Themed mod faction packs

[MysticWind]

I've been diving into old-school, turn of the century SMAC fan mod factions. I remember NetworkNode.org would use to divide up the factions on the site into different sets ordered by the Greek alphabet. These factions were mostly from different modders, but occasionally you would get ones from the same pack.

I'd like to dig into people's memories about those. There's a classic early-'00s GameFAQs strategy guide from one aetherspoon that's a great time capsule which mentions several of those sets (Progenitor Civil War, WaterWorld, Second Mission):

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/96102-sid-meiers-alpha-centauri/faqs/12572

I also remember a non-NetworkNode.org project called SMAC Fac Pack which is now sadly defunct along with the rest of Yahoo! Groups, but is fortunately hosted on this site:

https://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=172

Another one from that era is the Aldebaran project:

http://web.archive.org/web/20031202035934/http://www.geocities.com/alde_baron/

Is anyone aware of any others? I liked these themed projects because they were often attempts to build unofficial fan sequels, imagining what would be humanity's next adventure.

[Buster's Uncle]

There's more.  We just came into a big ol' .tar file from Apolyton and the dawn of the nets.  Some of it's factions I haven't had time to go through yet.  Maybe next week...

-See also the AC Wiki for whatever categorizing of factions ete did...

[bvanevery]

I've done a ton of faction balancing over the 2.5 years I was heavy working on my mod, but no faction creation from whole cloth.  I think one of my larger achievements was emasuclating the Alien factions, to make them only as powerful as all the rest.  That was pretty early on though.  You just take away most of the free toys they got, and there you are.  A side effect of that, is in my tech tree you're not automatically getting 3-Res armor just because a faction is set to ALIEN.

There are 3 areas I see potentially interesting about people's long lost faction mods:

• Interesting art assets.  Particularly good looking bases?  Impressive character portraits?
• Exceptional faction descriptions or diplomatic dialogue.  I doubt much can be done here, since there are only so many lines available, and often only a short catch phrase.  But who knows, maybe someone sometime wrote something "brilliant".
• Odd combos of game design changes that actually work, that actually had a lot of thought put into them.  This is the one I have the least hope for, having pored over that exercise for 2.5 years.  But who knows maybe there's some "gonzo combo" of options that I didn't consider.

[MysticWind]

There's more.  We just came into a big ol' .tar file from Apolyton and the dawn of the nets.  Some of it's factions I haven't had time to go through yet.  Maybe next week...

Wow, so this is a recent internet archeological find? Really glad that there's still active work being done in trawling through the old archives.

There are 3 areas I see potentially interesting about people's long lost faction mods:

I like the historical aspect. It's kinda quaint to see people's concepts from that era, to see what they thought the game lacked.

[bvanevery]

Hmm.  And then the question is, did the game lack?  Or did they not understand what was already in front of them?

[Buster's Uncle]

No reason not to let y'all have a look:  https://alphacentauri2.info/BU%20Junk/smac.tar

It opens w/ 7zip, if your system won't open it...

[bvanevery]

Not sure what I'm poking through with the various images.  Mostly looks like stuff that already existed from official sources, although I don't know what some of the "different UI" stuff is about.

Eventually I found my way to the Factions folder.  I am amused by:

Big Tobacco Industry

The unthinkable has happenned and Big Tobacco has hitchhiked their way to Alpha Centauri. 
Here, presenting the Tobacco Consortium, or the Really Evil Morganites.

[MysticWind]

Great archive. Does anyone know if it might contain unused material originally on the Firaxis site? I specifically saw somewhere some time ago of a saved copy of the usual faction leader site, possibly one of the early drafts for a leader, that said they had attended the Royal Thai military academy or something like that in their leader profile.

[MysticWind]

Found a couple of threads about cut content on Apolyton. Is Apolyton the oldest extant SMAC/Civ community?

