Your favourite faction(s).

[Mensonge]

So, according to you, I should mass-terraform kelp + tidal harness everywhere, grow as fast as possible to size 5 and beyond, then use my different specialists to get the minerals I need? That being a more efficient method, even in the beginning of the game, than getting mineral platforms right away?

I might be obsessed with minerals, but.. to build Social Psych, Children's Crèches, Network nodes, Aquafarm, SP and so on.. I need minerals..! Starting a base with just one mineral per tile plus the one from the original base, is that enough?

Should I compensate with rushing through credits? Will I have enough?

I hate to say it I'm not used to specialists.. 80% of my games were with Morgans, and the 4 pop restriction never bothered me because I used the ICS strategy with Free Market, spacing as little as possible my bases.

Yes, I'm - at best - an average player. I rarely get the chance to play because law school takes my life away 90% of the time but I do enjoy learning the game at my (slow) pace..

[CEO Aaron]

So, according to you, I should mass-terraform kelp + tidal harness everywhere, grow as fast as possible to size 5 and beyond, then use my different specialists to get the minerals I need? That being a more efficient method, even in the beginning of the game, than getting mineral platforms right away?

Yes. You need only to ensure that your tech and building choices properly make use of the nutrients and energy you're harvesting.

I might be obsessed with minerals, but.. to build Social Psych, Children's Crèes, Network nodes, Aquafarm, SP and so on.. I need minerals..! Starting a base with just one mineral per tile plus the one from the original base, is that enough?

It's plenty. With the kind of energy you'll be harvesting, you'll be able to rush build facilities early and often. But it's important to realize that not all facilities are good investments from the get-go. If you're sinking 8 rows into a network node, you'd better be earning at least 4 raw labs from your base, because otherwise you're just trading one credit for one lab. The only facilities which should go in EVERY base regardless of size are tanks and commons.

Should I compensate with rushing through credits? Will I have enough?

Yes. Remember: 4 workers in a seabase, working 3/1/3 tiles. 15 nutrients, 6 minerals, 14 energy. 15 nutrients supports your four workers plus 3 technicians, for an additional 9 credits. Even without other facilities, you'll collect 16 credits per turn, assuming you're splitting 50/50 labs and cash. Drop in an energy bank, you'll get 24 per turn. You'll lose a bit of that to corruption as you move away from your capital, but with Creches, it's not bad at all.

Let's assume you went with mining platforms instead to maximize mineral income. Not realistic, but instructive. Your tiles now produce 2/2/0. Your four quelled workers produce 11 nutrients, 10 minerals, and 0 energy. 11 nutrients supports your four workers plus one technician, for 3 credits. So your mining platforms, which take twice as long to build, trade 13 credits for 4 minerals, making your credit equivalency worse than three to one, and that completely discounts the value of the labs you would have collected.

I hate to say it I'm not used to specialists.. 80% of my games were with Morgans, and the 4 pop restriction never bothered me because I used the ICS strategy with Free Market, spacing as little as possible my bases.

Yes, I'm very familiary with that strategy. Suffice to say that this is a different one, but one that gets FAR more powerful in the late-game. And you'll wind up learning some cool tricks to use with Morgan too.

[Mensonge]

Yes. You need only to ensure that your tech and building choices properly make use of the nutrients and energy you're harvesting.

How? Care to give me a few advices?

PS: I've noticed people can be thanked. I've done so for you as you deserve it, but I'm quite surprised you seem to have never been thanked before. If you want me to remove my thanks, please say so.

[CEO Aaron]

No need to thank me, I enjoy the discussion. If I didn't, I wouldn't respond.

As for making sure you get the most out of your nutrients, it's really pretty simple: Don't waste nutrients by staying at the housing cap, if you can help it. If you haven't yet discovered Industrial Automation, then crank out a colony pod to siphon off the extra population. Once you've researched IA, consider building a hab complex, and ensuring that you'll be able to grow sufficiently to pay for the upkeep. And getting the most out of your energy? Rush build early and often. Don't collect a stockpile of money, put your money to work making your empire bigger and stronger. Finally, choose techs with a plan of how they're going to magnify your power, unlocking new tools to protect yourself and dominate your enemies. Key techs are Intellectual Integrity (crucial for keeping your workers working), Gene Splicing (uncap nutrients), Industrial Automation (hab, crawlers), Environmental Economics (uncap energy), and fusion power (Fusion Labs and Engineers). You'll probably have need to grab some weapon techs and air power on the way, and once you're at Fusion power, it's time to head into space and start your satellite-fuelled domination of Chiron.

[Garth Vader]

What map size are you playing on? I usually play standard and the game is essentially over by the time I get to Fusion power. I will generally get at least one AI starting around 10 squares from me who I will have to eliminate asap which gives me enough room compared to everybody else to have both a tech and production lead.

I am trying out the Pirates which has been a totally different experience, but the same general outcome.

