I take it nobody in the Civ world likes the SMAC unit mechanic?

[Steppa]

I have to assume that the Civilization fan base was not impressed by the way Alpha Centauri handled unit upgrades. Instead of a single technology = new unit, as with Civ, AC did it a little differently and, I think, more fun. A new tech = unlock of a new platform. In Civ terms, that would be a person on foot, a person on horseback, cannon, etc.

Each platform had up to five or six (if memory serves) slot that could be updated, such as weapon, armor, power unit (ie health), special abilities (ie amphibious) and so on. In Civ terms, as you progress up through the techs, your infantry get better weapons and armor, plus special abilities that can be assigned at creation and earned, much like they do now.

My point is that there has been no apparent widespread desire to see something like that in Civ other than the special abilities upgrades we've seen in the last couple iterations. I wonder about that because I thought AC's approach allowed for remarkable diversity in strategy.

[SamBC]

I like it as a mechanic for a sci-fi game, not as a mechanic for a historical one. It could work as a mechanic for something with a narrower time-frame as well, but I can't imagine it working for something that covers such a wide range of technologies, and battle styles.

[slowtarget]

I actually really like the mechanic and I'd love to see it return to a Civ game sometime in the future. It really is much closer to the way things actually work.

Platforms: Soldier, Horseman, "cart", "permanent", Camel, Elephant, Motorcycle, Car, Truck, Helicopter, Plane, Jet, Large Plane, Rocket, Sloop, Brigantine, Destroyer, Frigate, Battleship, Submarine, Carrier

Weapons: Rock, Axe, Sword, Spear, Bow, Longbow, Pike, Musket, Rifle, Sniper Rifle, Katana, Double Katana, Sniper Rifle that shoots Katanas, Machine Gun, Ground Missiles, Air Missiles, Catapult, Trebuchet, Cannon, Artillery, Cruise Missile, Torpedo, Nuclear Bomb, Nukular Bomb

Special: Armor, Radar, Sonar, "hidden", Pirate, Immune to Arrows, Immune to Bullets, Immune to Missiles

So, then, a Longbowman would be Soldier/Longbow. A Knight would be Horseman/Sword/Armor. A Privateer would be Brigantine/Cannon/Pirate. A Cyberninja would be Soldier/Sniper Rifle that shoots Katanas/Immune to Bullets+Immune to Missiles.

When upgrading, you could upgrade the weapons or the Specials, but not the platform. And it would give you all the flexibility you ever wanted!

Except for one thing...

No one would ever make Elephant SAM (Elephant/Air Missile/Radar+Immune to Arrows). And a Swordship (Battleship/Sword/Armor) would be pointless. In reality, people would just end up creating the same units that already make up the bulk of the units used in Civ: Archers, Swordsmen, Catapults, Knights, Cavalry, Tanks, Artillery.

The system would be really cool and there nothing that could match the fun of fielding an army of Machine Gun Camel Cavalry escorted by Motorpikers with support of rockets that fire missiles, but at that point we've ventured off into territory so silly that we might as well start arming sharks with friggin laser beams.

It's a cool idea, but even in SMAC, people ended up continually making the same units, thus eroding most of the fun of having flexibility.

[Arioch IV]

There were many things I liked about Alpha Centauri, but the "build your own" units feature was not one of them. The hodgepodge units had a very silly, bathtub toy kind of feel.

Kind of like Spore (shudder).

[SlickSlicer]

I love it, but it doesn't work for Civilization.

Alpha Centauri was a game based upon a theoretical scenario. Because of that it was a little bit more open-ended as far as what kinds of things they could implement. Although it still retained many Civilization features, they were able to experiment a little bit, for instance with giving players the ability to design their own unit, because they were not confined to portraying something historic.

It doesn't work in Civilization because they have to portray more realistic themes. While there is some artistic license allowed, that particular system overall doesn't really work.

[drunkugly]

not sure how this would add depth to the combat. could you elaborate on scenarios you'd anticipate happening?

one thing i'd like to see from that game is the nukes. nukes should be expensive but capable of destroying a city and making the ground useless pretty much forever. also causes everyone to declare war on you if you use them unprovoked.

[Black Gate of Mordor]

There were many things I liked about Alpha Centauri, but the "build your own" units feature was not one of them. The hodgepodge units had a very silly, bathtub toy kind of feel.

Kind of like Spore (shudder).

C'mon! Spore's design feature isn't... that bad.

Although, every time I design a creature in it, it turns out to have wings, standing like a human, and combat based....

[Arioch IV]

C'mon! Spore's design feature isn't... that bad. Although, every time I design a creature in it, it turns out to have wings, standing like a human, and combat based.... The creature design feature was fine, but the unit design feature in the "modern" era was extremely lame.

But the larger point I was driving at is that it's very cartoony, and not realistic at all. The units in Alpha Centauri were a very cartoony, toylike element in what was otherwise a fairly serious and realistic game.