Game Discussion, Turn 2101 - 2120

[Snoddasmannen]

Originally posted by Maniac

Here's how they look when fullgrown.

Thanks Maniac!

Is there a Wiki or similar for this game?

Back in the day when I was waiting for Moo3 I hacked up a webpage with a similar function. It wasn't used too much but it still gets at least 10 visitors per day so I guess it must have some fans Here's the URL: Citadel of Words. If you all think something similar would be useful for SMAX let me know and I can whack up a clone for us.

And oh, I vote to hurry the foil

[Maniac]

Battle Report MY 2117

• R-112 CRV moved one tile SW. Fungal Tower discovered! R-112 CRV attacked the Fungal Tower and won, completely unharmed! We got 20 credits worth of planet pearls. No morale boost though.
• The Chiron Knights. I changed production in SC1 to a speeder former, but to no avail. The first pod was once again a nutrient resource far far from our territory. Then I saw a second pod immediately west of the previous pod location. Because there was no other fungus-free tile to move to, I decided to pop it for a change, despite that it was the rover's last move. And bad luck, this time I popped a mind worm. Probably because we're the last human faction in the turn order, I already got to see the battle. The rover won. 40% damage, but with a morale boost.
• Energy allocations changd to 50-0-50 for this turn, to prevent loss of a labs point when tech is researched.
• CP and rover moved according to the original plan.
• SC1 production switched to a CP.
• Gythium Harbour gun skimship production hurried with 15 credits. It'll be finished next year.

Sparta MY 2117 presend

[Googlie]

Originally posted by Maniac
Energy allocations changd to 50-0-50 for this turn, to prevent loss of a labs point when tech is researched.

Hmm - I was under the impression that you only lost carry-forward lab points from a base that contributed 50% or more of the total lab points

At 30/10/60 allocations, SC1 contributes 3, with SC2 the same and Harbour contributing 2. So at 56 needed and 54 accumulated, I would have thougth that 6 would carry over to the next tech

[Maniac]

Originally posted by Googlie
Hmm - I was under the impression that you only lost carry-forward lab points from a base that contributed 50% or more of the total lab points

I just tested the theory, and it seems one always loses the carry forward lab points of the last base contributing to the previous tech research, even when the base is producing less than 50% of the total labs points.

[Maniac]

Originally posted by Googlie
That's prolly true. About the only goodie that seems to come from a fungus pod is a monolith. But a mindworm is more likely

Indeed. I've done some tests and a mind worm is a likely outcome. I even got an eartquake once, destroying the Crater. So the theory that one doesn't get bad pod popping results when the pod is in a base radius doesn't seem to be correct.

[Zeiter]

Perhaps it is just more likely that a good pop will happen. I also heard somewhere that a pod pop will always be good if it is right next to a base.

Edit: Also, do we want to repair Chiron Knights to 80% strength before doing more scouting, or do we want to continue scouting with it when it has 40% damage? I vote for spending two turns to repair the rover before moving on.

[Maniac]

Originally posted by Googlie
Prima's Guide says:"

"In normal, non-fungus, non-sea aquares, the "discover resources" event is as likely as all other events combined (ie, about 50% of pods will be resources), but a "discover resource" pod has a 50% chance of porducing one of the other results as well" (ie - a "double goody" such as a nut bonus plus a Unity Rover - - or maybe a mineral bonus plus a mindworm - )

Does the Prima Guide say other things about unity pods? I've been doing some systematic testing of pod popping, and it would be interesting to see if the data matches the theory.

Originally posted by Zeiter
Edit: Also, do we want to repair Chiron Knights to 80% strength before doing more scouting, or do we want to continue scouting with it when it has 40% damage? I vote for spending two turns to repair the rover before moving on.

I don't have the turn open right now, but IIRC the Chiron Knights are just outside our territory. This means they would only repair at 10% per turn instead of 20% per turn. A solution could be to drive up the rover next turn, into our territory. But on the other side, there's fungus on the river, so we would run the risk of encountering native life. And with 40% damage, that could be rather dangerous...

[Zeiter]

Whoa, wait a second! A unit repairs twice as fast when it is inside its own territory? I never knew that. Cool.

Well, we could just keep on exploring, as the rover still has 2 moves a turn. We would have to repair it, though, before we popped any pods in case we got another mind worm.

[Googlie]

The Game manual says:

extracted from SMAC Manual

DAMAGE

When a unit takes damage, the colored bar graph located just above and to the left shows how badly it’s been hurt. As the bar descends, it also changes color from green to yellow to red. When the bar is completely exhausted, the unit is destroyed.

As surface units take damage, their movement rates decline. This reduces the maximum move of vehicles with a move of more than one, and also makes it more difficult for vehicles to enter fungus squares.

Units repair damage by remaining undisturbed for a turn. To skip a unit’s turn, press z. If they move or come under fire, they do not repair that turn.

