to play. I'm on this side, as for demo games. In that case, I could advice only how to prepare the game. I should have no access to scenario etc.
Yes, in some days or few weeks we should see how succession game completes. At this moment, I can see players are interested in the next succession game. And we possibly would have these interesting twists, like faction switching.
I am thinking about "Blind research" option for the DG. So far, none of the DG games, as far as I know, had that. Simply, cause majority considers that as too random.
But observing current succession game, I have impression, this actually opens a lot new strategic options, tricks, that players can do, increases diplomacy value, etc. Not to mention, that would be new and interesting experience for MP DG.
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And this is time, to start preparing a txt file with highlights of this DG, comments/explanations, proposed settings, etc.
I will start one.
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New and interesting is always a selling point for getting people involved...
I will run it if I have to... Maybe you can put sisko or t-ras on doing up the scenario.
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Would you like to play, as a player?
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I figure I'll enjoy it no matter my manner of participation.
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So, what do you think about "Blind research" setting in the next DG? Succession game gives some feeling how that would be.
Having no Industrial Automation in 2230 convinces me, that was really as the game was intended to be played.
I'm definitely in favor of blind research for players as the standard. But then again, I've felt so for most of the game's existence. ;)
I also feel that MP players better take a faction with the alien flag enabled. Makes for more honest diplomacy in the long run. ;lol
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...
I also feel that MP players better take a faction with the alien flag enabled. Makes for more honest diplomacy in the long run. ;lol
Like the MP players could have no diplomacy whatsoever? Just "slash and burn"?
... I'm not sure all MP are like that :D
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They usually end that way though...
I don't know if this has ever been tested that MP factions at war can actually exchange stuff in diplomacy?
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Every SMACX player has these two elements:
- conqueror (momentum)
- builder
Some may have extremely small percentage of one of the above.
Probably the game would be most interesting if we get mixed teams. Not that we conquer all AI by tech level 3 and tech level 4 would saw the winner.
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Valka suggested bigger avatars in the middle of a conversation - and 14 minutes and change later:
Okay - I went 150x, which makes everything in the user galleries instantly obsolete (something north of 2,000 of my work, I think, that didn't size/crop themselves, and some were a lot of work, like the one I'm wearing was), and I don't care for really big avatars - but I ain't running this place entirely for my own benefit, and it's stupid for a place that's co-owned by a big avatar guy to be stuck in the 90s.
Enjoy your voyage. ;st
Service with a smile. :)
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They usually end that way though...
I don't know if this has ever been tested that MP factions at war can actually exchange stuff in diplomacy?
I saw plenty of demogames a long while back somewhere else, where the SMAX community was HILARIOUS. They all played their factions VERY HARDCORE roleplay style, and it made for some fascinating reading. Got me to buy SMAC even. As such, this severe roleplaying tended to not lead to the typical experience I had been trained to expect from Civ III (at the time), the diplomacy was more interesting and involved. It was rather nice.
My attempts at roleplaying teams in Civilization games...um...well...I really pissed off people with that idea. Twice. Personally don't know how you can be upset when I state the team is going to be a mercenary faction up front. Always confused people when that team would act not to win, but for the cash. DESPITE it being described up front, and in the name.
Ah...that one civ III demogame. We were "insane". "no chance". "what are you thinking". "listen to reason". "just surrender, your death will just make them the winners". Dead last in the power rankings, fighting the top dog everyone was fretting over, and we had been paid to severely damage them. That poor french team never even saw it coming when we completely leapfrogged them by leaps and bounds in the power ranking in 5 turns, flanked their entire army, sacked 10 cities, and started auctioning the resulting slaves.
The second merc team was fortunate enough to be on a continent with 2 teams that had grudges against each other. Somehow they were shocked we took money from both sides, and both turned on us. As if we weren't prepared for that.
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Uno - there's going to be a role for reporters in this...
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Well...that would be fine now....but about end of August you know I'm gonna be getting scarcer and scarecer (not a typo) till November.
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I hope this doesn't take two months to even get going. I'll definitely make sure you're in the loop.
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The demo game will probably take some longer time. Starting around this summer we should be still in early game in December.
And that would be fine. DG should not develop too quickly, since we would skip through many opportunities for strategy, role-play and interaction.
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Thank you for making larger avatars possible, as there are times when I've had to crop a lot of really nice detail or background imagery when making smaller ones.
I'm not sure why that would make anything in the gallery obsolete, though, since this is a choice whether to use larger ones or the original ones, isn't it? ???
I'm going to go back to my Enya files to see what changes I might make to some of them.
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Just that there's nothing but (retroactively) small stuff in the UG now... :)
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Just posted the poll about which faction to join.
http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=16586 (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=16586)
From this, we will see how many people would join, only if to observe the game from a position of in-faction member.
For undecided or those who have little idea about demo games, we can say that their involvement will depend on how much contribution they would be willing to do. Starting from viewing events, discussions and making an occasional comment. Something like that.
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Of course there's people who only do Modding-Bug/Patch, or only MP, or even only Rec Commons who might still be interested and worth having...
