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There has been some discussion of our overall strategy and roleplay in various places. I feel we need a thread to organize and plan our overall strategy, so here it is. Some big questons that have arisen:
Meta-gaming is the practice of playing a game with knowledge outside the game itself, IE how the other teams think, how our own process affects our chances, etc.. Meta-gaming is good for winning games, but might be a bit incompatible with strict role-play. Let's discuss.
From the Borehole Thread :
As I was saying over there, this is good strategy to win the game, and is a convenient way to use role-play to cover up a strong Gaian strategy. Here's how I view the Gaians:
They think they want to get along with Planet, but don't know what they are doing. They are surprised every step of the way that Planetmind wants to meld with them. They are surprised that their Forests are only somewhat compatible with native life. They are surprised that their knack for terraforming is generally viewed as hostile by planet. A gaian in 2101 has a very different outlook than a gaian near transcendence. They would be terrified of the prospect, but curious. All along the way they must face facts and learn to adapt their green-thumbs into red-thumbs. It's a dangerous path, and full of controversy.
What's really strange to me about Smac is that Tree Farms and Hybrids reduce ecodamage. These really should have been Fungus Farms and Hybrid Flora. And there should have been a terrain feature to represent both Earth Trees, and Planet Hybrids. But that aside, we must assume that Trees are o.k. with Planetmind, that they can work together. Thus the Gaian 'Forest Strategy' for roleplay and even a decent strategy for gaming.
Boreholes are violations of planet. They are the worst possible thing you could do to a living planet, terraforming-wise. Fungal-net: interupted. Local rainfall: disrupted. Climate changed irrevocably. But still, boreholes are the gamer's friend, so arises the 'Forest + Borehole' gaming strategy, which works just as well for Gaians as for any other faction, untill the very very late game when fungus becomes useful.
It's easy to roleplay any behaviour we wish to adopt, as HongHu has demonstrated with her ideas above. But is it a good practice? I suggest that we decide now whether to go for a true role-play of the Gaians or a role-play in hindsight type strategy. I believe we can win either way. A role-play centered faction would make decisions based on what we think 'real' Gaians would do. This will sometimes not seem like the best gaming strategy. But we will win respect and have a **** of a good time!
If we do play in a RP centered way, I don't see that a few early boreholes would be that bad. After all, we are attempting to learn about Planet, and we don't know what the heck we are doing. But after our first communication with Planetmind, and especially after our first Pop!, I think we should role-play a re-evaluation of our terraforming. We would then know that planet does not like ecodamage. We might role-play a discussion with planet and justify some ecodamage in one particular base, especially if we give back to planet in some other way.
As I've said elsewhere, I'm perfectly willing to go along with a Gamer's strategy rather than a strict RP strategy. I do hope that people see what we are missing though, if we go with the gaming strategy. I know we can win with an RP strategy. I've seen it done. We might even encourage the same with other teams. It's great fun and costs nothing. It's a game after all. We have some very strong players here, and some strong role-players. Let's get the best of both worlds.
-Smack
- How much to Roleplay vs. Go for the Win
- How to terraform
- How to explore the fungus
- How to find our neighbors
Meta-gaming is the practice of playing a game with knowledge outside the game itself, IE how the other teams think, how our own process affects our chances, etc.. Meta-gaming is good for winning games, but might be a bit incompatible with strict role-play. Let's discuss.
From the Borehole Thread :
Originally posted by HongHu
Well I'm not a Gaian now so I can't take part in your decision of roleplay/gameplay style. I was merely pointing out there is another way to interpret the Gaians, as what I laid out when I was a Gaian.
Others are afraid of the planet. They are afraid of the fungus and the mindworms. But the Gaians love the planet, they love the fungus and the mindworms. Fungus is native to the planet, forests are foreign. Ecodamage is earth thinking, not planet thinking. When fungus pops, others think the planet is angry. But Gaians encourages fungus pops, they eat fungus, use fungas, they even plant fungus. They do not seek a green planet, they seek a red planet.
