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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   2367 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for August 16, 2024

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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The best is Alpha Centauri. Only not considered a Civilization game, because of copyright issues.

Alpha Centauri is awesome. But... it really isn't a a Civilization game. It felt more like a mod of Civ2, rather than a standalone game. It let you customize units how you want, customize the government, customize cities... really customize almost everything about the basic civ1/civ2 engine. But of course that let you push all the most imblanced things, and the AI couldn't keep up at all. It's not even single player, it's more like zero-player. Do whatever you want and see what happens.

That said, yes, awesome story. Very "90s" feel, where you could package an awesome sci-fi story into a video game. They should make a movie out of it!

Certainly the best in terms of writing. Could have been for gameplay, but even ignoring its age-related issues (mostly poor UX) it seems like a lot of potential was wasted by questionable balance and pacing and underpowered AI.

I mean... and also the little thing about how it's based on sci-fi rather than human history. Gives a very different feel.

Alpha Centauri has the best story, but it is still plagued by gameplay issues that weren't resolved until III and IV. For example, unit support is local rather than global, resulting in incredibly annoying micromanagement of each unit's home base. ICS is a viable strategy. And having to fuck around with the slider to allocate resources between energy, labs, and pysch is a pain in the ass compared to making gold the default and asking you what percentage of your income you want to allocate to research, what percentage to culture, and the rest just goes into the treasury.

What a plot, though. I still remember the first time I completed the Voice of Planet. Truly on par with the best science fiction novels ever written.

"Eternity lies ahead of us and behind. Have you drunk your fill?"

~ Lady Deirdre Skye, "Conversations with Planet", Epilogue

CW relevant:

The tragedy of Earth is not that so many died. Death is an inevitable part of life. The tragedy is that so many died as victims. When the crisis came, they were helpless, unable to use their deaths to buy anything of value. Millions of otherwise intelligent people had been tricked into ignoring a fundamental truth: that no man has any rights if he is unable to personally defend them. — Col. Corazon Santiago, "Planet: A Survivalist's Guide"

and

As the Americans learned so painfully in Earth's final century, free flow of information is the only safeguard against tyranny. The once-chained people whose leaders at last lose their grip on information flow will soon burst with freedom and vitality, but the free nation gradually constricting its grip on public discourse has begun its rapid slide into despotism. Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he deems himself your master.

And then there's every last quote from Yang. Giving a villain like him an ironclad philosophy is quite the achievement.

What a plot, though. I still remember the first time I completed the Voice of Planet. Truly on par with the best science fiction novels ever written.

Mary had a little lamb

Little lamb, little lamb

Mary had a little lamb

Whose fleece was white

as snow

--Assassins' Redoubt,

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