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AI Attacks
"As for the computer's suicidal attitude towards its own troops (certainly an amusing feature from earlier games), the computer now usually doesn't attack unless it has quite a few units to throw at you, and then follows it up with support later on. It's quite a different feeling from other games of this type--instead of one lone horseman sneaking into your territory and taking a potshot at your captial, you now have three or four Alpha Rovers moving in a co-ordinated fashion to pick off one of your border bases. Makes the AI a lot tougher and the game much more realistic and fun." Tim Train of Firaxis. From Dante’s Inferno SMAC page. Now in our SMAC-faq. Link to source: SMAC-FAQ
AI and Unit Construction
"Computer players make intelligent decisions, plot with you against mutual enemies, coordinate their actions, and respond to you based on their own self-interest and personality." Official Features. Firaxis. SMAC-FAQ
"The computer AI reacts to what you build. If you tend to breed a lot of native units, then the computer will build units with the 'Trance' special ability, which works well against the natives." Brian Reynolds from an interview by LDespot. Beyond Alpha Centauri now Apolyton. Link to source: E3 Alpha Centauri Focus.
See: Units for other details about units.
AI and Territorial Boundaries
"…push out your borders too far, you can run into situations where competing factions are contesting specific regions, perhaps inviting a series of local attacks and counterattacks, until one side or the other has triumphed." Marc Dultz. Sneak Peaks: Alpha Centauri: Stranger in a Strange Land. Gamecenter Review. Link to source: SMAC-FAQ.
"Civ-style games have always been games of geometric expansion--the earlier you set up a city, the more resources that city can contribute over time. As you mention, the tradeoff to rapid expansion should be overextending your forces, allowing easy conquest by the enemy. The problem in these earlier games is that the AI was not that great at conquest. In SMAC, the problem has been solved by teaching the AI effective conquest. For example, the enemy usually only attacks in echelon (many units co-ordinating their attacks at once) instead of in detail (one lone unit wanders in and takes a potshot at a city, as in Civ). In short, if you expand recklessly in SMAC without regard to internal lines of supply and reinforcement, you are much more likely to find yourself inside Colonel Ortega's interrogation chamber." From Dante’s Inferno SMAC page. Link to source: SMAC-FAQ
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