World War AC

[Tokamak]

(unlurks)


Hey folks! I thought I'd stop lurking from a moment and actually contribute to this place.


I just played the most entertaining SP game of SMAC/X ever. I thought I'd share what I did with y'all.

Feeling in the mood for a didactic, good vs evil type game, I divided the factions into two warring groups, the power mad "Coailition," made up of the Believers, Spartans and the Hive, and the nominally peaceful "Grand Alliance," made up of the Gaians, the Peacekeepers, the Morgans, and the University (10 free energy credits to whomever knows where I took those names from). I modified the diplomacy settings so that the Coailition were permanently pacted, and all had infiltration on each other (you'll see why in a moment). The Alliance forces, having been caught unawares and unprepared, haven't even banded together yet. I did make sure they all hated Coailition members, though (vendetta and atrocity victims, all).

Then, the most important change: I added "techshare 1" to each of the Coailition faction.txt files. This forces to Coailtion AIs to coordinate their research efforts.

To help out the anemic AI, I also used a heavily preterraformed map, complete with forests and even a few boreholes and condesers (these are vital to a faction's long term success, but the AI almost never builds them). Ned and the others from the "Hardest SP game ever" thread deserve credit for this idea.

The player starts out as one of the Alliance factions, and must contact and organize the others before they all get conquered by the Coailition.

For the first time ever, I actually lost a game against the AI! The multiplicative advantages of having three factions pooling their research is unreal! They had fusion power by 2150! Awesome! It was all I could do just to make the Allinace forces start working together, much less actually try to harm the Coailiton.

The second time I tried, I had to very carefully plan out my builds several turns in advance. I've never played a game where such intense management was needed just to stay competitive. I had a great time. STill am, actaully, since it's 2148 and I'm still alive (but badly beseiged).

Anyone else out there try something like this?

A few notes...

I went ahead and placed the factions manually. This takes away from the exploration aspect of the game, but the added meaness I can add to the AI was worth it. I was able to carefully preterraform their capitals, portecting them from stupid AI decisions. Also, I made sure that every Alliance member was being threatened by at least one Coailiton member. That was important.

[Velociryx]

Sounds excellent! If you'd not mind, mail the map and mods!

email: WebMaster@velociryx.every1.net

-=Vel=-

[Robby Boy]

Yeah I'd like to try it too.

Can you send to theoneandonlyrob@ntlworld.com

Thanks

[Earwicker]

Oooh, please count me in, too. Always on the lookout for a good scenario challenge in SMAC! Thanks!

kasimir@sprynet.com

[Tokamak]

Wow! I didn't think people would actually be interested in this. Cool! Everyone should have gotten a zipped copy of the scenario, along with a readme and the relevant faction.txt

If you didn't get the zip archive, or if for some reason the scenario isn't working, you can reach me at nsvad@austin.rr.com

[Tokamak]

Ack! I forgot to mention in the readme that this scenario was intended to be played on Transcend level. Just thought you'd like to know...

[Walt]

I'd enjoy playing this, too.

If you could, would you send me the relevant files?

Thanks!

- Walt

[Tokamak]

No problem! But I'll need your e-mail first

[Cybergod]

Is it SMAX only? If YEA, then don't send me anything. If NEY, then post me the files on kibernick@yahoo.com PLZ, PLZ!

[Sprayber]

This sounds like something you should sent to MarkG to post here on Apolyton. Yeah I know it takes forever and a day to get posted but this sounds like a mod that would make the game interesting.

[Tokamak]

It's not really "publishing" quality. It's just a crude setup I made for my own personal enjoyment. However, the unexpected response I've gotten here is motivating me to create a "real" mod. I think I'll call it "SMAC Down 2100," or something of that ilk.

Cybergod: While the scenario is in SMAX, there is no reason why I couldn't make a SMAC copy. If I have trouble sleeping again tonight, I'll whip this up for ya.


