Managing the game.

[foureyes]

I am a long-time FPS gamer that recently got a hankering to play something a little more cerebral, so I blew the dust off of my year-old copy of SMAC and installed it. I had tried it before but found it too tedious and gave up after a couple of days, which brings me to the point of this post.

I've been playing seriously for about a week now and would like to get more in to the "guts" of the game. Right now I have almost everything automated because I find that managing everything directly is a little overwhelming. If the AI isn't doing something that I think should be done I grab a few units and go do it by hand then re-automate them again when I'm finished. I generally keep out of the micromanagement of the game and let the AI do most everything and I guide tech and unit development in the general direction I would like to go. I realize that to become a better player I need to have a more direct hand in the way things are done.

My question is can any of you offer insight as to how you manage everything? I'm having a hard time juggling unit production, tech research, improvement construction, etc., etc. What are your techniques for keeping on top of it all?


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"Oh Bartleby, Wisconsin isn't really that bad is it?" - Alan Rickman as The Metatron (Dogma)

[mark13]

You have to have some sort of plan, no question. You can't just say "we'll build this for now, and then see what else there is to build in a few turns' time" - that is a recipe for disaster. The in-game governors are fine for beginners, but once you get to a certain level, they will make some absurd choices for construction. To start off with, play a game on a small map, where you will most likely only have a few bases. Then gradually work your way up - it will come naturally.

Units, especially formers, should never be automated. The number of times I have seen farm/solar on a low-lying arid square are too numerous to mention - it makes no sense whatsoever. Research paths, also, come with time - you will learn some of the 'key' technologies (techs like Doctrine: Air Power, Environmental Economics and Industrial Automation, depending on whether you are a builder/momentum player) and be able to navigate your way toward them with relative ease.

Improvement construction - you have to decide which facilities you need and prioritise accordingly. A lot of players build Recycling Tanks before even their formers - because of the massive production bonus in small bases - others don't build them until after their Rec. Commons. It depends on playing style, strategy and, obviously, circumstance. In time, you should develop your own ideas about exactly what to build when.

Hope this helps,
Mark

[RedFred]

Dare I say it? I think a lot of people that are drawn to SMAC enjoy its complexity. In fact I suspect that a lot of us are micromanaging control freaks.

Some of the techniques I may or may not use in single play (depending on my mood) to help me keep track are:

Special names for special cities. For example, each science specialist city are successively prefaced by S1, S2, S3...I'll often do the same with crawler cities and military unit producing specialist cities.

Limit the number of bases. In SP, you should be able do to well with 1 to 3 dozen bases. You will win more quickly or more convincingly with more but it means a lot more management. Most people don't enjoy an all out ICS. Give any conquered cities away to your pactmates.

If you have autodesign on for the workshop prune your unit designs like crazy. You don't need all the default stuff, and quite often the units that are not designed like the skimship probe and skimship crawler are the most useful.

Limit your former choices. Again, this will mean a less than optimum performance, but you can get away with it in SP. I will sometimes go primarily forest, with occasional farm and mined rocky land squares and connecting roads. And nothing else for land tiles.

Use the build queue. You lose some energy by not exploiting the stockpile energy bug, but it shouldn't make a difference in SP. The queue helps you keep track of future plans and means that you don't have to check every city every turn. If you stick a base improvement at the bottom of the queue you will be warned when you run out of queue.

The more you play the more natural it seems and the less you have to keep it simple. I can see why you stopped playing if you had Auto Guv and Auto Former on most of the time. What an exercise in frustration!

[Slim-Neo]

If I have a base in a secure place (away from enemies) and have made defenses and formers, I change the Governor settings to only build facilities, that way you don't have to worry about production for that base.

[Sindai]

I do the same thing Slim Neo does, but that's just about the ONLY time I use governors......

[Goit]

In addition to the above suggestions, you can simplify the micromanagement of bases and production by using the base control screen (default hotkeyed to F4).

From this sreen you can monitor production of all your bases simultaneously. You can also hurry and change production and manipulate governor settings if you use them.
In addition, by clicking the screen from Production to Citizens (buttons at top of screen) you can monitor for potential future drone riots.

Also, by clicking on the 'Best Bases' button (bottom left) you can optimize your production choices. e.g. You can ascertain which city has the best mineral production so that you can build a Secret Project or unit prototype most efficiently.

The usefulness of this screen is doubled when monitoring factions which you have infiltrated as it allows you to quickly ascertain the least defended bases of your enemy. By again using the Best Bases info, you target his most productive bases for attack or probe disruption.

[MariOne]

< fidgets with his mousewheel, nervously looking at the audience >
< spotting RedFred reassures him >
"...Hi. I'm MariOne, but you can call me MoSe"
"Hi MoSe!"
"I'm...
I am a micromamaging control freakaholic!
I've been abusing SMAC since two years now < sigh >"
[This message has been edited by MariOne (edited December 30, 2000).]

[RedFred]

Whoops! Sorry about getting the wrong name. I'll just call you M. for simplicity, then.

I am also willing to own up to being a micro-managing freak.

[Misotu]

Um. Hi. My name is Misotu and I have been a micro-management control freak since I first discovered Colonization. And Civ.

Since then, it has just got worse. Sometimes it gets so bad I can hardly bear to open a game. I move every former by hand, of course. Can't let the daft buggers make their own decisions.

I check every one of my bases every single turn. Well, sometimes ever other turn if I have more than 60 or so. I never use the queues - the only optimal decision is the one made hands-on, at the scene, at the time of commissioning.

I check each of my cities to look at what every single citizen is producing, every single turn.

The word "g*v*rnor" actually gives me nervous fits. I have never used them. What, delegate to underlings!!!???

Never.

I'm in counselling, but I think it's incurable.

[foureyes]

Thanks everyone for all of your suggestions, especially RedFred and Goit. You guys have exactly the kind of information I was looking for.

[mark13]

Mis,

Are you saying you micromanage every single base every turn in SP?

[Googlie]

You can adjust your in-game preferences to be warned ("stop") when a unit is completed, just like it does automatically when a facility is completed.

[Misotu]

quote: Originally posted by mark13 on 12-31-2000 08:35 AM Mis, Are you saying you micromanage every single base every turn in SP?

It has been known. I mean, not usually. But if it's, you know, one of those challenge games then ... well ... um.

How can I put this?

My name is Misotu and I need to get a life.

[mark13]

At least you have your priorities sorted....

[Misotu]

Ah yes. Now that's something I *do* know about. First I check the best labs producers, then I check the worst nutrient producers, then I check for riots working downwards through best to worst psych then I ...

(I'm in counselling)