Great stuff, indeed!

Believe me, i understand the whole undertaking(s) when somebody WANTS to be fair to a game franchise; ever since i started the X-Com mod, i've been discovering new elements to add or adapt, graphics to enhance, planets to create, technologies to integrate, scenarios & campaigns to design, customized ship/styles to workshop patiently (if ever!) and what else - almost daily.

I'm a one-man-army, also.
Still, the activity is quite demanding and can prove to be daunting if one doesn't have the resources (namely, a genuine SD modding guide with MUCH more info than is currently available in numerous different places!) nor the creativity drive it really requires.

Noting your TA screen from the above snapshot, tells me that this will (and certainly should) be directly compatible with the upcoming expansion. Nevertheless, the editing tools predicted could become quite helpful, mod-wise. And, since the official release date has been pushed to March-end, i will keep on developing X-Worlds the hard-way too.

Good luck with AC, it really is an appropriate Sci-Fi setting and already has excellent default elements which perfectly fits a GC2 modding context.

- Zyxpsilon.

None, really. Economics is the closest you are going get in that regard. I suppose Range/Logistics might work in some cases too, though... *shrugs

Good luck on the project though, the factions in Alpha Centauri were always very interesting to me.

Also, you can still have the other two factions available via the Custom Race by making Custom Race config files for them. Custom Races aren't enabled yet in the beta, but the idea is there.

Looks great! SMAC was my fav game for a very long time.

An interesting project: SMAC in space!

The key question is how to integrate it into GalCiv2. Here are a few ideas:

• The Progenitors return and evict Humans from Manifold 6. They seed the major factions on other planets for reasons they don’t tell us about. The factions discover FTL travel at about the same time (a Progenitor-engineered coincidence? Or some loose lips by a Zakharov researcher? Artifacts with the secrets of FTL on the planets?) and then the race is on.

• Humanity on Planet transcends, but some humans decide to don’t want to be absorbed by a planetary consciousness. PlanetMind helps them, seeding them across the galaxy. Now these humans pursue an entirely new goal – conquering the stars!

• A grand alliance is formed on Planet and the factions take below light speed colonies to the stars. Once established on the planets FTL is discovered and quickly spreads to all the factions. Manifold 6 ‘stays out of it’ while the new faces of humanity compete with each other to finish unresolved conflicts from the initial colonization of Planet.

What is neat is that the artifacts etc of SMAC work very well in the GalCiv2 universe, which has its own Progenitors. Designing the factions to work within the GalCiv2 framework is kind of an interesting challenge, but eminently do-able. Some things like SE don’t translate, of course, but philosophies (good/neutral/evil) and overall dispositions certainly do.

I’ll follow the GalCiv2 SMAC Mod to see how it comes along.

Hydro

wow! this is great. I've just got back to gc2 from a golden oldies-fest Xcom ufo defence, alpha centauri and moo2. and you've started work on this. Look forward to seeing your mod once its fully realised.

Just some notes on this that suddenly occurred to me:

The Maintenance costs of buildings could also be a way to represent efficiency. Civs with low efficiency could have buildings with higher maintenance than others, and vice versa. If we could only have multiple tech requirements for buildings, you would be able to more accurately represent this without having to create a line of buildings for each and every Civ... ah well.

Research, Military, and Social bonuses might be a way too (the getting more out of the same buildings angle). I think you end up paying less for bonus Production/Research too.

Economics is used by the Yor Tech Tree as "Efficiency", though.



It's been a while since I played SMAC, so correct me if I'm wrong here.... but since Support helped with the maintenance costs of units (by having a certain number of units have no maintenance cost?), Economics could be a replacement too. That's actually what I meant, too.

Range might be a better replacement for Support (it ain't called Life Support for nothin' ) than Logistics... but both definitely could work in different cases.



Another thing I thought of here:

Wasn't there a Society Model/Government part that dealt with the Civilization's plans for the Future? You might be able to rework alignment into a choice regarding that matter. One of the other Society Model parts could work here too, but I don't remember what the rest of them were. But plans for the Future are something that are very long term enough to logically be something you wouldn't be able to change ever again after you make your decision.

Hrm... in all honestly, that idea might work if Xeno Ethics is available earlier, but it probably wouldn't make much sense in the context of the Ethical Events...

Anyway, all this talk about SMAC is making me want to play again.

Good luck on your mod!

Hi Steelmeister, I would propose to join I-Mod and build up a team there. It doesn't matter how long it takes. you will get Gigs of filespace and own ftp access. You will have your own forum with enough subforums to discuss private and public and you get an own gallery for Screenshots. By the way we will support you with our huge knowledge about Galciv 2, as our close relationship to Stardock, probably the biggest knowledge next to the Developers themselve

It would really help you.

This offer is for free, several GC2 - mod Teams like our support and have a good chance to finish there mod now.


Please contact me (Stefan) at I-Mod Productions (www.i-mod-productions.com)




-Stefan

I think rather than trying to directly convert the advantages and disadvatages of the SMAC factions, instead remake them completely in GC2 terms. For evamply, you know the philosophy of the Hive, so what bonuses should they get based on that, rather than the bonues they got in SMAC.

This looks like a really great mod . I really loved SMAC, I must dig out my old install disc and see if it will work on my new PC.

Once again thank you for your support and good ideas! It really helps me to come up with new ideas. I have realized that giving the factions some bonuses and a few extra techs and improvements isn't enough to make them interesting so therefore I have tried to come up with some ideas for them.

The Hive: The Hive have an almost nonexistent culture and is hardly especially tempting to join with. Therefore they should have really weak influence but to prevent their planets from rebelling they have huge Loyalty bonuses (possibly even more than the Yor) from the start and by both tech and improvements. That makes sense since Yang have almost total control over his followers and most of them probably doesn't even know anything about whats happening outside their underground bunkers. This also forces the hive to be really aggressive. But they still need something more than strong loyalty to compensate for their lack of influence since its so important in GC.

