A Few Questions About SMAC

[WhiteElephants]

Net Maverick --

Concerning whether I fill my continent with bases...

I would have to say that I try to fill my continent with bases. Generally if your starting continent is too big to fill with bases your more than likely sharing it with a faction that will inevitably become agressive. In this situation I'd try to turn that faction into a submissive to benefit from trade energy and tech. In the unlikely event that I have the continent to myself I'll try to fill it in growth spurts. Depending on the facion I'm playing, the initial growth should be between eight and tweleve bases. After those are established I'm able to handle the inefficency drones and so build more to fill in any gaps.

Unfortunately I haven't accquired enough MP experience to tell you whether or not this is the most effective method. Against the AI you ought to fair quite well.

[Net Maverick]

I again want to thank WhiteElephants and all those who took the time to share their experience.

[Sikander]

quote: Originally posted by Misotu on 05-07-2001 11:22 PM No. No advice to offer on Morgan at all. I am - despite my love of energy - the world's worst Morgan player. I *suck*

Me too.

quote: Originally posted by Misotu on 05-07-2001 11:22 PM Nutrients. Yes, but they come automatically with my strategy. Looking at SMAX the energy player will take coastal bases for the tidal harnesses coupled with thermocline. This automatically gives huge numbers of nutrients. I don't really think about nutrients much - high land gets a farm/solar, sea gets kelp/harness. I found coastal bases wherever possible, even though these are vulnerable to attack in an MP game. If they run short for a while, I'll crawler them. The nutrients are just there once I have gene splicing, which I tend to get early. In a pop boom situation - either traditional Dem/Planned or GA/FM/Wealth - you only need +2 nuts anyway. More is wasteful.

So, if I'm reading you correctly, you tend to use farm / solar at high altitude, and I'm guessing forest at lower altitude, and kelp / tidal harnesses on shelves. As you use workers rather than specialists, you don't run into nut shortages since all of these terraform types produce at least enough nuts to support themselves.

quote: Originally posted by Misotu on 05-07-2001 11:22 PM My favourite faction is Lal (I'm told they're the beginner's faction, and it's probably true ) and as far as I know he is best played with exactly my strategy Not to disrespect another, but I have played him to death and I know what works even under very adverse circumstances in MP.

I have only played Lal a couple of times. He was fairly easy for me though, as my University honed strategy worked well for him also. I used GAs more than usual to take advantage of his extra talents, but as the game wore on I just went more and more with specialists as usual. I defer to your expertise with Lal though, as I haven't played him under any sort of adversity.

quote: Originally posted by Misotu on 05-07-2001 11:22 PM Do you ever play MP Sikander? I haven't seen you in the tourny. I'm sure you'd enjoy it. It's very good for honing what really works - SP doesn't test stuff the same way ... I don't think I've ever got the HGP, for example, in a multi-player game [This message has been edited by Misotu (edited May 07, 2001).]

I have been toying with the idea of playing in some MP games. Unfortunately my time is limited for SMACX. While I have plenty of time at work to read and post at Apolyton (playing at work is out of the question though), at home my relationship demands a lot of time which I would otherwise devote to gaming. As I have commitments in the form of three online roleplaying games already, I fear that getting into playing SMACX with others may cause me to bite off more than I can chew. I have been exploring the possibility of starting a game with a friend of mine, and if that seems to pose a limited enough demand on my time, then I can see starting another MP game or two. If I do, I look forward to meeting your energy legions on the fields of Chiron.

[Misotu]

Ned: I don't pretend to understand the mineral ecodamage formula half (or a quarter, looking at a current thread!) as well as you do. All I would say is that these facilities are expensive ... I know they work, but I'd still go energy because it's cheaper and more effective in my experience. In SP, you get the time to experiment, but I have never seen anyone build many of these facilities in an MP game, even one that ran to transcendence.

Sikander: Yes, most of my workers produce enough nuts to support themselves early-mid game and then I get most of my specialists from orbitals. You can't work any kind of formula for the number of specialists per base though - it varies wildly according to terrain, commerce and improvements.

Regarding finding the time to play MP - now this I understand. And so does my husband, poor man But if you *do* find the time, I look forward to trying to out-energy you on Chiron

[Ned]

Misotu, I find it somewhat amazing that the ED formula set forth in the Datalinks is valid only early in the game, prior to Tree Farms, Hybrid Forests and Centauri Preserves. I wonder why they never mentioned the more critical aspects of the formula that actually permits one to build up ED protection.

As to being expensive, some are. Hybrid Forests and Temples are. But Centauri Preserves are relative cheap. You can probably set aside 4 or five bases that do nothing more than build one each turn and then sell it thereby building faction-wide ED protection.

Also, I tend to play on custom very large maps so that I get into the late game before I can conquer all enemy factions. Until I understood the ED formula, I would often have to sell my Genejack and then Robotic Assembly factories in order to stay under the ED limit. No more. I now plan ahead and constantly build up my ED protection.

Since I do not play multi-player, I have no idea how this new information on ED protection will alter such games. But don't be surprised by someone overwhelming you with very expensive units that could only be produced in large numbers by bases with very high mineral production enabled by high ED protection. Ned

[Misotu]

Ned: I have to say that reading your posts about mineral-related ecodamage has already had an effect on my game. I allowed a damage-related fungus-pop in one of my recent games and, indeed, the clean mineral production per base rose and continues to rise as I build tree farms. This is an immensely valuable piece of information because often times I build bases with *buckets* of forest, so high mineral output is unavoidable. Many thanks

This is in a current MP game, so I'm *delighted*

However, the impact of this overall on MP is pretty limited. Huge maps are rare, because a game on a huge map with more than 2 players will last far too long. So I have to tell you that, mineral production notwithstanding, I am confident that I can out-run a mineral-based player in MP. My <8> or <10>/tachyon/perimeter/creche/aero/sensor will withstand most things until blink. And by the time they have blink, I've transcended ...