SPACE. The FINAL... okay, nah.

[xyzzysqrl]

As usual when I'm depressed, I've been thrashing around for something... violently unlike me, to do. To leave my comfort zone in this case, I played a video game.

Yeah, shut up.

I am not traditionally any GOOD at big epic strategy games. So I decided to play gaming classic Alpha Centauri, which... uh... is kind of freaking AWESOME. And allows me, with the expansion, to play as a supertechnological cybernetic girl. *thumbs up*

I'm going to go ahead and just mentally take this game as a far-distant precursor (hee) to Star Control 2.

However, both me and the boyfriend (sirkalen, who is writing also about his experiences with the game) have hit a weird bug/issue/glitch where abruptly everything we've built vanishes, all our cities poof off the map, and everything gets relocated to a single colony pod with the faction "Independent".

I dunno if that's a game time limit, a weird special attack, or just a bug, but it's kinda irritating. Anyone have any idea what's up with THAT?

Comments

[sirkalen.livejournal.com]

The one thing that strikes me as a possible cause is the message that the sqrl said showed up briefly when this happened - something about having been 'liberated'. I don't know what that -means- though. Is it a special Probe Team success? Some kind of large-scale mind control? A bug in keeping track of what factions there are?

On a related note, in a recent game I captured someone's first base before they had any time to expand, and they ESCAPED, founding a new starting colony somewhere else.. and the starting package is pretty much 3 colony pods worth of people, and a couple of very basic units. coincidence?

Also, we've only seen this happen late in the game, when there's a lot of alliances going on, but the player-owned faction is just about to win. Maybe someone's changing sides and has units inside our bases?

Just tossing out ideas.

[eslington.livejournal.com]

I think there's supposed to be a probe team action where you can free a captured faction leader from another faction's capital... That's the closest I can think of.

Either way, that'd make this a bug. Never seen it before.

[xyzzysqrl]

Mmm, I -had- captured Santiago in my Giant Zappy Laser Dome, after raising the ocean levels enough to trash all her cities. Maybe she was freed... but yeah, that shouldn't have anything to do with SUDDEN CITY EJECTION.

Man, this is a -weird- one. I'm thinking of popping on a Proper Civ Fan Board and asking.

[seawasp]

I haven't seen that one before. With the expansion I usually play the Pirate faction; if I go old-school I play the militaristic ones (that I usually call the Manticorans and put Honor Harrington in charge)

[circuit-four.livejournal.com]

Oh, god, Svensgaard is practically cheating, with all the sea-square boosting techs -- but I play him anyhow because he's just so much damn sexy fun. ^_^

[seawasp]

You may call him Svensgaard, but for me he is always Captain Nemo.

[circuit-four.livejournal.com]

That's categorically not a feature of the game. The game ends in... 2500 AD, I think? And it has a pretty clear end -- a totaling up of scores for each faction. And the special attacks don't really get any worse than Planet Busters, dear. :) (CHRIST, I miss those when I play Civ4. ^_^ Have you gotten to play with those, or the even weirder missiles like the N-Space compressors or fungus missiles from SM:AX yet?) How exactly have you got the game running? Sounds like some kind of funky emulation/compatibility issue. Tried a cursory Google hunt about it but turned up nothin'. Good luck, sqrl. <3

Also, welcome to the Aki Zeta-5 hivemind. In the year 2150, we are ALL the same hot cyborg girl. n.n

[xyzzysqrl]

Drat, you were my Last Best Hope. I imagine it COULD be an anti-piracy feature... that's never kicked in anywhere else for anyone else...

Well, purchasing the stolen things is good for the spirit.

I actually have only resorted to an army as a matter of necessity! Casually repelling the attacks of one while working out how to make everyone else love me by universal vote. ...I like doin' that. When the woof and I multiplay, though, we're gonna have to just go wildly military. I will research everything and just pump laser tech at him like Chris Knight with no ethical boundries.

Aki Zeta-5 could cyberize MY brainstem any day. *heart*

[ff00ff.livejournal.com]

Chairman Sheng-ji Yang disapproves of your infatuation with hot cyborg girl. And forwards this excerpt from his best selling book.

