My new top score, yeehaw!

[Kaptain Ken]

If you are a builder or a perfectionist, you play longer to achieve your goals, and yes it can get boring in the late game, but its still fun.

[gwillybj]

It ain't over 'til Planet sings

[mox]

Hey Guynemer, a fellow Michigander? I'm up in Saginaw...

[Guynemer]

It's wonderful that you can admit that.

[Flubber]

In SP I often just don't bother to finish the game at all. If I am 5 times as big as everyone else combined and have a huge tech lead, secure probe defense and a secure military situation, whats the point? Playing on would just kill a bunc of hours for very little enjoymenyt

[Static Universe]

Oh, I don't know. It can get pretty boring sometimes, but I quite enjoy mopping up the AI players at end of game. Especially when they've been mouthing off and posturing the whole game.

[Hendrik]

Mox I grew up in Midland, Michigan. My mom and dad both worked in Saginaw, I went there occaisionally.

[CEO Aaron]

I'm with Flubber on this one. I only play my single player games to the point at which my victory is assured. For the longest time I had never won the game by transcendence, and simply opted for political victory on the few times I had finished. If I get a game that stays interesting high enough on the tech tree, I might go for the Transcend win, but mostly I park the game once I'm in a secure position and start over.

I've been reading some of the challenge ideas with interest, I like the idea of switching factions midgame to the weakest, then building them up.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by CEO Aaron .

I've been reading some of the challenge ideas with interest, I like the idea of switching factions midgame to the weakest, then building them up.

I did that one a couple of months ago-- it was a lot of fun and I can really recommend it For a real challenge, pick an initial faction that you are very good with. That means a real monster empire to try to overcome later

[CEO Aaron]

Holy CRAP!

Well, I started out Morgan, against the other standard SMAC factions. I built them up for 100 years, then switched over to the last place faction, and of course, it had to be the Spartans (my least favorite of the original 7). Not only did these clowns have only 3 bases, but they had 4 colony pods just parked in the middle of nowhere. To make matters worse, they hadn't even discovered centauri ecology, so no formers.

I don't know whether I'm going to be able to turn things around, to be honest, Morgan's snapping up tech and SP's at an alarming rate, and everyone else seems intent on crushing me like the insignificant bug I am.

[Flubber]

Re: Holy CRAP!

Originally posted by CEO Aaron
Well, I started out Morgan, against the other standard SMAC factions. I built them up for 100 years, then switched over to the last place faction, and of course, it had to be the Spartans (my least favorite of the original 7). Not only did these clowns have only 3 bases, but they had 4 colony pods just parked in the middle of nowhere. To make matters worse, they hadn't even discovered centauri ecology, so no formers.

I don't know whether I'm going to be able to turn things around, to be honest, Morgan's snapping up tech and SP's at an alarming rate, and everyone else seems intent on crushing me like the insignificant bug I am.

We never said it would be easy. When I did it last, I think I inherited factions with populations less than 10 at each the 100 and 150 year switch. It takes great flexibility in playstyle. You may be used to a tech lead and crushing everyone but in this type of game you may have to use a lot more diplomacy

[CEO Aaron]

Well, since my last post, my situation has improved somewhat. Morgan came to my rescue by building the Empath Guild and convening the planetary council. Once I had some other factions' comlink frequencies I was able to dial up Zak and trade a few techs to him. Once I had gatling technology and clean reactors under my belt, I was able to roll out a sizable force of clean gatling rovers, and clean Miriam off my left flank. Unfortunately, Yang appears to have discovered air-power, and has overrun Believer positions to my north, and is now razing my modest crawler fleet up there, as well as any expeditionary forces I manage to send there. I secured a ceasefire with Mimi to consolidate my gains, and my plan at this point is to dig in and wait out the Hive bombardment until I can get either AAA (my next tech) or Air power myself.

Meanwhile, Morgan is running gangbusters, having picked up the Cloudbase Academy and the Cyborg Factory in addition to just about every other SP discovered so far. Its not so much that I'm used to having the tech lead, I've played plenty of games as the Believers, I'm just not used to having NO secret projects. If I do wind up turning this around, the only way I'm going to be back in the driver's seat is to raze Morgan's continent and transfer my capital.

[Fazdaar]

On the topic of high scores, does the difficutly affect your score?

[Static Universe]

Originally posted by Fazdaar
On the topic of high scores, does the difficutly affect your score?

IIRC, difficulty level has no direct affect on the final score.


From GameSpot:

Scoring
Your Alpha Centauri score is calculated as follows:
1. One point for each citizen of each base.
2. If you have won a diplomatic or economic victory, score:
(a) One point for each citizen of a pact brother's base.
(b) Half a point for each citizen of any other faction's base.
3. Half a point for each citizen of a surrendered base.
4. One point for each unit of commerce your bases are receiving.
5. One point for each technology discovered.
6. Ten points for each transcendence thought advance.
7. 25 points for each secret project.
8. A victory bonus if you have won the game.

[Flubber]

ceoaaron

I never sweat the Projects when playing against the AI . . I want then but it does not bother me if I miss a few--If I get tech parity with a reasonable size empire, I know I can conquer what I need