Newbie Questions

[NanoDingo]

Hey, just a newbie, currently getting obsessed with SMAC(X). Sorry if any of these are common questions with easily found answers; I couldn't seem to find any info on the Forums, so I'm asking here.

1) Social Engineering
After playing CivII a lot, I find myself a little overwhelmed with SMAC(X); the freedom to create ones own units and to choose ones own form of government is inspired, and a significant improvement over the Civ games, I feel, but it will take some getting used to. A major obstacle is assimilating what the various combinations of Social Engineering choices actually mean. In the Civ games (up to this point in time, at least), selecting a Government simply means choosing a pre-defined grouping of bonuses and penalties from a list including Monarchy, Communism and Democracy. Each of these can fairly clearly be labelled as "beneficial during war", "beneficial for peaceful growth" and so on. However, with SMAC, there are a bewildering array of combinations, therefore it is hard for a newbie to work out which combination should be used in which situation. Some are fairly obvious (for example, launching a full-scale assault whilst operating a Free Market is typically going to cause massive drone problems), but aside from those extreme cases it's hard to tell what one should be aiming for. In Civ, it's really just a case of the higher the Tech Level of the Government Type, the better said Government Type is. That's not really the case in SMAC(X), ignoring the impact of Future Society choices of course.

All in all, I guess what I'm asking for is a simple explanation of what combination of SE choices is best for what situation (or vice versa), a sort of newbie guide along the lines of:

Demo/Green/Knowledge = Good for reasearch
Fundamentalist/Simple/Power = Good for war

And so on. I know it's partly subjective, but any advice would be helpful.

2) Playing Miriam
As I said, I'm a newbie - I've completed the game a total of four times, once as the Gaians on Citizen Level (Conquest Victory), once as the Hive on Specialist Level (Economic Victory), once as the Peacekeepers on Specialist Level (Diplomatic Victory) and once as the University on Specialist Level (Transcendence Victory). I can't seem to get along at Talent Level yet, but that's another story. Basically, I've played as all the Factions (the seven original ones, anyway...I don't care much for the SMAX ones), and although I'm developing a preference for the Peacekeepers (being Planetary Governor is sweet), I really don't want to get tied down to a particular Faction. To this end, I'm currently trying to achieve Victory at least once with all the Factions, but I'm having trouble with the Believers, right from the beginning.

Basically, I think I rush to early - I find another Faction and pretty much start hacking away at them, hoping to finish them off quickly. The problem being, before I can finish them off, they research Industrial Base (Synthmetal Armour) or Non-Linear Mathematics (Particle Impactors) and trounce me. If I hold back, though, I get behind in Tech and can't keep up. Maybe I should build more Command Centres to improve my troops before I attack? My timing is way off, I feel.

3) Game Crashes
Arguably the most important point...my game keeps crashing. I get to play for about 50 turns or so, then it just freezes, typically when I press a button (like the "Hurry" button in a Base Display, or the "Proceed with the assault" button in a warning pop-up), and I have to restart my laptop. OS is Windows XP Home Edition 2002 Version. Any ideas?

Whoa...sorry for the length of this post, but I tend to ramble. Any advice appreciated.
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[Lazerus]

1) Depends on what faction you're playing. If you want a very obvious set of SE to play with then try the Hive, you'll never switch away from Police/Planned/Wealth. The other factions tend to be -
Demo (fundy sucks 99.9% of time)
FM (there are ways to get around the war drones, green is better much later in the game)
and either Wealth / Knowledge. Try toggling between these two, because sometimes the +1 economy will actually give you a higher lab income then the +20% research. Also that +1 industry shouldn't be looked upon lightly, it can be just as good.

Fundy and power are the two choices you'll use least from the early stuff.