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Of course there's people who only do Modding-Bug/Patch
They are special/higher level participants. Someone Modding/setting up a game is like on special conditions.
or only MP,
you mean already know much about MP SMACX? So we do not need to explain?
or even only Rec Commons who might still be interested and worth having...
That is true, however, when we have MP DG, they may be a faction member, so also play, even giving occasional comment. Though someone may find it more interesting having "moderating" access to all teams to write. This would make though such a person not eligible to take part in playing. They would be merely observers.
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We've got some old demogame hands in OT who don't participate a lot in the rest of the site, but do have SMACX - Uno is interested and should prove very useful, timing allowing, for example. We can probably also get metaliturtle. I bet Yitzi is going to be interested, and you know he's gonna take it seriously.
On the level that a team, especially a large one, only REALLY has to have one super-dedicated player, the turn-mover, I think we can use that as leverage for recruiting with players a bit afraid of the commitment - if you show up regularly and comment when you have something to say, you have a worthwhile contribution to make.
And my point was really only to take results of a poll in TOE with a grain of salt - little input from our core group, the MPlayers, for one thing. We're talking about it in Site in this thread, after all, because it's good to get the word out, but too soon to get serious about getting the word out while we're still kicking it around.
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We can probably also get metaliturtle.
To spam the thread...
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It's possible a demogame team could use a clown.
Some jokes have the virtue of also being true.
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So who already voted for a faction?
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That would be me, sir - you may discount.
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Supahnewbz!!!
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That would be me, sir - you may discount.
No way, it counts! :)
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We have a poll pertaining to choosing a faction. It develops slowly.
I am thinking about starting a thread pertaining to discussion on any previous DG in SMACX. Purpose would be to help work out the details for the future game.
I have some concerns though:
- it will bring some old quarrels/feuds back. You know, people tend to take some things in demogames more personally.
- it will develop into broad list of what people want in the next DG, so broad, that it will prevent from launching a good DG. Like half people wanting singleplayer, half, multiplayer. etc.
Any thoughts?
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We have a poll pertaining to choosing a faction. It develops slowly.
I am thinking about starting a thread pertaining to discussion on any previous DG in SMACX. Purpose would be to help work out the details for the future game.
I have some concerns though:
- it will bring some old quarrels/feuds back. You know, people tend to take some things in demogames more personally.
- it will develop into broad list of what people want in the next DG, so broad, that it will prevent from launching a good DG. Like half people wanting singleplayer, half, multiplayer. etc.
Any thoughts?
I will step on (problem) quarreling. Full stop. I'm pretty good at heading it off before it gets started without even using my powers, you know.
We solicit comments and input, we discuss. You decide. This is your thing, and I'll argue like all the rest as it suits me to, but you're in charge and I'm not qualified to overrule you on demogame stuff. Forums do not work as actual democracies, but they work badly when they don't observe many of the forms, because what will make the most people happy the longest is the name of the game. Everyone here is a volunteer.
It's a juggling act, but somebody has to be in charge. That's you, with my support. -At least until someone takes over running it so you can play.
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We've got some old demogame hands in OT who don't participate a lot in the rest of the site, but do have SMACX - Uno is interested and should prove very useful, timing allowing, for example.
I technically *have* the game (both original SMAC disk ,and the planetary pack version disk) but don't think I've ever got it completely *WORKING* on my present computer. Not completely opposed to shelling out a few bucks for the gog version if it works easier/better.
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We will most likely use the Yitzi patch. And it should be working the best. So any copy, old one, PP for example, is good as any other.
Are you using Mac?
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Are you on a new rig since 2010? ISTR that we fixed the color problem and you had it working - it was your computer color settings.
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I think that was ye olde desktop. I'm mostly on my laptop these days.
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Petek is not going to be hard to lure over here if you need him , and he never fails.
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planetary pack in and installing.
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man, I recall writing an amusing review of the sim city that come with this somewhere....
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ok, the installer crashes...
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GOG version?
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ye olde disk from lord knows how long ago. I'm copying the files to a folder and gonna try something that way.
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hm, still no dice autorun comes up, click install, get the 'do you want" popup, then crash
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The autorun is broken on the Planetary Pack. ISTR it's as simple as finding the setup program on the disk and starting it manually. All goes fine and easy afterwards - and it's nowadays a pretty small game that fits on a thumb drive, so portable, too.
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;b;
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nothin doin :(
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W7? I don't know nothin' bout compatibility w/ 8. Hold on and I'll find a little how-to something I posted about 7...
More details might help, too.
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http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=8731.msg49947#msg49947 (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=8731.msg49947#msg49947) and/or the OP of this one http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=1437.0 (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=1437.0) which is about hotseat but has so much good on installation that Petek sends people to read it...
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Okay, I dug up my Planetary Pack Xfire CD (I have multiple versions, and I don't remember where they came from except my original release of vanilla from a bargain bin in late 1997) and found>clicked SETUP.EXE on the disk - installation started w/o any trouble. I'm running W7.
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found it. OLD leapfrog (kids toy) program was keeping the windows 32bit setup occupied.
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ok planetary pack complete install...now what?
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PLAY.
It's a great game that you never mastered in the first place - took me about 13 years to burn out on.
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I confirmed it loads and appears to work. I think we were having screenshot issues before, that may still be the case as alt-tabbing makes everything go real wierd.