Others fear mindworms. They panic when mindworms spung out. The Gaians cheers when they meet mindworms. They capture mindworms, use mindworms, hunt mindworms, they even brood mindworms.
I know this is novice thinking about the Gaians. Perhaps nobody has ever viewed Gaians this way. But if you do not want to lag behind in game and still want to roleplay the Gaians, this could be an interesting way to go.
Well I'm not a Gaian now so I can't take part in your decision of roleplay/gameplay style. I was merely pointing out there is another way to interpret the Gaians, as what I laid out when I was a Gaian.
Others are afraid of the planet. They are afraid of the fungus and the mindworms. But the Gaians love the planet, they love the fungus and the mindworms. Fungus is native to the planet, forests are foreign. Ecodamage is earth thinking, not planet thinking. When fungus pops, others think the planet is angry. But Gaians encourages fungus pops, they eat fungus, use fungas, they even plant fungus. They do not seek a green planet, they seek a red planet.
Others fear mindworms. They panic when mindworms spung out. The Gaians cheers when they meet mindworms. They capture mindworms, use mindworms, hunt mindworms, they even brood mindworms.I know this is novice thinking about the Gaians. Perhaps nobody has ever viewed Gaians this way. But if you do not want to lag behind in game and still want to roleplay the Gaians, this could be an interesting way to go.
They think they want to get along with Planet, but don't know what they are doing. They are surprised every step of the way that Planetmind wants to meld with them. They are surprised that their Forests are only somewhat compatible with native life. They are surprised that their knack for terraforming is generally viewed as hostile by planet. A gaian in 2101 has a very different outlook than a gaian near transcendence. They would be terrified of the prospect, but curious. All along the way they must face facts and learn to adapt their green-thumbs into red-thumbs. It's a dangerous path, and full of controversy.
What's really strange to me about Smac is that Tree Farms and Hybrids reduce ecodamage. These really should have been Fungus Farms and Hybrid Flora. And there should have been a terrain feature to represent both Earth Trees, and Planet Hybrids. But that aside, we must assume that Trees are o.k. with Planetmind, that they can work together. Thus the Gaian 'Forest Strategy' for roleplay and even a decent strategy for gaming.
Boreholes are violations of planet. They are the worst possible thing you could do to a living planet, terraforming-wise. Fungal-net: interupted. Local rainfall: disrupted. Climate changed irrevocably. But still, boreholes are the gamer's friend, so arises the 'Forest + Borehole' gaming strategy, which works just as well for Gaians as for any other faction, untill the very very late game when fungus becomes useful.
It's easy to roleplay any behaviour we wish to adopt, as HongHu has demonstrated with her ideas above. But is it a good practice? I suggest that we decide now whether to go for a true role-play of the Gaians or a role-play in hindsight type strategy. I believe we can win either way. A role-play centered faction would make decisions based on what we think 'real' Gaians would do. This will sometimes not seem like the best gaming strategy. But we will win respect and have a **** of a good time!
If we do play in a RP centered way, I don't see that a few early boreholes would be that bad. After all, we are attempting to learn about Planet, and we don't know what the heck we are doing. But after our first communication with Planetmind, and especially after our first Pop!, I think we should role-play a re-evaluation of our terraforming. We would then know that planet does not like ecodamage. We might role-play a discussion with planet and justify some ecodamage in one particular base, especially if we give back to planet in some other way.
As I've said elsewhere, I'm perfectly willing to go along with a Gamer's strategy rather than a strict RP strategy. I do hope that people see what we are missing though, if we go with the gaming strategy. I know we can win with an RP strategy. I've seen it done. We might even encourage the same with other teams. It's great fun and costs nothing. It's a game after all. We have some very strong players here, and some strong role-players. Let's get the best of both worlds.
-Smack
death by drowning heh. I would love to see Darsnan do his strategy. It would make the game very fun to watch.
I'll still be able to watch how you play though, as a narrator. 
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