I played a bit of it and own Civ 4. The graphics are, indeed, gorgeous.
However, due to the limitations of the Civ 4 engine, much of the things that make Alpha Centauri unique could not make it in. For one, you can not terraform changing the terrain. No unit workshop was possible. There where also a lot of "additions" that I personally thought were non-canonical that SMAniAC and his team put in. The game also slows down on later turns to a crawl if you have an older computer. The total rework of the tech tree also turned some folks off along with making some things religions and actual corporations using Civ 4 :BtS's system for that.
That said, I do think any redo of AC could benifit from Civ 4's handling of some things. I love the way Civ 4 handles aircraft, for instance, over the way AC does. Instead of unit workshop, SMAniAC and crew used Civ 4's promotion system. It works well enough. Much better AI due to using Civ 4's more modern AI.
I have often said, if you could just take Planetfall's graphics and Civ 4's AI and plug it into SMAX, folks would go nuts.
[shrugs] We'll never know until someone tries... It ought to at least make for an effective and persuasive publicity stunt if it takes off at all. Go for it.
Yeah you. I ain't gonna do it.
Let's look at the unit workshop. First off, Planetfall does have a special ability system with a larger variety of spec abs than SMAC had. So in that area Planetfall certainly isn't inferior. What Planetfall doesn't have is free choice of attack strength, defense strength, and movement points (ADM).
SMAC's customization of ADM creates only one trade-off for unit design: cost versus ADM. A system of pre-designed units Civ4/Planetfall-style allows for unit types to be much more distinct, and as a result create more meaningful choice. Eg infantry vs chopper in Planetfall is AD<->M: infantry is strong but slow; chopper is fast but weaker. There are also three different infantry lines (flamethrower, genite, marine + their upgrades) each with their own benefits. Stuff like that isn't possible with SMAC.
Second point, elevation terraforming. I don't even see what that option added to SMAC's gameplay. Sure, I've created the occasional energy park, but what else was it used for? And it is subject to the same trade-off as with the unit workshop: freedom versus meaningful choice. Elevation in Planetfall has more features designed around it than SMAC had. Besides affecting the output of certain terrain improvements, Planetfall doesn't allow movement between ridges and lowlands. This makes combat more tactical. These movement restrictions can be circumvented by choppers, or by building a bunker on a ridge you want to move to. Elevation also influences the spread of fungus: it can't spread on highlands and ridges, thus creating safe haven for Planet polluting players. Stuff like that would lose its meaning if players could just convert the entire world in an endless stretch of highlands. Giving the player limited tools to deal with the environment they ended up in allows for a more strategic game than the endless "freedom" of SMAC's sandbox.
So good news, I'll put elevation terraforming on my to do list. But bad news: 1) my to do list is veeeeeeeeery long, and 2) it'll only become available near the end of the tech tree, so it won't be a game changing addition if that's what you're after.
The SDK/DLL in Civ 4 allows you to do all sorts of wild stuff, if you can figure it out.
Maniac, thanks for finding time to come here and answer some of the questions. I checked Youtube in my time of absence and while working on the LP of SMAC and there seems to be no proper Planetfall LP. As a fan of Civ4 and SMAC I was thinking it might be a good way how to introduce more people to your mod. Just let me know if you would like it or not.
I already downloaded all the game files from Sourceforge and I will try to assembe it in the next few days, then give it a try :) Also if you would like me to do an LP I would appreciate you taking time to watch the LP as I progress and point out some hints so I can make it more interesting for viewers :)
I didn't realize - you can introduce raising terrain into Civ4 engine? :o
I wonder how the Civ 4 AI is going to handle it?
Maniac, thanks for finding time to come here and answer some of the questions. I checked Youtube in my time of absence and while working on the LP of SMAC and there seems to be no proper Planetfall LP. As a fan of Civ4 and SMAC I was thinking it might be a good way how to introduce more people to your mod. Just let me know if you would like it or not.
I already downloaded all the game files from Sourceforge and I will try to assembe it in the next few days, then give it a try :) Also if you would like me to do an LP I would appreciate you taking time to watch the LP as I progress and point out some hints so I can make it more interesting for viewers :)
I agree. A LP of Planetfall would get a few views and more DLs on CFC. I am even contemplating a future AAR myself. Maniac's take on Morgan with Civ 4: BtS corporation rules sounds...interesting.
I feel like its a mini SMAC 2. But I wonder why the orbital infantry dont look like the M.I. from Starship Troopers
Since I have a more powerful laptop than when I first cranked your mod up, I decided to give it a go a week or so ago. One of the things that made it a bummer was performance issues on larger maps. I was literally waiting for the comp between turns 5-8 minutes between turns mid to late game. With the more powerful comp, even then there are still hangs on larger maps.
Not sure what you guys can do about it, but the vast majority of single player sandbox SMAC (and, for that matter Civ) fans are huge map players.
Also: how is it going on the aliens?
...
Much of the work of the mod is still in progress, but Maniac has been churning away at it for a long time. There are performance issues and unfinished stuff.
Maniac, thanks for finding time to come here and answer some of the questions. I checked Youtube in my time of absence and while working on the LP of SMAC and there seems to be no proper Planetfall LP. As a fan of Civ4 and SMAC I was thinking it might be a good way how to introduce more people to your mod. Just let me know if you would like it or not.
I see you haven't been here since you made that post, so my reply is probably in vain, but yeah, a LP would certainly be nice. :)QuoteI already downloaded all the game files from Sourceforge and I will try to assembe it in the next few days, then give it a try :) Also if you would like me to do an LP I would appreciate you taking time to watch the LP as I progress and point out some hints so I can make it more interesting for viewers :)
What do you mean re sourceforge and assemble? :confused: You just need to download and install the executable installers.
And also I am sad that you do not actively work on Planetfall anymore. It seemed to be a great work. Why stop?