Some Questions

[Knave75]

Long time lurker, finally decided to post and ask some questions:

(1) I finally figured out the use of infiltration! Now I can't even contemplate attacking anyone without hitting them up with a probe team first so I can assess defenses. Anyway... the question: I have seen in this forum people allude to the fact that when they infiltrate they can see the opponents social settings... is that true? And how?

(2) With fungal blooms... no matter where they occur, all my bases get the +1 free no-ecodamage mineral, is that true?

(3) Ineffective Lal: I was playing Lal (Thinker level) and I had HGP. Some bases had less than 2 talents! what gives?

(4) So.. what do perim defenses really defend against? Is it only ground non-psi attacks? How about tachyon fields, are they equally as ineffective?

(5) I'm running free market, I even gift Morgan a tech, and his attitude is managimous (sp?) Then, with no contact even, he declares vendetta! What gives?

(6) Assuming that the UN charter is still in force, will the AI ever commit atrocities? (In other words, if I can keep the charter in place, do I need to worry about planet busters?)

I think thats enough for now... if anyone has answers...

Thanks in advance!

[Mongoose]

1) Don't need infiltration for this, merely the commlink. (assumes you're running V4.0. There WAS no way to see it as initially released.) Right click on the faction in question in the comm menu, then select faction profile. The faction's SE will be displayed in the main panel, as will the number of council votes the faction has. If you DO have infiltration, you will also be able to see the political relationship with all the factions they know, as well as their energy reserves. Also note that their tech discoveries are shown in the bottom left panel. The ones with an asterisk are the ones you don't have.

2) Not sure about this one, but I think the blooms have to have been caused by ecodamage at one of your bases, not some other faction's and also not caused by hitting a malfunctioning unity pod.

3) Probably Bureaucracy drones. See datalinks.

4) PDs-yup, Tach fields- not sure. Rarely play long enough to build/need them. Ineffectiveness depends on what you're defending against, no?

5) Tough to say. Best bet is some other faction put him up to it. Also could just be AI ganging up on the leader.

6) Yes they will! You better worry about it. 'Course, they are more likely to do it if the charter has been revoked...much like a human player.

[johndmuller]

Welcome Knave75, and thanks for the insightful questions.

2. Yes, fungal blooms caused by ecodamage are generally referred to as >pops<, as used in the interlude messages. After the first >pop<, each "green" facility (and certain SP's) built will also reduce potential ED due to mineral production. Note, after the 2nd >pop<, native life will also be generated along with the fungus. "Green" facilities include Tree Farms, Hybrid Forests, Centauri Preserves and Temples of Planet; if the archives are functional, you can find detailed writeups of this in old threads.

3. Probably B-Drones as offered by Mongoose, but they are also found in captured bases, or they could be from pacifism or perhaps(?) from certain atrocities. Sometimes the normal display near the bottom of the base screen shows worker types incorrectly; in such cases the psych screen will have the correct info.

4. Perims defend against land attack, NavYards against sea and AeroComplexes against air - Tachyons boost all of them (but you have to have built a Perim as prereq). I think of it as analygous to the morale boosting effects of CommandCntrs (land units), NavYards (sea units) and AeroComplexes (air units) - BioEnhancementCntrs boost all types.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

3. I see your running FM. You may have wandered outside your territory with units and or built noodlejets, missiles, or choppers (other than air superiority versions of noodles/choppers). This is the pacifism drone issue. OTOH if you have built or captured lots of bases then it is a buearacracy drone issue. (also captured bases are inherently drones until gradually assimilated)

5. You've most likely been the victim of another faction probing Morgan and setting you up as the culprit.

[Lefty Scaevola]

6. Yes sometime the AI will commit firstuse atrocities and use planetbusters. I had Dedrie & Yang lauch at me during a war with the charter intact and no prior atrocity by me.

2. The fungal boom increases mineral imnunity at the base which triggered it. AFTER the first fungal bloom at any of your base, each Tree Farm, Hybrid Forrest, Centauti preserve, or temle of Planet, completed at one of your bae increases mineral imunity by 1 at all bases.

5. Someone paid him to declare or someone framed you woth a probe operation.

[Knave75]

Well, I eventually got some orbital pods up, then the comps managed to get the charter revoked, so I waited for the busters to come (I've never seen one stopped by an orbital pod) but it never happened. What a bunch of wimps

As it turns out I don't have any of the patches, which I guess explains the "I can't see social settings" question. What else do these patches offer (ie. is there a place somewhere that summarizes the changes made by the patches?) and... is the patch worth my while downloading given that I never plan on playing other humans...

With the Lal question... I am annoyed. Pacifism was not the problem, so it seems bureaucracy overrides the inherent extra talent per 4 people advantage that Lal is suppose to get. Since I always blow right by that inefficiency message (empire getting too big etc etc.) I guess I should just forget that as a Lal advantage.

I also had my first worm rape! (I've been playing for a while now but never really pumped up the mineral counts). One base had about 5 trance defenders and 18 pop and was completely wiped out in one shocking turn. (even more shocking given that I almost plant exclusively forests so eco damage was purely from mineral count). Speaking of worm rapes, I noticed this game that when I hit stacks of worms with my empath chopper, only one would die at the time, whereas when I hit them with my shard tank the entire stack would go up. Am I dreaming? Also, I was at +4 planet eventually, and I never converted a single fungal pop worm... are they different than the normal worms?

Either way, thanks for the answers to my questions, I'll come up with some more eventually I am sure. This game is addictive in its many layers of complexity.

[Mongoose]

No, you're not dreaming. Air units only kill one of a stack of native life. Yes, ecodamage induced worms are different. You might have noticed a blurb at the bottom of the screen when attacking them...something on the order of: Capture attempt failed. Our talents think that these native life forms seem to be guided by some higher intelligence.

Readme from the patch(s) attached.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

You've become the next in a long line of victims of SMAC fever. Welcome to the club.

regarding the efficiency drone issue. The thing about Lal is that for every 4 citizens its as if he gets another +2 to psych. What this means is it offsets the penalty for efficiency drones later resulting in a drone becoming a worker instead of remaining a drone. Other factions would have nothing but drones so Lal's bonus does yield him some benefits over the other factions.

Regarding worm rape. Yep. Air units take out the worms one at a time. Land units take them out en-masse. Now if you ever run into a real problem take a best weapon (weapon strength 10 or higher preferably) chopper with fusion reactor or higher and self destruct it near the group of native life. You'll wipe out all those units adjacent to the chopper. Granted it means no planet pearls, but you'll at least salvage your 18 population base.

Finally worms from fungal pops normally aren't available for capture.