Screenshots: https://apolyton.net/forum/other-games/alpha-centauri/132810-alpha-centauri-as-it-once-looked
Text: https://apolyton.net/forum/other-games/alpha-centauri/146743-back-in-the-beta
Discussion: https://apolyton.net/forum/other-games/alpha-centauri/ac-creation/13612-my-next-mod-the-forgotten-ones

Funny line from the last one: "Darn near everyone made a terraforming faction... I myself have about 3, including the ULTIMATE terraformers."

EDIT: Which one of you made this???

http://www.codehappy.net/apolyton/ - The Old Apolyton Civilization Forums. When the Apolyton Civilization Site took down its old discussion forums devoted to classics such as Civilization II and Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, I created a quick and dirty mirror here.

That led me to finding this - https://web.archive.org/web/20081204194628/http://ac.strategy-gaming.com/chiron/dict.htm

Is there a better thread for archiving info like this?

[Buster's Uncle]

Make one.    There's always a good deal of interest in such things.  Pity we're having a slow winter...

[MysticWind]

I made one on the main forum, this one I'll keep specific to factions, and speaking of which I believe I've found what I'm looking for by digging through the Internet Archive's NetworkNode.org  archives. I think the latest one that works is Jan. 29 2004.

Found info about the Second Mission faction set under previews:

LAMBDA SET

by Chiron Force, with help from Pentalarc.
Art by networknode, base icons by Sceabsatsatniiazna.

Six years after the Unity Mission was launched, Mankind entered its darkest days. Not knowing if Unity would be a success, a backup mission was planned. Unfourtnately, not a single nation had the rescources to fund another mission, so the nations of the world turned to private enterprises. Five international corporations and two private groups provided the funding for a second mission in return for a ticket to Chiron…

The Rensallir Corporation - A French aeronautics company that specializes in commercial spaceflight.

Jorgenstad - a Dutch electronics and technology company.

Delgusia Inc. - the leading Brazilian manufacturing company with military connections.

CerraGen - a shadowy American genetics company.

Obriosh i - a Japanese energy company.

The Briach Estate - a fabulously wealthy English estate.

Serabollio - an Italian enterprise that has long been associated with art and fashion.

There's also a story for it in the Fiction section.

Preview for Return to Earth which is sadly unviewable because it was created in a Flash movie that doesn't seem to have been saved. Found a reference to it in the news archives though.

19.09.01
Return to Earth themed set
Sysiyo has an excellent idea for a future themed set. It consists of 4 factions that leave Chiron for the fabled voyage back to Earth. When they arrive they discover a ruined earth that has become the battleground of two "Super Power" nations, technologically inferior but with powerful military and resources. As these six factions struggle for dominance the seventh power reveals itself. An AI of uprecedented power and machine like killer instinct, known only as "The One".

And from my other thread, a faction set:

Also found the copy of Xenofungus, complete with info (but sadly no files) for the DS9 TC project in German. For some reason the pre-2003 archives contain scenarios that the later archives lack.

The archives for the Alpha Column, which was the news(letter) updates of NetworkNode, are pretty great, as they describe some of the factions in detail:

I know the Kappa Set was released a while a go, so I apologize for not writing this sooner. Overall, I thought the Kappa Set was good.
A few factions I was impressed by, and others…well…

Androgynous - I can’t imagine there being a whole faction of multisexuals(aren’t there only two?). Hmm let’s see, mindworms are overrunning our bases, drones are rioting…I think I need to be a different sex…Other than that this was a pretty good faction. I liked the graphics and the gameplay was above par

Bards - Damn this is one powerful faction! How come these singers and musicians keep kicking my ass!?! Hey that’s not a guitar!! Put down that fusion laser!! The Bards were the best faction in the set, as well as the most powerful. The base names and graphics were also very good. Definitely download this faction if you want some serious compitition.

