Its been months since I played SMAC....I’ve been thinking about ordering Alien Crossfire so I tried SMAC again to see if I enjoyed it enough to warrant SMACX.
Usually I play the University, and I did so again at Librarian level. Too easy. As the UoP I can normally amass so much technology so quickly that I outpower the other factions easily. By mid game its no challenge. So I tried another faction. I like to build and I figured the Peacekeepers would be a good choice. I wanted to see how’d do if I wasn’t able to generate as much science quickly, but I knew I wasn’t ready to try the spartans, the Hive or the Believers. (I tried Morgan and the Gaians and got my ass kicked though.)
Wow...what a game. I ended up on a continent with the Gaians and the UoP. I had a treay with Diedre and a pact with Zak and things were going relatively smoothly. Zak had about four bases, while Diedre and I scrambled to take up as much space as possible. I had a small tech lead on her. Now I ALWAYS build the Empath Guild, even if I’m not playing the PK’s so when I got it I contacted the other factions and elected myself governor. Then they attacked. I was at war with everyone except the UoP and the Gaians. ...and then for no reason, Diedre declares vendetta on my too. Well, I was barely holding my own before so I didn’t have time to dink around with her. After I took three bases from her she surrendered...which was strange because she probably could have launched a devastating counter assualt. she had a buttload of mind worms and decent troops. She also had at least as many bases as I did. Still, I was glad. I would’ve been toast if she kept on fighting. Sp now it was me, Uop, and the Gaians against everyone else. The hive had a sea base nearby and kept pounding my farthest outpost with copters. Santiago cheerfully blew up any kind of sea craft I dared launched. Miriam had air power and was bombing the crap out of me and Diedre. (What idiot gave Miriam Doctrine: Air Power? Giving her ANYTHING is stupid!) University base fell and was liberated about a dozen times. (Zak was no help whatsoever....his empire was a whole 3 cities and ironically he had the lowest tech.) I took Morgan’s six cities more out of spite than war. The jerk always attacks me and he can NEVER back up his bluster. (I’ve only seen Morgan put up a decent fight once and that was with probe teams. But I had the Hunter Seeker Algorithm so I put him in the chamber.)
Miriam signed a blood truce, than attacked me again two turns later. She took the base that Yang had been blasting forever and surrendered when I came to liberate it! I wouldn’t have accepted her surrender, but I figured I needed the breathing room to concentrate on the Spartans and the Hive. The Hive was getting WAY too powerful. Then the very next turn Miriam backstabbed me and launched another attack! I was shocked! It was actually a brilliant plan that worked only because I was stupid and trusted her. But Miriam had sealed her own fate. I knew that the Believers and the Hive were too far away for me to get to them. Any transport I launched was blasted by santiago and I doubt Yang or Miriam would have let it land anyway. But I had been building a lot of drop troops. I didn’t use them...I just kept a few bases building them....and tanks....and I saved every damn energy credit I made to upgrade them as tech advances became available...until I built my favorite project...the Space Elevator!
Within a few turns I had drop troops in every ones territory and forced them to fight a multi front war. I also made drop probe teams and wreaked havoc. Miriam was easy to beat. Someone gave her tech, probably Yang, but without his help (they broke their own pact) she was dead in the water using impact weapons against my graviton weapons and nuetronium armor. Santiago was equally as helpless. My first wave destroyed her sensor arrays, my probe teams subverted a few citie and dropped the defenses on others and my troops decimated her army. She tried to build a few sea colonies but my copters wasted the pods before they could escape. Then I had to face Yang.
I hate Yang. Every damn game he ends up being the top dog that I have to fight. He always uses planet busters when he’s against a wall. This time he tried to planet bust his own bases when I took them...even though the blast would have taken half of his troops and free bases with it! Still, he couldn’t hold against the combined assualt. while he was fighting and losing to my drop troops, Deidre landed on the other side of his continent and unloaded a lot of shard troops. Within ten or so turns the Hive was eradicated and I had won. But what a war. Admittedly, if the AI was only a little better at strategy I would have lost. After all it was four against one for awhile. So I’ll probably seek out SMACX. I really enjoyed that game. I just have a few questions for those of you that are far better at this than I....
1. Is Miriam always such a snake. I ‘ve had santiago backstab me, but never Miriam once she surrenders, until now. She did it twice! (and she tried to surrender AGAIN but I didn’t accept it.)
2.) Santiago is NEVER dangerous by mid to late game. For a warrior faction she puts up a pretty crappy battle. Has anyone ever seen her in a position to win by late in the game?
3.) Has anyone ever had a game when Yang didn’t have to exterminated?
4.) Morgan is ridiculously weak. But I suspect he set Diedre up to attack me originally. He did me a favor though. After her defeat, Diedre willingly gave me EVERY advance she came up with.