It's a great game that you never mastered in the first place - took me about 13 years to burn out on.
I can appreciate the sentiment, but there is enough I find annoying that makes this not really an option.
For example, I really hate Planet. Fungus, worms. HATE. IT. Fungus adding worker actions, and able to destroy my improvements infuriates me to no end (I've always had a dicey relationship with worker units in civ games to begin with. Planet requiring MORE of that is no good). Half the time I target weather paradigm just to mitigate this whole terraformer annoyance, not as part of some overall strategy. Morale combat, I find most infuriating as well. I lose battles I should win in morale combat more often than standard combat, and the worms are everywhere. Lack of full healing in the field amplifies this annoyance to no end.
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Of course, I'm the guy in the community for troubleshooting screenshot problems. Remember to boot the graphics program before AC, and the colors of what you paste into it should straighten out when you finally exit the game.
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What are the 3 main objectives of this community?
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1.) Get me cool people to talk to.
2.) Show them. Show them all how wrong they were. They said I couldn't do it, but look upon my works, ye mighty and despair!
3.) Talk some crap for fun.
Also, some FOR SMACers, By SMACers, stuff, and being excellent to each other and supporting an awesome game - and 1-3 are actually true...
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How do you define success?
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See previous post. Fulfillment of objectives 1-3 and also the tiny stuff.
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I would say you've met your objectives then, unless you could be more specific?
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In the future? More of same. Grow bigger than CFC.
I'm serious.
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I do believe you are, gonna need some Original Content that's widely sought-after then.
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The Camp is in decline and their staff morale is in the toilet. Dung Mountain is still growing, and the staff is mainly me so far - and I just don't quit. It may take longer than there's any life left in AC online, but I'm taking a run at it.
We do not suck for content since shortly after you screwed me and we got serious about this place - but content is a forever ongoing thing, and it takes the community on the bus, which has been a long-term project of mine from the beginning.
Also? http://alphacentauri2.info/My%20Custom%20Factions/Custom%20Factions.htm (http://alphacentauri2.info/My%20Custom%20Factions/Custom%20Factions.htm) That's VERY popular, well-ranked on the search engines, and check out the two new pages - note the top and bottom bits. All my art goodie files have the site url displaying just in case they get passed around. I need to go do some edits at the Pond, actually.
See also: http://alphacentauri2.info/official/Sid%20Meier's%20Alpha%20Centauri.htm (http://alphacentauri2.info/official/Sid%20Meier's%20Alpha%20Centauri.htm) -as linked on the Wikipedia.
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Also?
Fan patches http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=14308.msg64328 (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=14308.msg64328)
Patches http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=260 (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=260)
Patches http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=27 (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=27)
And MO' patches http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=291 (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=291) (this one updates all the time.)
-We've made a teeny bit of a start on major content stuff. ;nod
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I'm not saying you don't have some good stuff, but to take on CFC you need players, and players tend to flock to new games with one or two dedicated for every 10k. Get the 10k here and you'll have a better shot landing more 1 or 2 guys to keep the activity up.
I like the DG, AARs, etc.
Now some major content would be like an AC fan sequel, that'd be some attention getting shazbot.
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The thread where scient posted a v. 2.0 beta in December http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=14141.msg64080#msg64080 (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=14141.msg64080#msg64080) also has some loose talk about a fan sequel as a long-term goal.
Incidentally, given the competitive disadvantages we have, yet passing 'poly and the Pond (and CivPlayers) combined for on-topic activity, I feel like we already won.
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This was posted in a thread about a mashup of an old Nine Inch Nails song with Taylor Swift's big hit of last year - worth the trip to click on the quote and have a look at the mashup in the OP, but after I posted the below, I realized this very personal essay is relevant to the things this thread is for...
...I have a reputation, and the bad parts of it held so dear in some quarters are entirely earned by my missteps and bad actions, mostly as a newb over six year ago, when I didn't understand the community as well as I thought I did, and I was decidedly less stable than I've since become.
I came here on 6 February 2012, full of rage and bleeding from every emotional orifice - probably the most unfair thing that's ever happened to me in my entire sad life that didn't involve anyone hitting or touching me had just gone down. AC2 was sisko's side-project while we were working hard on building the AC community at WPC, and I'd only made very modest efforts to throw it a little support fairly recently. Nothing much had come of yet; you can find posts here from 2010-2011, but not many and virtually all of substance in MP. But I was done for good at my previous online home -my real life has been the Civ/SMACX community since early 2009- and amidst my rants and rage and nuclear swearing in the private GotM folder, I pitched getting serious about this place and making it live to sisko. It would be a long and tedious job that would take forever, but it was just barely possible with the right team on the job (and I'll always be grateful to the GotM guys and other early supporters of AC2 - I was completely useless on the posting-activity-generating-more-activity front without a few people to talk to).