Data Angels: In GC you use your spies to gather information about the enemy and cripple their production while in SMAC you could cause revolts, steal tech, make the enemy defect to your faction and so much more. The Angels were all about probe teams (spies) but in GC its a bit harder to make an all espionage faction unless we are talking about a huge espionage bonus. And thats the second problem, everyone who likes micro management raise a hand! Its simply isn't funny to micro manage all the spies. However it could be an interesting faction in the hands of the AI. Imagine an army of spies crippling your industry ruining your ship production and then suddenly the Angel fleet arrive...

Drones: The idea for their military remains the same: lots of low tech units. Domai really cares about his people unlike Yang and has a strong morale bonus. They have the best factories and good influence due to their support for the working class which is the majority of the factions population.

Morgan: Have a penalty in morale due to discontent with the poor because of the large gap between the rich and the poor. Strong trade ability, extra trade route and good economy.

Pirates: Can fully colonize water planets from the start since they are adapted to that environment. Possibly have a slight bonus in planet quality since they can use more of the planet surface (oceans) than the others. They are good shipwrights so they receive a bonus in Military production. However they lack organization and gets a penalty in Economy. I really wish that you could board ships in GC since it really suits the pirates.

Spartans: They are all about the military: Soldiering, weapons, defense and Hp. Ultimately they are supposed to have a fleet consisting of few but very powerful ships. Have the best military in the game but lacks bonuses in the other areas.

University: Research, Research and Research. Well ok, not really but its mostly true for the university. Bonuses in research, creativity and sensors. However because of the lack of ethics they get a morale penalty.

Gaians: Bonus in PQ and cheaper colonization techs. weak soldiering because of their pacifistic tendencies.

Peacekeepers: Strong diplomacy and good morale.

Cyborgs: Strong research although a bit weaker than the University. Low maintenance buildings and weak growth.

Believers: Have good loyalty and morale because of their faith. Good Soldiering because of their fanatic soldiers. Bad research though since they are suspicious to science.

Cult: Really unsure about these guys since they are so tied to the sixth manifold and the whole mind worm mechanism from SMAC

Usurpers: Warriors at heart they get a soldiering bonus and has a bonus in weapons.

Caretakers: Bonus in defense.

Progenitors: +Sensors because of resonance sensitivity. Starts with more techs than the humans. No trade ability instead they rely on a strong economy. A monstrous large loyalty bonus. Why? Because Humans and Progenitors culture, society, technology is too far apart to work for the other. Plus because of the bitter rivalry between the progenitor factions its hardly likely for them to defect to the other. There is a problem however, this doesn't stop them from taking over human planets (perhaps by taking away influence starbases from them?).

I know a lot of the ideas are boring and obvious and even incomplete but most of the "uniqueness" will come from the techs, improvements and components.

Is it possible to alter the starting relations between different civilizations? This way you could simulate the rivalry between the factions.

I'm really tired right now and have to sleep but I promise to post some more tomorrow.

Please don't go. The drones need you. They look up to you.

Indirectly, yes!

Here's how i managed to implement this in X-Worlds;

1) Customize (and load at run-time for current in-game use) the opponents from the appropriate setup screen.
2) Define the relation boxes for each against the main player-race (previously selected)
3) S-A-V-E once again that specific opposing race at this stage
4) Play and perform a quick game-saving for later use
5) Quit the interface

--) Go have a look at the root_file prefs.ini (which is presently valid) in the [opponentsetup] section; all the relations towards race #12 are now preset for any opponents selected.

a) Re-load... but this time start anew while selecting other (or the same as above) opponents and a different player-race
What this does is change the previously available *structure & datasets*... BUT, if common values remain - the actual relationships for a typical race would still be "active" as long as the prefs.ini isn't altered via further game settings.

6) Repeat all steps mentioned, as often as necessary, if & when new conditions between races must be different (Close/AtWar/Warm... etc).

In general, the pattern will (somehow) be maintained from game-to-game FOR the similar opponents.

Now, if the process applies to fixed total conversion races (12+1 custom)... it's even more obvious because the saved "config files" (incl/prefs.ini) account for pre-determined relationships between (re)+LOADED races at run-time.

On the opposite side, when you have a mod which makes a triple access possible based on themes (like what's in X-Worlds) the activity becomes waaaaaaaayyyy more complex since any prefs.ini resetting (by multiple game sessions) alters any previous data.

All i know is that my X-Com begins *At WAR* with Sectoids and *Friendly* with Interceptors unless i re-load a different schema later. Same situations for APOC & TFTD!

Yup, sums it up.
Test this solution, i found it's really worth the hassles or the constant adjustments. Might be a good idea to keep a personalized group of many different *prefs.ini* handy if (of course) no alterations occur other than into the [opponentsetup].
Although, true scenarios ARE much more direct for the above needs.

- Zyxpsilon.

To be perfectly honest its not really that hard and the credit should go to Macmatt for his UI tutoral found here. WWW Link I used DesktopX for editing the UI and Photoshop to edit and/or create the pictures used in the menu. All pictures was taken directly from SMAC where they can be found in .pcx files that I used Ifranview to convert to .jpg. In these files you can find every single picture from the game including the UI. While the movies are in .flc or .wve format. When changing the UI make sure to not delete any objects, I made that misstake and had to start over from the beginning since I didn't save a backup. However you can make objects dissapear by replacing their picture with a transparent one. The .bik movie was removed by copying it to the Modname\Movies folder and then open it up in notepad and delete everything. This way the game will simply ignore it. Once again the credit goes to Macmatt for this idea.