[CEO Aaron]

Large map, personally. And yes, if you're only going to play as far as it takes to secure a solid lead against the AI, you don't have to go that far. But some of 'a long time til Fusion' is about research priorities. Fusion's pre-requisites are:

Pre-sentient Algorithms
Superconductor
Advanced Military Algorithms
Cyberethics
Optical Computers
Industrial Base
Applied Physics
Polymorphic Software
Adaptive Doctrine
Planetary Networks
Intellectual Integrity
Ethical Calculus
Doctrine: Loyalty
Social Psych
Doctrine: Mobility

Yes, that's 15 techs, but you're going to get many of those regardless. The idea is to grab Fusion after Tree Farms, but before Air Power. I find artillery nearly as game-changing as needles versus the AI, personally, and much less expensive to field in great numbers. You don't get the wide-area reconnaissance or area denial, but Military Algo gives you AAA tracking, which will let you cost-effectively counter air power.

[Garth Vader]

The AI generally targets formers and crawlers which are tougher to cover with AAA units.

I am not sure I have ever built an artillery unit. I am not denying that it would be useful, it always seemed unnecessary and just more units that I would have to transport around. I will try it out.

Speaking of transporting headaches. The main issue I had with the Pirates is that it's more of a chore building and deploying units. Early game you have more support costs because now you need transports to do anything with formers, and more of a need for both sea and land formers. Later any land units you build need to get picket up by a transport rather than just going to a single point on your landmass to get picked up.

[CEO Aaron]

The AI generally targets formers and crawlers which are tougher to cover with AAA units.

I don't think parking a needlejet above them is any more likely to ensure their survival. All interceptors or sam rovers can do is ensure reprisals against the attacking unit. At the end of the day, the solution to enemy air units is the same as the solution to land units or sea units: go pound their bases into cheese-flavoured dog food, and I promise you that artillery helps with that.

I am not sure I have ever built an artillery unit. I am not denying that it would be useful, it always seemed unnecessary and just more units that I would have to transport around. I will try it out.

I think you'll find that a good force of artillery more than pay for their carry weight. The thing to bear in mind is that if you're not facing enemy artillery (which is the norm versus the AI), and you protect them with a screen of garrisons (which you're going to need to capture enemy bases anyway), your artillery won't take damage. Sandblasting a stack of base defenders to half health will also help keep your attack forces intact, which means you'll spend less minerals rebuilding reinforcements, and less time transporting them into position.

Speaking of transporting headaches. The main issue I had with the Pirates is that it's more of a chore building and deploying units. Early game you have more support costs because now you need transports to do anything with formers, and more of a need for both sea and land formers. Later any land units you build need to get picket up by a transport rather than just going to a single point on your landmass to get picked up.

That can be said of any faction which operates sea bases, not just Sven. Are you suggesting that sea bases aren't worth founding at all? I put it to you that you're leaving vital resources untapped, and letting the price of the investment blind you to to yield. Yes, you'll need one transport to cross the land-sea barrier, but you shouldn't really require too many transports in the early phase, because you're not meant to be tussling with your rivals on the dirt. Go where they aren't, rule the waves, clean the sea of pods, and settle on every shallow dent and flyspec island miles outside your enemies' sphere of influence.

[Garth Vader]

I generally do not build sea bases at all. Not that I don't see the potential value, just that the actual time involved and personal rewards aren't worth it. There was a time back playing CIV 2 when I would colonize everything and terraform everything. I would have had a blast with SMAC colonizing everything and doing fancy terraforming. I have limited time now, so I generally play a momentum style. I still notice all the good sites and think that I should do more colonizing, but end up just conquering instead.

[CEO Aaron]

That's a legit playstyle choice, I can't deny it. If pure momentum is how you prefer to play, that's certainly within your purview. But Sven is definitely not a traditional momentum faction, so evaluating them in that mindset certainly won't show them in a good light. In the 'explore|discover|build|conquer' spectrum offered as the framework of the game, Sven is buried way off into the far flank of explore, so expecting them to mix it up right away like Miriam or Sparta is really playing against type. But, because they're out on the water, they don't have to, and in fact shouldn't.

[Garth Vader]

That's why it's interesting to play as a different faction that requires a different style. I may have difficulty changing my mindset, but your discussions on how to play Sven were helpful.

[Mensonge]

Hello there!

I'm back! I was overwhelmed with my exams, so I strayed away from here a little bit. Now I have some spare time again, so I will start my new game with Sven in a few seconds.

I thought it would be nice to show screens, however whenever I try to I get a black screen on .paint ..

Any ideas?

[Mensonge]

First impressions:

First twenty turns are... slow.

I don't have enough minerals to go around, fortunately my first formers are building mines.. yes, mines. Cause I need minerals right now, and I can't have two workers because bases go on riot.

One weird thing, I've just created a sea colony pod and my base population rank didn't decrease from one.. I had never seen such a thing!

Is that a bug? Maybe it's linked with the fact that it's a sea base, or that it's working on a nutrient bonus tile.

[CEO Aaron]

I suspect your pod build coincided with base growth. Usually, if you're going to remove enough population to abandon the base, you'll get a warning from the UI asking you to confirm, or delay the build. Of course, it's possible that you're running a modded build, in which case all bets are off. I've never had problems getting screenshots from SMAX, I'll try this evening to see if I can get some. Of course, I'm doing some odd things with my graphics setting to get it to display at my full screen resolution (which is awesome, it should be said).

Post your turn 1 sven map, and I'll play some turns of it, and we'll see where we get.

[Mensonge]

My game is just patched, not more than anytime before and I've never seen this.

And no, it didn't coincide with base growth.

I'll post my save soon.