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Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri™Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth(21 posts)(21 posts)
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Posted April 12, 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtYWqE55s24

"The Alpha Centauri comparisons can't be avoided. But the folks at Firaxis—most recently responsible for XCOM, a much different kind of sci-fi game—say they want Beyond Earth to feel different than that 90s classic.4P

"This is going our own direction," Beyond Earth designer Anton Strenger said in a phone interview earlier this week. "But that's not to say that we have not, you know, drawn some inspiration from Alpha Centauri."

http://kotaku.com/were-getting-a-sci-fi-civilization-and-it-sounds-fant-1561510976
Post edited April 12, 2014 by ander01se
Posted April 12, 2014
I review the game here.
http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=8221.0
http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=8204.0

I'm going to refrain and say that it is too early to say... in that the article and video don't say much.
The social engeineering choices thus far are university, gaians, and believers, mostly effecting your military (like Pandora). I've said before on the AC2 forum that the faction ideologys could essentially be turned into social engineering choices, but at this point this is still very shallow in my opinion. It's not Civilization focusing on your Civilization. It's another military game.
Post edited April 12, 2014 by BlaneckW
Posted April 13, 2014
Having found SMAC/X to be my favorite Civ style game, and having been disappointed more and more with each Civ release after Civ II, my interest in this is pretty marginal. If it builds off of Civ V then I'm even less interested. :(

I guess I can get it on Gog in ten years for a couple of bucks.... ;) I've no doubt that it will be "pretty", but graphics has never been a major selling point for me. SMAC/X looks great on my current computer and I'm having a great time playing.

Anyway, I'll take bug fixes and AI improvements for SMAC/X from the community over a new game based on Civ V mechanics and/or philosophy. It'll probably sell tons of copies to folks that don't think the way I do, however.... ;)
Posted April 13, 2014
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Lasivern: I've no doubt that it will be "pretty"
If by pretty, you mean catches the attention of every five year old with a special resource every other square.
Posted April 13, 2014
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Lasivern: I've no doubt that it will be "pretty"
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BlaneckW: If by pretty, you mean catches the attention of every five year old with a special resource every other square.
Yeah, that's one sort of "pretty" - as in pretty easy. And there are others, like having 16 billion colours rather than 8 billion... lafffs. I`m not a great one for commenting on graphics though, since they count for so little in my game buying or playing decisions.

I`ve always felt that each hour spent on designing better graphics is an hour that could have been spent designing a better game - but that`s just me. I know graphics sell games - they just dont sell them to ME... I know that even when SMAC came out that there were games with `better`graphics out there, and that the state of the art has left SMAC far behind regarding the `pretty` factor. But in terms of game PLAY, SMAC is still compelling and a lot of those pretty games are long forgotten...
Posted April 13, 2014
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Lasivern: And there are others, like having 16 billion colours rather than 8 billion... lafffs.
I'm going to be completely honest with you. I can't tell the difference. Reducing from 16 to 8 even reduces the file size of a picture by very little.
Post edited April 13, 2014 by BlaneckW
Posted April 13, 2014
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Lasivern: And there are others, like having 16 billion colours rather than 8 billion... lafffs.
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BlaneckW: I'm going to be completely honest with you. I can't tell the difference. Reducing from 16 to 8 even reduces the file size of a picture by very little.
Exactly my point. Once you get into the millions of colours, the human eye can't even distinguish between them. It's a false numbers game used as a selling point. Like having a computer that does calculations 50 micro-seconds faster than another model - what does that even mean, in reality? So you can complete your 300 turn game 9 or 10 seconds faster?? :snore: ;)

I don't know what the palette size is in something like SMAC or say, Baldur's Gate, but whatever it is, it's certainly good enough for me to play the game. And enjoy them immensely...
Posted April 13, 2014
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Lasivern: [...]
I`ve always felt that each hour spent on designing better graphics is an hour that could have been spent designing a better game [...]
Game development teams consist of many talents working in smaller teams on separate aspects of the game. You can't usually tell your artists to do game design or coding, and even when you have multi-talented people that can do everything well, you're probably only making things worse anyhow by straying off-schedule.

