It used to be hard to find (I had to import my copy from Britain). Now through the magic of the multi-game collection and GoGamer, Alien Crossfire (and a couple of other games you either already have or don’t want) can now be your’s for 20 bucks.
I think I’m with Alan. I find all the new factions flawed compared to the original but the changes to the underlying game are good. Best of all, you don’t have to play (either as or against) any of the new factions. So I thinks it’s worth the extra $7 (compared to buying SMAC alone) to get the collection with Alien Crossfire if you need to buy SMAC anyway. If you already have SMAC, I’d just download the last patch and save the twenty bucks.
Whatever you do don’t download it. It’s the expansion to one of the best games ever made, it’s readily available bundled with the original SMAC for under $20 and Brian Reynolds posts on the forum. I can’t imagine worse gamer karma.
Let’s go through your implied reasoning. You shouldn’t download the game, you should buy it, because:
It’s a great game, and you should support the production of great games.
It’s readily available.
Brian Reynolds posts here, and you should pay him money because you’re stealing from a developer you personally know.
None of these matter. 1) The developers are no longer receiving money from its sales, 2) the game is no longer in print, and 3) the expansion pack is almost totally unavailable at retail, you pretty much have to eBay it. Buying it neither compensates the developer or incentivizes the production of more games like it; it’s just accidental income for second-hand stores. I guess if you’re morally offended by second-hand stores having backstock…
It’s not quite as silly as “you shouldn’t download 15 year old games because if you find a way to jump through hoops and buy them they might resurrect the IP and make a new sequel,” but really, it’s just consumer market recycling at this point.
Let’s go through your implied reasoning. You shouldn’t download the game, you should buy it, because:
It’s a great game, and you should support the production of great games.
It’s readily available.
Brian Reynolds posts here, and you should pay him money because you’re stealing from a developer you personally know.
None of these matter. 1) The developers are no longer receiving money from its sales, 2) the game is no longer in print, and 3) the expansion pack is almost totally unavailable at retail, you pretty much have to eBay it. Buying it neither compensates the developer or incentivizes the production of more games like it; it’s just accidental income for second-hand stores. I guess if you’re morally offended by second-hand stores having backstock…
It’s not quite as silly as “you shouldn’t download 15 year old games because if you find a way to jump through hoops and buy them they might resurrect the IP and make a new sequel,” but really, it’s just consumer market recycling at this point.[/quote]
Alien Crossfire is available. You can buy it at GoGamer right now. I’ve posted the link in this thread, and others have posted in other threads. I mean if going to GoGamer and spending 20 bucks for SMAC and the expansion is jumping through hoops, maybe you should stick with something more your speed, like slack-jawed drooling.
Of course, he can’t actually use Slack-Jawed Drooling (D11) until he researches both Temporal Biometrics (D10) and Mandibular Fluidics (I10).
The most amusing thing about GoGamer’s Laptop Collection product information sheet is that they explicitly mention Alien Crossfire, presumably so it turns up when you do a search. After all, that’s pretty much the only reason anyone ever buys it. I mean, they’re basically selling you two copies of basic SMAC (the expansion disc has an extra copy) along with some leftover EA stock from 2000.
Really? Well that’s new then, never mind. I just remember paying like $60 last year to get it off someone on ebay, because that was the only damn place to get it.
Key insight: embrace the worm. The only way you can really stomp the highest levels is by manipulating the “each worm outbreak increases the ecological tolerance of the planet by 1” factor.
