question

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Kataphraktoi
I was more referring to SP

True-- IN SP I have won the nomad challenge as the cult-- Thats where you try to win without ever building a base. Its largely luck since I can't figure out a way to do it if there is no existing land route to one of the factions . Well they could surrender from afar or a volcano or terraforming or a popped foil could do it.

I think my nomad victories ended in 2160ish

[CEO Aaron]

Originally posted by d=me
That site recommends Dem/Planned/Wealth for the university. But what about the efficiency when you use planned? And which future society should I choose? The guide didn't say. I guess it's cybernetic? http://www.civgaming.net/smac/acad_se.shtmlIf I use planned then I can't be friends with morgan.

Don't get too excited about efficiency, especially in the early game. While having an efficient empire lets you have more bases without bureaucracy drones and saves some wasted energy due to corruption, the industry and growth bonuses from Demo/Planned/Wealth are HUGE. With creches, your bases can be in a constant state of population boom, which means that your population will come to match your ability to feed it in relatively short order. What can you do with this population? Employ specialists! With crawlers hauling in nutrients from condenser farms, your workers working boreholes, and your specialists providing credits and labs, you'll achieve the highest output per square possible in this game, all while fundamentally ignoring the University's crippling weakness, extra drones, because specialists cant' be drones.

Oh, and as for being friends with Morgan, so what? Faction leaders don't have friends only rivals and subjects. The sooner you piss Morgan off, the sooner you can roll over subjugate him.

[d=me]

Originally posted by Flubber


Never farm +mine-- argghhh

General rules

Forest is good
Farms on rainies or nutrient bonuses
Mines or boreholes on rocky tiles
Solar collectors infrequently

Generally the idea is that you might work forests and boreholes and maybe a farm/solar combo and you will always crawl mines on rocky tiles and often crawl food

I tried to plant forests everywhere but I'm not getting enough untrients to allow a pop growth. My univ base was stuck on size 3. So that means that I have to build farms to allow the population to grow right? And why not mine and farm? If the square says (2 nutrients with farm, 2 minerals with mine, 1 energy with solar collector.) Then why build the solar collector and not the mine?

[Kirov]

Originally posted by d=me
I tried to plant forests everywhere but I'm not getting enough untrients to allow a pop growth. My univ base was stuck on size 3. So that means that I have to build farms to allow the population to grow right? And why not mine and farm? If the square says (2 nutrients with farm, 2 minerals with mine, 1 energy with solar collector.) Then why build the solar collector and not the mine?

First of all, mines decrease farm nut output by one. Which means that on a rolling/most tile you get 1 nut/2 min after 12 turns of terraforming (farm + mine)! It's way better to build a farm alone (with or without solar collector) and add a condenser when you research EcoEng, for a total of 5 nuts harvested by a crawler.

Secondly, mines should be built _only_on rocky squares in midlans(4 mins with a road). Again, crawler is your choice here.

For coastal rocky tiles it's still better to build a borehole and work it normally, unless there's a mineral bonus (which gives 7 mins with a mine and road).

[d=me]

If I ran democratic then won't the secret projects take even longer to build due to the support cost?

If I don't build mines wher am I going to get the minerals that I need for building anything? and if I planted forests the bases won't grow. And I don't get crawlers at the beginning of the game.

And when should I plant forests and not farm+solar? Like on a river square should I plant a forest or farm+solar?

[d=me]

I just lost the human genome project to the gaians because I ran democratic.

[Kirov]

By and large, there are two terraforming strategies: 'condensers & boreholes' (the one that I described) and 'forest & forget'. Of course, it's not actually the matter of choice, as you should combine these strategies to get the best out of both.

Basically, until IA and without WP (I never assume I'll get it), I plant farms with occasional collectors on rainy tiles, preferably rolling ones. All arid and almost all moist get forested.

As it usually turns out, on the left (western) side of the hill I forest most rainy/flat tiles (leaving rainy/rolling for farming), while on the eastern side very often I have to farm even moist ones. Rivers on rainy/moist tiles usually deserve farm + collector. Otherwise - forest.

This way I have 1-2 farms per base, which means it can support up to 4,000 citizens, 2k of them working farms and the rest - forests. At this point is more than enough for my quasi-ICS gamestyle (I ICS 1x1 until I get ~25 bases, give or take 5).

Now, upon researching IA I usually continue foresting and mining rocky tiles for crawlers, to boost industry output. Meanwhile I can b-line to Gene Splicing, upon which more rainy tiles can be farmed (even those previously forested).

With EconEng those farmed tiles get condensers, while suitable (mostly coastal) tiles - boreholes. At that time I need also a lot of formers to raise terrain. However, as Tree Farms are now so close, usually I don't chop down most of them forests, unlike some players who prefer the grid of condensers and boreholes with virtually no woods.