-Of course sisko said yes - it's really exactly what he'd wanted since he made AC2 two years before, though he hadn't asked. He, he doesn't say a lot about a lot of things, so I have to guess a lot, including what he really thinks of me - but I'd venture that he believes his butthole friend BU generally means well, and is totally a machine at a lot of the things you need to turn an empty new forum into a vibrant community. (I imagine that me thereafter turning out to have a good hand at the people management was as much of a shock to him as it was to me, a profound one.) I don't know for sure what he really thinks of me, but I know that he knows that we're a powerful partnership - we regarded each other as equal partners as citizen workers for the SMACX community at WPC, equal when I instigated him being made moderator of WPC AC, and equal when I was later briefly promoted over his head - and equal here when he was sole owner and I mere admin, equal when I stepped up as co-owner (though I concede him ties on policy to prevent deadlocks; he's the Founder). We worked well together beginning almost six years ago, heavily and continuously since, and he's never, ever, burned me, and is pretty much it for someone in the community that I trust implicitly - because he's proven over and over that I can.
If only he didn't have a RW life eating up his time... (If you make a little person, you TAKE CARE of that little person, no excuses.) So I've been running this forum all by myself for long stretches from fairly early on. I do better when he's around, even at the stuff that's my specialties, because of his cautious counsel making me think, but I don't think it's a wild fancy of mine to say I do pretty doggon well on my own, outside forum tech issues over my pay grade, for which I do have three d00dz for that, including a fast response from sisko in rebooting the forum this morning.
I learned a very long time ago to be careful about bragging, but it's obvious to anyone that I'm a man of many talents, and not trivially talented at a great many of them. It's something even people who choose to be my "enemies" freely concede. I don't let my arrogance out to play in obvious ways (I hope) very often at all, but arrogant I most assuredly am, and I daresay no one can rationally argue that I haven't earned it, indeed, proved over and over that I have excellent grounds to be my own biggest fan - if also my greatest critic. (Believe me, I have "BU sux" covered better than all my haters ever put together -perhaps even including my late father shouting "THINK boy! Use your noggin!" forever- I know better than to talk about that much, too, putting a big target on my back as admitting my shortcomings too enthusiastically would.)
Well, I'm proud, sinfully proud, Paradise Lost-Satanically-proud, about a lot of things I do and have done, but this right here, this forum and the people it's made of, THIS is my masterpiece, this is its own Oscar, Pulitzer, Nobel prize to me. AC2 is the thing I'm proudest of in my entire 50+ years of life. It was born of my arrogance and monolithic, not-entirely-realistic, ambition. And hard work. And persistence. And HOPE. And my ambition has only grown with success, coming to extend to the larger online Civ community with the realization that all our best interests are ultimately intertwined.
I juggle and dance and sing, balancing a million needs and concerns and many many many long-term projects -and others not so long- all connected to my grand plan, rarely so much a plan as riffing, playing by ear - much of it doesn't show, but I'm filled with gladness and hope that what parts of my song you can see and hear look and sound as good as they do.
I love you people and this. is. my. LIFE. Your happiness here is almost as much a goal to me as is my own, the two being inextricably intertwined. AC2 is my instrument, my heart, and my blood runs through it as I play my song.
Watch the video; I don't look like Ms. Swift, but that's me. ;nod
I've got this Muusic playing in my mind saying it's gonna be all right! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nfWlot6h_JM#)
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See my pride! Enjoy the song! -That's not actually a joke. ;)
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It cannot have escaped your notice that the Shop has seen a major expansion in what's available to spend your fake forum money on. Major cleaning up and revamping of the themes/skins available has been done, and the project's not quite finished yet, but a manageable 14 themes are available for your use, including SMAC and SMAX themes, and they all work.
-And just yesterday, DrazharLn fixed up/organized/streamlined the page-top menu, and the terms in the navigation links/breadcrumbs at the top and bottom of all pages make a lot more sense.
There's also been a lot of performance enhancing tech stuff done that doesn't show, but makes page loads faster and more dependable, again all thanks to Draz. More of that is coming, and soon -date not yet determined, but soon- we'll be migrating to a new server host.
---
Now, where you come in, aside from enjoying all the benefits of this hard work, is the same thing I've been talking about since before the OP of this thread; you can take ownership of your part of this community with helpful feedback on all the improvements, and even more, with activity - and, dare I say it, some modest efforts to get the good word out about AC2.
I worked my way up the ranks to forum management and ownership like anyone else. Communities are made out of people, and I worked hard for years as a citizen content/activity generator and recruiter before I drifted into management, something you don't need mod powers to do at all. First thing you do is show up regularly and take interest in what's going on and what people are saying. Second, you join the conversation. Creating game-related content and reaching out to people you know who ought to fit in is a plus, but posting substantial posts is where it's at. POST. Don't overthink it, just post and have a good time.
Having a good time is the name of the game. What can you do to have a good time and enhance the good time of others (the latter tending to create a positive feedback loop)?
Speak up and be heard, and do pitch in on building this community. Take that power into your own hands. You're all doing very well, and I only ask MOAR!
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I've been following the recent site graphics and function discussion and work. Saw what it was before and what you all have turned it into. Didn't comment much since I'm clueless on the nuts and bolts.
Great result!! Cleaner, easier to use, I have a theme that doesn't hurt my eyes, and I'm happy and grateful :D
You're more than aware of how it all improves the chance that new folks will like it here and join our community.
So, once I have enough site money, will I be able to buy and gift you all virtual electric stimulation of your pleasure centers?
