*Director of Social Engineering debate*

[Maniac]

Researching 3 techs in fifteen year in a SP Transcend game, even with the UoP? I don't consider that very likely with an average non-river/energy bonus starting position. Note though it has been a while since I played a UoP (or any SMAC) game. My memory may be fading. But even if we would land in the jungle, I would support going Centauri Ecology. Before Gene Splicing it has no use whatsoever building farms in the jungle. Forest are as a consequence the best solution, providing a nice 2-2-1 mix. The increased production and energy income this generates is worth the delay to IndAut. What's the use of having crawlers before you have terraformed terrain anyway? I mostly use those guys on spare forest, which wouldn't be present under your research strategy.

[Archaic]

True. As I said before, with PK's we're probably going to need Formers first anyway. Though the main point of getting to Ind. Auto. soon IMO is to get Wealth. Crawlers should be out there ASAP of course, but often when you're just getting it, you're still concentrating on getting basic infrastructure and CP's built and out there.

I wouldn't be suprised if we were basically forced to as well. It's not often the game allows you a straight path to the tech, and CE is a great one to pick up on the way.

[Zakharov VII]

This isn't exactly the best place to put this, but since it came up...

About possibly not getting a straight path to Industrial Automation, I believe the techs you are and aren't offered are only based on your current technologies. There was a thread awhile back, IIRC...(any clue what you would search for?)

If we could find that thread, we could probably figure out a safe route that (hopefully) would also work if we popped Applied Physics (that's what you get after Industrial Base, right?) out of a pod.

EDIT: Once again, not the best place, but we realy should pick up Ecology before romping off on a 5 tech beeline...

Z

[Archaic]

Yes. Eco & Ind. Auto should be got before we go to lift the restrictions.

I'm not exactly sure what the proper path for the PK's would be. Seeing as they already have Biogen, the path I tend to take with Uni won't work. Still, it's a question best left to the Science Director, not me.

[Zakharov VII]

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthrea...615&perpage=25 is the best thread I've found on the subject of tech choices, but it's not definitive. Now that we've followed through with this tangent, let's stick to Social Engineering/Candidate Views. If there's something to say, it is relevant to the Democracy game ("Mr. Candidate for Director of Research, have you tried your tech order to make sure each tech is always offered?"), so just post a new thread.

Back on topic, this isn't something that would come up in a first term, but I'd like to know a few things in terms of slightly longer-term Social Engineering plans (once elected, you'll probably want to be re-elected, I assume?). When do you first think the choice for Democracy/Planned (i.e., our first population boom) is wise? Early, as in soon after Ethical Calculus, waiting just long enough for Creches, or later, post-Tree Farms when nutrients are plentiful and there's been time for Hab Complexes?

Z

[Archaic]

I wouldn't really make the decision based on the techs we have to be honest. Just so long as we have CC's up in the majority of centres, enough Nuts. & terraforming to sustain that boom for several turns, and that we've hit "critical mass" for expansion. (Somewhere between 10-20 bases I'd say, more or less depending on how far apart the bases are.)

[Kassiopeia]

I've gone blind. Hmmm, and my palms are suspiciously hairy too.

I'd like to know a few things in terms of slightly longer-term Social Engineering plans (once elected, you'll probably want to be re-elected, I assume?). When do you first think the choice for Democracy/Planned (i.e., our first population boom) is wise? Early, as in soon after Ethical Calculus, waiting just long enough for Creches, or later, post-Tree Farms when nutrients are plentiful and there's been time for Hab Complexes?

Considering my long term agenda, I haven't and probably won't really concern myself with Planned at all. Could be feasible once we have the CCs in place since the Effic penalty is balanced out to bring out the growth... like Archaic said, it depends on our technological level.

[Archaic]

Well, it seems my opponent might be giving me a bit of a close race, with people in both the ACE and CDC voting blocks having not yet put in their say. As always, it looks like it's going to fall down to the independants, so to you, I say ask away, so that we can give you a clearer idea of who you should vote for.