I finally got around to trying the demo for Alpha Centauri, and I want to get the game now. I know I can get Alpha Centauri for $10 at most stores.

My question concerns the Alien Crossfire expansion. Does the expansion add enough value to make it worth tracking it down? Ebay has a few of the Planetary packs available for ~$40 including shipping. I'm planning to play mostly single-player, and possibly a little PBEM.

I saw some debate about the merits of Alien Crossfire in the PBEM thread, but the expansion was still available from some stores at that point.

My concern is that I can get Alpha Centauri and up to 3 other bargin bin games for the same $40. The other games would probably be Jagged Alliance 2, Planescape: Torment, and something else (I'd have to go to the store and look).

Also can someone with the Alien Crossfire expansion installed still go back to regular Alpha Centauri and PBEM with someone who only has Alpha?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

-Trevor

Hey Trevor,

I really think Crossfire is worth the extra expense. There are so many nice new touches and additions in Crossfire that I can't imagine going back to vanilla SMAC myself.

You can, I believe, boot up the old SMAC executable even after you've installed Crossfire.

-Tom

Alien Crossfire is really good, but I'm not sure it's worth the extra money unless you know those you want to play by e-mail with are going to demand it. I like what it added and there are some new techs that are interesting. However, vanilla SMAC is more than enough to keep one occupied for years. Especially given how hard it is to get the expansion.

Try http://www.hartsunlimited.com for the Alien Crossfire expansion by itself. That's where I got mine recently.

--Dave

I find this amusing because I went to a video game store in my locale mall the other day and there were three copies of Alien Crossfire.

I guess that means most of us washintoniens are twitch gamers must be all the coffee.

Alien Crossfire adds a number of new rules and refinements. Stuff I'd miss if I went back. Those alone probably make it a worthwhile purchase, but the seven original factions are still too compelling for me to, um, actually use (even with the computer starring as them). I've played countless SMAC games before and after the expansion and for some reason I still retain this odd prejudice against those "new people". It's just not single player SMAC if anyone like Miriam, Morgan, Lal, Yang, etc., are missing.

I also don't really like the aliens much.

You can't go wrong with "vanilla" SMAC, especially if you plan on just playing casually, but the expansion's rules changes are probably worth the investment if you're in it for the long haul.

Maybe one day I'll finally try the Data Angels or Cult of Planet or something... but then again, CivIII is on the horizon. I can almost taste it.

-Andrew

Stop breathing through your mouth, Andrew. :-)

I think it's worth it not only for the rule changes, but for the new factions.

I've been thinking of starting another solo game and, in thinking which faction I'd play, I realized that I've never played a pure SMAX game. I've played plenty of pure SMAC games, and lots of mix n match combo games, but I never really tried just all the new factions. It occurs to me that without having done this, I might have missed out on how these factions were balanced against each other.

So two plus years in and I'm still finding ways I haven't played. How can you argue with that?

Trevor,

Sounds like Crossfire is a great add on, but if you can get the basic game plus JA2 and Planetscape and maybe one other, then I'd say that's a lot of gaming for your money too, and probably a better value unless PBEM is crucial for ya.

Thanks for the help guys! It does sound like Alien Crossfire is worth the money. I wasn't sure that the rule changes and new factions made a big enough difference.

Dave-Thanks for the link. I actually checked them a few days ago, and they didn't have any copies listed.

Doug-Hmm...sounds like I should take a drive around this weekend and hit some more stores.

Bernie-That's what made this a hard choice. I'm going to bump those onto the Christmas list as stocking stuffers though :)

"I find this amusing because I went to a video game store in my locale mall the other day and there were three copies of Alien Crossfire."

Someone must be clearing out a warehouse, because one of my local places had a few copies of SMAC on the bargain rack earlier this week. www.interactcd.com

Thanks for the link Supertanker. I checked out interactcd.com. They were hiding it under "S" for Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire. They want $40 for just Alien Crossfire.

