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Saint_Rukus · #1 April 22nd, 2003, 12:41 AM

Don't buy MOO3 till they release 2 patches. I'm a huge fan of both MOO1 and MOO2, and I even kinda like MOO3, but I haven't touched it after the first week it came out. There is a good game somewhere underneath the horrible UI, and I am sure a couple of patches will help me find it.

Xiodos · #2 April 22nd, 2003, 02:33 AM

Try Alpha Centauri by Sid Meier. ITs been around for a while, so you can prob pick it and its expansion up for pretty cheap. Its similiar to Civ games, but it has the important note that you still design the units... no prefab units, which is nice.

It also has an excellent political engine, and in my eye it is one of the greatest games ever made, and I also believe it would fit into the 4X genre...

I strongly reccomend you atleast try it. Many a night was completly lost playing this game.

Xaren Hypr · #3 April 22nd, 2003, 03:02 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Xiodos:
Try Alpha Centauri by Sid Meier.... Many a night was completly lost playing this game.

Many a night, eh...try many a week on my end

It's also relatively easy to modify (i said, relatively...) as it's data files are aldo in text format. I still lose a few weekends to it every so often.

Roanon · #4 April 22nd, 2003, 04:29 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by zenbudo:
Mostly where it shines is in the AI. They're smart, efficient, and remember things. I was surprised when I got a message from a race groveling for peace, saying that they know they started the war, but didn't know I'd fight back so hard.

WOW! Finally an AI that does not have the usual style of "I hate you because you are nonAI and will attack you any time I like without any reason even if I have less chance than an ant trying to strangle an elephant"

Fyron · #5 April 22nd, 2003, 05:26 AM

Quote:

but it has the important note that you still design the units...

Yeah, but you always end up with the same small set of units anyways. The design process in SMAC isn't really very broad.

Chronon · #6 April 22nd, 2003, 06:10 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:

quote:
but it has the important note that you still design the units...

Yeah, but you always end up with the same small set of units anyways. The design process in SMAC isn't really very broad.

That's true in comparison with SEIV or the MoO's, but in comparison with the other Civ's SMAC is light years ahead.

I'm not sure I'd put SMAC in the 4x genre (just one planet), but it is still the best Civ game to date (in my view, anyway). SEIV gets my vote for best 4x game, but I haven't played GalCiv, and have only a couple of hours of MoO3 under my belt (I'm still trying to figure out how to do things. The UI doesn't make it very easy...

) I had high hopes for Stars! Supernova Genesis, but that project seems on permanent hold.

raynor · #7 April 22nd, 2003, 02:10 PM

In space-based 4x games with tactical combat, designing ships is a lot of fun because you can actually see and hear the different weapons and so forth. In a terra-based 4x game with no tactical combat, IMHO, a primary advantage of designing units is to tweak the unit cost to suit your individual strategy. So, instead of building one unit that is strong in both attack and defense, you can instead build a couple of good defenders with no attack rating and a whole bunch of units with a strong attack. So, I would say that SMAC is going quite well in the unit design arena. Given that SMAC doesn't have tactical combat, I think they did quite, quite well with their design choices.