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...If I knew how to make that, I wouldn't need a hobby...
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Have you tried opium?
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Have you tried opium?
The potential to misconstrue this question remains pertinent. :stop:
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Draz sees himself as a Nietzschian ubermensh -seine macht ist maximal- to whom conventional morality does not apply...
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Meine macht ist maximal!
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Ja, ja...
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I've begun to climb out of the blahs recently, and I wonder if the membership would like to bring up any projects beneficial to the forum for when I have enough energy to take a few on.
Right now, the only thing that jumps out at me as needing doing is editing the Beginners' Getting-Started Strategy Guide for Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri / Alien Crossfire into a short .pdf. The idea for that project, frankly, is click-bait to promote the forum.
Any other ideas? It doesn't have to be strictly promotional - what's good for the community is good for it...
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I've begun to climb out of the blahs recently, and I wonder if the membership would like to bring up any projects beneficial to the forum for when I have enough energy to take a few on.
Right now, the only thing that jumps out at me as needing doing is editing the Beginners' Getting-Started Strategy Guide for Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri / Alien Crossfire into a short .pdf. The idea for that project, frankly, is click-bait to promote the forum.
Any other ideas? It doesn't have to be strictly promotional - what's good for the community is good for it...
The guide sounds like an excellent idea. I finally have both SMAC and a computer capable of playing it, and although I've played Civ for many years, I never got farther than Civ II.
For the forum... I'd love to be able to access my photo album from the Enterprise and Astronomy themes. I added the link to my quick links menu, but can't count on that remaining stable.
Can non-members see our albums if given a link?
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I was just able to browse your album as a lurker in the Great Satan, Firefox...
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So if I were to add the link to my album in my sig at other forums, it might bring more traffic here? (which is my other point besides the vanity of wanting people to enjoy the lolpics I make) :D
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It just might - search engines notice that sort of thing even if no one else does, and good search engine ranking is the best tool we can have for growing the community. Spreading the URL around matters.
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Here's the long version of the guide, BTW: http://alphacentauri2.info/SMACX%20Beginners'%20Guide/Beginners'%20Getting-Started%20Strategy%20Guide%20for%20Sid%20Meier's%20Alpha%20Centauri-Alien%20Crossfire.html (http://alphacentauri2.info/SMACX%20Beginners'%20Guide/Beginners'%20Getting-Started%20Strategy%20Guide%20for%20Sid%20Meier's%20Alpha%20Centauri-Alien%20Crossfire.html)
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https://www.facebook.com/AlphaCentauri2Forum/
Most people anymore -even ones like me who actively dislike it- have Facebook accounts, God help 'em.
Well, I have stupid Facebook open in a tab all the time, because I promote AC2 a lot there (and it's also the quickest/best way to contact sisko and t_ras). -And I've managed to draw lots of eyes lately, with interest high in the new Atlas/SMACX image (https://scontent-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13322078_1028093630592029_8914172900148553821_n.jpg?oh=57b57316c21ed28f69d09210b5be901b&oe=57EDD101) -I guess just because it's neat- scient's SMACX v2.0 Analysis Code DataBase (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=17994.msg95889#new), the new archive of the old Alpha.owo forum (http://alphacentauri2.info/Alpha.owo/) and currently, the new SMACX Resource Center (http://alphacentauri2.info/ResourceCenter/) that serves as a master index to this and that non-forum AC resource we host. (Almost time to start pushing something else.)
-And naturally, I'm promoting us as a source for Civ6 news - it's off-mission for this forum, but I've kept a SMACX item pinned at the top of the page to keep things right, and 6, good or bad, should tend to draw Our Kind of People- and when I posted 17 AC2 links in short order on the 24th, most of them 6 stuff, I threw in some other items, like a post in the Star Trek thread about the new official fanfilm guidelines -and most of it, 6 or not, averaged two views apiece. -Except for a science article someone known to me as an AC2 regular 'like'd, and which got 26 'people reached'.
Now, that last is why I write. I ask you, beg you, really, to 'like' the AC2 page so you'll see it on your timeline when a new item is posted/linked -hopefully, your 'friends', too- and be in the habit of being generous with your 'like's and shares when you're on - it can make a huge difference in helping the hard work of spending time on stupid Facebook posting things to promote our community and get the word out to Our Kind of People. This is true even if your entire 'friends' list is your mundane elderly relatives who don't game; it's still links spread on Facebook, one of those few sites that's pretty universal - liking and sharing there makes it that much more likely that that 4x gamer who never found our fan community will now, because of you, and it helps raise our search engine ranking.
Please. My brother used to be part of a military reenactment unit that had the slogan "No problem can't be solved by recruiting MORE MEMBERS!" - which is hogwash, but not entirely wrong or a bad attitude to take for the longevity of the group. -You can pitch in simply by following our page, and with an occasional press of a button when you're on Facebook...
(http://alphacentauri2.info/MGalleryItem.php?id=1226)
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Well, I just found out that somebody in Poland tried to hack my FB account. They didn't get in, but my account was locked. I got back in, and clicked "like"... not sure if it was for the right thing, as it seems as if everything under the sun has a "like" link on that site.
