FM and drones

[Blake]

Originally posted by Scipio Centaurus


You mean in SP right? Not in MP?

Ofcourse, altough MP would probably be more enjoyable and balanced with crawlers . Except 90% of SMAC players are depraved crawler addicts, so would kick, scream and bite if you tried to seperate them from their crawlers.

You should have played in our recently completed no-crawlers challenge game where a group of us took turns playing University without building any crawlers. We transcended in MY 2430 or so, but what a struggle it was. Yang was way ahead of us when we became one with the fungus...

Dont suppose there is going to be another No Crawler challenge... 2430 sounds pretty slow, I can consitentely outgrow enhanced Transcend AI's without using crawlers.
The only game I've actually completed while playing no crawlers was won by 2340 (playing as Morgan, planetbuster victory, but I had Transcend tech, single-blind research, not techstag).

[Avenoct]

Yes, we barely made it through the no-crawler succession game. We had a horrible start location and were at least half a century behind where we could have been for the whole game. Secondly, the AI did surprisingly well, as they seem to do every 10th game or so. Yang just exploded with..70 bases or so? It was out of control. The major problem with our succession games was that in the late game, taking 10 turns and making a report is a monumental task...it was too time consuming. The great thing is that we played a whole game in a couple weeks.

Er, just a wee bit off-topic.

-S-

[Bella Hella]

update! (it worked)

hooray! thanks for the comments and tips. i am successfully running FM, dem and wealth with morgan in my current game (thinker, large map). the size-4 bases have been working to my advantage on some level. before switching to FM, i built rec commons in every base, which completely pacified the size-4-base drones. rec commons is now one of my priority builds (along with formers and rec tanks). stupid lal acquired the VW, but i got the HGP and am now working towards the aestic (sp) virtues. after switching to FM and getting used to it, i began to build hab complexes in anticipation for some kinda pop boom.

anyway, it's working fine, i'm making tons of crazy cash, and my probe teams rule. thanks again for the help!

[Flubber]

Bella

Sounds like you are doing great but I will confess that as Morgan I rarely see the need to go FM. Wealth alone gets you to the +2 Econ level that adds an energy per square. I am aware of the benefits of the higher Econ ratings but I usually would prefer to avoid the problems of FM if I can get to +2 ECON without it.

[Scipio Centaurus]

Originally posted by Avenoct
Yes, we barely made it through the no-crawler succession game. We had a horrible start location and were at least half a century behind where we could have been for the whole game. Secondly, the AI did surprisingly well, as they seem to do every 10th game or so. Yang just exploded with..70 bases or so? It was out of control. The major problem with our succession games was that in the late game, taking 10 turns and making a report is a monumental task...it was too time consuming. The great thing is that we played a whole game in a couple weeks.
Er, just a wee bit off-topic.
-S-

We started on the tip of a long peninsula and before we could expand into the main body of the landmass, Morgan popped up and cut us off. Well, after 100+ years of mutual road rage, we finally got Morgan some 'sensitivity' training and learned to get along with each other. Actually, I think blind research is more of a hindrance than lack of crawlers against the AI.

I am rested up enough for another go at the succession NCC game - if we can dispense with [or severly limit] the reporting part. I have too many active MP games going to do all that writing. Anyone could set it up as it is just a regular SP start. Last I heard Qantaga, Zakharov VII were also interested in a retry of the University NCC (no-crawler challenge) succession variant. Can we add your name Blake? What about it Smack, JohnDMuller, Arima? Another possibility is a straight MP NCC game, though I need another MP game like I need a hole in my head...

- Scipio

[knowhow2]

Originally posted by bondetamp


*points at the dumb Swede and laughs*

You can't nerve staple drones under FM!

No you can't nervestaple DURING FM but you can do it before going into FM. But you're still right, his is a dumb Swede. You can only nervestaple twice per base.