What do I care for your suffering? Pain, even agony, is no more than information before the senses, data fed to the computer of the mind. The lesson is simple: you have received the information, now act on it. Take control of the input and you shall become master of the output.

A subsidiary of Morgan Industries entices you to log on to hotasiainteencyborggirl.pnt and take the free tour.

[xyzzysqrl]

I don't know WHY I like Morgan so much. Maybe it's just that I really do see the Ideal Faction Group as one Power society (Spartans, Pirates, Peacekeepers), one Tech society (Cyborgs, University) and one Money society (Morgan!)

He is the cornerstone of my idea of a group victory.

[circuit-four.livejournal.com]

Tragically, though, Morgan is widely considered the Dhalsim of SMAC, if not indeed the Dan Hibiki. :) Which is a pity, because I kinda like him too, and if they'd de-nerfed him the same way they de-nerfed Yang (after realizing his efficiency penalties CRIPPLE the Hive), he would suit my play style extremely well. I LOVE commerce bonuses. But his population cap is actually pretty harsh, and the lack of Support points really sucks until you get clean reactors. (But one of the best strategy faqs cites Morgan as their favorite faction, so YMMV.)

They kinda overwrote his dialogue, too, IMHO. I'm almost glad they didn't put too much effort into making his Randroid assholery sound appealing, but he comes off as a little bit too Monty Burns in some of his quotes, especially the ones that essentially say "HA HA LET'S SCREW THE FUTURE!"

Nerd pedantry

[glashund.livejournal.com]

Dhalsim?! In which game? He's north of mid-tier more often than not...

...I'll get my coat.

Re: Nerd pedantry

[circuit-four.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking SF2 Classic, and it could be that our local gamers were just too Ken-fixated to know what to do with him. The conventional wisdom from the time seems to have been that Dhalsim was the weakest of the lot (except maybe Honda?) but I know he's scary in the hands of a dedicated player. This is NOT a point of dogma for me, I promise, as long as nobody makes fun of me for playing Chun Li and Felicia. ^_^

Re: Nerd pedantry

[xyzzysqrl]

If anyone tries, they go through ME. Catgirls yay!

...It's true, though. If you two (Glas, Goji) think back to Original SF2 Days, Dhalsim was kind of... "Uh. What do I do with this? He can screw-kick at an angle, that gets by fireballs! But... aside from that..."

I tried desperately to learn him for MONTHS before giving up for Blanka.

Re: Nerd pedantry

[circuit-four.livejournal.com]

Because after months of Dhalsim, there's something really soothing about playing a guy who can just KNEE KEN IN THE GROIN. ;D

Re: Nerd pedantry

[glashund.livejournal.com]

Dhalsim's actually pretty monstrous in most incarnations of SF2 (excepting Turbo and possibly Super, but he climbed back up again in Super Turbo), but he controls weird, so I imagine he got a bad reputation in many arcades where nobody bothered to get good with him.

Felicia's right there in the middle of Nightwarriors and Vampire Savior, and Chun Li murders everyone not named Yun in SF3 3rd Strike, but you know what? Fuck playing characters based on viability anyway; that's best left for frame-counting obsessives and people who actually pay attention to Sirlin. ;)

Re: Nerd pedantry

[xyzzysqrl]

...
*HUG*
Amen.

Re: Nerd pedantry

[bossgoji.livejournal.com]

Srsly. God Sirlin is an ass. Yes, I COULD mash low strong for 4 straight minutes and win via frustration, or I could HAVE FUN PLAYING.

Re: Nerd pedantry

[bossgoji.livejournal.com]

To say nothing of Dan being lower middle tier in SF4!

...I'll get my dress.

Re: Nerd pedantry

[xyzzysqrl]

That's because Dan is Awesome. So awesome.

Re: Nerd pedantry

[circuit-four.livejournal.com]

No, it's OK, I'll just get my cane.

(Rotten smartassed kids and their newfangled home arcadeamajigs!)

[eslington.livejournal.com]

I did think his little thought for the day quote on the ticker was a little much.

And it's kind of telling that he chooses to attach his name to the start of every base name. ^_^;

[seawasp]

OOoh, but Dhalsim was so fun to play in Super SFII. I made it a point once to play a tournament with him in which I won against my opponents using the Yoga Noogie; this frustrated the other players no end.
Admittedly, usually I played Chun-Li or Ryu, but Dhalsim was fun.

