Advise on a multiplayer game?

[dementedwombat]

Hello,

I am new to this forum and was curious about your stance on an issue. I am playing a PbEM game of alpha centauri with some friends. They have all played this game their entire life pretty much, and this is my first real experience with it. We've been playing about 70 turns and I really don't know what I'm doing. I can't help but feel that I'm only staying competitive at all due to my amazingly good starting spot; on the other side of the map from everybody else by some really good squares. My question is do you think it is acceptable to consult a 3rd party (i.e. you guys) for advise on how to proceed? I just feel like there are way too many plans I could potentially make and I don't know which ones of them are actually any good.

I could see arguments either way on this issue. What do you all think?

P.S. I just realized I used "advise" instead of "advice" in the thread title. There goes my good first impression

[CEO Aaron]

If it's a friendly game, I don't see the harm in getting some outside advice, it's not as if you're going to have us play every turn for you. Ask away!

[dementedwombat]

Thanks for that. I'm just curious generally what people would recommend I should do at this point. I'm not trying to ask the interent to win the game for me or anything.

I just got my latest turn back. Since it's a password protected game I shouldn't just post my save I guess, but I can screenshot anything that you all need to give me some advise. We are playing with something called "Smaniac" which is apparently supposed to re-do the balance of the game some, just so you all can be aware. So, what do you all need to see?

[CEO Aaron]

I haven't played with the Smaniac mod, though I have heard of it. I suspect we're not going to be able to help you navigate the game as well as you might wish, as much of the tech-tree has been re-designed, for game balance and aesthetic reasons. While I certainly respect Maniac, he's a genius level player and I owe much of my understanding to players like him, I've never been interested in playing a re-built Alpha Centauri.

[FlameFlash]

Well, what are your questions? Not familiar with the mod either, and a very casual player, so it'll be some casual players helping a casual player.