Newbie questions

[SmartFart]

I've purschased SMAC/Alien Crossfire few days ago and right now am playing my very 1st game (huge planet,transcedence level).

I would like to start multiplaying as soon as i finish 2-3 single games and i have few questions:

-do i need any patch and if so,which one and where i can get it?
-which 3 secret projects are most favorable in MP games?
-what level you guys playing in MP?
-how does governor election works in MP?
-is there double production/movement in SMAC MP?

I am very dangerous competitor in Civ2 MP and i guess i shouldn't have much troubles to learn some basics,but i know i have long way before i could have some chance to compete with veterans on this board,so any tip will be greatly appriciated.

Thanx in advance.
Regards.
SF

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No i ain't doing much,doing nothing means alot to me (AC/DC)

[Tau Ceti]

Welcome, SmartFart!

quote: -do i need any patch and if so,which one and where i can get it?

All multiplayer games that I know of use the latest patches; SMAC v4 and SMACX v2. If you got the Planetary Pack then these are probably already included, otherwise you can download them from www.firaxis.com or this site. The SMACX v2 patch includes SMAC v4. If you are in doubt as to what versions you have, you can check the version number via one of the in-game menus - though I do not remember which.

quote: -which 3 secret projects are most favorable in MP games?

Depends heavily on size of world, nature of the game, number of players and player preference. Hard to give a definite list here.

quote: -what level you guys playing in MP?

Most games are at Thinker or Transcend difficulty, though some prefer Librarian (especially in SMAC, as there is a bug (fixed in SMACX v2, but not for SMAC) that means buildings do not cost as much to maintain as they should on Thinker and Transcend).

quote: -how does governor election works in MP?

All council proposals go around to all players. The player to call the meeting gets the usual council screen, sees the votes of the AI factions and can bribe them as usual. The votes for the other players are left blank, and they cannot be actively bribed via the council screen - but sometimes the computer will make an offer for a player without that player's knowledge! Most groups do not allow players to accept such an offer.

After all players have played their turn and had their chance to vote, the result is displayed to all players on the next turn.

quote: -is there double production/movement in SMAC MP?

No.