What manner of pod popper are you?

[lbores]

I would imagine that everyone pops those pops nearby your first base.

But what about later? And what manner of 'pod popper' are you?

Are you:

1) ChickenMan - 'Oooo!", [SAVE], 'pop!', [Reload] ...
2) IronMan - 'OooYah!, 'pop!', 'Sh-t! Come on mindworms!'
3) AluminumMan - 'Hmmm'(plonks base down next to pod), 'pop!', 'OK, not bad.'

Do you:
1) pop a pod immediately that you find it?
2) wait until later if within territory
3) or ...

<font size=1 face=Arial color=444444>[This message has been edited by lbores (edited February 18, 2001).]</font>

[Slaghead]

I'd have to say that I'm an Ironman, I go hunting them out ASAP and don't care about the mind worms until they show up. Then I curse at the game for cheating. So, I guess I'm a 2-1. Laser squad or something I guess. I'm not sure what the computer would name that. hehe

[Drifter]

I've been playing for a while and reading these boards regularly. I haven't posted here before, but thought I'd add my opinion to this topic since I seem to be a bit different than most.

Actually, I always play with pods only at crash site. This changes my games in many ways:

- No Alien Artifacts
- No free units, free comm frequencies, or free techs
- No monoliths, except for the ancient ruins
- Resource specials are visible on the map, not hidden in pods

Playing without pods changes the dynamics of the early game scouting. I can focus on finding good base sites and opening up the map. I need fewer scouts, since there is no objective to grabbing up pods. I also almost never build an early game navy, since there are no sea pods to search for and no need to race the AI to getting the goodies.

The biggest disadvantage that I've seen from this setting is that factions with poor research get punished even further by not having a quick way to grab some much needed tech.

[Dimension]

That's actually the whole reason I started playing nothing but Ironman games... It's too easy to just reload when you get a pod with mindworms.

[cbn]

I never play with Ironman on but in essence I do play an ironman style since I never reload no matter what stupid thing I do ( and man I felt stupid when that nice city went into the ocean).

The only time I have reloaded recently was when the cat walked on and then sat on the keyboard while I took a phone call. I feared that she might have sentried some units or crashed others so rather than scolling the whole map to see what the heck had or had not happened, I simply reloaded the last turn.

To me reloading to get a better pod pop is a "cheat" and besides I keep looking for ways to make the game harder, not easier. I end up using self-imposed handicaps-- last game was random factions, transcend,double-blind and I wasn't permitted to subvert units or cities.

Oh and I generally pop land pods immediately but will sometimes wait if a colony pod is coming. Sea pods-- I sometimes like to use the team approach-- a transport pops the pod in hope of getting an AA while and an empath and hopefully resonance foil rides shotgun to kill any IOD that might appear
[This message has been edited by cbn (edited February 18, 2001).]

[Misotu]

cbn, you should definitely give PBEM MP a try ... if you are looking for more of a challenge, it's unbeatable. It's kind of scary at first - but then it's really fun, there are a load of very friendly people playing here ...

[Misotu]

On the pod-popping ... I'm an ironman although I have to confess that in some games I leave the pods until I have back-up ... To be honest, I like the Gaians for popping - bit of a coward I guess. Nothing like a mindworm for that stuff ...

[Myronides]

Never an AluminumMan, I 'm a ChickenMan in sp, but an IronMan in MP I always pop as soon as I find the pod. Can't resist the temptation, I like little surprises

[Skanderbeg]

I'm ironman. But a careful one.
If possible, I use a rover (with two move points) or better a native lifeform to pop, and on sea, I don't pop pods with the last move point.

And I don't play with ironman option on (my games take so much time that I can't play without stopping and playing on another day), but I play like ironman, without reloading if something goes wrong.

"Steelborn, Starborn"

[Garth Vader]

I almost always pop pods with two units in the area, when I don't I get worms. Actually my last few games have been horrible for pods so I often leave them until I can pop them with rovers.

I don't play SP anymore so I can't reload.

[buster]

I am two unit collaborative and preferably by rover on first move unless in fungus where it doesnt matter pop anything in sight type of pod popper.

That is when I cannot get worms to the job of course.

[mark13]

I'm a rover-on-first-move type of guy, whichever category that fits into. Either that or worms....

[lbores]

quote: Originally posted by Misotu on 02-18-2001 11:23 PM cbn, you should definitely give PBEM MP a try ...

PBEM?

Watzwiddat?

[mark13]

PBEM = Play By E-Mail

Check out the AC-MP forum if you are interested - we have a great PBEM tournament here run by our very capable and proficient CMN, Tau Ceti. There are games being set up for newbies, experts, everything in between, and there is no knock-out element to the tournament - it is just for fun.

Looking like the PR wagon has been working overtime these past couple of days

[DilithiumDad]

I try to wait until I have a base nearby. My most feared result of a pod pop is not mindworms, but xenofungal bloom. A bloom on top of some resource specials or rainy river tiles can set me way back in the early game!

------------------
Creator of the Ultimate Builder Map, based on the Huge Map of Planet, available at The Chironian Guild:
http://guild.ask-klan.net.pl/eng/index.html