Talk:Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri/Archive 7

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Archive 7

Part of the Civilization series?

Is it correct to call the game part of the Civilization series since Firaxis didn't have the rights to the IP at the time of the game's release? --Mika1h (talk) 18:34, 12 April 2014 (UTC)

In the past, consensus on this page (this is the one place it came up, plus you can find a few other discussions if you search the archives) has been to treat SMAC as a "spiritual successor" or sorts to the Civ series...I don't think it's ever called a direct sequel, and as you say, that would be incorrect. Are you referring to anything in particular in the article? Nolelover ^{Talk·Contribs} 05:27, 13 April 2014 (UTC)

Infobox and the sentence about sales. --Mika1h (talk) 08:57, 13 April 2014 (UTC)

I'd be interested to see if this has happened elsewhere in the games industry, and what those games are considered, but on face value, I personally don't think there's much of an issue in this case. The developers used the Civ series as the springboard for SMAC, and although it's been years since I read through all of the relevant articles/interviews, I do believe they treated SMAC has a successor to the rest of Civ, IP/Microprose be damned. Of course, if you have anything that says otherwise, I'd very much like to see it. That whole area deserves a nuanced discussion. Nolelover ^{Talk·Contribs} 08:54, 14 April 2014 (UTC)

There's a big list of "Spiritual successor" video games here Cambalachero (talk) 12:50, 14 April 2014 (UTC)

This edit

I'm a little unclear as to why using the acronym SMAC/SMAX is so inherently wrong. It's my understanding that they can be used if the acronym is commonly used in sources, and that is clearly the case. I do not see how the use of those two suddenly turns the article into a "game website", per the edit. Nolelover ^{Talk·Contribs} 17:03, 16 April 2014 (UTC)

Hi @User:Nolelover, sorry for my late reply. I'm afraid I was too hasty this time; often I see video game articles using the internet nickname or shorthand, not well-established abbreviations like you've shown here. I'll try to fix it tomorrow. Sorry for the mix up, and thanks for discussing it first :) Kind regards, --Soetermans. T / C 22:25, 18 April 2014 (UTC)

Much appreciated. :) Nolelover ^{Talk·Contribs} 04:54, 22 April 2014 (UTC)

Balance

It might be worthwhile to dig up some of the downsides of what is a highly rated game.

For example, AI behaviour can be frustrating. You can have two units next to each other, move one, then move the other into the same space - and find a mind worm has "materialized" on that square. When units are moved with an escort, mind worms occur at the normal rate (infrequently). When a unit is moved without an escort, the AI materializes numbers of worms and that unit is usually lost. Players are led to expect a certain frequency of an event, but then when they act based on that expectation, the game changes how it behaves; narrative consistency is broken.

86.134.174.156 (talk) 22:45, 21 June 2014 (UTC)

While I certainly don't disagree with you, we will need to have more than anecdotal evidence to add to the article. Do you have any sources for what you're suggesting we add? Nolelover ^{Talk·Contribs} 15:03, 3 July 2014 (UTC)

Mirror/reconstruction of the official Firaxis AC site

http://alphacentauri2.info/official/Sid%20Meier's%20Alpha%20Centauri.htm

This might make a worthy addition to External Links. 96.37.252.235 (talk) 01:51, 18 April 2015 (UTC)

After a month, I see no objection...

Incidentally, poking around the site hosting the mirror, I notice this article's passage about the Brendan Casey bugfix patch is hideously out of date - scient moved work on the patch to AC2 in 2012, posting a v.2 in January. Additionally, the latest version of kyrub's AI-enhancing patch is posted there, and users going by Yitzi (Modification-enabling, incorporates everyone else's work) and PlotinusRedux (Graphics mod-enabling) have .exe patches posted. There's a dedicated subforum http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?board=23.0 96.37.252.235 (talk) 01:04, 19 May 2015 (UTC)

As memorabilia I support linking to the mirror of the official site over the old useless dead link. I think it may be slightly modified in the direction of usefulness, but then the addendum can be added "page based on the old official site courtesy of alphacentauri2.info". Regarding patches, you could link to my page here. Unless someone else has a coherent patches page. I expect the administrator of AC2, who watches such things closely, will inform me if something is out of date. http://www.gog.com/forum/sid_meier_s_alpha_centauri_/unofficial_patches FourLights (talk) 00:06, 22 June 2015 (UTC)

    Is there no interest in  making the unofficial patches paragraph current/accurate?  I'd rather a registered editor did it... 96.37.252.235 (talk) 19:35, 10 July 2015 (UTC)

I don't know what you are referring to.FourLights (talk) 20:51, 10 July 2015 (UTC) FourLights (talk) 20:51, 10 July 2015 (UTC)

    Fourth paragraph under "Legacy" near the end:
    "Upon its release, Civilization III was compared negatively to Alpha Centauri,[99] while Edge magazine noted that Alpha Centauri remained "highly regarded" in 2006.[15] Steve Jackson Games published GURPS Alpha Centauri, a sourcebook for the GURPS role-playing game set in the Alpha Centauri universe.[100] On May 7, 2010, Brendan Casey released an unofficial patch, which fixes bugs in Alpha Centauri.[101] His project began in February 2009 at Apolyton's Alpha Centauri site[102] and moved in June 2009 to the Civilization Gaming Network,[103] where he plans to continue developing further patch versions.[104] Sold-Out Software also re-released the game.[105]"
    –scient's active at AC2 now, when he's active (CGN has been shut down to new posts for over a year-1/2).  Posted a v2 beta in December http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=14141.msg64080#msg64080 and here's the others: http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=14308.msg64328 (PlotinusRedux' graphics mod) -- http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=260 (kyrub's 444 SMAC AI enhancement) and last, but most, for building on the others's work and releasing frequent updates of his mod-enabling patch, Yitzi's latest, v3.4 http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=16062.0  Much more info to be found at the dedicated subforum I found and linked previously.96.37.252.235 (talk) 00:57, 11 July 2015 (UTC)

Making an account is easy, but if you do not wish to make one, I do not think anyone will object to an attempt to update this section accountlessly. If any objections are raised, I can try to edit your work to meet criteria.FourLights (talk) 02:59, 11 July 2015 (UTC)

Okay - I guess I can at least do a draft of the paragraph and post....96.37.252.235 (talk) 16:49, 11 July 2015 (UTC)

Added in the material from Alpha Centauri 2 and added a reference to GOG.com to go along with Sold-Out Software. BS20 5 (talk) 15:26, 16 July 2015 (UTC)

I changed the patch links to the wiki, as specific links may become outdated. I also reorganized the legacy section more generally.FourLights (talk) 23:00, 16 July 2015 (UTC)