Do you do it?

[Cybergod]

I'm sorry if the title might be a bit misleading but here it goes...

Do you select any of the following when playing a SMAC/X SP game? Some of these might apply to human factions only:

• blind research
• double blind research
• tech stagnation
• random events
• invisible map (no unity survey}
• select more agressive oponents (an option in the rules at start)
• spoils of war (steal tech when conquer base)
• flexible starting locations
• no scattered pods
• accellerated start
• iron man
• randomised faction personas/agendas

Since the forums do not have a "multiple choice" option when making a poll, I had to do it this way.

[Vlad Antlerkov]

Random events-- sometimes. Never see anything happen, though.

No Unity Survey-- always. It's cheating to know even the coastlines in advance

Random agendae-- sometimes. Seeing factions advocate what would normally be the antithesis to their ideology can be funny-- esp. Domai being FM/Wealth or Moran under Planned...

And yes, you can post multiple-choice polls.

[gwillybj]

doesn't everybody

ON:
Higher Goal: Allow Victory by Transcendence.
Total War: Allow Victory by Conquest.
Peace in Our Time: Allow Diplomatic Victory.
Mine, All Mine: Allow Economic Victory.
One for All: Allow Cooperative Victory.
Do or Die: Don't restart eliminated players.
Look First: Flexible starting locations.
Tech Stagnation: Slower rate of research discoveries.
No Unity Survey: World Map not visible.

OFF:
Spoils of War: Steal tech when conquer base.
Blind Research: Cannot set precise research goals.
Intense Rivalry: Opponents more aggressive.
No Unity Scattering: Supply Pods only at landing sites.
Bell Curve: No Random Events.
Time Warp: Accelerated Start.
Iron Man: Save/Restore restricted to exit.
Randomize faction leader personalities.
Randomize faction leader social agendas.

Sometimes, though, I will Intense Rivalry and both Randomizers
I also edit the tech research rate in alpha.txt to slow it down even more than just TechStag
I don't use IronMan because the electricity here has a nasty habit of going out right in the middle of a game so I have to save frequently
I don't understand why so many people say they rarely ever see Random Events. I see them very often - on an average of every three or four turns. They don't always affect my faction, but they are still announced. I have seen all of them at least once - not all in one game, of course

[Alex]

Ok...

- blind research: most of the time. Occasionally I turn it off, when I want a more relaxing game...

- double bl. res.: rarely.

- tech stag: most of the time.

- random events: always. I like unpredictability.

- invisible map: always. Otherwise, how fun is that?

- more agressive oponents: never. I like the challenge the way it is (or I am a crappy player)...

- spoils of war: rarely. I think it is almost a cheat.

- flexible starting locations: rarely. I like to think that I managed to create a vast empire even with a horrible start...

- no scattered pods: occasionally, just to spice things up.

- accelerated start: never. I like to build things from scratch.

- iron man: never.

- randomised faction personas/agendae: never.

[Lefty Scaevola]

Re: Do you do it?

Originally posted by Cybergod

Since the forums do not have a "multiple choice" option when making a poll, I had to do it this way.

VBB does has a multiple choiece option (the poll will then have square rather than round checkboxes) and IIRC it is enabled here.

[MariOne]

heh

invisible map (no unity survey)
I wonder who plays with visible map

random events
Why should you take them out in SP...

flexible starting locations
I don't find it challenging playing with a stupid HQ location, just annoying. Although it would be more important to allow it in MP than in SP

blind research
double blind research
tech stagnation
I've played some, but I feel natural to leave all these off. I don't think TechStag makes SP games more interesting, you just pass more time building more units even if you don't need them...

spoils of war (steal tech when conquer base)
really, tested and then never used it.

no scattered pods
as with random, it would make more sense to exclude it in MP. In SP even if a human should exploit them better, you'd deny yourself some variety in the game option - would it be more challenging? I'd say it would be less fun in SP without pods to pop.

select more agressive oponents (an option in the rules at start)
there is not consensus whether this would actually make the game tougher for the human player, on the contrary

randomised faction personas/agendas
well, so that until you infiltrate the blue facion you realize it's not the Hive? Not all that significancy, after all....


accellerated start
ABOVE ALL, NO! NEVER!

iron man
ABOVE ALL, NO! NEVER! This is also the most idiot option. You know, on fast machines, IF you're willing to cheat it's nt IronMan which would stop you. Saving and reloading takes JUST FEW SECONDS LONGER. And if you really want different outcomes, you can even resave to scramble the seed...
So, Iron Man are JUST BIG WORDS MEANING ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. They only screw up the scores.
Should I want to CHEAT on a score comparison scenario (which of course is the most pointless thing I can think of), I'd indeed expressly choose to play with IronMan just to throw some sand in idiot's eyes.

