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Comstar posted:Post the best quotes. I can't think of a 4X game before or afterwards that had such good writing and characters. Star Control II dosn't count as it's a RPG. Okay.  quote:Richard Baxton piloted his Recon Rover into a fungal vortex and held off four waves of mind worms, saving an entire colony. We immediately purchased his identity manifests and repackaged him into the Recon Rover Rick character with a multi-tiered media campaign: televids, touchbooks, holos, psi-tours-- the works. People need heroes. They don't need to know how he died clawing his eyes out, screaming for mercy. The real story would just hurt sales, and dampen the spirits of our customers. Adding my voice to the general chorus of praise for this wonderful, dark, terrifying, engrossing game! I think it's important to note the superb voice acting this game had -- if you recall this quote, it's just amazing how the voice actor changes from a serious, news-reader-like tone to a more mercenary-sounding "corporate exec off-record real-talk" tone, right at the second sentence. And it's all so very on point and relevant to current concerns. DrSunshine fucked around with this message at 06:52 on Jun 17, 2014 |
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Jun 17, 2014 06:49
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I wonder if they got expressed permission to use all those clips that they got from Baraka? They used a bunch in the secret project videos -- the Intro video has some, Cloning Vats, Dream Twister, The Weather Paradigm, are just a few that I can think of off the top of my head.
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Jun 19, 2014 01:06
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Speedball posted:Oh, those all came from one movie? I did not know that, I thought they were stock footage. Now I must see Baraka. "Extend your awareness outwards... beyond the self of body... to embrace the self of group, and the self of humanity..." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGXcnWUqV-Y
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Jun 19, 2014 02:17
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I like to think that, when they had a revolt, all the drones got together to decide who'd be their leader and they were like "What about that Domai feller? Seems like a good ol' salt-o-the-earth kinda guy; I could sit down and have a beer with that feller!"
DrSunshine fucked around with this message at 01:01 on Jun 20, 2014 |
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Jun 20, 2014 00:54
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In a recent SMAC game I played (on Transcend, using the default Planet map), the Hive had the unfortunate luck of starting in the tiny little island way far to the north of the main continents. However, this seemed to be to Yang's advantage, as he remained mostly untouched for most of the early game, and he adapted well to life on the oceans. The Hive-turned-Pirates spread across the oceans and became an unstoppable blue tide that declared war on everybody and was nigh-unconquerable!
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Jun 20, 2014 06:08
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Hmm, actually, considering that Domai's chosen government is Eudaimonic, I'd guess that the Free Drones aren't communist or socialist in ideology, but actually aim to build some kind of Star Trek post-scarcity society.
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Jun 20, 2014 16:34
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Not to sound like a total newbie, but what does "ICS" stand for? I've seen people using this term in this thread and the C:BE one, and I've never quite figured out what it meant. Googling acronyms is kind of hard!
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Jun 21, 2014 04:06
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Cythereal posted:Infinite City Sprawl. If you've played SMAC before, you're probably familiar with the AI's habit of spamming cities every goddamn where. Ohhhhh. Yes, I'm very familiar with this particular phenomenon, heh. People like me, who like to only expand moderately and build upwards from there, really have a hard time when the AI does this.
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Jun 21, 2014 05:50
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After all the talk about the Free Drones, I loaded up SMAX to try some games on Transcend as them. I'm having a lot of trouble, actually! I usually play on Transcend, but as the University, Morganites, or Cybernetic Consciousness -- Morgan's money and the  factions research bonuses really help me keep parity. But no matter what I do as the Drones, I just can't keep up in order to get those critical wonders!
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Jun 21, 2014 16:11
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Cythereal posted:Probes are your friend until you get the infrastructure in place. So since I'm playing on the default Planet map, where most of the factions are separated by oceans, I should probably make a beeline for Doctrine: Flexibility and Planetary Networks so I can make foil probe teams?
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Jun 21, 2014 16:24
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That's a terrifying thought! An entirely new form of almost-godlike sentience emerges, child-like, newly-formed and impressionable, and the first thing it sees is a smiling, red-haired woman who proffers a Bible. "Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal lord and savior?"
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Jun 22, 2014 00:26
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Strange Matter posted:The Chrysalis Collective Ouch! *wince* That -2 Growth is really gonna hurt them. I'm not sure if the morale and free facility bonuses balance out the penalties. I'd think about reworking the Collective, because you've got two things working against each other here: the free talents for additional population with the severe growth penalty. I really like House Satori, though, it's an interesting take on a Morganite/Data Angels wealth faction without any specific +Econ modifiers. That +2% interest will really help them to corner the planetary market, but they're gonna get shafted on Transcend. The AI doesn't seem to spend a lot of time saving up credits, while on Transcend they will be at war with pretty much everyone most of the time, so they won't really reap the benefits of the commerce bonus. Seems like it'd be more fun to play as them than against.
