Last month we talked to Barry Brenesal with some of this afterthoughts to his GameProWorld review on Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire, aka SMAC-X. Barry was kind enough to time out of his often busy schedule to answer some further questions from us in regards to the game.

How would you rate the new factions of SMAC-X?
"Overall, positively -- though I'd rather more time had been spent on decision-making AI (the pirates build plenty of colony pods, but damn few ships, in my experience); and AI that permitted computer-driven opponents to expand their land mass via formers".

The two alien factions are powerful, but they are always at war with the other, "balancing the game" according to Firaxis. Your view?
"Nice idea, except that the current code permits you to have only one of the two alien races in the game, without the other. I think even with both present, each may be a bit overly powerful, given their starting units. If they're not in proximity to one another, they tend to overrun their more humanoid neighbors quickly".

Your experience from mixed games (in other words, with old factions, new factions)?
"Reasonably balanced, and fun to play. It certainly wouldn't surprise me if Bruce, Sid & Company devised all the races at the same time, and held half of 'em back to throw at players in an add-on module-- in short, they feel well-integrated".

Do you see any changes/improvements in the AI? If so, like what?
"Regrettably, no. I'm not saying the AI plays like an idiot (it doesn't), but I don't get any sense of improvement in combat or building-- and you can easily check on the latter, as soon as you become Planetary Governor, by peeking into what they're doing. No, I think the add-on was largely concerned with rules repair and improvement, rather than markedly better AI".

Overall, how would you rate SMAC-X? Is it a good buy and, if so, for whom?
"It's an excellent buy: the basic game is so complex, that there were bound to be plenty of rules that needed fixing and tweaking after release (and that's no aspersion cast on the creators, either). The new factions, buildings, etc, are nicely done. If you liked SMAC, I think SMAC-X is mandatory.

I also think that Sid and Bruce should hire a graphics designer away from Triumph (who did Age of Wonders) for their next game...but that's another issue, entirely {grin}".

We hope it was interesting... Questions by Markos Giannopoulos. Our thanks to Barry for being open to... questions :)