What facilities don't you build??

[Flubber]

There has been a lack of threads lately so I thought I'd start one.


What facilities do you find of very marginal utility or build very sparingly? I'm tinking early to mid-game here since in the late game I find there are a whole bunch that I just don't have the time or inclination to build as transcendence is so close. I have a few

1. holo-theatres -- with crawling and specialists I find these are rarely necessary. I often go whole game building NONE of these-- rec commoms just seem so superior
2. skunkworks-- 1 maximum
3. perimeter defense-- maybe in the early game at chokepoint-once airpower arrives, it would be very rare
4. subsea trunkline-- only worth the effort sometimes
5. Bioenhancementt centre-- In SMAX SP, you always get the CF so its moot but absent that, this seems a preicy facility and usually is onmly worthwhile to build in a base or two

[Leon Trotsky]

Why only think in terms of profit?

I never build punishment spheres as I'm against torture.
I only build genejack factories if I'm Yang.
I avoid psych enhancing facilities as Santiago.
I seldom build labs as Miriam.
As Deirde, I shun industrial developement.

Complementarily, I tend to build certain facilities even if they don't guarantee a monetary reward:

Centauri preserves as Deirde.
All Hospitals as Lal.
Every morale related facility as Santiago.



Playing a game is just a part-time job if you only allow yourself do what is more profitable.

[GeoModder]

Holo's... can't remember if I ever build them massively in a game.
Skunkworks now and then, for those pricy weapons later on.
Punishment Sphere... just not me, altho I see the benefit in a FM economy, but just not me.
Genejacks, Quantum Converters... don't want the extra drone in the former, and the latter comes too late in the game.
Bio-enhancements, Naval Yards, Aerospaces, CC's... perhaps a few when necessary, but usually I have the SP's giving them for free thus...
And the Biolab I mosttimes only massbuild after the middlegame, so I guess I can include it in the list as well.

[Chaos Theory]

Never:

Bio Lab
Holo Theater
Subsea Trunkline
Paradise Garden
Covert Ops Center


Rarely:

Skunkworks
Perimeter Defense
Command Center
Naval Yard
Bioenhancement Center
Centauri Preserve
Temple of Planet
Punishment Sphere
Flechette Defense

[Googlie]

Originally posted by GeoModder
Skunkworks now and then, for those pricy weapons later on.

Note that once you've built a Planetbuster, every subsequent weapon is prototyped

[GeoModder]

Sounds logical, since prototyping a superior weapon prototypes lesser ones, and a buster is the ultimate weapon.
Still, the undocumented effect of Skunkworks can come handy I guess.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Chaos Theory
Never:

Bio Lab
Holo Theater
Subsea Trunkline
Paradise Garden
Covert Ops Center


Rarely:

Skunkworks
Perimeter Defense
Command Center
Naval Yard
Bioenhancement Center
Centauri Preserve
Temple of Planet
Punishment Sphere
Flechette Defense

As usual your list is more complete than mine, although I have built the occasional biolab-- i'm trying to recall why -- Doesn't the biolab increase native lifecycle or something-- that might have been a reason

and i know I have built a subsea trunkline -- I think it was when conquered an AI seabase that had a bunch of mining platforms so I thought it was worthwhile

Of your rarely list, I have to say

1. I build centauri preserves reasonably often-- In fact I built a lot of them when I played your challenge game, mainly because I wanted to stop causing searises as it was too tedious raising land and fixing terraforming

2. Punishment sphere may end up in 1/4 or less of my bases. Again playing your challenge game I used them a fair bit so that I could maintain an airforce while running FM

The rest I agree with since I will build them as stand alone facilities only in 0-3 bases per game depending on circumstances

[wgabrie]

I never build facilities that cost 3+ in upkeep without a very good reason. Tree Farms are a good reason!

I also don't build energy banks early unless I'm alone or run out of space. It takes too long to build and its expensive to rush. I'd rather be building colony pods (land and sea), Formers, or other units.

[BlackCat]

I can remember a couple of games where my main cities was made worthless by disease wich a biolab could have prevented, so at least in those cities I build such.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by BlackCat
I can remember a couple of games where my main cities was made worthless by disease wich a biolab could have prevented, so at least in those cities I build such.

ahh that would influence things since in MP games the random events are turned off since well they are so RANDOM

[Chaos Theory]

Originally posted by Flubber
As usual your list is more complete than mine, although I have built the occasional biolab-- i'm trying to recall why -- Doesn't the biolab increase native lifecycle or something-- that might have been a reason

Bio labs add 1 to the lifecycle of native life produced there. I rarely produce native life anyway, so that doesn't matter to me.

and i know I have built a subsea trunkline -- I think it was when conquered an AI seabase that had a bunch of mining platforms so I thought it was worthwhile

They cost just too much to be worthwhile for me. They're about 16 mineral rows initially, and 4 ECs per turn. I rarely build mining platforms anyway, since tidal harnesses work so much better.

Of your rarely list, I have to say

1. I build centauri preserves reasonably often-- In fact I built a lot of them when I played your challenge game, mainly because I wanted to stop causing searises as it was too tedious raising land and fixing terraforming

I find that among tree farms, hybrid forests, and pops, my clean mineral count gets high enough. Then again, I build many cities.

2. Punishment sphere may end up in 1/4 or less of my bases. Again playing your challenge game I used them a fair bit so that I could maintain an airforce while running FM

You still only need a few to field a nice airforce.

[Leon Trotsky]

Originally posted by Flubber
ahh that would influence things since in MP games the random events are turned off since well they are so RANDOM

Not THAT random - they tend to reward infrastructure building.

[Mart]

Originally posted by GeoModder
....
Still, the undocumented effect of Skunkworks can come handy I guess.

One more reason, that skunkworks might be somewhere earlier in tech tree. Though there is little space for maneouver. skunkworks - level 3 tech, planetbuster level 6 tech.

And all prototyping after planetbuster done? not good idea imho. I would really change it. it kinda takes away a lot of fun from the play.

[Chaos Theory]

Prototyping is really the red-headed stepchild of features in Alpha Centauri. You don't actually prototype each chassis, weapon, and armor - you just prototype their values. The free morale upgrade is kind of nice, but usually incidental. The Spartan ability is occasionally handy, but often useless. Prototypes with special abilities have prototype costs based on the basic unit. All these oddities.

[Kirov]

I've never, ever built a single Naval Yard. For me it's just the synonim of the most useless fac in the game.

Biolabs and trunklines - very rarely. Even if they'd be a nice addition, you still have better things to build.

Holo-theatres - would be good if not for the horrific maintenance. As it is, they're just useless.

Skunkworks and Punishment spheres - always need one or two. PSes are often quite handy in situations you guys mentioned - significant airforce under FM. But even then you rarely need three or more.

Perimeters and Covert Ops - for some (mostly frontier) bases they're must-have, in others they're usually not worth considering.

Trotsky, I like your RPG approach, tho I never do that myself. Playing each faction influences your gameplay anyway.

And on prototypes - just recently, following shawnmmcc, I started to disband them in SP building bases. What do you think of that? Their morale bonus is quite neglectable.