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What are the weaknesses of the Drones? -2 Research and an inability to run Green. At first glance these curses seem negligable, but then you remember that -2 Research means no research for the first 10 years. Ouch. And then you remember that early worm-powered exploration are why you love the Gaians so much.
Welcome to the Manifold Nexus Domai
I've recently been playing a bunch of Drones games, looking for that perfect early start for the high-score charts. Of all the landmarks, I've found the Nexus to be second only to the Jungle (of course). This has to do with gaining early control of the other factions and using them as tech slaves. But with the Drones --Research, this takes a bit of finesse, er, well, it takes 15 years of being nice and aloof.
A little history of some explorations into playing for score: Upon getting the Planetary Pack, and finally having access to SMAX for the first time, I was both excited and put-off by the new factions. They aren't balanced in the same way that the Smac factions are. Recently the re-appearance of the Hall of Fame has prompted me to have a go at a few games for score. At first I played with the Cybernetic Consciousness, which is obviously far and away the strongest faction in Smax (again, a lack of balance is a little annoying). But then I tried the Aliens, and was surprised to find myself actually liking them for an all out score-fest. The huge obstacle is their lack of commerce. I found this made them a bit boring for this type of game. I'd never played the Drones, so I gave them a try....
About my second game (large land map, lots of fungus, ironman, yes-Unity Survey, directed research, no-Look First), I happened to land right between the jungle and the Nexus, next to a big river system. I'm still playing that game for score, but I've since tried a few more games with the Nexus in range of the landing site, just to see how well I could do with it. So here's the basic idea:
Land and found HQ:
Must not use the look-first option if playing a land only map. The AI gets too confused and some wander around without ever founding a single base. To play for score, you want every AI to do well, so you can use them for trade and tech.
Send Second CP --> Manifold Nexus:
If the Nexus isn't in your territory, you won't get it's +1 Planet. Also, you need to 'discover' it by having explored at least 1 tile of the nexus-proper with a unit. In my high-score game, the Nexus is a few tiles outside my original territory, so I send the Colony Pod there.
Build Worm Army:
At the second base, the first scout goes to oggle the nexus, activating it. Then the fun begins. On a large map, it's easy to get 2-5 native units captured in the first 10 years. Use these to race to meet the other factions.
I greet you Roze, Aki, Chewed-On, and Sven:
You won't be able to talk to the aliens for awhile, so there's not much use in greeting them. Instead, find the other factions. Don't trade anything with them until you've discovered your first tech ~2116. There is no reason not to make this Centauri Ecology.
ICSing on the Domai Cake:
While your worm army builds itself and you pop pods on the way to meeting the other humans, your first two bases should become your first 4, then first 8. By 2125 - 2130 you should be way ahead in # of bases, if not overall population. Remember that Domai gets 1 drone made content per base. This means ICSing without a garrison is easy.
I'll take that tech, thank you very much: About this time you should also have a stronger military than all the other humans, except for Sven, who prides himself on being unattackable in his pond
. But between the other 3, you should now be able to Intimidate them. Get Social Psych and possibly Ethical Calculus from Chaw-Dawn. Get PlaNets, InfoNets, Applied Physics from the CyCon. And get something out of Roze. But do this with care.
The trick is to get yourself to Industrial Automation by researching Centauri Ecology, then Industrial Economics, then Industrial Automation. Yeah, that sounds weird. By bluffing your way to Planetary Networks, and possibly even IndEcon, you can cut the research b-line in half. You start with Industrial Base, unlike any other faction (no Morgan in a normal game). Use this to your advantage. Here are my seven secrets of successful Drone-powered Intimidation:
I know a lot of that is common knowledge, but it was fun to put it all together with the Drones. Their Industry and Drone control make them a perfect builder faction. However, their lack of research makes a Momentum game difficult. But with the Nexus, even Domai can go Green for awhile. Long enough to run Planned and then Dem-Planned, and then Dem-Planned-Wealth. By the time you've dealt the death-blow to a few factions and made them subservient, you will have built all the early Secret Projects, and can then switch to Dem-FM-Wealth for the rest of the game. Until you have the other factions roped in, there isn't a point to running Free Market. You can simply take the tech you otherwise would have researched slowly. Instead, a focus on SP building and dominating the landscape will make the later switch far more profitable.
-Smack
Welcome to the Manifold Nexus Domai
I've recently been playing a bunch of Drones games, looking for that perfect early start for the high-score charts. Of all the landmarks, I've found the Nexus to be second only to the Jungle (of course). This has to do with gaining early control of the other factions and using them as tech slaves. But with the Drones --Research, this takes a bit of finesse, er, well, it takes 15 years of being nice and aloof.
