N00b thread!!!!11!!1

[duke o' york]

At long, long last I picked up SMAC (for free, when I bought two other games), and have now come along to join in the spamfest ask for advice from those veterans of the game in this forum.

I spent all Saturday playing at infant level (or whatever the lowest is called), and easily won by conquest while not too far from transcendance. It was fun, but a little too like shooting fish in a barrel for me. So I'm going to whack up the difficulty in my next game and will require some pointers to achieve some kind of respectability.

So I'd like a single hint from everyone who usually posts here - not the "same as has been said by ......" sort, or the "read the manual" sort either. Just a single, useful, hint from everyone that will give me a fighting chance of lasting some way into the game and ensure I am not rolled over by the Gaians within four turns.

[Lord_Icewind]

Well...I'm am definetly not an expert, but I can tell you one or two things I realized not so much ago: FREE MARKET is not that bad. It's actually quite good and its a noob sindrome to thinks its not good.
And...use many crawlers. A lot of them...and even more formers (borehole-ing)...
I don't know for sure if its good, but as a last advice, I can tell you forests are a good option. Plant some and you can forget about terraforming, except when doing boreholes/landbriges.

[Minute Mirage]

Use your energy credits for rushing units and improvements, a large cash reserve is not very useful by itself. A good thing to rush in the early game are formers and crawlers when you get them.

[molly bloom]

I always like to have a little transport or two out and about as soon as possible to get those unexpected bonuses from seapods that come in ever so handy when rushing projects or cutting down on base supported units.

[Darsnan]

Edit in your alpha.txt file a line to include Googlie's probe crusiers: this then will mean the AI will build aquatic probe units. Much more enjoyable IMO!
Unfortunately I'm at work right now and can't find a link discussing them. I'll post the info in tonight, unless someone else posts it before then.


D

[livid imp]

Crawler upgrading will make you a pro overnight (at least in SP).

Upgrade a crawler to a armored version with the most expensive special abilites you can get. Then cash that unit into a secret project. Where adding a standard crawler to a project might shave off a turn or so off the project, an upgraded crawler will pay for 1/3 to 1/5 of the total project.

[fender]

Depending on what level you're going to play at, use a large or huge map. With any luck you'll have time to build some good cities and have a viable defense by the time the "War Mongers" come calling on you.

[Fazdaar]

Learn to pop-boom. This means getting a total of +6 population growth in each city you wish to pop-boom and feeding that city enough nutrients, either with crawlers or with enough high-nutrient squares to work. Doing this will allow you to gain 1 population point in each city each turn, giving you a dramatic growth in power if you continue pop-booming up until you reach your current maximum population.

[livid imp]

Originally posted by fender
.....have a viable defense by the time the "War Mongers" come calling on you.

He is new, he may want to be a war monger, in which case, smaller maps are easier

edit: Even when I play as a builder anymore I still prefer tiny maps just because then it does stay more exciting, even if only slightly more difficult.

[Petek]

Hope this tip isn't too basic:

In the early part of the game, you should build lots of bases. The optimal number of bases depends on several factors, such as map size (the bigger the map, the more bases you build), but you really need to keep making bases at the start.

Keep your bases fairly close together. It's OK if the production squares overlap. You'll find plenty of discussion here about the optimal spacing, but a reasonable plan is to place the bases with two squares on the diagonal between them.

[Chaos Theory]

Learn what not to build: Energy banks are nice, but only if your raw energy income is high enough; Bio labs are very rarely worthwhile; avoid Holo theaters. Build military facilities (command center, etc) sparingly, and make sure you use them (exception: aerospace complex, since it influences satellites and protects against drops). Tree farms/hybrid forests are good only if you use enough forest, and so on. Don't feel that you need to build every facility in every city.

[Flubber]

I agree with chaos theory


PLus

1. rushing a build is a lot cheaper if you have 10 minerals accumulated already

2. Pick centauri ecology as one of your very first techs to get some formers going-- Build roads out to where your base will go to plant the colony as a new base faster

3. Put bases on crappy terrain as the underlying terrain is irrelevant to what a base produces from the base tile EXCEPT you WILL get the benefit of resource bonuses and you WILL get an extra energy for building on a river

4. Tinker with government SE choices to see their impacts

5. Don't waste resources on crap you don't need-- reread Chaos theory's post for some ideas there-- My pet one is a perimeter defense . . . I never saw the point of putting one in your base in the middle of your empire.

6. If getting attacked by sea landings think of using the shoreline blockade trick. Line your coast with units so the enemy can't get ashore. They can't attack from their naval transport without the amphibious ability and that usually comes later

7. Put a sensor on a planned base site ( on the frontier)if you can. This can't be destroyed, costs nothing but former time and lets you see those worms coming.

8. Expect the other factions to be two-timing sons o'guns

9 Play play play an

[livid imp]

Originally posted by Flubber
2. Pick centauri ecology as one of your very first techs to get some formers going-- Build roads out to where your base will go to plant the colony as a new base faster

Question to everyone, is it more important to you to build roads to get colony pods planted faster, or more important to plant forest to get that fast early forest spread?

[Petek]

Originally posted by livid imp


Question to everyone, is it more important to you to build roads to get colony pods planted faster, or more important to plant forest to get that fast early forest spread?

I try to combine the two strategies: First task for the former is to farm a tile if no tile produces two nuts. Next (or first if I do have a two-nut tile) is to build a road on a flat tile, since that takes only one turn. Then the tile with a road gets forested. At that point my base has two good tiles and my former builds more roads.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Petek


I try to combine the two strategies: First task for the former is to farm a tile if no tile produces two nuts. Next (or first if I do have a two-nut tile) is to build a road on a flat tile, since that takes only one turn. Then the tile with a road gets forested. At that point my base has two good tiles and my former builds more roads.

I agree with Petek

My first priority is to get a two nut tile for faster growth . . . Then I usually place road on a tile or two before starting my first forest. Obviously if you can move along a river, you can do without the roads

I don't like to count on forest growth. What I count on is that getting a base planted 3 turns earlier will mean my next former comes off the production lines that much quicker