2) Believers are one of the worst factions so thats why you're having trouble lol. Also early rushing is a very risky technique.
A more worthwhile strategy with miriam is to build peacefully as normally would using her high support get plenty of formers for lots of forests and build crawlers to gather the minerals. To keep yourself up technology wise build probes and steal from other factions, they'll probably declare war but with your high support you can always have a few rovers positioned to intercept any AI forces which come for you (the AI is really poor at attacking, you'll see like 1/2 units per turn which can both be shot by one rover, which then retreats to heal while another takes over)

[NanoDingo]

Originally posted by Lazerus
1) Depends on what faction you're playing. If you want a very obvious set of SE to play with then try the Hive, you'll never switch away from Police/Planned/Wealth. The other factions tend to be -
Demo (fundy sucks 99.9% of time)
FM (there are ways to get around the war drones, green is better much later in the game)
and either Wealth / Knowledge. Try toggling between these two, because sometimes the +1 economy will actually give you a higher lab income then the +20% research. Also that +1 industry shouldn't be looked upon lightly, it can be just as good.

Fundy and power are the two choices you'll use least from the early stuff.

It's okay optimising SE on a turn-by-turn basis, but at the higher Levels changing government cots Energy (an interesting change from Civ, that) - I tend to just go Free Market when I'm not at war and Planned when I go to war, Green being ignored mainly.

Originally posted by Lazerus 2) Believers are one of the worst factions so thats why you're having trouble lol.

...Well, that really makes me feel good, knowing I was steamrollered by "one of the worst Factions" when I was playing Lal.
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I guess I'm just not very militaristic, so I have trouble using the war-mongering Believers, although I'd like to learn.

[BlackCat]

1) I don't think there are a simple answer - one of the best I have seen was :

http://db.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/file/alpha_centauri_b.txt

2) Have you noticed the sliders in the bottom of the SE window and do you use them ? If not, it could be the reason you are behind in research.

3) Are you fully patched ? Otherwise there are links to patches here :

http://apolyton.net/forums//showthread.php?s=&threadid=51141

Don't worry much about your current problems - they get worse on transend - and when you meet a human opponent ... well

Have fun - hope i have helped

[NanoDingo]

Originally posted by BlackCat
1) I don't think there are a simple answer - one of the best I have seen was :

http://db.gamefaqs.com/computer/dosw...centauri_b.txt

Thanks for trying, but links to gamefaqs don't work.
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Originally posted by BlackCat 2) Have you noticed the sliders in the bottom of the SE window and do you use them ? If not, it could be the reason you are behind in research.

Yeah, I know about the sliders (pretty much the same as science/luxury/tax in Civ, right?) - it's just the Believers are inherently slow to acquire Techs, especially when my natural instinct when playing them is to attack other Factions on sight rather than make friends first and trade Techs. If I could just get to the Tech that gives Probe Teams (Planetary Networks?) then maybe I'd stand a chance, but as it is I always seem to end up with Industrial Economics or some such drivel.

Originally posted by BlackCat 3) Are you fully patched ? Otherwise there are links to patches here :

http://apolyton.net/forums//showthre...threadid=51141

Ah yes, that XP Compatibility patch is probably what I need. Thanks.

Originally posted by BlackCat Don't worry much about your current problems - they get worse on transend - and when you meet a human opponent ... well

I can't even handle Talent...

Incidentally, what Difficulty Level is "Normal" - I mean, all rules implemented equally for human players and AI players. It's hard to figure out when there's an even number Levels!

[wgabrie]

A good early game setting is Planned+Wealth. You get a bonus to industry, growth, and economy that helps you expand, discover, and grow faster.

Something that should also be mentioned is 2+ Economy. That's when you reach the magic +1 energy per square. Very important. Morgan can use wealth, everyone else needs to run Free market to get this.

Another item is the +6 Growth rate. You get a Pop. boom, 1 population each turn, in your bases that have at least 2 food and aren't drone rioting. You get that by running Planned+Democracy+Child Creches 2+2+2=6. Or by running a golden age where there are more talents than workers and no drones, and using either Democracy or Planned, plus Creches 2+2+2=6.

[Petek]

Originally posted by NanoDingo


Incidentally, what Difficulty Level is "Normal" - I mean, all rules implemented equally for human players and AI players. It's hard to figure out when there's an even number Levels!

Librarian.

Also check out the SMAC Academy for information on SE choices, plus other interesting articles:

http://www.civgaming.net/smac/academy.shtml

[wgabrie]

Originally posted by NanoDingo
I can't even handle Talent...

Incidentally, what Difficulty Level is "Normal" - I mean, all rules implemented equally for human players and AI players. It's hard to figure out when there's an even number Levels!

