Game Discussion, Turn 2101 - 2120

[Googlie]

So I vote we pop the pod with a colony pod - the odds are the same that it'll be a monolith as they would be if we established a base first, and who knows, we might get the rogue pop that clones the colony pod!!

(of course, and I don't think I saw it prohibited in the rules, we could disband all 3 units and be magically teleported elsewhere and get both CP's, the rover and a Former)

[Kody]

You don't have the worst start position in my opinion. Another team has a slightly worse one (haven't checked more than the first 9 squares though).

[Skanky Burns]

We have some nuts and some rock, so there is still something we can work with.

[Kassiopeia]

That rolling moist square to the west, the elevation and the landscape altogether suggest me that there's a coast thereabouts. I think we ought to explore that first, there's probably a good base location there (of course the unity pod is of utmost importance). Thoughts? Or should we just plop down one of the pods right away?

[Googlie]

It'd be nice if we could see a quad x view, to see where coastlines likely were.

But we can aleways make our first move west with the rover for 2 squares and see what turns up

If we have thoughts of making Sparta Command into any kind of super scince city then we need it to be on the coast or on a river at least (or change headquarters after we are into the game a ways)

And elsewhere we talked about base spacing - we can borrow from the Hive in the last game and set them up willy nilly to begin with until we get formers able to properly pep base sites with sensors for the +25% defense bonus. We can always disband those early base later thru colony podding

[Googlie]

Originally posted by Googlie
But we can aleways make our first move west with the rover for 2 squares and see what turns up

'course the crew would be drunk so their reports would be questionable .......

[Kassiopeia]

Hmm, the location does elude me a bit. The pods have landed on a spot nearly 3 kilometres high. That means the coast, if it's down there in the west, will be quite a way from where we are.

That also means that there might be a lot of lush land there waiting for us to farm it in that direction, what with the rainfall being that abundant already on this altitude. And three clicks is pretty good for solar collectors too. In any case, the first time we get our hands on the save, I'll want to see the map grid to check out the topography.

Btw, where did the 10 EC come from?

[Kody]

I would give you the map grid, but worried about certain side effects. However, now you've got fewer surprises to discuss when your turn comes.

[GeneralTacticus]

Don't you always start SMAC off with 10 ECs?

[Kassiopeia]

Originally posted by GeneralTacticus
Don't you always start SMAC off with 10 ECs?

Oh? I thought only Morgan got the 100 and that's the end of that. You live and learn.

[Kassiopeia]

Originally posted by Kody
I would give you the map grid, but worried about certain side effects. However, now you've got fewer surprises to discuss when your turn comes.

Well at least you aren't being a complete coultier and giving us the map grid but with flattened terrain on. Oh and I chcked the ECs, you do get 10 in the beginning. Never picked up on that. Odd.

[Maniac]

Re the discussion what comes out of pods, I did an extensive test myself back when Googlie and I had a discussion about Morganite starting positions etc. I did a whole bunch of restarts, and each time registered the result of the first pod I popped. Just skip to the end of my post for the results.

Large random map, average settings, transcend, all other factions random (so any possible effect of them should be neutered).

Gaia:
monolith, rover, artifact, minerals, rover, monolith, materials, nutrient, monolith, ogre,

Hive:
monolith, rover, commlink, artifact, minerals, commlink, artifact, rover, nutrient, monolith

UoP:
tech, nutrient, monolith, nutrient, foil, monolith, artifact, bloom, nutrient, 75c,

Morgan:
monolith, rover, energy, monolith, artifact, monolith, monolith, rover, 75c, energy,

Sparta:
monolith, artifact, 25c, nutrient, minerals, rover, 75c, commlink/nutrients, nutrients, nutrients,

Believers:
minerals, artifact, artifact, monolith, artifact, monolith, rover, ogre, worm, monolith,

Peacekeepers:
monolith, energy, 75c, artifact, monolith, nutrient, minerals, monolith, rover, artifact

Consciousness:
75c, energy, monolith, monolith, artifact, energy, nutrient, monolith, worm, nutrient

Pirates:
IoD, 75c, IoD, IoD, 100c, commlink, sonar, IoD, sonar, 75c,
start position near monsoon: 4, uranium flats: 3, ruins: 1

Drones:
energy/75c, nutrient, commlink, ogre, materials, rover, worm, unit clone, rover, monolith

Angels:
artifact, nutrient, 25c, rover, 25c, nutrient, nutrient, monolith, monolith, artifact

Cult:
tech, monolith, 50c, 75c, 50c, materials, launcher, 50c, worm, tech,

Caretakers:
tech, energy, rover, monolith, 50c, monolith, 25c, energy, artifact, worm,

Usurpers:
nutrient, foil, energy, minerals, artifact, materials, rover, tech, materials, minerals

Total excluding pirates: 130, with two double-goodie pods:
monolith: 27
nutrients bonus: 17
artifact: 16
rover: 14
energy bonus: 9
minerals bonus: 7
75 credits: 7
materials: 5
worm: 5
tech: 5
commlink: 4
50 credits: 4
25 credits: 4
ogre: 3
foil: 2
fungal bloom: 1 (that was outside base radius though IIRC)
unit clone: 1
spore launcher: 1
132

[Maniac]

Oh btw, now we know that we don't have a river near our starting position, is it ok to continue with the plan to found both our bases on the second turn?

Googlie has suggested to move the CP north on the first turn, so if we want to avoid founding bases on those precious rolling&rainy tiles, it seems our only choice is to move our second CP one tile straight south and found the base there. Is that ok?

This is of course only a preliminary suggestion. Who knows once we get the turn and get a better look of our relief and possible coastlines in our neighbourhood, we might have to change our plans.

[Googlie]

trouble is, if we move a CP north and do pop a monolith, then we have to wait another turn before founding a base.

Maybe delay popping the pod (lest we get a rogue fungus bloom or summat) and just move the CP's respectively north-east and south-west this turn, into the small valleys, and next turn found both bases - then pop the pod?

[Drogue]

Originally posted by Kody
You don't have the worst start position in my opinion. Another team has a slightly worse one (haven't checked more than the first 9 squares though).

I've checked the entire map, and IMHO, the start positions are all fair. The first time I saw it I thought one faction possibly had a *slight* disadvantage, so I asked buster to have a look and see what he thought, and he altered it slightly to make it as fair as possible.

You've got a pod and some high, rolling rainy tiles. Sure, no river, but it's hardly a bad start, IMHO. This gives very little away too.