Game development really is a kind of craftsmanship, only with digital assets. The art team have their tasks and will work towards their objectives regardless of what the design team or programming team is doing, UNLESS there is a crisis that necessitates changes to the schedule/design document to meet a deadline. Spending less "hours" on art does not mean more hours are spent on game design or coding.
Posted April 13, 2014
@ Sufyan. It was hyperbole, to further my point about my not caring about graphics. But then, if you have to hire top-notch talent for the art team, you have less money available for the designers - there are always trade-offs, if not in hours then in dollars.

Anyway, I went very off topic here and hijacked the thread, My bad. I hope that SMBE has much success. My opinion re: the game won't affect their potential sales.
Posted April 14, 2014
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Lasivern: @ Sufyan. It was hyperbole, to further my point about my not caring about graphics. But then, if you have to hire top-notch talent for the art team, you have less money available for the designers - there are always trade-offs, if not in hours then in dollars.
Firaxis has plenty of money, they just can't be fucked to do anything good. It's called callous disregard.
Post edited April 14, 2014 by BlaneckW
Posted April 14, 2014
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Lasivern: @ Sufyan. It was hyperbole, to further my point about my not caring about graphics. But then, if you have to hire top-notch talent for the art team, you have less money available for the designers - there are always trade-offs, if not in hours then in dollars.
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BlaneckW: Firaxis has plenty of money, they just can't be fucked to do anything good. It's called callous disregard.
I wouldn't know. I don't pay much attention to the publishing side of things. SMAC is their only game I ever purchased or played, so that's pretty much all I know of Firaxis.,,,
Posted June 14, 2014
As long as they're intending to stick with 1UPT (1 unit per tile) , I won't be buying. Which is a profound pity, says this long-time Firaxis fan whose first Firaxis purchase was a new copy of Civ1 (yes, I'm old) and who has bought all the products up to Civ5. Civ5 I played a few times and found utterly repulsive, because of the 1UPT (Dale of Civ modding fame and several others have gone into detail as to how 1UPT affected all the other design decisions -- negatively). I nearly fainted when I heard abotu Beyond Earth -- then I swore mightily when I read the lead dev's comment that he likes 1UPT and will be sticking with it.

Oh, well. I'm content playing Alpha Centauri and heavily-modded Civ 3 and Civ 4. (Hell, Civ2 is still on my hard drive).
Posted August 12, 2014
I just hope they don't take the complexity out of the original game. I know, it's nothing for the casual gamer but I like it that way.
Posted August 17, 2014
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Redspyder: As long as they're intending to stick with 1UPT (1 unit per tile) , I won't be buying. Which is a profound pity, says this long-time Firaxis fan whose first Firaxis purchase was a new copy of Civ1 (yes, I'm old) and who has bought all the products up to Civ5. Civ5 I played a few times and found utterly repulsive, because of the 1UPT (Dale of Civ modding fame and several others have gone into detail as to how 1UPT affected all the other design decisions -- negatively). I nearly fainted when I heard abotu Beyond Earth -- then I swore mightily when I read the lead dev's comment that he likes 1UPT and will be sticking with it.

Oh, well. I'm content playing Alpha Centauri and heavily-modded Civ 3 and Civ 4. (Hell, Civ2 is still on my hard drive).
May I ask why you dislike it so much?

One of the reasons that I strongly prefer Civ 5 to 4 is the 1UPT rule and the removal of 4's doomstacks. It's a feature that I think works well with a hex-based system (I wouldn't use it with a grid layout). I felt like the removal of doomstacks added more complexity in unit choice and placement.

Of course, I shouldn't overstate its importance either way, since SMAC is an amazing 4x game, and I was never bothered by unit stacking there. I think SMAC balances it a little better. Other approaches I've heard are concepts like allowing multiple units per tile but having some sort of supply/logistic requirement to hold multiple ones.

A little more on topic: I haven't been too impressed by Beyond Earth. I guess I was hoping for something with as strong a personality and an interesting setting/story like Alpha Centauri. Nothing's really grabbing me right now. Of course, judging a 4x game isn't best done from a few youtube videos, so I'll still keep an eye on it.
Posted August 22, 2014
You don't stack in Alpha Centauri because it's suicide.
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Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri™Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth(21 posts)(21 posts)
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