What base facilities to you never or rarely build?

[Dis]

Originally posted by CEO Aaron
Never builds: Skunk Works; Brood Pits; Punishment Spheres

I'm suprised to find someone who says they never build Genejacks. What a great facility!

bah! I usually crawl for minerals until robotic assembly plants.

[Dis]

Originally posted by Senethro
Don't diss the Skunkworks. Its never a Tree Farm, but it has its uses. I sometimes find it useful to build one. Not only does it aid prototyping (especially for planet busters) but it removes the retooling penalty. In my best minerals base I'm happy to build one skunkworks for that flexibility. If an emergency comes up I know that when I change production the new production will still be in the range where it hurries cheaply.

I actually built it in last nights game, but I never used it.

I find that base is always busy building something else. I was rolling in energy anyways. I just have another base do it, and rush it. Yeah, I know it's not the most economical use of my money.

speaking of:

my last night's game I was building those flachette systems (I had a planetbuster scare- it was all I had). It's supposed to work against conventional missiles too, right? I was still getting hammerred by conventional missiles. I know it's only 50%, but I can't tell if they are actually working.

[Whoha]

It depends : fully developed spread out bases pretty much get everything(except punishment spheres of course) and ICS bases get only immediately useful things(no drone control or special stuff).

skunk works sucks, use crawlers on prototype(instant 6-10 planetbusters as soon as you get orbital flight for instance).

[Darsnan]

Originally posted by livid imp
I am shocked nobody has mentioned the single most god-awful p.o.s. facility......

The Skunkworks!

Build a crawler instead. Have it harvesting resources until the point you need to use it. Much more efficient.

Sounds good to me!

Also, not exactly the same, but similar, why useless terrain enhancements: airbases. Never built 'em. How about you?


D

[livid imp]

That was one of my first SMAC posts. Whether or not airbases were a liablity.

If your enemy has airpower, they could use them to get to you just as easily as you could get to them. You'd be better off just building a base. They'd at least need a ground unit to use the base vs just landing in it.

[Chaos Theory]

Airbases are garbage only because bases are so nice, with so few downsides. Bureaucracy doesn't have teeth and planes have plenty of range. I suppose a treaty-mate not willing to pact (perhaps a lack of trust, perhaps a desire to keep collaboration secret for a sneak attack) may still allow you to pass through his territory with airbases.

[Blake]

If you keep your airforce and missiles in a base then the enemy can see them via infiltration, not so for air units in an airbase.

If you feel like getting a bit carried away you can build a bunch of airbases and hide planetbusters at only some of them. The enemy would know you have planetbusters but they wouldn't show up on any base screens, so they couldn't (as easily) first-strike you.

[Xian]

Re: What base facilities to you never or rarely build?

Originally posted by Dissident
I'm finding sometimes there are too many options in SMAC expansion. You never really have time to build everything. There are some base facilities I never build. And some game designs I find to be useless. Although it is great to have more options, because I'm sure there are some of you out there, that probably use these. So that's why I made this thread.

Psi gates is a big one for me. What good are they? There are more as well, but I'll need to load up my last save game. I never build these facilities so I don't remember their names.

Maybe its just that fact that i like Industrial factions, (Hive Drones) but the ONLY base facilities i DONT want build are Punishment spheres and things that are rendered obsolete from secret projects - otherwise anythigns a go

Psi gates are rarely used but they still get built it I have time

I really disagree with the concept that the game has too many options. The more facilities and different styles of customization, the more options for strategies players can build... I think that you may be ignorant of the different tactics other players use, I wouldnt be so quick to dismiss any facility

I honestly can name a way in which every facility in the game could be critical to a strategy

I try to play an "ethical AC" even when the Hive, and that means I always keep my status "Noble" and never build PSes, but i do build Genejack factories and have never found them to affect my drones too much. Also i try to keep a perfect ecological rating at ALL my bases ALL the time

It all depends on what faction you play and what difficulty you choose

[#endgame]

I'm sure Jamski had a thread analysing many of the facilities in great depth somewhere.

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=112078

Enjoy

[Dis]

maybe I'll read that.

I mentioned the flachette systems above.

Do they work for you guys? That's what I was asking. It almost seemed like they weren't working for conventional missiles.

[Senethro]

Each Flechette works once per turn.

[RedFred]

Like most players I have tried everything out to see how it works. But a lot of the improvements I rarely build are late game stuff that isn't a priority when you are trying to shave off as many turns as possible to transcend.

The Space Elevator SP is way worse than any p-sphere. Can you imagine making your citizens listen to Kenny G. for several hours at a time? The 'no drones' SP is another bad one. Comes right at the very end of the game.

[Harfang]

I'm definitely no expert. I play mostly as a builder or hybrid on Thinker and I find that once I get Advanced Spaceflight (usually the first or second level 8 tech obtained through blind research), it's game over. The rest is just icing on the cake.

(Nearly) never: Punishment Sphere, Paradise Garden, Temple of Planet, Brood Pit, Covert Ops Center, Tachyon Field, Quantum Converter, Nanoreplicator, Psi Gate, Genejack Factory, Flechette Defense System.

Rarely: Biology Lab, Centauri Preserve, Skunkwork, Robotic Assembly Plant.

Enough lead to get the secret project instead: Naval Yard, Aerospace Complex, Bioenhancement Center.

[Dis]

Originally posted by RedFred
Like most players I have tried everything out to see how it works. But a lot of the improvements I rarely build are late game stuff that isn't a priority when you are trying to shave off as many turns as possible to transcend.

The Space Elevator SP is way worse than any p-sphere. Can you imagine making your citizens listen to Kenny G. for several hours at a time? The 'no drones' SP is another bad one. Comes right at the very end of the game.

telepathic matrix rules. I never build cloning vats without it. I usually try to beeline towards it getting cloning vats.

though sometimes wars such as in my last game dictate I get orbital defense pods first.

[livid imp]

Originally posted by Dissident
telepathic matrix rules. I never build cloning vats without it.

emphasis added

Are you saying you don't build the Cloning Vats until after you have the TeleMatrix?