Newbie to SMAC

[Mixam]

I just bought SMAC from the bargain bin for $20. I saw a guide above on SMAX. So now I know that SMAX is the expansion for SMAC but does this strag guide apply to SMAC. Also does anyone know where I can download a copy of the tech tree as I did not get it with my version. Anyways right now I am having probs getting into the game cause without tech tree I have no idea what is going on and I also don't have the book though it is on the cd which is annoying. SMAC looks rather cartoonish compared to CIV II which is what I usually play. It was kinda fun when I was hitting the AI with 6-4-10 Vet airplanes when the best they had was a 2-3-2 unit to defend I was of course playing on the easy level it being my first go. But this game is darned confusing. I didn't know any of the shortcuts so I just automated all my terrain improve guys.

[cbn]

Do not automate your formers-- the computers terraforming sucks!! Until you learn the shortcuts just click on the former and chose "terraform"-- all the available options will come up in a menu. As a tip try both left and right clicking on every display, button and unit. You will be suprised at the numbr of options/features available. Also the function keys have some great information (in particular F4).

For a tech tree do a search for "page size tech tree" or similar. There are threads with links to tech trees that fit on an8 1/2 by 11 page. Very useful since you can mark up your planned tech path.I have it for SMAX but will look to see if the is a SMAC version.

As for the manual on cd-- print it off and read it!! As for Vels guide 90% of the stuff applies equally to both games. Smax added some new factions, techs, facilities and special projects but it is the same game.

I played CIV before coming to SMAC and agree that I like Civ graphics better. BUT SMAX is a more complex game with a lot more possible variations in playstyle. Enjoy.

[mark13]

Hi Mixam - I browse the Civ2 forum occasionally and see you are a very active player there - welcome to the SMAC forum!

First up, let me highlight the difference between Civ and SMAC. As a strategy game, SMAC is, IMO, infinitely better than Civ2. The possibilities for strategies are a lot more varied, and the gameplay is a lot more complex.

If you allow yourself to get into it, and approach the game with a non-Civ2 mind, you should find that it is a fantastic game in its own right, regardless of what some of the other Civ2ers say

[Googlie]

Hi Mixam - I second mark13's welcome.

You can download a copy of the tech tree (smax version) from the Spartan Chronicles fiction site here

(Of course the new smax techs will be in it, but I don't think any were ever linked as prerequisites for an old smac tech - eyeballing the chart it seems that they all link to themselves - so you could just score out the smax ones.)

I do have a hard copy of the smac-only tech tree, which presupposes I once had the spreadsheet - if I find it I'll zip it and hang it on the SC site.

And as an avid ex-civII'er (who still plays occasionally) I think you'll like the diplomacy and workshop features, especially if you are a sci-fi fan, but you do lose the sense of history unfolding that we have with Civ.

And elsewhere I have griped incessantly about the smac/x ending. It sucks, in a word. No sense of your whole civilization working together to get your spaceship built, perhaps even launching after a smaller, slower, competitor. In smac you just build the winning project in 1 turn - or buy it outright if you have accumulated the cash. Where's the fun in that?

So it (IMHO) lacks some of the addictiveness of CivII (but I still spend an average of 4 hours a day on it, with the MP games, the fiction and the forums.)



G.



[This message has been edited by Googlie (edited May 09, 2001).]

[Velociryx]

Well....looks like the others who welcomed you already got me covered where the strat. guide is concerned, so I'll just log on for a second to say hello!

-=Vel=-

[Googlie]

Vel:

I'm just offering the teeny tech tree thru the SC site (In fact, with the imminence of publication of your Strat guide I've removed it as a downloadable item - didn't seem fair to be giving it away for free when it is now a commercial item)

So get your marketing hat on and promote it shamelessly



G.

