Transcend Level?

Hello Everyone,

I've played games like Age of Empires, and Masters of Orion II, to the highest level, and found that I could win handily. I've taken my time with SMAC, and found a way to dominate my opponents... Taking my time, since you're continually learning new things from the game.

Nevertheless, I have been getting the crap kicked out of me... As if seems that the dominant economy always ends up coming after me. My work in real life is science/somatic medicine, but I am also an (Infantry) Army Veteran, so as some point I enjoy the robust exchange of economy/battles. For those reasons I have been playing with the Gians, and the University.

The Transcend level, hower, seems to be dominated by those factions of the lowest common denominator. I am at a loss to figure out what I can do strategy wise. Although I know the Gains pretty well by now, I'm trying to play the University. Any suggestions, links... Cheers!

For me, reading Vel's Guide helped to master transcend level. Playing on huge or bigger maps helps the human player because it takes longer for the AI to make contact with you. If you're not already doing so, play with directed research so you can pick up key techs sooner.

HTH

Petek

Thank you Petek... I'm not touching AX until I've got a handle on Transcend level. Tried to upload a .mp file to you to check out a custom map I've been playing on (hmopdd2.MP), I came across at http://www.civgaming.net/smac/maps.shtml

This would be by: DilithiumDad, and comments "A highly tweaked version of Huge Map Of Planet. Very balanced map."

I've seen Dilithium Dad's map. As I recall, it features favorable starting locations and strategically placed fungus to inhibit early contact with other factions. Other than faction-specific advice, most of the information in Vel's guide applies to SMAC as well as SMAX.

You might want to check out the really big maps that I posted in the AC Downloads directory (BigSMACXMaps 1 and 2.zip).

Generally the A.I. will cause you the most problems if you're sharing a large land border with them. Like many other 4x and RTS games, each time the opponent forces you to spend on military units you can lose out on the research race. I'm more of a builder in the early game myself; so I'll initially go for lifting all the resource gathering restrictions and securing an isolated continent. Also "Rush Buying" is very powerful in this game, meaning that bringing in enough energy and figuring out the right "terraforming mix" for your bases is critical for laying the groundwork of your future military operations.

Here's a thread to old save game of mine; let me know if you have any questions about a particular strategy within my ramblings. I tend to play with the Crossfire techs even when using the original factions, though for the most part the same tricks apply.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=541256

Petek said:

I've seen Dilithium Dad's map. As I recall, it features favorable starting locations and strategically placed fungus to inhibit early contact with other factions. Other than faction-specific advice, most of the information in Vel's guide applies to SMAC as well as SMAX.

You might want to check out the really big maps that I posted in the AC Downloads directory (BigSMACXMaps 1 and 2.zip).

Click to expand...

*Nod* Having the right starting position can be a big deal in regards to game difficulty. For instance a player who gets rivers, nutrient bonuses, monoliths and lots of open space is almost certain to do better than one who is stuck with plain arid squares or happens to be hemmed in by fungus.

Latch onto one of the warring civs and ride its coattails to victory.

I played Miriam and allied with Yang and conquored the world, for a domination victory in my first transcend game.

Quite doable with any civ except for the boom civs like Morgan.