Strange Pactmates

[Sprayber]

For the second game in a row I'm against Lal and Yang who are pactmates. They are even kind of close together, but separated by water. And like before Zak is willing to do research for me as long as I keep Saniago and Lal off his back. What are the strangest pactmates that you have seen? Poor Morgan still can't get anyone to play with.


Note: Has anyone noticed that when Santiago is left on her own continent, she builds like crazy?

[Cybergod]

Lal and Yang pactmates? Are you joking? It's democratic vs. police state!!! Oh well, send a probe and try to frame one against the other!

[Skanderbeg]

I had one game with one of my custom factions, where I first pacted with Miriam and later with Zak. Miriam and Zak were in Vendetta. I gave both of them techs to call of their vendetta and they made peace. A few turns later, without any further action of me, they pacted :eed:
Then it was I nice game of "United Mankind" vs. "The Aliens". The best teamwork I have ever had playing SMAX. Miriam had the Marine Control SP and did the navy part of the war against the Aliens, my custom faction had the cloudbase academy and die chop and gas, and Zak, who was next to the Aliens, provided me with bases for my choppers.

[Sprayber]

quote: Originally posted by Cybergod on 04-15-2001 08:10 AM Lal and Yang pactmates? Are you joking? It's democratic vs. police state!!! Oh well, send a probe and try to frame one against the other!

Get this. I went to war with Yang because the b@stard took out a former. And who intervenes on the side of the tyrant? None other than mister humanitarian himself. Lal. He said I was the threat. I had never attacked him first. Only went to war with those who attacked me. Hell, I was at war with Domai who Lal was fighting. My buddy Zak would pull up to my territory and unload a probe team and gattling infantry and proceed to go all the way through my territory and attack Lal. He did that twice.

Only thing I can think of is that Lal was jelous. In the early part of the game Morgan was between us. We were both at war with him. He took two of morgan bases and then took morgan industries. Leaving Morgan with four other bases. Morgan then retook morgan industries. Two turn later I hit morgan with a rover while industries was empty. Then lal calls me up a few turns later and demands fort industries (morgan industries). There was no way. So he declares vendetta. I whip his ass a few times take one of morgan's former bases under lal. I end up trading that base for peace, cause morgan still had two bases and he was annoying me with messages about my impending demise.

[Blake]

The "Unholy Alliance"
Lal, Miriam and Yang. I know Lal was allied to both of them, and Miriam and Yang had atleast a treaty, could even have been a pact. I was dee, running a green Demo and had a spotless rep, but nooooo I wasn't good enough for Lal. Lal got a good ol planetbustering for his humanitarian efforts in that game.

Also Roze pulled a simaller stunt once, and suceeded in having a pact with Sven, H'mniee, Marr and Drones. There was several pacts between the last 3 too. I was Cyborgs running, yep, democracy. To give roze credit she did atleast ally with me early in the game, and I was being an global PIA with my probe teams...

[Earwicker]

Hmmm. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I've had Lal offer me (Yang) a Pact when we were both pressed in by the Aliens -- it was early in the game and of course the pact didn't last long once he started picking a fight with everyone else. Idiot.

But generally I see the strange bedfellows later in the game when all of the AI factions decide its time for a fight with the far more powerful and heretofore peaceful human. Anyones SE choices, including mine, seem almost irrelevant. Pact bros start getting uppity and join up with the other folks despite years of accord.

Late in a recent game as the Borg, pet Miriam set me up for a tech raid against my pet Zak (stealing some level 3 tech he stole from me while a pactmate). He goes straight to Vendetta against me, then forms a pact with Miriam (thankfully I didn't have to subdue her again also). I had to take all the dern bases I'd given back to him and was concerned that he might not surrender again. He did, and I gave him back his smaller, empty bases AGAIN so I could get the commerce income back. If only he'd noticed the Fusion choppers I was prototyping, he could've saved his people a lot of trouble . . .

[Ned]

In my observation, the most important factor in AI pacting is the relative position in the power pecking order of the pact brothers. In most games, the AI will settle into two sets of pact mates, each headed by one of the two leading factions. If the power balance changes, the pact alliance structure will change accordingly.

Notice that if you are pact mates with X faction, if you become No. 1 on the power meter while your mate become No. 2, your No. 2 pactmate will normally break the alliance and may shortly declare war to form a new alliance against you.

The best antidote to this is to build a submissive pactmate into the No. 2 power.

With the above in mind, watch what the AI is doing in future games. It really doesn't depend as much as you think on SE choices.