23-01-2002 01:31									#1
	Civ III to SMAC II Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

I been playing Civ III for a while and something has been bugging me about the game. It's not tedium and the fact that the AI can still waste me is only a small factor. I finally figured it out:

Screw history! I want the future!

The SMAC universe was great! The last survivors of Earth try to colonize a new planet under a single leader. And it all gets shot to hell just because of a reactor malfunction. The way the Progenitors communicated was unique: not by sound, but the alteration of sound waves. Cool.

The leaders all has their different personalities and "played" the game in different ways. The Hive was a pain and a half to conquer because of their free walls and the Yang model of placing cities. The Believers 25% combat bonus and Miriam's "If-you-are-not-using-fundamentalism-then-you-die" personality made her dangerous to start next to.

So I've been thinking: What aspects of Civ III should be put into SMAC II?

Culture wouldn't work that well: Just think about a Gaian city flipping to Morgan Industries, or a UN base to the Hive. And I really don't think a Caretaker base would go to the Ursupers. I guess in some ways it might make sense, but not in most.

I also really, really miss the building and tech quotes. Hell, I can recite some of them right now. Each building/tech could be linked to multiple quotes, and it randomly selected which one to play.

Secret Projects movies. I think this can be summed up with

quote: Get off my land, you Peacekeeping son-of-a-...

I loved them also and still watch them for the 100th time while playing.

The terrain engine SMAC had had potential, but, sadly, it was used. Firaxis forgot a very important part: slope. You could have mountains, but they took up to much space. Both wide and narrower mountains exist, and both should be reprensented. Also, this has a tacital element: Some units would be able of navigate certain grades. Rovers wouldn't be able to travel the steeper slopes while infantry would have the fewest restrictions. It would be cool to have a base of a cliffside that couldn't be attacked from the other side of the cliff, even if the tiles were adjacent.