I'm sure the non-computer gamers on my friends list (which would be something like 99% of them) won't have a clue what this is about.
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;b;
It's a great help. The 'like' button for the page itself is at the bottom of the page background picture -Space Atlas at the top- between Sign up and Message. You can see it in the screenie I posted, only I already 'like'd it.
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https://www.facebook.com/AlphaCentauri2Forum/
Most people anymore -even ones like me who actively dislike it- have Facebook accounts, God help 'em.
Well, I have stupid Facebook open in a tab all the time, because I promote AC2 a lot there (and it's also the quickest/best way to contact sisko and t_ras). -And I've managed to draw lots of eyes lately, with interest high in the new Atlas/SMACX image (https://scontent-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13322078_1028093630592029_8914172900148553821_n.jpg?oh=57b57316c21ed28f69d09210b5be901b&oe=57EDD101) -I guess just because it's neat- scient's SMACX v2.0 Analysis Code DataBase (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=17994.msg95889#new), the new archive of the old Alpha.owo forum (http://alphacentauri2.info/Alpha.owo/) and currently, the new SMACX Resource Center (http://alphacentauri2.info/ResourceCenter/) that serves as a master index to this and that non-forum AC resource we host. (Almost time to start pushing something else.)
-And naturally, I'm promoting us as a source for Civ6 news - it's off-mission for this forum, but I've kept a SMACX item pinned at the top of the page to keep things right, and 6, good or bad, should tend to draw Our Kind of People- and when I posted 17 AC2 links in short order on the 24th, most of them 6 stuff, I threw in some other items, like a post in the Star Trek thread about the new official fanfilm guidelines -and most of it, 6 or not, averaged two views apiece. -Except for a science article someone known to me as an AC2 regular 'like'd, and which got 26 'people reached'.
Now, that last is why I write. I ask you, beg you, really, to 'like' the AC2 page so you'll see it on your timeline when a new item is posted/linked -hopefully, your 'friends', too- and be in the habit of being generous with your 'like's and shares when you're on - it can make a huge difference in helping the hard work of spending time on stupid Facebook posting things to promote our community and get the word out to Our Kind of People. This is true even if your entire 'friends' list is your mundane elderly relatives who don't game; it's still links spread on Facebook, one of those few sites that's pretty universal - liking and sharing there makes it that much more likely that that 4x gamer who never found our fan community will now, because of you, and it helps raise our search engine ranking.
Please. My brother used to be part of a military reenactment unit that had the slogan "No problem can't be solved by recruiting MORE MEMBERS!" - which is hogwash, but not entirely wrong or a bad attitude to take for the longevity of the group. -You can pitch in simply by following our page, and with an occasional press of a button when you're on Facebook...
(http://alphacentauri2.info/MGalleryItem.php?id=1226)
Two members were kind enough to quickly go onto th' Book and 'like' the pinned SMACX item, one of them shared, and I'm grateful for the cooperation -like the page itself, remember- anyone else game?
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Here's my two cents as an until-recently outside observer in terms of the goals for this thread and forum:
-In terms of attracting new users: Google, Google, Google. It may seem trite but search engine visibility really is the difference, I think, between success and oblivion these days for our humble message boards in current year 2016. I have good news on that front, however: you're doing an outstanding job! I became aware of this place due to the dozens of searches I've done related to modding Alpha Centauri and looking up information on game mechanics and the like, and it consistently ranks in the top searches on that topic. So basically, keep up what you have been doing on that front, because it's working!
-In terms of social media: having a Facebook group is alright, but it is also a very general-interest platform. It might be a good idea to start a Steam group as well - as SMAC has ever been a classic of PC gaming, and Steam is one of the leading distribution platforms for the PC in the present day. There is a lot more "demographic synergy" you might say, on Steam versus Facebook. Steam also gives you the opportunity to do more effective targeted recruitment, as it can be easy to identify Alpha Centauri superfans on the platform; they'll often go out of their way to join SMAC-related groups, or use avatars or profile modifications that identify them as such. I don't know if GoG has an equivalent social media system like Steam does but establishing some kind of presence there would be doubly invaluable, seeing as it is, as far as I know, the only source where SMAC can still be (well, legally) downloaded.
-The Wiki: I certainly have to extend my gratitude to the managers and contributors to the AC2 Wiki, as it's been an invaluable resource for me. There are certainly some tweaks that would help out a lot, though. The name "AC2 Wiki" was initially a bit confusing to me, as an uninformed outsider; I was initially under the impression that that meant it was for a mod of another game entirely, or for some drastic alteration of SMAC, and only after continued encounters and use did I realize it was still a resource dealing with the core game, and that AC2 is a reference to the community's history. Streamlining the "branding" to something like "SMAC Wiki" or "Planetpedia," basically something to drive home that it's an information resource for SMAC first and foremost but that it also includes fan content, etc. Secondly, greater synergy between the rest of the site and the Wiki. For example, I ended up browsing the pages on the Wiki for custom factions for some time before finding the download center. Finally, some tweaks to the style sheet. It doesn't have to be anything as elaborate as the forum themes, for example, but just a simple tweak - say, changing the background to a dark grey and the text to cyan - would be evocative of SMAC's visual style and enhance the user experience over the default wiki style.