5.) The AI doesn’t use Zak’s tech advantage well, does it?
thanks for listening! I look forward to your comments!
D4
Usually I play the University, and I did so again at Librarian level. Too easy. As the UoP I can normally amass so much technology so quickly that I outpower the other factions easily. By mid game its no challenge. So I tried another faction. I like to build and I figured the Peacekeepers would be a good choice. I wanted to see how’d do if I wasn’t able to generate as much science quickly, but I knew I wasn’t ready to try the spartans, the Hive or the Believers. (I tried Morgan and the Gaians and got my ass kicked though.)
Wow...what a game. I ended up on a continent with the Gaians and the UoP. I had a treay with Diedre and a pact with Zak and things were going relatively smoothly. Zak had about four bases, while Diedre and I scrambled to take up as much space as possible. I had a small tech lead on her. Now I ALWAYS build the Empath Guild, even if I’m not playing the PK’s so when I got it I contacted the other factions and elected myself governor. Then they attacked. I was at war with everyone except the UoP and the Gaians. ...and then for no reason, Diedre declares vendetta on my too. Well, I was barely holding my own before so I didn’t have time to dink around with her. After I took three bases from her she surrendered...which was strange because she probably could have launched a devastating counter assualt. she had a buttload of mind worms and decent troops. She also had at least as many bases as I did. Still, I was glad. I would’ve been toast if she kept on fighting. Sp now it was me, Uop, and the Gaians against everyone else. The hive had a sea base nearby and kept pounding my farthest outpost with copters. Santiago cheerfully blew up any kind of sea craft I dared launched. Miriam had air power and was bombing the crap out of me and Diedre. (What idiot gave Miriam Doctrine: Air Power? Giving her ANYTHING is stupid!) University base fell and was liberated about a dozen times. (Zak was no help whatsoever....his empire was a whole 3 cities and ironically he had the lowest tech.) I took Morgan’s six cities more out of spite than war. The jerk always attacks me and he can NEVER back up his bluster. (I’ve only seen Morgan put up a decent fight once and that was with probe teams. But I had the Hunter Seeker Algorithm so I put him in the chamber.)
Miriam signed a blood truce, than attacked me again two turns later. She took the base that Yang had been blasting forever and surrendered when I came to liberate it! I wouldn’t have accepted her surrender, but I figured I needed the breathing room to concentrate on the Spartans and the Hive. The Hive was getting WAY too powerful. Then the very next turn Miriam backstabbed me and launched another attack! I was shocked! It was actually a brilliant plan that worked only because I was stupid and trusted her. But Miriam had sealed her own fate. I knew that the Believers and the Hive were too far away for me to get to them. Any transport I launched was blasted by santiago and I doubt Yang or Miriam would have let it land anyway. But I had been building a lot of drop troops. I didn’t use them...I just kept a few bases building them....and tanks....and I saved every damn energy credit I made to upgrade them as tech advances became available...until I built my favorite project...the Space Elevator!
Within a few turns I had drop troops in every ones territory and forced them to fight a multi front war. I also made drop probe teams and wreaked havoc. Miriam was easy to beat. Someone gave her tech, probably Yang, but without his help (they broke their own pact) she was dead in the water using impact weapons against my graviton weapons and nuetronium armor. Santiago was equally as helpless. My first wave destroyed her sensor arrays, my probe teams subverted a few citie and dropped the defenses on others and my troops decimated her army. She tried to build a few sea colonies but my copters wasted the pods before they could escape. Then I had to face Yang.
I hate Yang. Every damn game he ends up being the top dog that I have to fight. He always uses planet busters when he’s against a wall. This time he tried to planet bust his own bases when I took them...even though the blast would have taken half of his troops and free bases with it! Still, he couldn’t hold against the combined assualt. while he was fighting and losing to my drop troops, Deidre landed on the other side of his continent and unloaded a lot of shard troops. Within ten or so turns the Hive was eradicated and I had won. But what a war. Admittedly, if the AI was only a little better at strategy I would have lost. After all it was four against one for awhile. So I’ll probably seek out SMACX. I really enjoyed that game. I just have a few questions for those of you that are far better at this than I....
1. Is Miriam always such a snake. I ‘ve had santiago backstab me, but never Miriam once she surrenders, until now. She did it twice! (and she tried to surrender AGAIN but I didn’t accept it.)
2.) Santiago is NEVER dangerous by mid to late game. For a warrior faction she puts up a pretty crappy battle. Has anyone ever seen her in a position to win by late in the game?
3.) Has anyone ever had a game when Yang didn’t have to exterminated?
4.) Morgan is ridiculously weak. But I suspect he set Diedre up to attack me originally. He did me a favor though. After her defeat, Diedre willingly gave me EVERY advance she came up with.
5.) The AI doesn’t use Zak’s tech advantage well, does it?
thanks for listening! I look forward to your comments!
D4
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