[Bella Hella]

FM as morgan

I usually would prefer to avoid the problems of FM if I can get to +2 ECON without it.

i can see your point with that, but i'm going for the ultimate morgan game right now, and trying to make lots and lots and lots of money! i only have enough military units to guard my bases, so i avoid the "2 drones per unit away form territory" rule. the only thing i care about for this game is getting cash, getting tech, and upgrading my peeps into whatever units are needed at the given moment. i just use probe teams to buy enemy armies and bases, and it's working really well for me.

me running FM is basically an experiment to see how i can handle it, since i've never used it. i want to make sure i know how to run it when i need to!

i just wish sven and dee would friggin sign treaties with me so i could make even more money! since they won't do it out of the goodness of their hears, i guess it's time to bribe.

[Blake]

The NCC thread hijackers

Originally posted by Scipio Centaurus
Last I heard Qantaga, Zakharov VII were also interested in a retry of the University NCC (no-crawler challenge) succession variant. Can we add your name Blake?

Sure
But can we play Morgan instead of Zak? (Morgan is the most natural crawlerless faction, because of the high energy per base tile and commerce income)

Another possibility is a straight MP NCC game, though I need another MP game like I need a hole in my head...

Yes.. I dont have time for a MP game (re:sig) but could easily find time to play a Succession game, and probably report my turns too.

The key to becoming a NCC super-power is abusing the ED reducing facilities, particullary CP scraping. Your goal should be to build every mineral enhancing facility as soon as you get it. This really does wonders for your industry. Also orbitals are obviously very effective.

[Avenoct]

I'm in.

-Another NCC thread hijacker formerly known as General Smack

[johndmuller]

Hey, I need another hole in my head like I need another MP game too.

Count me in as well; either MP or succession. I can't say which I prefer, the succession is nice, but it does get to be a big hunk of time in the later portions of the game (I thought that the MM was as time consuming as the reporting).

Blake, maybe Morgan's naturalness would be a reason not to choose him. Miriam? Yang? That said, I do like playing Morgan better than Miriam.

Is X available this time, or will it be SMAC again? (I can never remember who doesn't have SMAX).

[Blake]

Well, Zak can pop-boom and Morgan cant, which almost defintely makes Zak stronger. Morgans easier to play in the sense it's less of a chore.
Also if you leave Morgans research priority on BUILD it makes for an interesting builder game.

Playing Yang or Miriam would tend to make the game quite militaristic, really, Miriam has no choice but to go out and hurt people. Yangs a bit better in that regard, but the Hive is such a powerhouse that it is quite hard to lose, also because the hive pretty much runs Police/Planned the whole time it isn't the most interesting for a succession game. Morgan has some interesting SE choices.


Btw, I have SMAX, but would prefer SMAC.

PS. Shouldn't this conversation be relocated to AC-MP ?

[Scipio Centaurus]

Any builder style faction is fine with me. I thought Zakharov VII was most interested in playing University... Does anybody have his email address? I will send emails to Arima and Qantaga to see if they want in. They may not be subscribed to this thread.

Also, does anyone want to set it up? I can, but if there is another volunteer, that will be dandy. It is nothing more than firing up a SMAC game with the appropriate starting conditions and then everyone is on the honor system to not build any crawlers. The alpha.txt can be modified to force this restriction, but then I think the game becomes a mod and all players must remember to swap alpha.txt files before and after playing their turns. Probably not worth the effort...

Blind research in addition to no crawlers is fine with me, though that might best be left to its own separate challenge game.

And yes, we should move this off to the MP forum. I'll start a thread here for signup and discussion

[Zakharov VII]

(On topic)

I used Free Market as Morgan, even with Wealth just because...I didn't have drone problems once I got VW + Rec Commons. With a hefty amount of psych, you can even GA under Free Market, bringing the MAXIMUM Economy rating (+1 Morgan, +1 Wealth, +2 FM, +1 GA, for the +5 maximum) and pop-booming. If you can skillfully diplomicize (I invented that word ), the commerce income will be obscene.

(Off topic)

My e-mail is at the thread you started, Scipio. I'll play any faction (played almost them all, and enjoyed them all), but University the faction I myself connect with most. Being able to pop-boom without GA and having excellent research doesn't hurt .

Z