Top Things We Miss from SMAC - Page 2

Grud · January 14, 2002, 20:19

3) The CPU .wav prompts ("perhaps a careful consideration of your options is in order")

2) Organic Superlubricant ("Organic superlube? Oh, it's great stuff, great stuff! Ya gotta keep an eye on it, though...").

1) Nerve Staplers! Nerve Staplers! Nerve Staplers!

Dobian02 · January 15, 2002, 13:07

The number one thing I miss from SMAC...

T H E M O V I E S ! ! !

EnochF · January 15, 2002, 17:16

I really do miss specialists that actually do something. Why Firaxis decided to make specialists so impotent in Civ III is beyond me.

I miss the range of choices we had for tile improvements, too.

I miss wonders that have genuinely wondrous effects.

I miss the sound files that play when you discover a tech or build an improvement for the first time. (That would be SO COOL in a full-fledged Civ game! Hear Oppenheimer when you discover Nuclear Fission, Karl Marx with Communism...)

But mostly, I miss being able to go into the text file and fiddle with the rules.

DilithiumDad · January 16, 2002, 11:49

10. Research progress bar showing total research points per turn and total accumulation. Why is there no progress bar? We get progress bars for culture that show up on the base screen and the cultural advisor (rather redundant, if up ask me). But for the number one thing we are trying to optimize, total research points in your civ, we have no progress bar and we have to guess by fiddling with the research allocation. We get the number of beakers per turn for each base, but no overall total.

I want a research progress bar!

Zoid · January 16, 2002, 12:33

Quote:

Originally posted by DilithiumDad
8. "Go to --base" This command is much more important than stacked movement. It would eliminate the need for stacked movement and was already implemented in SMAC. If you pressed "G", you got a list of cities you can go to (including only those that are accessable) and could sort the lost by name or distance. If the unit was an Alien Artifact, it told you which bases had an unlinked node. An equivalent function in Civ3 might give you a list of cities and indicate which of them contained barracks. I would kill for a feature like that in Civ3! And I am certain I am not alone!

No DD You´re not alone, this was one of the very first things I noticed and got annoyed about. But we shouldn´t have to choose, we want both stacked movement and a proper G-command

I agree with you on the other things as well...damn I gotta write my own specified gripes soon. It gets a little silly constantly writing "I second that opinion"

volcanohead · January 16, 2002, 17:38

I was highly excited by the prospect of Civ3, and I've enjoyed playing it over the last few months. However, this thread has reminded me how much innovation was in SMAC, and how in many many ways aspects of Civ3 have gone backwards compared with SMAC. It's depressing. There are two things Civ3 has done well: a reasonably smart AI and a flexible trading system. It's such a shame that the opportunity of creating a super Civ game has not been taken and so many of those good ideas in SMAC have been lost.

For me, speech messages were pretty cool, social modelling, random events and unit design were all great as well as clearly defined faction personalities.

V

Qilue · January 16, 2002, 17:56

I also miss my army of elite 0.6.4 super quantam hovertank formers and my navy of elite 0.6.8 super singularity cruiser formers.

But what I miss most of all is the 20-30 minutes of laughter near the end of a game while looking over AI unit losses, such as Zakharov losing over 150 probe teams.

Dobian02 · January 16, 2002, 20:25

Another thing I miss is when after a long game of being bullied by the sanctimonious Miriam or being repeatedly stabbed in the back by the wimpy Lal, you unleash a nuclear armegeddon of Biblic proportions, and then you get my favorite incoming transmission:

'I hope you choke on your own bile!'

Jumping Choya · January 17, 2002, 00:19

Let's see...I miss the little story-interludes.

I also miss the movies, some of which were pretty damn cool.

I miss a lot of the complexities of combat, like infantry units getting defense bonuses in cities.

I miss some of the diplomacy options, like the Blood Truce (basically a cease fire), the "Please call off your Vendetta against...", transferring units...

I miss the little speeches that would come up when you discovered a tech.

Overall, I liked SMAC because it had atmosphere , you know what I mean? It just had this feel, this way, and you really could get into it. The faction leaders had distinct personalities. Diplomacy somehow seemed a little bit more...risky, almost. I don't really know how to put it into words, but that's just something that Civ III is lacking in...it just seems bland, uninspired. Anyone else share these sentiments?

