/games/ - Games

Inexcusably bad UI and controls, mediocre gameplay, carried entirely by strength of its writing. Funny how many old games that describes.

>>30710
I really wish more games could be well written… is that so much to ask for?

>>30709
If modern sci-fi games had worldbuilding and writing half as good and originsl as SMAC, I would be much happier with the state of the genre. Instead we get boring unoriginal regurgitations of classic TV shows like Firefly and Star Trek that ape their aesthetics but do not give much attention to their principle of making a lived-in world that not only follows trending theories on the future of space exploration, but also bringing its own ideas to the table regarding human society's evolution and possible ground-breaking discoveries. So far from what I have seen in recent AAA sci-fi VG titles like NMS and Starfield is just this shallow fanboy wank which manages to capture the late 20th century SF aesthetic somewhat but totally fails at understanding what drove the authors of these works, in the end contributing nothing new to either the fans nor the genre.

>>30712
Damn… cogent post, where have all the good writers gone? The ones that actually had ideas and not just nostalgia?

I'm going to play this for the first time ever.

>>30731
Good luck, I would play your first game with all the original characters, IMO the ones from the expansion are not as good other than Foreman Domai (even still it pissed me off he can't do green economics)

>>30731
oh and rush for wonders because they're pretty easy to get, give decent bonuses and the videos for them are cool and atmospheric (mostly)

just started playing it today. only the tutorial missions so far though

which faction do you guys reckon is the most gommie?
>GAIA’S STEPDAUGHTERS (LED BY LADY DEIRDRE SKYE)
hippies, but also resistant to free market economics
>HUMAN HIVE (LED BY CHAIRMAN SHENG-JI YANG)
this could potentially be the meme choice for people who think communism = authoritankie gorrillion soviet imperialism collectivism no personal consumption and so on. but by the description they sound borderline fascist. it's a pass from me
>UNIVERSITY OF PLANET (LED BY ACADEMICIAN PROKHOR ZAKHAROV)
elitist academics out of touch with the masses
>MORGAN INDUSTRIES (LED BY CEO NWABUDIKE MORGAN)
ancapistan
>SPARTAN FEDERATION (LED BY COLONEL CORAZON SANTIAGO)
the gun is good
>THE LORD’S BELIEVERS (LED BY SISTER MIRIAM GODWINSON)
anti-scientific christcucks
>THE PEACEKEEPING FORCES (LED BY COMMISSIONER PRAVIN LAL)
represents the original UN mission and could therefore be interpreted as an anti-imperialist force

spontaneously I feel either the Gaians or the Peacekeepers
>Due to his experience with parliamentary maneuvering, Lal’s vote counts double when the Planetary Council is convened for election of a Planetary Governor or Supreme Leader.
this looks really useful. Peacekeepers it is

>>30780
Chairman Yang is fascinating to me because he's…for lack of a better term, he's a sincere dictator. He doesn't hate anyone, he doesn't have an out-group that he uses to scapegoat all the problems in his society on, he genuinely believes in the ideology of the Human Hive.

He doesn't even do the thing you see in dystopian fiction where it's revealed that the Elites have secretly been indulging in excesses forbidden to the masses - he genuinely believes in Asceticism, his personal quarters are exactly as bare, austere and devoid of any surrender to personal pleasure. If you're going to try and find his secret expensive alcohol cabinet, he doesn't have one.

And that's ultimately what's so fascinating about the Human Hive - Sheng-ji Yang is essentially a superhuman, a bonafide genius with peak human willpower who is absolutely capable of doing shit like "pain is just information presented to the senses, analyse it and plan an appropriate response".

He never demands of anyone something he wouldn't demand of himself, but the vast majority of humanity CAN'T LIVE UP TO THAT, and he doesn't care. He isn't going to compromise with human frailty.

>CLIMATE AND ELEVATION
>The rainfall of a given region is partly determined by the elevation of the surrounding terrain. On Planet, the prevailing winds always blow from west to east. This means that the westward exposure of a ridge or mountainside catches more airborne moisture—the effective rainfall increases on that side. However, little moisture reaches the eastward slope, so the rainfall decreases on that side. A great mountain range may be lush and green on the western side, but will be arid desert on the eastern side.
>You can learn to exploit this pattern by raising and lowering terrain with your former units to create favorable rainfall conditions for yourself or unfavorable rainfall for an opponent (see Terraform Menu, p. 46).
oh hell yes, offensive terraforming. also: expand westward

>>30780
I always picked Lal cause he just seems like the best guy to me and wants reasonable things. He's also the only one who is actually sticking to the mission brief.

His only sin is that he cloned his late wife so he could 'love her again' which is kinda fucked up if you think about it, I mean did he raise her from infancy as his daughterwife? Idk

>>30791
Why not Gaias? They seem to be the unambiguously best faction from both moral (values of equality, individuality, respect, tolerance, etc.) and practical perspective (ideological inclination toward transcendence ending).

>>30793
I think Deidre is second best but she goes a bit far in some places (like setting mindworms on her enemies cities, that's fucked)

>>30798
Her AI is very pacifistic though, you need to be a real asshole for her to actually attack you.

>>30807
Yeah fair but going by lore. Lal is also like that right?

>>30810
I mean both lore and AI behaviour. Think about it this way, she pursues diplomacy, science, and harmony with the planet. So when it comes to war, she uses tool available to her, she hasnt been spending her time on the planet building cannons, but she does know how to control mind worms.