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This is, for the record, my first post here. Greetings and salutations all.
In any case, I, being the avid player of Alpha Centauri that I am, have been playing it for years. I snapped up the Laptop Collection the moment I saw it, and while the incidental inclusion of red Alert 2 and SimCity 3000 Unlimited was icing on the cake, the real chocolate was what i spend the twenty bucks for, Alien Crossfire.
In any case... I've read through a lot of Alpha Centauri information over the last few months, and I've come to a rather humbling conclusion.
You guys are a hell of a lot better at this than I am.
Then again, I disagree with many of your tactics on principles that make no sense to the mathematically inclined and a lot less to those who have no clue why the hell I'm so screwed up when it comes to games.
See, the way I play is to play the hell out of a game, pick my favorite tactics, come up with a few on my own, and test them out. I was one of the first guys to commonly use an Arbiter-Recall-Rush to take out an enemy's main base in Starcraft. And while I'm proud of that, I must admit that's the extent of my brilliance... a tactic so pedestrian less than a year after i started doing it that it's not even commonplace anymore because it's so "cheesy".
In any case, most of my tactics for play are considered "amateurish" here. For example, whenever I make bases, I make absolutely certain that if m,ore than two squares total are going t overlap at all, I make my base elsewhere. Another example? I never, ever, ever field a large army. in fact, the extent of my armies are almost entirely garrison troops and a total of MAYBE about three to five attack units, which rarely see use because I so thoroughly outclass the computer players in terms of tech and power that I can let them spend entire armies trying to take my bases and never worry about it.
I also have high standards for myself... sepcifically, if I ever lose a base, I quit the game immediately. Period. Ditto if I lose a greatly important Special Project that I can't conquer anytime in the next hundred turns or so. (Human Genome Project for Zakharov, Virtual World for Zakky too... Weather Paradign for anyone if I can get it, stuff like that)
I also tend to play with rulesets that seem to be outnof favor here... Tech Stagnation on, Blind research on, Flexible Start Locations off, Steal Tech off, or on if I'm playing without the Consciousness, stuff like that.
I also detest Free Market. But then, the 5 point hit in police pisses me off to no end, and that sways me.
In original SMAC, I played almost exclusively as the University, switching when I wanted a challenge, running on Democracy, Green, Knowledge. Or, if I didn't want the penalty, I'd cut democracy. I've never consciously gone for a "pop boom"... My bases grow too often as it is, and eventually, reducing base size by massing colony pods and sending them to all corners of the map becomes inefficient LONG before you can make Hab Complexes.
I've also never made a land-based "crawler park".
And I absolutely LOVE the Data Angels.
And I've SUCCECSSFULLY played Yang as a builder. Not at Transcend difficulty yet, but... I've done it at Librarian, I think it is.
Honestly, I'm glad I'm not as good as you guys are.
I don't have to miss the joy of learning new things, or of still having the game be challenging. My play methods make the world challenging. Sure, I bet I could play Transcend and win easily using all you guy's methods... but I'd rather not. To me, I'd rather refine me own... and eventually, maybe, someday, redeem my methods as servicable.
So I'm curious... does anyone else here play like I do?
I mean... I can consistently beat the computer out in every single area by mid game. I can unite every faction against me and struggle for a win. That's why I uped my normal difficulty level again... it got too easy...
I dread the day Transcend is too easy.
I think that's the day I'll stop playing...
Ta.
In any case, I, being the avid player of Alpha Centauri that I am, have been playing it for years. I snapped up the Laptop Collection the moment I saw it, and while the incidental inclusion of red Alert 2 and SimCity 3000 Unlimited was icing on the cake, the real chocolate was what i spend the twenty bucks for, Alien Crossfire.
In any case... I've read through a lot of Alpha Centauri information over the last few months, and I've come to a rather humbling conclusion.
You guys are a hell of a lot better at this than I am.
Then again, I disagree with many of your tactics on principles that make no sense to the mathematically inclined and a lot less to those who have no clue why the hell I'm so screwed up when it comes to games.
See, the way I play is to play the hell out of a game, pick my favorite tactics, come up with a few on my own, and test them out. I was one of the first guys to commonly use an Arbiter-Recall-Rush to take out an enemy's main base in Starcraft. And while I'm proud of that, I must admit that's the extent of my brilliance... a tactic so pedestrian less than a year after i started doing it that it's not even commonplace anymore because it's so "cheesy".
In any case, most of my tactics for play are considered "amateurish" here. For example, whenever I make bases, I make absolutely certain that if m,ore than two squares total are going t overlap at all, I make my base elsewhere. Another example? I never, ever, ever field a large army. in fact, the extent of my armies are almost entirely garrison troops and a total of MAYBE about three to five attack units, which rarely see use because I so thoroughly outclass the computer players in terms of tech and power that I can let them spend entire armies trying to take my bases and never worry about it.
I also have high standards for myself... sepcifically, if I ever lose a base, I quit the game immediately. Period. Ditto if I lose a greatly important Special Project that I can't conquer anytime in the next hundred turns or so. (Human Genome Project for Zakharov, Virtual World for Zakky too... Weather Paradign for anyone if I can get it, stuff like that)
I also tend to play with rulesets that seem to be outnof favor here... Tech Stagnation on, Blind research on, Flexible Start Locations off, Steal Tech off, or on if I'm playing without the Consciousness, stuff like that.
I also detest Free Market. But then, the 5 point hit in police pisses me off to no end, and that sways me.
In original SMAC, I played almost exclusively as the University, switching when I wanted a challenge, running on Democracy, Green, Knowledge. Or, if I didn't want the penalty, I'd cut democracy. I've never consciously gone for a "pop boom"... My bases grow too often as it is, and eventually, reducing base size by massing colony pods and sending them to all corners of the map becomes inefficient LONG before you can make Hab Complexes.
I've also never made a land-based "crawler park".
And I absolutely LOVE the Data Angels.
And I've SUCCECSSFULLY played Yang as a builder. Not at Transcend difficulty yet, but... I've done it at Librarian, I think it is.
Honestly, I'm glad I'm not as good as you guys are.
I don't have to miss the joy of learning new things, or of still having the game be challenging. My play methods make the world challenging. Sure, I bet I could play Transcend and win easily using all you guy's methods... but I'd rather not. To me, I'd rather refine me own... and eventually, maybe, someday, redeem my methods as servicable.
So I'm curious... does anyone else here play like I do?
I mean... I can consistently beat the computer out in every single area by mid game. I can unite every faction against me and struggle for a win. That's why I uped my normal difficulty level again... it got too easy...
I dread the day Transcend is too easy.
I think that's the day I'll stop playing...
Ta.
You can contribute more than that, you know. 
for me. If others want to, that ain't my problem. It's all about playing preferences 
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