Comprehensive SMAC->SMAX changelist

[ete]

For the SMAC in SMAX project we need a full and detailed list of what changed between the versions so we know what needs to be undone. These will be listed in this thread, please help by linking to useful sources of changes and by posting things that have been missed.

Unsorted changes

Non-coding changes
Datalinks changes
Tech tree changes
Extra weapons, abilities and armor
Extra default units
-Most native life can be turned into MW or IoD clones trivially
-Fungal towers could be tricky, but making them missiles may work fine. Needs testing.
-Battle ogres maybe best disabled by editing pod events
Replace the expansion map with the original map (i.e., remove or disable the U.N.S. Unity Wreckage, Fossil Field Ridge)
Graphics for sea mines (?)

Coding changes
Opening video
-Replace expansion opening video with original opening video
Extra factions need removing
-Replace expansion main screen (i.e., logo) and menu (i.e., green buttons) with original expansion main screen and menu (i.e., blue buttons)
-Disable the expansion faction selection menu (i.e., the middle menu of the three)
Pod pop events
-Cloning
-Battle Ogres
Landmarks to optional
-Fossil Ridge, Unity Wreckage

Acceptable changes
Changes between versions which SMACers are okay with (kyrub you can veto these, just let me know)
Freeing captured faction leaders probe op
New landmarks (?)
-Borehole Cluster, the Manifold Nexus,
Hotseat/PBEM support

Credit to diessa for writing up some project specifications, part of which I used in this post.

I play almost entirely SMAX, so am likely to be missing some changes here. Please post differences between the games that are not here .

[diessa]

Cloning was added by the expansion. It and the Ogre seem to be the only supply pod events that were added. I referenced this across a couple of wiki articles, so someone who knows the code may be able to confirm.

Edit: a decision will need to be made about the Borehole Cluster and Nexus Manifold. Both were added in a patch, but they are intended to establish more of a lore base for aliens. The Manifold is an easy thing to justify removing, but the Borehole Cluster is a more interesting option; do we want a more recent alien presence (including the cluster's interlude)?

[Ford_Prefect]

On the borehole cluster one could edit the description that is displayed for them.

[Dio]

What about a fungal tower that appears when you open a unity pod full of fungus? The proposed change would cause missiles to appear from the pod  .

[diessa]

On the borehole cluster one could edit the description that is displayed for them.

Good point about editing the interlude. I'd like to keep them. In the original specifications document, I suggested (in either this project or another one) adding more interludes to the other landmarks to add to the lore of the game and explain what the bonus is. "Ridge" or "Crater" aren't too descriptive for +1 energy and +1 minerals, respectively. Interludes can be turned off, so the additions won't even bother anyone, which is a plus.

[ete]

I'd say keep extra interludes for a different project. Maybe the could be merged into the standard modpack later if most people agreed and they were well done, but let's keep this abut SMACifying X.

Editing the label to Borehole Cluster is simple enough and would work well. Was the Manifold Nexus in the later SMAC patches then? If they were both included in SMAC, I'd say just leave them in with the same names/properties as they had in SMAC.

The fungal tower thing: ideally we'd remove fungal towers entirely as part of the rollback X setting, but making a one turn "missile" with the MW special icon and psi attack/defence appear is at least pretty close. Enough for a first version to not act too crazy, you just get one extra MW when you pop a pod, and that MW vanishes after one turn. Though having a proper coded solution would be better longer term.

[diessa]

I agree that the additions are better kept for something else.

Yes, both the Borehole Cluster and Manifold Nexus were added in the SMAC patch that anticipated SMAX's release. However, we shouldn't keep them because they are part of the original. They exist to bridge the narrative gap between SMAC and SMAX. They are retcons that occurred at the end of SMAC's post-release development cycle, so they ought to be considered critically. A significant portion of this project is about removing an active progenitor presence from the game, so keeping the thing that they are coming for (i.e., the Manifold Nexus) would be problematic.

[Geo]

What about a fungal tower that appears when you open a unity pod full of fungus? The proposed change would cause missiles to appear from the pod  .

Do Fungal Towers pop from pods on the tile itself? AFAIK the unit popping a pod enters the tile. And if it is adjacent, then a mind worm graphic will be seen for one turn if it is linked to the proper slot in the units.pcx file.

[Dio]

What about a fungal tower that appears when you open a unity pod full of fungus? The proposed change would cause missiles to appear from the pod  .

Do Fungal Towers pop from pods on the tile itself? AFAIK the unit popping a pod enters the tile. And if it is adjacent, then a mind worm graphic will be seen for one turn if it is linked to the proper slot in the units.pcx file.

Fungal towers that come from a pod full of fungus will appear in a random adjacent tile to the unity pod. In addition, what about ecodamage related fungal blooms that produce fungus and fungal towers?

Things that can produce fungal towers:

Opening unity pods on land
Ecodamage related fungal blooms on land

Question: In SMAX, does the major fungal bloom catastrophe still occur after a faction finishes building the Voice of Planet secret project, but before a faction builds the Ascent to Transcendence?

[Lord Avalon]

I've got the Alien Crossfire manual. Should I just list everything it does (which would be easier than listing only what was missed above)?

[ete]

go for it. I'll look through and add anything new.

[diessa]

This post may be of use: http://alphacentauri.us/smac-x-whats-new.html

[Lord Avalon]

New human factions; alien factions.

New Manifestations of Planet
Native Life: Flora - Fungal Towers; Fauna - Spore Launchers, Sealurks
Unity Pods: Battle Ogres, Cloning
Landmarks: the Borehole Cluster, Unity Wreckage, the Manifold Nexus, Fossil Ridge

New Manifestations of the Colonists
(Stuff for) Units: Resonance Laser, Resonance Bolt, String Disruptor, Tectonic Payload, Fungal Payload, Resonance Armor, Pulse Armor, Soporific Gas Pods, Dissociative Wave, Marine Detachment, Fuel Nanocells, Algorithmic Enhancement

Facilities: Aquafarm, Brood Pit, Covert Ops Center, Flechette Defense System, Geosynchronous Survey Pod, Subsea Trunkline, Subspace Generator, Thermocline Transducer

Secret Projects: Cloudbase Academy, Manifold Harmonics, Nethack Terminus, Planetary Energy Grid

New Technologies: Progenitor Psych (E1), Field Modulation (C2), Adaptive Economic Systems (B3), Adaptive Doctrine (C3), Bioadaptive Resonance (C4), N-Space Compression (C8), Sentient Resonance (C9), Secrets of the Manifold (D13), String Resonance (C16)

New Probe Team Rules: Algorithmic Enhancement
New Probe Action: Freeing Captured Leaders

Alien Crossfire manual, pp. 11-25

[ete]

Okay, got them all

[Yitzi]

Question: In SMAX, does the major fungal bloom catastrophe still occur after a faction finishes building the Voice of Planet secret project, but before a faction builds the Ascent to Transcendence?

I'm not sure what you mean by "major".  Fungal blooms can still happen post-VoP, and actually are twice as likely to happen, but do not contain worms once the VoP has been built.