I'd just like to say that I'm really bowled over by the very friendly response I've gotten here. I would never have considered trying to make a mod if you people hadn't been so enthusiastic. Thanks all!

[theohall]

Or send the scenario to the Chironian Guild.

This sounds like a real challenge.

Yet another interested party: theohall@interconnect.net

[Avenoct]

Lumping along with Cybergod in the darker Smac-only nets..if you do come up with a Smac version send it! That sounds like a fun, if nearly impossible scenario.

-Smack Smack

[Velociryx]

The SMAC-Down game so far:

Initial Impressions at landing:
WOW! What eye popping terrain! Lush and green, with tons of specials and monoliths! Never mind the fact that it’s essentially 3 against 1, this is good land!

Yep….and from there, I got taught several lessons in humility, watching in slack-jawed amazement as The Hive?! Snapped up the HGP in 2119. My opinions regarding the land I started out on remains unchanged, but my perception of the bad guys is….vastly more respectful.

So, I’m going about my business and hoping for the best. I must say, it’s a very atypical game so far, both in terms of colonization and progress. The first thing I noted was how fast everything started coming together. That was both a blessing and a curse, but I’ll say that there’s no way on Chiron I could have expanded any faster….as it was, my formers were totally blown away….completely incapable of keeping up with the rampant growth of bases and production of colony pods. In fact, they’re STILL out building roads to connect all my bases so I can get at least some semblance of a defense network in place.

Speaking of defense, here’s another good example of how the game has been atypical. I have ten bases, and all of one scout patrol. He’s a veteran, and has been shuttled out to my most forward base. The other nine….totally empty.

One thing I am really enjoying about the game so far is the fact that there’s something going on almost every turn. One of the enemy factions beginning a new SP, forest spreading like wildfire, a new tech advance coming in….very fast paced game. Some might say it’s almost out of control it’s so fast, but I’m liking it very much!

Here then, is a synopsis of my game thus far. I have no idea how this compares to the experiences of other folks, but I figured it’d make a decent start for comparing results.

Initial Strategy:
Having read the Readme file that came with the game, I was fully expecting some tough AI, and probably lots of probe actions. Because of that, I promised myself I’d only keep expanding until some other faction showed up on the fringes. To that end, I wanted to build one of my earlier bases out some distance from the starting base, and backfill from there.

The result was ten, which is convenient cos they all fit on the f4 screen without scrolling. Ten bases founded before Lady Miriam's Believers popped up on the ol’ radar screen, founding a base some twelve tiles from my most forward base.

That was enough for me, so I stopped expanding and set about focusing on vertical investment in preparation for a pop boom to try and dig myself out of dead last place.

Here’s the timeline so far:

Initial allocation 40/0/60
2102 Tech! Industrial Base
2103 Monitoring Station founded
2105 Tech! Industrial Economics – Switched to Market then and there!
2108 Tech! Planetary Networks
2111 Otkrietia Discovery founded near two mineral specials! This looks like the place to try and build an SP.
2112 Tech! Industrial Automation – Adding Wealth immediately!
2113 Begin work on the Virtual World at O. Discovery
2114 The Hive?! Discovers Secrets of the Human Brain! OUCH
2115 Tech! Biogen//Also founded Koppernigk Observatory
2118 Budushii Dvorr Founded
2119 Yang completes the Genome Project. Tech for me! Social Psy
2120 Climactic Research founded
2122 Mendelev College founded
2123 Tech! Progenetor Psych
2125 The Spartans!!?? Beat me to the VW
2127 Gagarin Memorial founded
2128 Tech! Adaptive Doctrine – switching to the PEG// Also founded Academgorodok
2129 New Azarmas Founded
2130 All bases building crawlers, ‘cept for my single “Project Base.”

Observations so far:
The AI is exceedingly strong. I know I’m behind in tech, because they’re working on projects that I’m not even close to having the tech for. The upshot is that I’ll have Ethical Calc. In two years, and from there, it’s a short hop to restriction lifting. I’m currently getting techs every four years, which should (if that holds) see me building treefarms in the mid 40’s and prepping for a boom.