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The "AC2 Wiki" logo was a branding attempt after we got a report from a new member who'd been using it for year without knowing there was a forum community hosting it. I guess I should repost w/o the "2", from what you say.
Steam - we'd be interested, but I don't do Steam and ain't going to... It would need a volunteer...
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Hey BUnckle,
I keep getting error messages saying that I am on an unsecured site, and that half the time I am about to leave the site for a known hacked site....
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?
I'll pass that along to our tech doodz...
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When do you get it does messages?
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Let me see if I can get some screen shots
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First indication something is wrong: red triangle
(http://i63.tinypic.com/2u7swp0.png)
When I click for details, this is what I get:
(http://i66.tinypic.com/2s8s50k.png)
And, this is the major issue - about half the pages on the off topic give me this when I try to enter them (the Happy Birthday ET, for example)
(http://i65.tinypic.com/21nmmg3.png)
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The problem was an image from the stated site that BU linked. I removed it.
Regarding the rest of the messages I woudnt worry about them.
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In a response to a friend's admonition about being gossipy, I just spontaneously ended up writing one of my policy speeches -not the what I enforce and why that goes in the rules thread, shorter because of a strong distaste for having to be Teh Man, but- one of those semi-eloquent TL;DR walls that go here because our biggest single selling point for this forum is respectful and thoughtful management that allows fun, not fight --- so here:
Green, if my only management priority in play was no drama, I couldn't allow any discussion of politics or religion.
Nossir, you're here to have a good time, every soul ever logged in on this forum is here to have a good time on some level, and that includes me, and you don't understand how or why I manage as I do without understanding I try to give the community its head in anything not too indecent or unpleasant I can afford to tolerate and still have a good place.
And maximum if-embarrassing-or-risky transparency is one of my more basic site policies. You know a little about my history with the stupid drama blowback over incomplete PM and private subforum leaks -during my sordid past as a poison newb, mostly, but always going on a little- many in the greater community seem to have a problem with honoring confidences, and that's one of the few things that I'll turn into the Hulk and quickdraw the hammer over w/ no notions of mercy troubling, and not hesitate nor feel bad about afterwards. I. done. been. burned. a few times that way.
Instead, I choose, knowing where you and Uno come from when you get onto me that way about this kind of thing, and knowing you're both right, to remove all possibility of misunderstanding by getting things only potentially dicey and not actively embarrassing up in plain sight and on the published record.
It is basic to the participatory aspect of how I manage here, Yr Humble Dictator depending on the counsel of his beloved people, which is exactly how you and I are currently interacting. If I don't hang out laundry not disgustingly soiled, how can you know enough to usefully advise me? You just engaged in gig-earning behavior over there, but welcome encouraged behavior here. My way burns more time, but it's the right thing to do, and flatly just works better in this room with these people in the numbers we get.
Besides, if Lefty swung by and read this entire thread word-for-word, he'd probably never say a word to anyone, not having taken any great offense -or maybe argue with me- but I'd anticipate no great likelihood of provocation or hard feelings. Some common camper who doesn't know me is more likely to take offense, but --- I should have such problems, Syn being it for CFC people who've posted here since Kyriakos was pushing his book last year. (We're Apolyon's grandchild, culturally, is the big problem I perceive with drawing and keeping CFC people.) Petek was far the most active CFCer for years in the beginning when we needed his support, but the gentleman doesn't OT, and I've said nothing I wouldn't want him to see.
This thread is for downage reports and gossip, one being a directly useful function, and the other a ghetto for when somebody wants to girldog on something not RL but not AC2 - check the OP; Zoid really meant to slag Locutus, not discuss downage. I allow it, though bitter badmouthing is generally discouraged in this positive-atmosphere community, and actually forbidden where I deem it likely to be seen by the wrong person and cause trouble (and you are invited, if the search engine steps up better than I expect, to search AC2 for how many times I've said vyeh on this site, then count how many of those times I said something negative about; discretion is not an alien concept to me) but - allowing a medium-length leash in this thread serves a very real need.
-Not least of which sometimes I want to grouse myself - and I am a student of all forums in our circle, because my job, because it's related to my own need/love for talking shop about the number one hobby I pursue like a full-time job right here where you stand. I'm always thinking about forum-building/running, and sue me for wanting to talk about it, and studying other forums in our circle and comparing / contrasting being part of my learning process - and talking about, my idea of a good time.
Again, it's my house and I am king here - but the way I roll is to want input, else how can I make you happy and encourage you to come around and entertain me? I've always talked about a major fraction of what I do and how I do it, and I invite feedback, and none of that's likely to ever change. It's carefully thought-through. Few things can't be worked-out through talking it out - works for me...
S0, what have YOU done to promote AC2 today? It's YOUR community, and YOU hold that power...
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So; with my rejoining of this forum and spark of interest in it again, the things I want to bring attention is this:
1. Getting more people on live multiplayer, figuring it out. I've got friends with interest in this game but they are intimidated by the very hard setup of multiplayer, there was a method as defined in Mandalore Gaming's video https://youtu.be/9oDIG4RRcLM?t=683 (https://youtu.be/9oDIG4RRcLM?t=683) (yet to sit down for it though myself.)