[Velociryx]

Brother Googlie! As always, you're both a scholar and a gentleman! The Apolyton forum has been like a second home to me, and I've met a number of good friends from this very place....seems only right that I should give something back to the place that's given me so many chuckles and smiles over the many months I've been lurking and writing here, so I'd like to announce here and now that the both versions 1.0 and 2.0 of the guide are to be considered "FreeWare" from here on. Put 'em on your sites, print and make elaborate paper airplanes out of them, hell, if you can get anything for them, auction off your dog-eared copies of version 1 on ebay! LOL...and if you make a mint, drop me a line and let me know!



Hmmm....Come to think of it, perhaps I should put this announcement in its own thread as well....
-=Vel=-

[Googlie]

Hey, Vel. Just looking at the left hand column of the thread, realized that we "greybeards" have now passed the 2 year anniversary of our lurking, writing and posting.

Who'd a thunk $40 would give us so much fun, eh?

Googlie

[Velociryx]

Right you are! ::whistling:: Has it really been TWO YEARS!? Damn...Googlie, we're ancient! LOL!

I was tooling back through the archives not long ago (since I was absent for an extended period, there's a big chunk of stuff that got archived while I was gone), and stumbled across one of my very first posts....gave me a good chuckle!

So...how's life in the great North treating you, brother?

I'm finally recovered to the point where it doesn't hurt to move, and hitting potholes on the highway no longer results in a long string of pain-laden explatives....life is good!

-=Vel=-

[Googlie]

Mixam:

(and others)

I found Helium Pond's SMAC Teeny Tech Tree (color version) and both it and the SMAX version are zipped and downloadable from the Spartan Chronicles site

__________________________________________________ _________

Vel:

The version of your strat guide I took down from the SC site was labeled version 3.0 (It came from your thread, and I reformatted it, theme-colored it and paginated. I'll e-mail you a copy and let me know if you are kopastetic with its being offered gratis.

G.



[This message has been edited by Googlie (edited May 09, 2001).]

[Mixam]

That link didn't work for me all I got was a blank page with a popup

[Googlie]

Yeah - the fast URL is a bit unreliable today

I edited the earlier links to the longform URL - they work

G.



[This message has been edited by Googlie (edited May 09, 2001).]

[Mixam]

Thanks Googlie it works now and man is it confusing. Kinda like the Civ II posters I downloaded till I could find my old one and tape it back together. I actually found a scan of the Civ II poster while looking for the tech tree and now I use that to doodle on when deciding a tech path I almost can't see what they say anymore!

Is there actually a poster that came with the game? Maybe I didn't get it cause I got the bargain bin version (Classic they call it). While I am at it how do you turn off auto research? My guy didn't even let me choose my research in my first game just if I wanted explore techs military techs etc...

Luckily I don't rely on graphics to determine which game I play or I prob would have given up on SMAC already. PS I still prefer Quake to Quake II or III and I prefer Diablo to Diablo II. I like the gameplay in the earlier versions rather than the graphics in the later versions. Thus I am pretty sure I will enjoy SMAC once I get over that first hurtle of understanding some of the gameplay.

Thanks for your help all that replied. Vel I hope you don't mind but I have version 3 on my computer and hope to read it after I get the basics down. I will buy the guide when it comes out if I have a job by then (Assuming I am still playing SMAC)!

[This message has been edited by Mixam (edited May 09, 2001).]

[Closey]

quote: Originally posted by Mixam on 05-09-2001 03:09 AM Is there actually a poster that came with the game? Maybe I didn't get it cause I got the bargain bin version (Classic they call it). While I am at it how do you turn off auto research? My guy didn't even let me choose my research in my first game just if I wanted explore techs military techs etc...

Yup, there's a nice big poster and a manual in the box when you get the 'regular' version and not the bargain one. I think you can buy them from EA for a few bucks, someone here did that a while ago.. think it was sboog. Someone correct me if I'm wrong here.

About turning off auto resarch.. When you start a new game, go with custom rules and de-select blind research.

[Chowlett]

Googlie - both the techtrees on your site are the SMAC one. I'm guessing this isn't what was meant to happen.