How to make Single Player challenging?

[Kautilya]

Hello I am more or less a newbie to SMAC. However after just a few games I have realized that the AI isn't much of a challenge at all. One problems is that quite a few factions especially Morgan don't seem to get their game going at all and consequently there are only one or two factions which are any challenge at all.

So I was wondering how to adust the settings to maximise the SP challenge. Which faction is best to play if you want a challenge from the AI? Also from the single-player perspective is SMAX more challenging ie are the new factions better handled by the AI?

[Basil]

Here are two threads on this subject:


Game settings the AI works best under


Jed's Superfactions and a discussion of the AI

The short answer is that the SMAC-X AI is not much different from the SMAC AI (perhaps not different at all). The new Alien factions are very powerful, but not any better-run than the others.

The single best suggestion I've seen for changing the game settings is to change the prerequisite for mines in alpha(x).txt to "EcoEng". This prevents the AI from building mines before mineral restrictions are lifted, which helps its play a little. And you can add new default units, such as probe cruisers. But there's really not much you can do.

[stuntman19]

I think you will find, as most of us have, that the AI factions are not so smart. Some do seem to play better than others(Hive, Drones, Caretakers and Gaians-on high fungus worlds,Usurpers at times,Spartans-small map in early game, PK's and UofP-if they are isolated enough to develop,Pirates-high water world). The rest for the most part are fairly pathetic(Morgan,Believers,
Angels,CC,and Cult), and seem to not use their faction advantages much. So for the most part unless you do one city challenge,tweak factions to make AI stronger,make map conditions more difficult, or put other limitations on yourself to even the playing field, your going to find it not to challenging. Even with these options probably the MP arena will be the best way to go for challenging games.

[Kautilya]

Thanks for the information!
I suppose I will have to experiment with the different ideas to see what works best for me.
Eventually I might do multiplayer but it sounds too time-consuming. How long does a typical MP game last?

[mark13]

There are two main types of MP game you can play, IP connection and e-mail.

IP is very fast, but very unreliable, and should only be considered if you have a fast connection.

PBEM is slow, and you take your turn, send it off etc. This can be quite tedious, but IMHO is the best way to play the game:

a) you get as long as you like to take your turn,
b) you play at your own convenience, taking your turn when you can,
c) the diplomacy in PBEM is a lot more enjoyable.

I've heard that the average PBEM game on Apolyton can take a couple of months, although that is with more units to start (the only way to play PBEM in my opinion).

There is a signup thread in the AC-Multiplaying forum. Just get in touch with Tau Ceti and he'll sort you out.

[Helium Pond]

Actually, I find multiplayer to be more time-effective than single-player. As you no doubt have experienced, SMAC can suck hours, days, weeks out of you before you know it. Even though multiplayer games may take a long time in terms of the calendar, they do reduce the amount of time I spend per day playing SMAC. Once the game gets going and I have a lot of stuff to manage, I get a satisfying bit of SMAC, and then have time left for life.