Civilization 4: Planetfall

[Green1]

At CFC, Maniac set up a email game that lasted a year.

I am sure you would have interest. The only requirements is that you need Civ 4 with Beyond the Sword patched to 3_19 FINAL and the latest version of Planetfall. If you have copies of SMAX, you can even rig it to use SMAX movies and voices.

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.

No version exists for Civ 5. Only something that adds SMAC techs to a regular Civ 5 game which is really out of place. Civ 5 catches hell from bittervets, but it is a fundamental change in paradigm from the rest of the Civ series.

OT, but in the future: If someone wants to make a SMAX remake on a more modern engine than Civ 4, I think Kumquat/Fallen Enchantress has some spectacular tools The next version of Kumquat would be even better. . But really, like what my editorials were going to point at, we really need a more open source engine where talented folks like Maniac, Kilk, Kyrub, et al would not be tied to folks owning one product.

[Maniac]

I wonder how the Civ 4 AI is going to handle it?

AI code would have to written for when to execute that new build order, but as discussed before, myself I don't see any practical applications for such a build order, certainly not ones which could be turned into code. So it would just be a gimmick for human use.

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.

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

What do you mean re sourceforge and assemble? :confused: You just need to download and install the executable installers.

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.

Morgan corporations are just a set of powerful buildings of which you can have only one per base, thus encouraging specialization. They are unrelated to the BtS corporations.

I feel like its a mini SMAC 2.  But I wonder why the orbital infantry dont look like the M.I. from Starship Troopers

I have to work with the available unit models. Starship Troopers isn't among them, alas.

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.

Planetfall makes heavy use of naval blockades, which cause trade networks to be recalculated every turn. That costs time, and AFAIK the time cost increases exponentially with map size. Slowdowns on larger maps is an issue in the civ series in general however. Not much can be done about that. People don't like to hear it, but the civ series simply isn't made to be played on large maps.

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.

I pretty much stopped work on Planetfall when Civ5 came out. (bad decision in hindsight) I barely mod Planetfall anymore. But I do not consider Planetfall an abandoned work in progress. I consider it a finished and perfectly playable product. Stuff like the aliens are optional add-ons, just like they were in Alien Crossfire. They could be nice to have, but the game stands without them.

[Alfapiomega]

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.

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

What do you mean re sourceforge and assemble? :confused: You just need to download and install the executable installers.

I am like a good bird, I return from time to time to check what's new

Anyways ok, I'll definitely consider doing the LP now I just have a bunch of stuff that needs to be finished first. I recently ended the SMAC LP and in the next month or two I hope to start a couple of new LPs. this might be one of them.

By assembling I meant putting the game together with all the videos and souds and additional downloads you got there. Still didn't have time to do it though :-D Can't find my Civ4 disk :-/

And also I am sad that you do not actively work on Planetfall anymore. It seemed to be a great work. Why stop?

[Maniac]

And also I am sad that you do not actively work on Planetfall anymore. It seemed to be a great work. Why stop?

1. The team has disbanded, as I stopped working on Planetfall. Can't get them back together of course. Annoying as for instance I'd like to create a new special ability button, but back then I forgot to ask Lord Tirian to write a tutorial to achieve the same style.
2. I've become hooked to roleplaying games like the Elder Scrolls and Fallout the past year. Playing those is more fun than modding. Although, soon I may publish a (very minor) Skyrim mod.

[Green1]

I hear you, Maniac. I go towards other games, too. Civ 4 is good, but there are so many things out there.