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Jun 26, 2014 23:34
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Mzbundifund posted:+25% offense, no research penalty, and no-downsides fundamentalism? Holy crap. How on Well, once you have something like 1000 credits in the bank, that means the next turn you'll be making +20 extra credits. At 5000 credits, you'll make +100 credits next turn. That's a very significant boost! Consider that in order to make a comparable boost, factions have to twist the econ slider to max, switch to Democratic-Free Market-Wealth, and so on. The House of Satori gets basically free money!
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Jun 27, 2014 15:11
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On that note, I just won my first game using Strange Matter's custom factions on Transcend difficulty as House Satori, in the mid 2200s. It was ridiculously easy. For some odd reason, the tech rate of advancement was pretty slow, I'm guessing due to the lack of any +2 Research factions. Cornering the global energy market took a mere 1000 credits, which I easily obtained by then. In fact, that was probably my easiest and fastest transcend victory ever!
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Jun 27, 2014 16:11
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Senethro posted:This looks like a bug. The Economic Victory cost is coincidentally the energy needed to mind control every single base on the map, so you can decrease its cost if everyone is using Knowledge. Were all the CPUs in full drone riots that turn? I'm not really sure. It's possible, I suppose. Does the -25% probe action cost apply to Econ victory too?
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Jun 27, 2014 16:29
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Strange Matter posted:That would certainly explain part of it, and that's an interesting unintended consequence of Satori's structure. The Technocrats got snuffed out quite early, while the Chrysalites got stomped out by the Authority and the Leviathan Order. By the end of the game, the Advent Pilgrimage was on the losing end of a war with the Authority, which had quickly expanded to cover almost the entire westernmost continent on the default Planet map. The Leviathan Body had by far the greatest total faction power, population, and tech score, while I (of course) had the highest wealth. Apollo Industries settled a few bases south of me on the middle continent, but didn't expand a whole lot -- I could probably have easily taken him out if I weren't so averse to combat. EDIT: Played a few more test games. Ahh, the first game was a fluke, it seems, because I keep getting creamed. Tip-- if you're playing as Satori, don't start next to the Pilgrims. The Pilgrims are insanely strong. They combine everything that is unholy, and horrible about Miriam with none of her weaknesses, with everything that is decent about the Gaians. I can never save enough into my  super-economy before he goes on the rampage.
DrSunshine fucked around with this message at 06:35 on Jun 28, 2014 |
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Jun 27, 2014 21:00
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It's really funny how by the end of the game, it takes more time to build a Singularity String Disruptor Stasis-Armor Gravship with Blink Disruptors and Fuel Nanocells than it does to actually complete the Ascent to Trasncendence.
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Jul 9, 2014 05:06
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PittTheElder posted:That's why you build a 1/1/14 Gun Skybase and upgrade that poo poo. Also, never build that, because grav ships really don't need that much armor. By the end of the game, I think a man deserves to splurge a little on excesses. quote:Also, god drat the map generator is retarded sometimes. I just quick-started on a normal size map and flipped the scenario editor on, and the game had landed Deirdre just across the bay from me, with all of two squares between our starting squares. Lal was 10 squares away the other way. On the other side of the world, Morgan and Miriam both started within 6 squares of Yang. Zak was miles and miles away from anyone else. Sounds perfect for Zak! If I was him I'd be sitting very pretty indeed.
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Jul 9, 2014 13:59
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Does anyone play the default Planet map, or does everyone just prefer randomized maps only?
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Jul 9, 2014 22:54
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PittTheElder posted:Just built swarms of needlejets. Swarms and swarms of needle jets. Once you annihilate every unit outside of a city, she'll abandon trying to build Planet Busters. And once you bomb all her terraforming into oblivion, her economy will tank really hard. If you have the tech for Fungal Payloads, have whole cities dedicated to building those, they're absolute monsters when used against the AI. I've been on the receiving end of this because I always gravitate towards the pretty, polished builder-type empires. The AI just looooooves throwing millions of needlejets and copters at you, and it's annoying as hell. I usually have SAM Shard Copters posted in all my bases so I can just murder those stacks of needlejets. Actually, one thing I hadn't realized until recently was that Needlejets can actually attack Copters-- even without air superiority. I guess it's because Copters fly lower than Needlejets or something. It's a useful thing to know. nutranurse posted:evvv: I vacillate between the two. Sometimes you can get a really good random map, but sometimes you just want to see the landmarks placed as Sid Meiers/Brian Reynold's intended. I really like the standard Planet map, because it has a nice distribution of land to continents. I find that the random map generator makes these really messy-looking continental boundaries, and sorta fills the sea with little islands and nublets of land. It looks really ugly. Also, usually there's like one huge continent that three or four factions end up being seeded on, and it's not really a lot of fun.
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Jul 10, 2014 04:52
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KKKlean Energy posted:I really want to get into this game, but I have a psychological problem wherein a terrible user interface wants to make me kill myself. Play on the easiest difficulty!