A little history of some explorations into playing for score: Upon getting the Planetary Pack, and finally having access to SMAX for the first time, I was both excited and put-off by the new factions. They aren't balanced in the same way that the Smac factions are. Recently the re-appearance of the Hall of Fame has prompted me to have a go at a few games for score. At first I played with the Cybernetic Consciousness, which is obviously far and away the strongest faction in Smax (again, a lack of balance is a little annoying). But then I tried the Aliens, and was surprised to find myself actually liking them for an all out score-fest. The huge obstacle is their lack of commerce. I found this made them a bit boring for this type of game. I'd never played the Drones, so I gave them a try....
About my second game (large land map, lots of fungus, ironman, yes-Unity Survey, directed research, no-Look First), I happened to land right between the jungle and the Nexus, next to a big river system. I'm still playing that game for score, but I've since tried a few more games with the Nexus in range of the landing site, just to see how well I could do with it. So here's the basic idea:
Land and found HQ:
Must not use the look-first option if playing a land only map. The AI gets too confused and some wander around without ever founding a single base. To play for score, you want every AI to do well, so you can use them for trade and tech.
Send Second CP --> Manifold Nexus:
If the Nexus isn't in your territory, you won't get it's +1 Planet. Also, you need to 'discover' it by having explored at least 1 tile of the nexus-proper with a unit. In my high-score game, the Nexus is a few tiles outside my original territory, so I send the Colony Pod there.
Build Worm Army:
At the second base, the first scout goes to oggle the nexus, activating it. Then the fun begins. On a large map, it's easy to get 2-5 native units captured in the first 10 years. Use these to race to meet the other factions.
I greet you Roze, Aki, Chewed-On, and Sven:
You won't be able to talk to the aliens for awhile, so there's not much use in greeting them. Instead, find the other factions. Don't trade anything with them until you've discovered your first tech ~2116. There is no reason not to make this Centauri Ecology.
ICSing on the Domai Cake:
While your worm army builds itself and you pop pods on the way to meeting the other humans, your first two bases should become your first 4, then first 8. By 2125 - 2130 you should be way ahead in # of bases, if not overall population. Remember that Domai gets 1 drone made content per base. This means ICSing without a garrison is easy.
I'll take that tech, thank you very much: About this time you should also have a stronger military than all the other humans, except for Sven, who prides himself on being unattackable in his pond
. But between the other 3, you should now be able to Intimidate them. Get Social Psych and possibly Ethical Calculus from Chaw-Dawn. Get PlaNets, InfoNets, Applied Physics from the CyCon. And get something out of Roze. But do this with care. The trick is to get yourself to Industrial Automation by researching Centauri Ecology, then Industrial Economics, then Industrial Automation. Yeah, that sounds weird. By bluffing your way to Planetary Networks, and possibly even IndEcon, you can cut the research b-line in half. You start with Industrial Base, unlike any other faction (no Morgan in a normal game). Use this to your advantage. Here are my seven secrets of successful Drone-powered Intimidation:
- Use the power of the Manifold Nexus to gain the biggest military and population. This makes all the AI into weak-kneed cowards, ripe for Intimidating. This works without the nexus, but it's very much easier with the free army.
- Gift techs to the AI until they become Submissive, or at least Magnanimous. Then demand Tech for not 'Crushing them like a bug'. Make sure to give the AI anything they are researching, even Sven and the Aliens, once you can talk to them. The idea is to never have an AI discover something that's not new to you too.
- Wait 2 years, then repeat. They won't talk to you in the first year after a good menacing Intimidate.
- If you can't seem to get an AI to cooperate, perhaps they are too strong? Give them lots of techs or call your bluff and invade with a worm or two.
- If you really need capitulation and surrender from the AI, give them a base, then take it right back. They'll surrender if you are the Big Mucho Military faction.
- Invade the AI factions at your convenience. The sooner the better though, so that you can build them up as commerce partners in safety. If any AI get's ahead of you and becomes uncooperative, use probes to get the profits of your earlier generosity, then invade them to remind them who's the Don (Dom). The power of the intimidate strategy is that it's not necessary to invade everyone straight away. You can take your time and submit one faction at a time with your worm army making a big trip around the map.
I know a lot of that is common knowledge, but it was fun to put it all together with the Drones. Their Industry and Drone control make them a perfect builder faction. However, their lack of research makes a Momentum game difficult. But with the Nexus, even Domai can go Green for awhile. Long enough to run Planned and then Dem-Planned, and then Dem-Planned-Wealth. By the time you've dealt the death-blow to a few factions and made them subservient, you will have built all the early Secret Projects, and can then switch to Dem-FM-Wealth for the rest of the game. Until you have the other factions roped in, there isn't a point to running Free Market. You can simply take the tech you otherwise would have researched slowly. Instead, a focus on SP building and dominating the landscape will make the later switch far more profitable.
-Smack
Seriously though it is no simple decision. Santiago can easily get that steady stream of elite infantry (+75% to bases plus double move) which more than makes up for Miriams +25% attack. But Miriam under fundy can support MASSIVE former armys which between that and probes, more than make up for her -2 Research
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