I think that you might like what they have done with CTP around here. I recommend the CTP Patch 1.2, Hack 1.21, the Apolyton Pack (it modifies CTP to "play the way it was meant to be played"), and Awesome AIPs. The link that DON provided in the previous message goes into better detail than I can. Be sure to get the Pack. I waited a few months before downloading the Apolyton Pack and now I regret the wait! I consider it a must!!!

Be sure to read the readme files with everything you install. It may seem a little time consuming at first but it is well worth it. CTP has made it a little tough to set up modifications and scenarios, but it is not too bad once you take some time to understand it. It's perhaps 20-30 minutes of reading that will pay you back with many hours of enjoyment!

I first bought CtP about a year ago, then exchanged it after nine days (limit of my warranty) for SMAC. I thought the biggest tangible oversight in CtP was the absence of a world map to play on.

Anybody else know if a world map finally came out or not?

A lot of people argued that SMAC was too close to Civ2, and I agree that there is a great similarity. I admit I was a bit disappointed by how close the system was, but then again I found the control system of CtP very slow and far less accessible than that for SMAC. Perhaps I was expecting too much of Firaxis to provide an innovative system that was different and usable at the same time... certainly CtP's was the former, but not the latter.

I was disgusted by CtP's extension of the timescan. This was a big mistake on their part, because the game should have been a representation of the history of mankind. I will not offer as yet an in depth criticism of their mistakes in the normal timescan, but I do think they transcended the realms of wisdom and good taste in their dictating what the next 1000 years will bring.

Compare this to SMAC's timescale. Admittedly, this is all fictitious. That's okay, because SMAC proceeds on the as-yet-unrealized situation that settlers are on a new world. SMAC makes no pretensions as to representing a past history or situation... it is highly theoretical to begin with. The tech advances are nebulous and unfamiliar, but if you read the actual descriptions of the advances as you acquire them, they are offered with a well-thought-out rationale and reasoning. They are not simply cobbled together to form any old tree with odd names: somebody took care to make that. Somebody loved that feature, and made it the best that it could be.

CTP creations like the Nanite Defuser and the unit Plasmatica had me thinking I was playing a sort of hammy sci-fi B movie conversion of a game, not the crafted masterpiece that a Civ game should be. The units seemed to be hastily thought out (super units abounded) and the entire feel of the game seemed to be "let's do Civ2 but add more unnecessary devices".

I offer as my major comparison the government features. Civ had five governments, Civ2 had six. Each government was radically different from the other, and knew no in betweens. Each government choice affected your civ in a big way, and there was no compromise.

CtP carried this even further. Admittedly, they gave you a further seven or so govs to play around with, but each one was still a "do or die" choice. That, plus the very childish presentation of gov effects ("terrible" "bad" "awful" "average" "good" excellent") made me feel I was playing a game that had good ideas but lacked a lot of polish or design.

Compare this to SMAC's Social Engineering table. You can pick and choose different choices for your type of government, with various little alterations that would have small effects on your faction as a whole. Compared to the thirteen or so absolutist choices that CtP offers, SMAC has roughly 4^4 (ie 256) different possible government forms. Each one is playable and slightly different. If you want to go all-out on science, do so! If you want to police your people whilst still making a good buck or so, you can! If you want to run a religious state and keep your fingers in the technological research pie, that's a possibility!

SMAC seems to me to be a real work that has been successfully thought out from start to finish. CtP seems to me to be a spirited attempt by a load of people who are painfully aware of the demands of the Civ name upon them. Of course, their game isn't crap by any means - sit down with it, and learn it, and you'll probably enjoy it eventually.

It's just that when I was offered the choice between SMAC and CtP, poor Activision provided no contest. Maybe when I see CtP on discount I'll get it again and sit down with it, but for now I'm too busy Transcending with the Voice of Planet...

[And for her next scheduled rant, Allie Cove will talk on units! ]

Note: Sorry if this sounds like a pretentious rant by an unstable gamer. You're probably right.