 |
|
Hydro
|
|
Winfield, IL, USA
Jun 1999
time: 05:13
|
|
LoD,
It's great to see a new SMAC site, and yours is well done! I was even inspired to download DD's Ultimate Builder's Map after reading his articles, and I will try it out in the near future.
Hydro
|
|
| |
|
|
|
JAMiAM
|
|
Santa Clara, CA, USoA
May 1999
time: 21:13
|
|
The site is well organized, and visually pleasing. Load times are good, at least here at home with my cable modem. I'll try at work later on, where I'm limited to a 56k dial-up modem. There are some spelling errors on some of the pages, but overall the site is very good.
I was forwarded MoSe's email reply to you, and agree in principle with his observations regarding "team league" play. I think that SMAC is not particularly well suited for this type of play.
I noticed the front page had an option to choose between Polish and English versions. Is there a thriving SMAC community in Poland?
|
|
| |
|
|
|
JAMiAM
|
|
Santa Clara, CA, USoA
May 1999
time: 21:13
|
|
Misotu,
The team play concept has some pros and cons. My own humble opinion is that the pros are outweighed by the cons.
Pros:
1) Fosters a comraderie among players. Particularly within the chosen demographic (generally regional).
2) Allows for some sort of sustained, or semi-official, "bragging rights" among the greater SMAC playing community.
Cons:
1) Limitation of player pool among demographic group.
2) Destroys the diplomatic game. Being irrevocably bound to a teammate allows for no backstabbing, no negotiating of territorial rights, and takes the fun out of trading for techs, ec, units, et al.
3) Basically, converts SMAC into a "wargame".
Here's an example of when the model collapses. Over a year ago, Bingmann set up a challenge game between me and cousLee paired off against jimmytrick and Vel. It was a 2v2 game between warlord/hybrid players against vel style builders. It started off fine, got about 50 turns into the game, when jimmytrick dropped out. He was replaced by AnnC, who played a few turns before both her and Vel dropped from the face of the earth.
At this point in time, it became pointless to continue the "challenge" since the parties (one of them, anyway) who were challenging each other had dissolved. At least with a generic game, a replacement player has the ability to infuse a new dynamism into the game. Also, it is easier to fill a slot for a generic game than for a challenge.
Just my $0.02
[This message has been edited by JAMiAM (edited February 10, 2001).]
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
Fistandantilus
|
|
Piacenza, Italy
Mar 1999
time: 06:13
|
|
This is probably the first time I do but I have to disagree with JAM 
First of all I find cooperative play as enjoyable as FFA if not more. In team play you have to have different skills, I agree, but SMAC w/o diplomacy is definately not as arid as it seems, actually I like it a lot.
Also, when in a four player game two players drop out is difficult to find replacements, no matter the interest. When Mongoose, jimmytrick, AnnC, Bingmann, Vel and many many other reliable players quit many games died. There's nothing to do about it, it happens, people have different interests and real life is demanding. SMAC PBEMs last very long, you can't ask for everyone to be still interested in a game after a year or more.
Said that, how many PBEM games died? Too many if you ask me. But I don't think it's a problem of team play only (or that in team play is more frequent). Actually I have finished every team game I've played but one (the Italy vs CoC match, a very interesting one, a pity jt and AnnC left  ). I cannot say the same for all the FFA I was in. After all in the league there are automatically available subs which are the other components of the team and there isn't the delicate problem of explaining the 'political situation' the the newcomers.
As far as I know there's is only one game still going in the league, the Italy vs SMACeiros game MoSe mentioned in the e-mail. It's going to end soon too though. After that the STL will be a thing of the past.
Oh, I almost forgot to tell you why the league eventually died... the real reason is that the Italian team was simply too strong for the others so they all preferred to quit rather than lose badly and repeatedly 
Fist
P.S.
LoD can you please send me a cc of the reply to MoSe too? And btw, great site! I didn't know there were that many challenges for SP. If I find the time I'll try a couple of tham. I'm sure Misotu feels lonely on that HoF 
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
DilithiumDad
|
|
In all honesty, I must confess not to have beaten my own scenario (AI's Revenge). I am a builder at heart, and I created the scenario to hone my military skills but I must confess to failure. Misotu is the only to beat it!
(Not surprisingly, Mosotu beat me in a tournament game! (Although we both ultimately lost to Viriato!)
------------------
Creator of the Ultimate Builder Map, based on the Huge Map of Planet, available at The Chironian Guild:
http://guild.ask-klan.net.pl/eng/index.html
|
|
| |
All times are GMT. The time now is 05:13.
Apolyton Time is 00:13. |
top of page
|
| archivepost |
|
Forum Rules:
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
|
HTML code is ON
vB code is ON
Smilies are ON
[IMG] code is ON
|
|
|
|
|
|
10-02-2001 18:00
There's one in particular that I'm interested in... 
site, these are others in my Favorites list (subset Alpha Centauri) and are currently operational:
|