[Mr. President]

I play with Steal Tech When Conquer Base, because it's fun. I tried randomizing faction agendas once, but it gave Zakharov Fundamentalist politics and Miriam Knowledge values, which was dumb because their text files forbid them from using these choices. I'd try it again, though; it seems like it might be fun.

[Tovarich]

I usually play with all the options default, with the exception of Tech Stagnation and Flex Starting locations. I sometimes turn those on. I think Ironman would be more frustrating than fun. I have never reloaded for a better outcome. The only time I load an autosave is when my computer crashes or something like that.

[Yxklyx]

blind research - YES

double blind research - YES

tech stagnation - NO

random events - YES

invisible map (no unity survey} - YES

select more agressive oponents (an option in the rules at start) - NO

spoils of war (steal tech when conquer base) - NO

flexible starting locations -NO

no scattered pods -YES

accellerated start -NO

iron man - YES

randomised faction personas/agendas - NO

PLUS NO Crawlers & NO Base Trading

[Yxklyx]

Actually, The Unity Survey isn't that bad. It only shows the outlines of the continents - all is still greyed out. The map isn't all visible - try it out once. You can sort of see it anyway when you play with Survey off - at least you can spot the Garland Crater and other landmarks, etc...

[xeno7667]

I take the default options. They are most balanced.

I never use direct research in SP's. So stupid and annoying to research direct to IndAuto against the AI.

What does double blind mean? Does it mean to never change the default research categories? If so, I play always double blind.

[Shai-Hulud]

I usually play with default rules because they fit my style. I turn off Transcend and Economic victory because they are too easy to achieve. I don't use Spoils of War because I want to keep Probes in the center of action, not to unbalance Probe oriented factions. I play with Blind research because of realism. I always take Random Events but never customize factions...maybe I'm being loayal to the original concept, it might be interesting though.

[wheathin]

I almost always play:
No Survey
No Pods
Double Blind tech
Random events
Flexible start

I don't select tech stag, but I altered the tech rate in alpha.txt, so I guess it's the same thing.

I don't play spoils of war - it hurts factions who have that as a special ability.
I find the aggressive opponents are more annoying. They are tough in the early game, but they don't build enough to last long. I actually added a build priority to all factions, per Blake's suggestion and reduced the aggressiveness.

[Yxklyx]

Build Priority?

[RedFred]

Re: Do you do it?

For single player games:

Blind research - rarely, I prefer double blind or fully directed

Double blind research - about half of the time, I used to do it all the time but you need beelining practice for MP games.

Tech stagnation - rarely, the games are long enough for me already.

Random events - almost always. But the first time I cornered the energy market I cheated and turned it off.

Invisible map (no unity survey} - Always. And always random maps and not map of planet.

Select more agressive oponents (an option in the rules at start) - No. Not only that, but if they had a LESS aggressive option, I'd probably select it.

Spoils of war (steal tech when conquer base) - Never. I think that the game was meant to be played without it. Otherwise why would they give Aki that special ability? But I am not a momentum player in any case.

Flexible starting locations - No. The SMACX first bases are generally in decent spots. I wish that the game would distribute the seven factions more evenly throughout Planet though.

No scattered pods - Never. Pod recovery is one of the fun things in the game.

Accellerated start - On occasion. The first few turns are the most important in the game to play well and often the most fun. But it is good MP practice to try this option now and then. You get very few of the early key SPs and your first few cities will be no better than the AIs.

Iron man - I used to with SMAC. But I still have crashes with SMACX, so I never use it anymore.

Randomised faction personas/agendas - I have only tried this once. Part of the fun for me in this game is the role playing aspects.