Difficulty signifies...?

[Static Universe]

I don't object to the AI cheating. I object to the fact that it builds 100 transports but can't seem to land more than two units at a time in my territory.

[Capt Dizle]

Yeah, I know. The AI is bad but you have to admit that with complexities of SMAC it would be a ton of work to create an AI that could compete with a human.

Kasparov's problems the the AI is a result of playing a simple game. The AI just use superior computing power to consider possible moves and relies on its massive library to counter.

If you want a game with better AI check out Civ3. The AI isn't really better, its just that the game was dumbed down to make it perform better.

Of course it is so boring that you will be asleep in no time, but still.......

[sevencubed]

Originally posted by Gibsie
How does that AI cheat in this game? All I know is that its missiles have infinite range... which is a killer-cheat in itself

gibsie, thats true for SMAC, but it was fixed with SMAX. I have verified it by watching the AI several times as it was maneuvering its missiles from one base to another in order to bring them in range.

[sevencubed]

Originally posted by Phenix
I think there's also a lot more inefficiency on higher difficulty...

That's not true. Inefficiency is not affected by difficulty level. The formula is :

Inefficiency = (Energy * Distance / (64 - ((4 - Efficiency) * 8))

where :
Energy = Amount of energy produced by base this turn.
Distance = Distance from Headquarters
Efficiency = Social Engineering rating +2 if there is a Children's Creche at base.

If denominator reaches zero, ALL energy is lost to inefficiency.

The above can be found in the file "conceptsx.txt" in your SMAC folder directory

[sevencubed]

Originally posted by TKG

...on transcend, the 2nd citizen in every base is a drone. thinker, the 3rd, librarian 4th, talent 5th, specialist 6th, citizen 7th...

and apart from that, difficulty affects the addition of extra Drones because a faction has exceeded a certain number of bases. Thats "bureaucracy" and the formula works as follows (again from the file "conceptsx.txt" ) :

BaseLimit = (8 - Difficulty) * (4 + Efficiency) * MapRoot / 2

Where:
Difficulty = Player's difficulty level (0 - 5)
Efficiency = Social Engineering rating.
MapRoot = Sq. Root of # Map Squares / Sq. Root of 3200.

For each base a faction builds in excess of this number, one additional drone will appear at some base somewhere in the colony.

Additionaly, disloyal Citizens from captured bases (that is drones) appear more easily depending on difficulty : for approximately 50 turns after you capture an enemy base, you will receive extra drones while you assimilate the enemy citizens. The basic rate is 5 drones minus one for each 10 turns elapsed, but the number may never exceed:
(BaseSize + Difficulty - 2)/4

[Datajack Franit]

I gave up Alien Crossfire as the new factions are totally clueless in providing a decent game- playing it with the old Alpha Centauri's ones instead has proved to be goddamn fun

[Method]

i find the aliens to be quite a pain, especially if you don't use nerve gas on them. the drones can be annoying in stealing early game SPs (though they suck after that)

[knowhow2]

back to the subject of this thread.......

SE changes cost more; 40 ec on transcend