Do you have a preferred start location??

[Bella Hella]

i like to be left alone

heh... i prefer a nice big continent near the north pole where i can build in peace. then once i get air power, i go wipe out the moron declaring vendetta on me for using a democratic government. i guess my philosophy is "leave me alone".

[T-hawk]

Now, the power charts tell me that Yang is top dog, and the pop-up notices tell me that he's mopping the floor with Deidre. Let me guess - he's in the Monsoon Jungle? Do the factions start in roughly the same places every time you start a game using a "Map of Planet?"

Nah, Yang in the Monsoon Jungle is just a general rule of the game hardcoded into the executable somewhere. At least I could swear it is. (At least he packs the bases nicely together to hit with Fusion Planet Busters....)

I think removing the line for the jungle from alpha.txt does in fact prevent the random map generator from generating a jungle. I'll try it tonight. I don't want to just edit away the jungle after generating a random map, since I love exploring the unknown maps.

[Clear Skies]

In reference to the Monsoon Jungle:

Being the democracy junkie that I am, in my last game I actually managed to share the Jungle equally between all the factions

I'd just forced Domai into submission and thus taken the Jungle from him, so I thought, 'hey, here's an idea - why not make it sorta neutral ground, 1 base per faction, everyone can meet n greet?' (cos there's nothing worse than factions with no contact, right?) so I starved/podded bases out until there were only 7 left, then shared them out equally amongst the factions!

It actually worked remarkably well - instead of all getting aggressive over the Jungle, I was able to step in and act as peacekeeper (I controlled all the territory roundabout) and none of them seemed to want to lose their toehold so they all kept reasonably quiet!

[johndmuller]

Originally posted by SMAC Fanatic
. . . I was able to step in and act as peacekeeper (I controlled all the territory roundabout) and none of them seemed to want to lose their toehold so they all kept reasonably quiet!

SMAC Fanatic, it seems like you would be a natural for this victory condition in a game Vel was talking about:

Originally posted by Vel in the "A Clockwork Lemon" thread
. . . Peace Keepers: Your goal is to ensure that all factions remain in the game until the very end. You win by default if no one has transcended by the normal game's end, and all factions are still around.

[Juggernaut]

In the sea. The pirates just rock.

[Tizzy]

I played my first game the other day as the Pirates.
Having played Civ for so long before getting SMAX, I've never quite got to grips with sea bases, and decided it was high time I did.
It was an interesting game. I had never considered building foil probes or foil crawlers before, and it was unusual to be voting AGAINST launcing the solar shade and trying to melt the ice caps instead.
Unfortunately the PC crashed before I finished the game (one of these times I'll remember to save it regularly!), but I'll certianly be trying it again.

[Earwicker]

Hmmm, I've not noticed the tendency for Yang to start with MJ. Somebody must've hardcoded my game so he always starts with Garland Crater.

In my experience, MJ is most often in the hands of Aki or adjacent to the Pirates (SMAX) or the PK (SMAC). Lal with the MJ becomes very difficult to deal with since his talents let him benefit most from the +1 nutrients. He still has no idea how to terraform it well: current game it is 2225 and I am removing bases from his control and there are no forests anywhere, and still loaods of fungus on nice juicy rolling, rainy river squares. But that growth and its boost gave him the ME, CN, VW, and CDF all within a brief span while I build HGP/ WP/ PTS/ MCC, chased down the tech and tried to locate him. Luckily I stole PSA just as he finished researching it and beat him to the Hunter-Seeker. Turned the tide . . .

Most of the landmarks make great starts. I've never started right at the Wreckage but have seen AI's who have. How weird is that when you find a chopper in a base around 2120?! The Crater and Borehole Cluster are both very good ones to have nearby. Geothmal Shallows is among my faves, as is having the Ruins nearby.

[Bella Hella]

i've been starting near mount planet a LOT

hm, don't know why. the past couple times it was with aki, but in my new morgan game i started there too.

the landmarks and weird terrain always screw me up. i'm so used to terraforming normal land that i get confused when i get something different. i know the landmarks often give you a nice advantage, but i don't know how to work it. like, should i just build lots of solar collectors on mount planet? i dunno.

how about some tips as to what to do with the various types of terrain when you encounter it??

[Bella Hella]

er... i meant

the SPECIAL terrain, like the crater, monsoon jungle, mount planet. etc.

[Earwicker]

Re: i've been starting near mount planet a LOT

Originally posted by Bella Hella
but i don't know how to work it. like, should i just build lots of solar collectors on mount planet? i dunno.

how about some tips as to what to do with the various types of terrain when you encounter it??

I usually build lots of mines on Mt. Planet for the mineral bonus. If you start near it, then the energy solution is a good one (esp if you can pile some crawlers from your ME base there).

Ridge - lots of collectors.

Freshwater Sea/ Geothermal: terraform as you would any sea square and enjoy the bonuses.

Crater: mines or forests (plant some, let it grow, crawler back the minerals).

Fossil Ridge is a tease since it is destroyed when you terraform it. Pirates' deep-water ability comes very late in the game.

[yavoon]

Yang or Miriam get the jungle when I play. Or atleast most of the time, I think its because Yang and especially Miriam are willing to travel very far to get to the jungle, and if anyone else is there when they arrive, they can almost always kick them out.

I've seen The Hive like 15 spaces away from Yang's second base(which was on the edge of the jungle). so he can really beeline for it sometimes.