And introducing Timothy Van Patten as Sheng-Ji Yang

[circuit-four.livejournal.com]

"ID IB EBBY CITIZED'S FIDO DOODY..."

[eslington.livejournal.com]

Don't the Cyborgs take a Growth penalty because they're uncomfortable with human intimacy?

*Vrr* The Datalinks contain insufficient data on this thing called "Love".

[xyzzysqrl]

No man is an island. Many hot cyborg girls are, however. Every technophile knows how important a good strong firewall is.

However, her aesthetic attraction has been calculated to an inexact but very high numerical value.

[eslington.livejournal.com]

Well there was Old Ebediah who meditated in the hills to become one with Planet, but just became one with Fungus Island...

And I certainly can't argue with your math, if only she'd give oneself the time of day. (And not instruct consultation of personal internal chonometer units.)

[xyzzysqrl]

...why do you make me want to write meticulously researched Sinder Roze/Aki Zeta-5 fan fiction?

[eslington.livejournal.com]

There's probably a ton of innuendo in the term "Probe Team". :3

[circuit-four.livejournal.com]

Oh, dumb question: are you adorable space-fuzzies all patched up? Early Alien Crossfire, in particular, was pretty buggy IIRC.

[xyzzysqrl]

2.0?

[ff00ff.livejournal.com]

Love that game forever. Mostly watching the forest grow. Look at it go! Earth wood marches on! Timber conquering the final frontier.

[xyzzysqrl]

Yeah, well, that's just your...

...wait, we actually AGREE on a game? This is a weird feeling.

[circuit-four.livejournal.com]

Darlin', I don't know how to break it to you, but you never felt that way before your trip to that Gaian fungus zoo. You were always ranting about commerce, manifest destiny, and the stark beauty of terraformer exhaust. And frankly, I like you better this way, so I'm just gonna toss this mindworm hatchling into your lap and let you get reacquainted. n.n

[xyzzysqrl]

...hmmmm, THERE'S one I've yet to try... I've yet to go over Hardcore Gaian instead of SCIENCE!. And fungus -is- a lovable toy for all.

... Maybe I'll look into that!

[circuit-four.livejournal.com]

After a Zakharov economy, you might be disappointed in the Gaians, but they have their charms and every budding SMAC fan should know the pleasure of riding a horde of Demon Boils through Believer territory, straight into Miriam's vestigial brain. n.n

[kajarainbow.livejournal.com]

The Gaians are actually one of my favorite factions to play. See, I usually try for early sea tech, start grabbing Isles of the Deep, and use that for rapid exploration and army growth, while I focus on a builder/research approach.

In short: the Gaians let me play both the military and builder/tech games at once, without completely gimping myself on the military front. And I usually end up owning the oceans.

Of course, I do find that mindworms tend to become a bit less effective as the game wears on (as the other factions develop higher morale and defensive upgrades and all that jibber), but by that point I have the military tech to crush anyone who insists on messing with me.

[relee.livejournal.com]

I've never had that happen, but I've also never had Alien Crossfire. I bought SMAC discount from a business store and didn't know it had an expansion. Never seen the expansion in a store.

[xyzzysqrl]

The expansion is sort of neat. It adds a lot of ... two-note ideologies. The folks in the base game are complex, but have one strong goal. The folks in the expansion are shallower, to my view, but have multiple goals each. It's an interesting contrast, I'm enjoying mixing and matching.

No one seems to have had this happen. As always, we are PIONEERING in the field of having things go wrong!

[eslington.livejournal.com]

It's out on budget now.

Best £5 I've spent in the last year.

[otter3.livejournal.com]

Still think the color-blindness patch for that game made it both more difficult for me to read and incredibly more hot alien-looking.

...I mean, the planet was neon green...

[xyzzysqrl]

Mmmmm, lime Planet...

[seawasp]

I really wish they'd do another Alpha Centauri instead of the Civilizations. I don't find Civ nearly as fascinating as AlphaCent. Unfortunately, I can't get Alphacent to run on a modern Mac.