I think it's Talent or Librarian. With Talent having a more agreeable AI and Librarian has a more agressive AI.

[wgabrie]

Acually, at this point, why don't you learn from the AI? Play at transend and activate the scenario editor and reveal the map. Watch how the Computer players lay our their bases, and what the research. Just don't emulate the farm+mine+road combo, use forests instead.

After this look for Vel's strategy guide. Who has the link to the free version 3 plus the v4 book version?

[wgabrie]

Oh, for version 3 go the Gamefaqs and do a search for alpha centauri. Look at the FAQs and the top one by JChamberlin / Velociryx is the one you want.

There's also a version 4 that's more complete but you have to buy it. I don't remember the web address though.

[Petek]

Originally posted by wgabrie
There's also a version 4 that's more complete but you have to buy it. I don't remember the web address though.

Our own forum's topped thread titled "At long last ...." may provide enlightenment!

[BlackCat]

Originally posted by NanoDingo


Thanks for trying, but links to gamefaqs don't work.
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You need a little patience - it took a minute or two for me to fetch it and I have a 4 Mb/s line - otherwise try google for "velociryx strategy guide" - there are several hits and maybe one you can get.

Yeah, I know about the sliders (pretty much the same as science/luxury/tax in Civ, right?) - it's just the Believers are inherently slow to acquire Techs, especially when my natural instinct when playing them is to attack other Factions on sight rather than make friends first and trade Techs. If I could just get to the Tech that gives Probe Teams (Planetary Networks?) then maybe I'd stand a chance, but as it is I always seem to end up with Industrial Economics or some such drivel.

Yep, thats those sliders. Don't waste anything on psych - it's rarely nessecary - build facilities instead. Just spend as much as possible on research. Just one thing - try to experiment a little with the sliders. Not all have a 1:1 reaction - sometimes research goes fsater if you spend less .

If you are tired of annoying techs, then try to switch off "Blind research" in preferences (before you start the game).

Incidentally, what Difficulty Level is "Normal" - I mean, all rules implemented equally for human players and AI players. It's hard to figure out when there's an even number Levels!

I don't think there are a Normal level - that is one a new player should be able to manage. When you control a level, then try jump two and see how it goes.

Anyway, this is a bad site to ask what level is "Normal" - most consider Transcend easy

[NanoDingo]

Wow, thanks for that link to the Academy, Petek! It's got just what I need - Social Engineering Settings; This is a basic primer on the most efficient SE settings for the original SMAC 7 factions.
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Bit miffed as to why it says Miriam should change to Democracy and not Fundamentalsm when at war, though - isn't Fundamentalism a natural fit with the Believers?
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I've never really got the hang of Pop-Booms - I know about them, I just never seem to get around to implementing them, for some reason. Probably because I'm still getting used to Crawlers (none in CivII, see?). This game has too many options...
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Oh, and out of interest, what do you guys think about Directed Research - I mean, isn't the game designed to play better with Blind Research (the default)? I suppose I should probably play with it on until I get a feel for the Tech Tree.

[Petek]

Originally posted by BlackCat
You need a little patience - it took a minute or two for me to fetch it and I have a 4 Mb/s line - otherwise try google for "velociryx strategy guide" - there are several hits and maybe one you can get.

Blackcat,

The problem is not the speed of the link. Evidently, Gamefaqs doesn't accept links to their site. Click on your own link to see the problem.

The workaround is to right-click on the link and select Copy Shortcut. Then paste the link directly into your browser's address field.

[Petek]

Originally posted by NanoDingo
Bit miffed as to why it says Miriam should change to Democracy and not Fundamentalsm when at war, though - isn't Fundamentalism a natural fit with the Believers?
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I never play Miriam, but I have to agree that runnig Fundi during war makes sense. Your research is poor in any case and the probe boost protects you against your opponent's probe teams.

Demo is good for peacetime because you gain growth and efficiency, but new bases still get the extra 10 minerals when founded.

Oh, and out of interest, what do you guys think about Directed Research - I mean, isn't the game designed to play better with Blind Research (the default)? I suppose I should probably play with it on until I get a feel for the Tech Tree.

I almost always play with directed research on. Makes it easier to beeline to your preferred early techs (i.e., IndAuto). Others hold that Blind Research is more realistic.