Guardians of Morality - Brother Robert Rydell was deprived as a child, and now he’s gonna tell you what to do. In reality, the Guardians weren’t very moral, as they repeatedly attacked me FOR NO APPARENT REASON. I’m sitting their minding my own reason when his little comlink pops up and says he’s gonna eliminate my faction! So much for understanding. Of course, I kicked his ass good! If you like factions that easily pick off, then the Guardians are for you. If you want a challenge, look elsewhere. The Guardians got off way to slowly and don’t develop their economy, research, or basically anything else. However they will produce countless laser batteries to throw at you.

Gemini Empire – They say that imitation is the sincerest for of flattery. In that case I’m flattered. This faction is a complete rip-off of my Imperialist faction. The text is exactly the same! Come on man, at least make up your own base names! It should be said that the graphics are quite good, though.

Ishbu - Here’s another one of my stellar factions. I hope this one doesn’t get ripped-off. What can I say except that the graphics are impressive and the gameplay is solid (though still second to the Bards)

Mech Prospect - Here’s another OK faction. The graphics are a negative of the Spartan graphics. The text was average, but the gameplay was good.

Showbiz - Umm…lets see…mindworms are overrunning the base…the drones are rioting…HOW COME THERES NEVER ANYTHING GOOD ON TV!?!? Come on people, a showbiz faction? I think there are more important issues on planet than making movies. The base names were good though, and the text made me laugh. Too bad the parody faction contest is over.

Reads pretty early '00s, and some of the factions sound typical of the sort of random junk that was on NN.org

Issue 11 is the last Alpha Column, the previous 10 were archived. Description of the Waterworld faction from one of the updates:

::Iota Set Released; My Comments::

The Iota set is out! You may recognize some of the factions, they were part of an early Alpha Contest. Overall I thought the set was excellent. The webpage for the set was really good, I think all future sets should be done like that. As a whole the graphics were awesome, and the text was good. There isn’t one bad faction in the set. So what does everyone think of my map? Please let me know. In fact, if you have any comments send them to me. Download the set now if you haven’t already. Here are my comments on the factions.

Legion of Aquarius - Peace and enlightenment? Wait I thought this faction was by Pentalarc… Well its not his normal evil type faction, but it is still very good. The graphics are good. Love the base pic. Gameplay is well balanced.

Bringers of the Deluge - Nothing worse than a belligerent redneck that wants to turn the planet into water. This is more of a Pentalarc faction. The Bringers are tough competitors, and tough to get rid of when playing against. Good graphics again, the leader pic definitely suits the leader. The base pic was good, but…..haven’t I seen something like that before? (check out the Hydra Institute base pics)

Full Fathom Five - I like the Shakespeare quote. Another good faction. I like the base pic, once again. Is this a faction of humans, or some offshoot race?

Hydra Institute - Winners of the first Alpha Contest, the Hydras are one of the best aquatic factions out there. Good graphics, well done text, and a solid all around faction.

Multimakers - What does that mean anyway? The Multimakers are sort of the Gaians of the sea. They’re also tough compeditors. The revamped graphics were my favorite in the set.

O.E.C. - Despite the long faction name, the O.E.C. is another good faction (damn I say that a lot). I guess they can be considered the Peacekeepers of the sea. Some of the base names were to long though…

Triton Sect - Ahh here’s my faction. This was actually the second faction I ever created. I have been waiting more than a year to see this one in a set. I think I did a good job with it. The –2 research kind of slows the faction down. Other than that a good faction. Nice graphics, they’ve gotten consistently better.

I seem to remember being on the site back in '02/'03 and the Progenitor Civil War set also had a Flash interface. I remember the one human survivor faction leader being a military man, and all the other faction leaders were just Progentiors with in different shades of color.

Finally, NN.org also linked to another site I vaguely remembered, AC Argentina, which is archived in both its CJB.net site and Geocities, and had its own project, Space Race:

FIRST ARRIVAL

In the Year 2038, The United Nations Proyect Unity, that was created to explore and colonize the system of Alpha Centaury, was canceled because a new world war started. The territore in conflic was the Antartic Continent, which was demanded by several nations.