No unit may repair itself to better than 20% damage (80% normal strength) using field repairs, unless your faction possesses the Nano Factory Secret Project. The Sentry command can streamline the field repair process, requiring much less of your attention (L; see Action Menu, p. 90). In a base, several facilities can repair an undisturbed unit in one turn:

• A Command Center repairs land units in one turn
• A Naval Yard repairs naval units in one turn
• An Aerospace Complex repairs air units in one turn
• A Biology Lab repairs native units in one turn

Units repair at least 10% of their damage each turn, modified as follows:

• +10% in friendly territory
• +10% if air unit at airbase
• +10% if land unit in bunker
• +10% if in a base
• x2 rate if a land unit is on board a Transport with a Repair Bay
• +100% if the controlling faction owns the Nano Factory Secret Project

[Dis]

I vote to repair the rover in our territory. . I'm too late to vote for rushing the gun foil, but that's cool with me.

[Googlie]

I suggest sending R-112 CRV over the neck of land to Chiron Knights - if it encounters a pod, then pop it (we might get fortunate and uncover a monolith in the vicinity which would speed the healing process for Chiron Knights) - and if not, then by the time they rendezvous Chiron Knights will be closer to full health and ready to go on joint manoevers

I presume that Rolling Thunder will proceed to pop the 2 pods just west and northwest of Gythium harbour (after base # 4 is established, of course)

[Maniac]

Battle Report MY 2118 midturn

• Informations Networks researched. Next choices were as predicted. Applied Physics selected. Our tech cost has risen to 75 labs.
• Lieutenant Dissident, Founder of the Spartans Naval Corps, christens the first combat ship on Planet. Production in Gythium Harbour temporarily set to a Speeder Former.
• Placeholder (temporary name ) base founded.
• Rolling Thunder moves to the unity pod in the Crater Lakes and discovers a... Battle Ogre Mk1!!! (production in Placeholder then changed from speeder former to normal former)
• R-112 CRV moved E-S through the passage between the fungal walls. (Should we give this passage a name?) Unity pod discovered SW of its location.
• Things still to be done:
  1) Move the Ogre. How about east to Sparta Command? It could use a police unit in a few turns.
  2) Move the gun skimship. How about moving the ship right next to the near unity pod (so it can be immediately popped next turn), but not yet pop it? If we'd pop it now, it would have to be with our last movement point, meaning we would be defenceless against an Isle of the Deep (25% chance of getting that pod popping result).
  3) Move the Chiron Knights. Three different opinions until now. Should I throw a dice if we don't get a fourth opinion soon?

Sparta MY 2118 midturn

I'll hopefully post some screenshots later. Now GeoModder is visiting.

[ChairmanSlick]

thats good news about the ogre!!!



we'll kick that human hive in a new york minute!

o, btw, whats the Pass for the presend??

[Maniac]

In the meanwhile here's some explanation about Ogres for non-SMAXers.

Battle Ogres are battle units left over from when the Progenitors (the alien factions in SMAX) last left Chiron. (Do you know the basic story around them?) Ogres can be rarely encountered in Unity pods. In three varieties. The later in the game, the higher the odds of encountering a more advanced model. Attached you see a screenshot with the three models.

They have some SMAX-specific weaponry:

6r means Resonance Laser. A weapon with strength 6 and a 25% combat bonus when attacking native life.
12r similar. Strength 12 weapon with 25% bonus against natives.
30 = String Disruptor. A new SMAX weapon completely at the end of the tech tree.

Armour:
3r: Res-3 armour. Strength 3, with a 25% combat bonus when defending against natives.
8r: Res-8 armour: similar as above, but with strength 8.

IIRC "(Dissiocative) Wave" is a special ability, which ignores the special abilities of units you attack. Eg a Wave Chopper could attack an AAA garrison, and the garrison wouldn't get the normal +100% defensive bonus from AAA.

A special thing about ogres is that they can't repair. Once damaged, it's irreversible.

Besides being useful for police duty and a shock unit when attacking a technologically inferior enemy (compared to the ogre weaponry), they can also be used to hurry a secret project early on (or anything else, but that's a bit a waste of the valuable unit while you could hurry easily). When disbanding an Ogre Mk1, you get 5 mineral rows. Very handy when you don't have (many) crawlers yet and are racing to an SP.

***

Edit: ChairmanSlick: "domination"

[ChairmanSlick]

i totally agree with your suggestions, having looked at the turn now. Moving 3 out of the 4 movement points toward the pod (for the gunfoil) is not that big a sacrifice at all. ( only missing out on 1 movement point), and it just makes good sense. I think that keeping the ogre close to home for the time being is a good idea, particularly since the populations are growing fast. Ie. sparta command goes from 1-2 pop, in 4 turns.