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Jul 30, 2014 14:56
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It's nice that they start with Information Networks, since then it's just a step away to planned. +2 Efficiency nixes the -2 efficiency for Planned, and +2 growth for Planned tops off the -1 growth for +1 overall.
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Aug 6, 2014 22:53
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CountFosco posted:Can someone please explain to me a way to use free market effectively in this game? I can handle the negative planet score, but the police penalties seem reallllly crippling. Virtual World/Human Genome Project + Planetary Energy Grid (if you have SMAX) + Wealth + 30% Psych. This way you can make your bases go on permanent Golden Age and still make money hand over fist!!
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Aug 11, 2014 15:47
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You can also keep building secret projects long after they've already been built by another faction, if you don't mind being annoyed by the "This secret project has already been built!" message popping up every turn. It'll still accumulate minerals, which you can use when you switch to another secret project. It'll be like you'd been building that other one all along, even if you haven't discovered the appropriate tech yet!
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Aug 12, 2014 03:28
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Even if you don't go crazy with the crawlers -- I never really do much with them besides rush SPs -- it's still a nice and prudent idea to keep at least a couple to park on your boreholes and harvest energy or minerals.
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Aug 12, 2014 06:19
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The Network Backbone posted:Of course we'll bundle our MorganNet software with the new network nodes! Our customers expect no less of us. We have never sought to become a monopoly. Our products are simply so good that no one feels the need to compete with us.
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Aug 14, 2014 22:29
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To that I say --Temple of Planet posted:Let the Gaians preach their silly religion, but one way or the other I shall see this compound burned, seared, and sterilized until every hiding place is found and until every last Mind Worm egg, every last slimy one, has been cooked to a smoking husk. That species shall be exterminated, I tell you! Exterminated!"
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Aug 15, 2014 14:02
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The main difference between the factions in AC and C:BE is that whereas in AC all factions can be read sinisterly, in C:BE all factions can be read positively or benignly. So they're sort of inverses of each other.
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Aug 15, 2014 15:00
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In my games I almost never capture mindworms/worm rush, because I always take Free Market or Planned and never play Gaians. gently caress the planet. It is a blank clay that I will bend to my will with terraformers. Purity forever. 
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Oct 30, 2014 02:19
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Seriously, it's not as hard as you're making it out to be! I learned to play this game when I was, like, 12 or 13 years old.
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Oct 30, 2014 04:59
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Reveilled posted:However, in the novels, the Spartans (and indeed the whole of humanity) get destroyed by the Believers' use of singularity planet busters. Wow. Optimistic sci-fi setting, huh?  In retrospect I can sort of see the impetus for C:BE being a slightly less pessimistic vision of the future.
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Oct 30, 2014 15:57
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Haha, well, as is the case with all "Expanded Universe" offerings, eh? I abandoned the Star Wars EU after I realized that it was just a huge universe of corny fanfiction stuff. In other news: FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK YOUUUUUUUU MIRIAM!! I built a flechette defense system AND an orbital defense pod and the one Planet Buster she suddenly lobbed at me still managed to blow up the base where I'd been putting some of my best Secret Projects. The Virtual World, Human Genome Project, and Self-Aware Colony were in there! Arrrgh!!
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Oct 30, 2014 16:12
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evilweasel posted:Orbital defense pods only have a 50% chance of working: if you want security you need a lot. But it gave me an option to sacrifice the pod for an assured destruction of the Planet Buster. Why didn't that work? Strange Matter posted:Your mistake was leaving Miriam alive long enough to get Planet Busters. This is probably true. After I pushed her off my continent, I just kind of went  as I didn't really feel like expending the effort to build naval units to exterminate her on the ocean. I figured that her sea bases would be marginal, at best, and by then I was already well on my way to turning my continent into a fortress with tachyon fields and GSPs everywhere. Guess I learned my lesson!
DrSunshine fucked around with this message at 16:20 on Oct 30, 2014 |
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Oct 30, 2014 16:17
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The last few pages are the reason why I love SMAC/X and why I think it's a superior game to C:BE.  Will we be talking about Hutama and Elodie in the same way that we talk about Morgan and Miriam, 16 years from now? I doubt it!
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Oct 31, 2014 03:38
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Sardonik posted:SMAC/X, Transport Tycoon, and the original X-Com are all prime examples of gaming's equivalent of lightning in a bottle. Don't forget Homeworld and Homeworld:Cataclysm! 
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Oct 31, 2014 15:28
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You are a [Pusillanimous Wimp], Lal! You'll get nothing from me.
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Nov 2, 2014 18:25
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cuc posted:Re: Alpha Centauri novels quote:She climbed slowly to her feet. Her armor had been vaporized as well, and a fine gray ash covered her skin. Luckily her 10,000 crunches and ten-hour daily workouts had toughened her body to beyond-titanium hardness.  I can't believe this isn't tongue-in-cheek, because it's completely hilarious!
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Nov 3, 2014 16:33
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