colony pods

[d=me]

It's very bad to not get a colony pod right? Like no matter what kind of a good place I landed in if I don't get a colony pod I'm always behind in the beginning.

[Commy]

On easier levels, you will never start a game with an extra colony pod...however, on harder levels, you usually will...

Generally, you will almost always begin with an extra colony pod...sometimes though, if there aren't any other factions close by (you have lots of room to expand), there won't be much competition for land, and you won't get an extra colony pod...

Really it's all about luck, but, if you don't start with an extra colony pod, it's usually because you have plenty of room to expand...

Sometimes, if you start on a small island, you begin the game with a free transport as well...

Overall, it's usually just random luck...

[Leon Trotsky]

Originally posted by Commy Sometimes, if you start on a small island, you begin the game with a free transport as well...

I think you get it for sure. Not sure about the size of the landmass you should land, though. But every time I began in a tiny island I got my unity foil.

[#endgame]

I think it's when you start adjacent to an ocean tile.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by #endgame
I think it's when you start adjacent to an ocean tile.

I think so too, but I think you have to be adjacent to more than one ocean tile ( unless there is some randomness thrown in) since I recall ocean starts with no transport.

I have been on relativel large landmasses and gotten the transport in situations where the start was on a peninsula

[Kataphraktoi]

Originally posted by d=me
It's very bad to not get a colony pod right? Like no matter what kind of a good place I landed in if I don't get a colony pod I'm always behind in the beginning.

transcend difficulty gets +1 colony pod.this can mean that transcend is easier than thinker,and it was, in SMAC orginal due to the maintaince bug combined with that(imho) and i only played thinker,not transcend. (now i play only transcend though)

clarifiy:transcend always gets 2 colony pods. not transcend,im not sure if its random,but they dont always start with 2

[Chaos Theory]

I had a start once where I had look first off, and landed on a small island, with a base adjacent to a 1-tile lake but a tile removed from the ocean, and I was gifted with a unity foil in that 1-tile lake.

[Illuminatus]

Originally posted by Chaos Theory
I had a start once where I had look first off, and landed on a small island, with a base adjacent to a 1-tile lake but a tile removed from the ocean, and I was gifted with a unity foil in that 1-tile lake.

[xalien]

On the other hand anytime you or AI lands on a 1-tile island you never get a transport foil which means you're pretty much screwed right from the start

[GeoModder]

How so? Simply research to Doctrine: Flexibility and start colonizing the oceans. It might take an extra 50-100 turns, but you'll get there in the end. D

[xalien]

Yeah, it's not the end of the world, but you can pretty much kiss your early (and probably a good part of middle) game SP's good-bye. Your only base will produce only so much minerals and energy as the central tile.
For most factions you'd need two techs to get sea pods and 3 for the formers. Bonus resource squares may help but knowing my luck and map prefs they'd be burried under the fungus anyway. So here I am, playing stagnant tech and receiving a whooping 1 point of tech/turn. With luck I may get first pod done in about 50 turns .... and it probably would be immediately eaten by IoD