I definitely need to start checking all the stores around here. I think it'll be an extended lunch hour today :)

Good luck, man. You'll need it. In my travels, I never came across a boxed copy of Alien Crossfire anywhere. I ended up paying $30 I think through Harts. Ebay is always a good last resort. At least if you're ok with using that great transmitter of Anthrax, the postal service, these days...

...who needs contagious diseases when people are still sending and reading snail mail?

--Dave

I like SMACX, but prefer the original factions. The new factions are a bit wacky and specialized. Personal preference, I guess. The SMACX techs are definitely nice though, since many of them make water squares useful. Good luck finding a copy; a quick search of my favorite sites turned up nothing.

- Alan

"They want $40 for just Alien Crossfire."

Try giving them a call, as they had SMACX over in the bargain rack when I was there this week. I don't think the website is up to date on that price.

Some of the Alien Crossfire factions are wacky, but some are really good. The Pirates, with their emphasis on sea colonies before anyone else is building sea colonies, are a great alternate way to start a game without butting up against any opponents for a while. I've done very will with the Drone emphasis on production. And I think some of the new rules make the Data Angels' probe teams pretty potent.

As for the aliens, they're not there to be played so much as they're there to be played against. With the two alien factions going for each other's throats, Crossfire really does feel like a whole new game.

To me Crossfire is an example of expansion packs at their best. Unless you're lucky enough to find a stray copy, I think the best (only?) way to get it is as part of a gold pack with SMAC and SMACX bundled together.

-Tom

"As for the aliens, they're not there to be played so much as they're there to be played against. With the two alien factions going for each other's throats,"

Heh, hence the name Crossfire.

"And I think some of the new rules make the Data Angels' probe teams pretty potent."

I would say "too potent" but that could be sour grapes over a recent bout with them.

I think the most boring SMAC game I ever played was as the Hegemony, but one of the most exciting included both of the alien races just beating up on all the human factions in an effort to savage each other. I managed to escape the carnage by finding an island early on and founding a colony of sorts. Eventually I led in tech, then in military, then they felt my wrath. But I still much prefer the simpler "human factions vs. each other and the mysterious living planet" motif.

It's a real testament to SMAC's brilliance that SMACX, in spite of it's deep and compelling changes to the game, feels so superfluous. The more amazing thing is how they added to SMAC without breaking anything. At worst SMACX is like a soup, with a little more than necessary spice added.

Hmmm? Lunch time is it?

-Andrew

I like SMACX a lot, but share Andrew's feelings about the original factions. After playing with them for so long, learning their agendas and how they were balanced, the new factions were hard to get used to. But I do like the extended variety, and every SMAC game I play is with randomized factions taken from the full list, so I've grudgingly gotten used to them.

And yeah, Tom, the Pirates are great, but they're much more powerful than the other human factions. Not that there's anything wrong with imbalance per se.

You could get any of the trillions of Planetary Pack copies offered on Ebay, alternatively:

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?MfcISAPICommand=GetResult&pb=&ht=1&st=2&query=alpha+centauri&SortProperty=MetaEndSort

I tried that link Jason and it's just telling me that it can't find any matches for alpha+centauri.

What should it be showing me?

Short answer: In the search box, replace the '+' with a space. Alsternately, cut and paste the link instead of clicking on it.

Long answer: What's going on is that Discus has replaced the literal '+' with '%2B' which is the corresponding escape character.

- Alan

Trevor,

Try doing a search on eBay for "Alpha Centauri". Jason's link sticks a "+" into the search that screws it up.

-Tom

Oopsie. Anyway, there's a ton available for auction.

If there are any Canadians looking for Alien Crossfire, especially in the Toronto area, I have a spare, never-opened Alien Crossfire package. Make me an offer.

Thanks for all the help guys!

Now comes the most difficult part of the whole thing: Convincing the wife that this video game purchase is necessary.

Lee-I lived in Toronto for a few months in 96, does that make me Canadian enough? :)

-Trevor