The war produced new technologies such the cheapper fussion core, these technologies made every nation and corporation able to build a spaceship, which could travel to the stars. And so a new competitive race started in the Earth, The race to Alpha Centaury.

The mightier spaceships arrived earlier, in the first arrival

United States Space Colony: The USA Faction.
Unity Europe Space Colony: European Faction. (Mainly Germany and France)
The Seul-Tokio Colony: Oriental Faction. (Binational Union of Japan and Korea)
PAN-Arab Colony: Islamic Faction. (Economic Union of Arabia, Egipt, Iran, Irak, And other Islamic nations)
Bharat-Chiron: The India Federation Faction.
The Tigers Colony: Asian Faction. (Aerospacial agency of Bengala, economic association of Malaysia, Indonesia, and T'hai)
The New Jewish State: Neosionist Faction.

SECOND ARRIVAL

Some years later after the first seven spaceships arrived in chiron, seven new spaceships entered in the Centaury System.

The Chosen People: A secret sect of mad people, who seized the second Spaceship of the UESC and sacrificed the original crew.
Nigeria Chiron Colony: Nigeria Faction. With the support of all Africa.
The Antartic Legion: The Union of Argentina and the free Antartic Legion. Militaristic Faction
Great China Colony: Chinese Faction.
The New British Empire: British Faction
C.O.R.P. Group: Hidden group of scientific people who were associated with independent economical groups
Brazilian Colony: Brazilian Colony

Sadly, based on the list of links saved, only the Indian Bharat faction page is preserved. At least all of the custom Maps have screenshots.

Bonus:

NetworkNode.org had a Reviews page at one point, with only one early save from 2002 with a ton of info about many custom factions up to the Delta set.

[Buster's Uncle]

Found a couple of threads about cut content on Apolyton. Is Apolyton the oldest extant SMAC/Civ community?

Solver thinks it's -maybe- the oldest gaming forum in the world.

[bvanevery]

Oldest site for any and all gaming, I highly doubt that.  Oldest Civ oriented site, that's possible.
https://civilization.fandom.com/wiki/Apolyton_Civilization_Site

The Apolyton Civilization Site (often called Apolyton for short) is a website that provides information about and forums for discussing the Civilization and Call to Power games. Having been online since at least September 1998, it is possibly the oldest Civilization site on the Internet.

I'm not sure what year websites with forums started being kind of a thing.  I was on Usenet for a long time, so had no real need of web forums for quite some time.  They were "newfangled".  I'm old enough to have hand coded some primitive HTML for a bare bones website.  Talk about the stone ages.

I think in 1998, I was reforming the rec.games.programmer Usenet group into the comp.games.development.* hierarchy.  I was Newsgroup Proponent for the effort, which means that I did 50% of the work of getting it to happen.  Boy what a tooth pull!

[Solver]

So that tar file BU posted is just a dump of all old Apolyton SMAC files. Lots of noise in there, and lots of stuff that is available elsewhere, but might be a few gems hidden.

Apolyton isn't the first SMAC community, but it's the most important one by far. The modding docs, the story writing, the strategy guides and MP, all of that came from Apolyton in the early years of SMAC. In the early days, there was also sidgames.com, a site that had some great SMAC content and discussions circa 1999, but the site went defunct relatively quickly, I think it was offline by 2002. Several prominent SMACers, like Apocalypse, were on sidgames.com. I was also there even before I joined Apolyton, but found the owner... difficult.

As for Apolyton's history, I don't think it's the oldest gaming forum out there, I know it's not, but it's one of the oldest continuously operating gaming forums for sure. Some of the early content has been lost or is buried too deep, but the oldest accessible posts date back to February 1998, so that's 23 years of history right there. Apolyton's golden age was 1999-2006, which by the way means it's closer in time to the golden days of USENET than to today.

[MysticWind]

Any thoughts on the faction packs?