I almost never build echelons and usually have better things to do than drill to aquifer. The former are useful only for so-called 'energy parks' - vast areas raised to 3k+ height and covered with collectors and echelons. I tried to do that several times and figured it's so terraform- and crawler-consuming that it renders it completely ineffective, interesting solely for aesthetical reasons.

Hmm, I guess that would cover my terraforming strategy.

Another important thing to keep in mind throughout the whole game, especially the beginning, are special resources. They are not just tiles slightly better than others, they should affect your base placement and their profile. Make them fit your general picture.

nutrient resource - condenser
min resource on rocky - mine
min resource on rolling/flat - forest
enery resource - farm + collector

I guess special landmarks don't need much elaboration, do they?

[Kirov]

Originally posted by d=me
If I ran democratic then won't the secret projects take even longer to build due to the support cost?

Remember to b-line to IA in the first place, which means that you get crawlers faster than democracy. Explore and pop pods to find AAs. Disband Battle Ogres and prototype units if needed. Whenever you're just about to pop a pod, switch production in your nearest base to the most expensive prototype, esp if it costs an arm and leg.

With all this stuff at hand, SP building should be not a problem with or without Demo, which all in all is not very useful anyway before you have finished to expand.

Wait with that until you're ready to popboom, otherwise that Effic and Growth are not worth the Support hit.

[Kataphraktoi]

If I don't build mines wher am I going to get the minerals that I need for building anything? and if I planted forests the bases won't grow.

And when should I plant forests and not farm+solar? Like on a river square should I plant a forest or farm+solar?

Lets look at some stats here: a forest gives 2 minerals and 1 each of food and energy. now,a mine reduces nutrients on a tile by 1 and adds a mineral,ussualy with 2 minerals as a result. your former can make a forest in 4 turns,whereas a mine takes 8 and it dosnt grow,either. Mines on rocky tiles give 4, but until you get ecological engineering, a tech that should be gotten after IA, mines give less resources. more population=more unhappy people. let the base be small, for now.

A solar gives +1 energy,same as a forest,and no minerals. it also takes 8 turns to build. there is no reason to build collectors although you can use them with mirrors later for profit. forget them for now. the one time its OK to use them would be on an energy special.

And I don't get crawlers at the beginning of the game.

By the 2120\30s you should have them,and your formers should have layed down vast unused forests to work on. If your playing univ,you could have IA in 2114.

if I ran democratic then won't the secret projects take even longer to build due to the support cost?

I suggest you examine this article quite closely. vels strategy guide may also have some use, but take with some salt...

My univ base was stuck on size 3

sounds good to me.whats the problem?

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Kataphraktoi


more population=more unhappy people. let the base be small, for now.

I agree that your bases should be small early but that because you should be popping out yet another colony pod. I want a couple of bases that are either crawling food or producing lots so that they can grow quickly so another colony pod can be sent out

[binTravkin]

My univ base was stuck on size 3

Indeed, what are you itching about?

This should make a common SMAC joke:

- my univ base is stuck on size 3
- sounds good to me. whats the problem?

[d=me]

Gaians always gets the Weather paradigm. But they didn't actually seem to build any of the advanced enhancements. And for the planetary governer, it's the best to choose the weaker faction right? I chose law and mariam took over all of his bases and he would be captured if I didn't give one of my newly founded bases to him. If gaians were governer then they will get too strong.

[d=me]

How come the factions are all so aggressive? Like intense fury there should be one where they act more rationally.

[Kataphraktoi]

How come the factions are all so aggressive? Like intense fury there should be one where they act more rationally.

Playing at your low difficulty you had set, getting pacts all around the table is a piece of cake. additionaly you had few SE choices set, so diplomacy is even easier.

Gaians always gets the Weather paradigm. But they didn't actually seem to build any of the advanced enhancements. And for the planetary governer, it's the best to choose the weaker faction right? I chose law and mariam took over all of his bases and he would be captured if I didn't give one of my newly founded bases to him. If gaians were governer then they will get too strong.

If gaia always gets the weather paradigm, that means you are way to slow to build crawlers! as univ you can get any particular SP before the AI does. did you read that rushing-SP article i linked you to? as for planetary governer, you yourself should be governer. failing that, choosing gaia is good. they are a friendly faction to me often, and if not are mostly builders and no immediate threat.

you should try playing the game on a large sized world with 30-50% land. build lots of bases, crawlers,and formers and you should have a lot less problems

[d=me]

So is an ocean map harder to play? The gaians declared war on me for over 5 times now and always pledges for truce when I took over one of her bases. I allowed her truce because she is right beside me and I have nearly 100 clean air planes. But mariam and santiago and yang are a problem because they are located on the other side of the map and my units can't reach there with out the ships getting badly damaged on the way. How do you deal with them? I'm waiting for the space elevator so I can just drop beside her base.

I could have gotten the WP but I chose the human genome project and the virtual world over it. I got 2 in the beginning where she only got one. And now my map is filled with advanced enhancements already because the tech was researched long ago so the WP doesn't seem to matter now.