GeneralTacticus · January 17, 2002, 07:04

With regards to the tech qoutes, I think they were removed because with many of the Ancient Era techs, there's no-one really associated with inventing them... however, there's a simple solution, which is simply to only have the quotes when appropriate. Also, I agree there should be more specifics in the game as a whole. SMAC was really all about numbers, with atmosphere on top... and it was great! In Civ 3 they dumped the specifics AND most of the atmosphere, which means that it just doesn't seem as fun to play. I wish they could transplant the Civ 3 AI into SMAC, plus some of the reource ideas. Now THAT would be great game...

Calorman · January 17, 2002, 12:02

I miss the sexy Gaian chick, and the pizza coloured landscape. Oh yeah I miss planetbusters too, or lake creators as they are also known.

Zoid · January 17, 2002, 12:20

Quote:

Originally posted by Calorman
I miss the sexy Gaian chick, and the pizza coloured landscape. Oh yeah I miss planetbusters too, or lake creators as they are also known.

Yeah, dude. Deidre was my favourite also, a kick ass b*tch with an enviromental conscience

And I seemed to get a lot of lakes named "Lake Nuke" in the late part of the game... (Yeah, I know. It wreaks havoc with the enviroment, but damn that was fun

)

Grud · January 17, 2002, 12:58

I miss the thrill of punching geothermal bores everywhere to deliberately trigger global warming and melt the icecaps, then acting innocent when your opponents' coastal bases drown ("hey, it's not my fault if YOU didn't build pressure domes...")

Master Marcus · January 17, 2002, 13:16

Voiceovers, voiceovers, voiceovers. And movies too. Civ III is perhaps the sole recent game that doesn't have a single voiceover. I miss some diplomatic choices too, and the ability to transfer units to a weak civ you don't want to be eradicated yet. I hope an expansion pack can bring us some technical candy like that.

Dobian02 · January 17, 2002, 15:42

Quote:

Overall, I liked SMAC because it had atmosphere , you know what I mean? It just had this feel, this way, and you really could get into it. The faction leaders had distinct personalities. Diplomacy somehow seemed a little bit more...risky, almost. I don't really know how to put it into words, but that's just something that Civ III is lacking in...it just seems bland, uninspired. Anyone else share these sentiments?

SMAC is a masterpiece in game design. I think it's the greatest TBS game ever. Certainly the most immersive.

DickK · January 17, 2002, 17:43

I miss many things, all of which have been mentioned. And as others have put it, what I miss the most is the immersive atmosphere of SMAC.

SMAC is an excellent game but it is easily the best strategy game I've ever had the pleasure of playing when it comes to its atmosphere. The depth of the backstory is simply incredible -- it shows and it really adds to the game. Its clear that SMAC began life as much as a story than as a game.

I was one of the beta test team for SMAC and I can still vividly remember my amazement at the depth of the story that was visible even in the first release we got. The code was really still a late alpha release (huge amounts of features still unimplemented), but the story was virtually complete--well formed and well told, the characters well thought out and the hours and hours that went into the artwork and storyline were impressive. The creativity that went into the backstory and the many ways it shows up in the game sets SMAC apart from everything else I've seen.

My reaction to Civ3 was very different and more than a little disappointed.

OneInTen · January 17, 2002, 22:53

I miss the puke ugly terrain and the confusing and non-sensically named techs and improvements.

If SMAC didn't go the tossy sci-fi route and was more accesible it would probably be remembered as one of the great games of all time.

That said, at least the game had personality, which is sorely missing in most strategy games (including the entire civ series, not just civ 3).

DilithiumDad · January 18, 2002, 12:47

One, I have to agree with scenery point. The Civ3 map is very pleasant to look at and explore.

As a sci-fi gamer, if it weren't for the sci-fi aspect of SMAC, I wouldn't be here.

The sweep of human history gives a very strong story line to Civ3. It's hard to say why it isn't as immersive as SMAC despite some significant improvements in AI performance and gameplay.