Building a Community

[sisko]

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   

[t_ras]

http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=2380.0
here it is.

[sisko]

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?

[t_ras]

Sure!

[NewAgeOfPower]

@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.

[sisko]

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.

[Buster's Uncle]

@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?

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.

[JarlWolf]

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.

[sisko]

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.

@everybody: you should know that your efforts towards building this community are appreciated and we want to reward contributors.
new badges will be awarded to content creators like AAR / fiction writers or modders (once they submit new entries in the downloads section).

[Buster's Uncle]

You may or may not have noticed that we added a subforum the other day.   

Alpha Centauri en Español

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.
 

[sisko]

speaking of releases, i just found out there was a SMAC Russian release:

[NewAgeOfPower]

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.

[Buster's Uncle]

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?

[NewAgeOfPower]

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.

[JarlWolf]

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.