2. I've posted an interactive story in Planet Tales, called Tale of a Scout, which follows Stetson Amberfield, the story being one where the readers can at certain points have decisions that can impact the flow of the story.
3. I plan on doing some content creation regarding factions, reckon this can be pursued more in modding but has the faction editor on the GoG version of the game been fixed with uploading pictures, custom quotes and related? I know back when I was doing it editing on note pad was the most efficient way with some specific file formats for the sound files needing to be used, among other things. Was wondering if new developments came in or if its about as similar as it was in the past?
No worries either way on the last one, figured to ask.
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How can I add many pics to a post? Usually I use one of those 'image upload' websites for posting in forums. But what if I don't want to do that 20 times?
Sorry if it's a bad place to ask that, I didn't want to start a separate thread.
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There's several ways, but I'd recommend starting an album here and img-linking from there. It's what I do.
You'd probably want to open the album in a second tab while you're copy/pasting links, but that goes for any way you did it...
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Somebody at CFC started an OT thread, Are You a Mod for Any Other Forum/Subreddit? What's Your Story? I posted, and want to share:
Ha. At last, my time has come!
I was a newb at Apolyton of 2.5 months' vintage when WPC happened in early 2009 and I followed the enthusiastic SMACer migration. At the shiny new place, there was naturally a great deal of talking and thinking and action about building a community and how forums work and such. That's remained an area of interest to me since; my SMACX modding didn't always draw the feedback it deserved, but socializing with people was very gratifying. I'm in it for the people.
-This account contains glaring omissions of drama and Nerdwarstm, BTW.
So, after several years as a very enthusiastic citizen-soldier of community building activity in the SMACX section (and straight-up partnering with the moderator in the private GotM team folder running SMACX 'cause we both hate PMs) there was an open call for moderators in late 2011, and I stepped up. I was asked to stay off managing people -fair; I had considerable history as a troublemaker and problem member I'm glaringly omitting- and focus on cleaning up the smilies and some graphical forum stuff of the kind. I made a major project of it, also pitching in majorly on janitor stuff like hammering bots, and cleaning out old bots from the member list - it was like stuff I'd been doing forever, just with more buttons. I do not mind the janitor stuff.
And when someone posted a Buffy nip-slip shot in Civ4, I was so sheepish in handling that no-brainer as first staffer on the scene that my popularity actually increased with that crowd, and the malefactor in particular. (Beta wasn't in trouble at WPC, and never did it again.) Related, I made a thread in SMACX, as a citizen, talking about what we needed to do as a community and as individuals about the ongoing Nerdwarstm problems I'm not getting into here. -Again, I was just making speeches as just another member -and I don't know if it ultimately did any good, either- but I definitely noticed that I was being listened to, unlike a few previous efforts to influence the community, definitely due to that shiny nerdbadge in my postbit. That there's the origin of my thoughts about the necessity of leadership as inherent to a forum staff job description, and it's also where my love of the 'Kirk-speeches' began.
[shrugs] Somewhere in this, I finally signed up at my moderating partner's side-project, Alpha Centauri 2, and a couple hours later got an email notification that I'd been made Administrator w/o any consultation. Well.
A glaring omission later, 2012, we were at AC2 putting in the work to make it live -WORK- and just naturally fell into I was doing the people management. My shock that I was good at it was as profound as anyone's... :o I was never in it for any interest in telling anyone what to do, though I had always been a very bossy citizen - difference being that I've got opinions about what people do, but I have my own authority issues and am still uncomfortable being The Man. At any rate, the next year I offered to kick in half the bills and became, ferchrissakes, an Owner.
But, you know, I'm in this community for the excellent people, and I've put my money and my life, pretty much, behind that, making a good place, attracting them and keeping them. There are many good days when it pays off. I love the people. :D :D :D
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...And its not even Monday yet. ;)
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I don't think you're talking about the Monday.
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You, Sir, are very perceptive! :salute:
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And I'm very obviously in a state.
Fun while it lasts...
You should totally be commenting on the golden comedy of the glaring omission handling...
I wonder if it's as funny if you know what's left out, funnier/what. Personally, makes me sad...
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This place have any equivalents to the Random Raves/Rants/Thoughts threads from CFC?
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Well, BU's obnoxious thread is a good place to rave I think.
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BU's Foul Mood Thread. -(BU's obnoxious PC thread is silly post-count bragging.)
I use it for my personal random thread, and encourage others to post personal issues if they don't want their own thread - but making an actual Random whatever thread would be better, way better for what you want, I'd say.
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Oops.
(still awake, or already awake?)
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Still.
I actually thought that moderator story was worthy rah-rah stuff, you know - and this isn't a random thread.
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I simply mixed up threads. You have to believe me... [/Jedi handwave]
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No.
Going to bed now.
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I think we need something we can promote for a publicity stunt. I'd like to speed up the leisurely pace of member return, and that takes drawing some attention.
Off the top of my head, all I got in that sock is resuming work on SMACivilization (https://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=22061.0), which I certainly do intend to do when I'm ready, but it's not currently kicking its way out of my brain when I'd rather be asleep.
-So I'm interested in ideas. Got any?
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