The upshot is, being behind in tech WITH a research oriented faction, my tech rate is less than it would otherwise be

I’ve had good luck so far, where worms are concerned. No rogue worms have popped up to attack my bases (good thing, as nine of the ten are empty!), and all ten of my formers are still alive and well, although they’re playing catch-up where terraforming is concerned.

General plan:
Because my formers are so horribly behind, after I build a crawler or two at each base, I’ll go back and build another former at each base (I have no garrison troops to speak of, so the support hit will be nominal, giving me a total support cost of 1m per base, two at University Base (which started with a Scout). The formers are being aided by the natural spread of forest, and further, by the truly excellent condition of the land we start on. Often, I can do fairly well when a base grows by just harvesting from a tile in its natural state. Still, doubling the number of crawlers in the field will go far in undoing the slower terraforming rate I’m under, having missed the Weather Paradigm.

Once the formers are out, I’ll put a synth/trance probe (Inf-based) in each base, and a few “regular” infantry based probes besides—I’d like to get three probes each in the two bases I’ve got “facing” the Believers, leaving one in all my interior bases, and two each in bases on or near the northern coast. Once I get to that point, I’ll start worrying about offensive (speeder-based) probes to do a little infiltration.

It was a stinging blow to lose the VW to the Spartans, of all people, but I regarded the PEG as a worthy substitute. Given free network nodes AND energy banks, the cost of maintaining those hologram theaters on my own will be pretty easy to bear. It DOES change the order of things a bit, since I find myself lacking the “automatic” drone control of having the VW, but I can live with that. At this point, I’m just happy I GOT an SP.

Given my overall plan, I see myself making HEAVY use of armored formers on the defense, and as the bad guys close in, I’ll need to start operating my formers in pairs to prevent subversion.

The “front” that’s developing is fairly broad, but terraforming will help here. Just to the east of my “Project Base,” I’ve got the Upland Wastes, a broad expanse of relatively dry terrain. If I forest it, drop a few sensors down selectively, and put no roads in, it should give me a nice natural barrier to guard against probe and rover attacks from there.

I predict though, that the main trouble spot will be the “corridor” leading to my initial bases. It’s a natural valley filled with lush, green tiles, the Borehole cluster on the valley floor. When my scout found the place, I knew I had to keep it out of the hands of the AI. Trouble is, keeping it might be a bit of a challenge.

I’m having to guesstimate as to the character of the rest of the continent, as I have not yet had an opportunity to explore the rest, but if my guess is correct, given the AI’s love of special terrain tiles and the overall layout of what I CAN see, there will be a natural inclination on the part of Miriam (and God-knows-who-else) to be drawn to that area like a magnet. Bad news for me, since they’ll likely have more bases, more population, and better productivity. If I lose the corridor, I lose the game, as it will expose ALL of my remaining bases to attack (I didn’t know it at the time, but my expansion ran like long fingers, curving gently around both sides of the valley). That’s cool, because eventually, if I can solidify my position in the valley, it’d make a great spot to relocate the HQ to, with an eye toward further expansion.

Ahhh, but I’m getting ahead of myself. At this point, there’s no guarantee that I can even keep the corridor safe, but I’m already working on that.

I know I should make the trip down mobility lane soon, to open up Flex as a possibility and get a few probe foils out hunting, but being behind in tech already has increased my resolve to get Enviro. Ec. in the hope that the influx raw population (from the boom that will shortly follow the arrival of that tech) and energy will help catapult me over them.

Anyway, kudos to the map/mod maker for an interesting and enjoyable game so far. First time I’ve EVER seen a Secret Project completed before 2120, and the first time I haven’t had my pick of early game SP’s in a really long time.

Good stuff.



-=Vel=-

[death_head]

Looks like one sexy map!

cppwhiz@juno.com