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Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri™SMAC vs. SMAX(8 posts)(8 posts)
(8 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted August 07, 2019
Greetings,

Q: Is there anyone else out there that prefers the original Alpha Centauri over the Crossfire expansion?

Negative takeaways from my Crossfire experience:
- New techs are too many, and just clutter things up
- New weapons and armors, are just unnecessary additions and just add too many extra options
- Immunity to Probes is no longer a thing .. what?
- New random aliens, imho, go against the original storyline
- New random aliens are simply ... annoying, especially that one that fire missiles at you for 30 seconds at a time

Positives in Crossfire
- New factions, yay!
- Cybernetic Consciousness my fave, so much so, that I modded my SMAC to include them
- Love the idea of a water based faction (e.g. Pirates), and am sad that there is no provision for them in SMAC

So anyways, I notice that everything i've read online, is about how Crossfire improved the game. I actually disagree completely with that sentiment, and much prefer the original game. Just curious if only the people who enjoy Crossfire more are the vocal ones, and if there is anyone else out there that enjoys the more simple SMAC game....

Cheers to all Alpha Centauri (SMAC or SMAX) lovers out there :-)
Posted August 15, 2019
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ZB42: Greetings,

Q: Is there anyone else out there that prefers the original Alpha Centauri over the Crossfire expansion?

Negative takeaways from my Crossfire experience:
- New techs are too many, and just clutter things up
- New weapons and armors, are just unnecessary additions and just add too many extra options
- Immunity to Probes is no longer a thing .. what?
- New random aliens, imho, go against the original storyline
- New random aliens are simply ... annoying, especially that one that fire missiles at you for 30 seconds at a time

Positives in Crossfire
- New factions, yay!
- Cybernetic Consciousness my fave, so much so, that I modded my SMAC to include them
- Love the idea of a water based faction (e.g. Pirates), and am sad that there is no provision for them in SMAC

So anyways, I notice that everything i've read online, is about how Crossfire improved the game. I actually disagree completely with that sentiment, and much prefer the original game. Just curious if only the people who enjoy Crossfire more are the vocal ones, and if there is anyone else out there that enjoys the more simple SMAC game....

Cheers to all Alpha Centauri (SMAC or SMAX) lovers out there :-)
I dont really agree about any of those negatives in the sense of being specific to crossfire.
At most, I would have to agree that the new weapons and amours and technologies did not really do all that much for the game, Its like, there their, but i dont really care either way. It should have been implemented in such a way that gave me good reason to care, but no. ...

The new factions were badly needed since most of the old factions dont seem to be capable of progressing any further after about mid game, they just 'stop' .... I really HATE that!

The way they did the update - its actually very wise when you think about it?
How many times have we seen games updated and some of the changes really F--ed up the game and or totally changed the nature of the game? The way they updated Crossfire, its very nicely avoiding to change the nature of the game, i will take that any day of the week over the latter! This should be the standard of game updating that everyone else should follow!
Posted August 16, 2019
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ZB42: The new factions were badly needed since most of the old factions dont seem to be capable of progressing any further after about mid game, they just 'stop' .... I really HATE that!
LOL, yes! I got to the point where even on Transcend level, it is a cakewalk. Finally broke down, and applied Kyrub's Patch. That HAS helped immensely. Has helped the computer factions greatly on the first half of the game, but because they are stronger developed, it carries into the second half of the game. So it is better, for now....
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mystikmind2000: The way they did the update - its actually very wise when you think about it?
How many times have we seen games updated and some of the changes really F--ed up the game and or totally changed the nature of the game? The way they updated Crossfire, its very nicely avoiding to change the nature of the game, i will take that any day of the week over the latter! This should be the standard of game updating that everyone else should follow!
Totally agree! How simple, too :-) Other companies should (they won't) take note....
Posted August 21, 2019
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ZB42: The new factions were badly needed since most of the old factions dont seem to be capable of progressing any further after about mid game, they just 'stop' .... I really HATE that!
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ZB42: LOL, yes! I got to the point where even on Transcend level, it is a cakewalk. Finally broke down, and applied Kyrub's Patch. That HAS helped immensely. Has helped the computer factions greatly on the first half of the game, but because they are stronger developed, it carries into the second half of the game. So it is better, for now....
avatar
mystikmind2000: The way they did the update - its actually very wise when you think about it?
How many times have we seen games updated and some of the changes really F--ed up the game and or totally changed the nature of the game? The way they updated Crossfire, its very nicely avoiding to change the nature of the game, i will take that any day of the week over the latter! This should be the standard of game updating that everyone else should follow!
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ZB42: Totally agree! How simple, too :-) Other companies should (they won't) take note....
Kyrubs Patch Eh? I am always keenly interested in good patches, although i never quite managed to bring myself to patch the game so far. The original is just that good, i dont want to change anything except AI performance.

If this game had brilliant AI performance, then who could deny this is the best game EVER of its genre made Right up to todays date!
Who would have thought - a 20 odd year old game outclassing everything even up to now..... i dunno what that says about the game as much as what it says about the pathetickness of game developers ever since!!!!

Edit: one thing i might change about the game.... make Alien Lifeforms immune to stack effects (not faction owned ones, only the wild ones)
Post edited August 21, 2019 by mystikmind2000
Posted August 31, 2019
SMAX isn't playable on windows 10. When I try to launch, it loads partialy off screen.

SMAC works just fine.

Anyone know of a fix so I can play SMAX?
Posted September 03, 2019
Definitely the original for me.
Posted September 05, 2019
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drumdrum: SMAX isn't playable on windows 10. When I try to launch, it loads partialy off screen.

SMAC works just fine.

Anyone know of a fix so I can play SMAX?
It works perfectly fine for me in Win10 Pro 1903.

Since Win10 is officially supported by the SMAC/SMAX GOG release (according to the store page), you should contact GOG support.
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ZB42: (...)
The OP and the rest of those who enjoy SMAC more than SMAX should try out this mod: https://github.com/drazharln/smac-in-smax

It allows you to play very closely to the original, while using the SMAX engine, which can be patched with the latest unofficial patches.

I have not tried it myself yet, but will soon.
Post edited September 05, 2019 by Links
Posted September 16, 2019
I play the original. The expansion's secret projects mostly unbalance the game, and excluding the overpowered aliens the new factions are weak if anything, i.e. not balanced. Philosophy quotes in the tech tree are replaced by commentaries about the aliens.
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mystikmind2000: Kyrubs Patch Eh? I am always keenly interested in good patches, although i never quite managed to bring myself to patch the game so far. The original is just that good, i dont want to change anything except AI performance.
Kyrub's patch is an AI patch.
Post edited September 16, 2019 by BlaneckW
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Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri™SMAC vs. SMAX(8 posts)(8 posts)
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