After 6 months of AC "abstination" - a very interesting game...

[Cybergod]

Hey people,

I thought I'd interest some of you into playing this game which you'll see has many interesting cvhallenges to overcome. First of all, let me say that I only recently restarted playing SMAC/X, my last game dating somewhere in December, and was hooked on Civ3 for a short time. So I have several skills I need to brush up on, like remembering that you CAN hurry SPs in SMAX...

In this SMAX game I selected to play modified Drones - who only have:
* Industrial Base as their free tech at start
* +1 ECONOMY
* +1 EFFIC

The other factions are as follows:
* University
* Gaians
* The Cult
* Peacekeepers
* Cyborgs
* Data Angels

And it's on Huge Map of Planet.

Briefing:

I started off nicelly on the southwest continent, south of the big lake. I managed to get sh1tloads of ALien Artefact for some bizzare reason and got the commfreq to Lal who was all alone on the big continent in the middle of the map with his HQ just off the crater! But I was on such good terms with him, both of us running Democracy and all, that we made a pact.

Later on I met University near the Ruins in the north, and Gaians on the little volcano continent to the east. After a brief war, I captured Lily of the Valley and signed a peace treaty with Dee. Treaty 'n' trade also with Zak.

Meanwhile I cashed in all of my alien artefacts for SPs, and with the combination of Planned/energy credits/disbanding units like probe teams, and managed to secure Human Genome Project, Weather Paradigm and Virtual World. However, Lal managed to hog the rest, with the exception of Command Nexus which went to the Cyborgs. When I eventually met them, they were extremely hostile towards me and wished to drag me into a war with the Cult (who was too far away from me for me to care). Cyborgs were situated near the boreholes on the eastern contient, along with the Angels (who loved me and made pact). The Cult is on the little island in the north.

Now as time went, Lal was getting enormous and annoyingly cancelled the pact. Cyborgs and Cult pronounced Vendetta. And so did Gaians and University but I eliminated the Gaians and made Zak into my useless research monkey, since Lal and Cyborgs were getting all the tech.

I also just managed to snag the Hunter-Seeker before Lal and Aki, who ripped all the other SPs away from me. They got pretty enormous and pacted together. Now Lal, is getting tech every 3 turns and owns a PB, like Aki and I do aswell.

After a long time, I have come to doubt my powr in an AC game. As this was a quite an interesting one, I decided to post it so far to see how would others get out of the sh1t I got myself into. I mean I'd love to PB Lal's heartland thereby eliminating his chief 3 bases in a single move (wipping like 10 SPs in the process ), but he's the Governor and wont let me do it. And iif he manages to get Clinical Immortality (did I mention he got EMPATH GUILD!?!) we're all doomed.

But I did manage to break the long pact between Lal and Aki with the clever use of probe teams, and pitted the two giants against each other. Angels are my only friends at the moment but they are losing too many bases for my liking.

I repeat, I could PB Lal and get EVERYONE to gang up on me (as I actually did but didn't quite liek the outcome), but I was wondering if there is another way.

[Rubin]

Well, it seems you have several options...

1) infiltrate Aki ASAP!
2) forget about research for some time, because you'll have to:
3) GO TO WAR!
4) Naval superiority might be worth considering

As I see it, you have plenty of bases to support a VERY large army. Combined with probe teams this should enable you to keep up tech-wise --- maybe... If you'd rather not take on Lal at the moment, help Roze beat Aki.

When playing builder you have to face the fact that Lal is doing better than you. Hence the need for switching tactics.

It sure doesn't look like you're about to loose, IMO!

[CEO Aaron]

Upon review of your game, I don't see any reason you can't just raise a land-bridge right into Lal's heartland and crush his capital and core bases with conventional forces. Once you deprive him of his capital, most of his SPs and his highly productive crater bases, you should have little problem sustaining enough momentum to roll the remnants up.

You seem to have neglected taking some basic measures to optimize your production: You don't have Genejack Factories, your former fleet is anaemic, and you're not using supply crawlers. Are these oversights self-imposed?

Here's my short form domination script for your game: Switch to Wealth for the +1 econ and industry, your energy production should jump up a respectable amount. Switch every sizable base to the production of genejack factories, then spend 10-20 turns cranking nothing out but clean super formers. Now with your former force you can get your conqured bases into shape, and then return the more far-flung ones to your pacted submissives.

Once your economy and industry are in shape, switch to Fundy and start cranking out your ground forces, supplemented by a small amount of choppers.

[Cybergod]

Thanks for the info guys!

Wow! Crawlers! I really missed those guys! No wonder Civ3 sux so bad, not to mention making me forget about them completely... BTW, IIRC I either don't have or have just aquired Retroviral Engineering, so that's my excuse for the lack of Genejacks.

What can I say - must keep trying then It's obvious I am not so good strategy-wise as Rubin and CEO Aaron here (no I didn't give Vel a read ), so God help me in any MP game in the future...

[Lucy In The Sky]

A prediction & a warning - be prepared! If you're really putting the hurt on Lal, he *WILL* PB you.

[CEO Aaron]

[/quote]Originally posted by Cybergod
IIRC I either don't have or have just aquired Retroviral Engineering, so that's my excuse for the lack of Genejacks.
[/quote]

You've definitely got the tech, I checked when I reviewed your position. And I wouldn't go so far as to say my strategy is any stronger than yours, after all, you've comported yourself extremely well against a strong AI opponent without the help of crawlers, a fair achievement in itself. I'm just a maniacal builder, and have concentrated my game on developing a good economy because my military ventures always go so badly. So don't sell yourself short.