Just started

I have been trying to get into this game but I just can't wrap my mind around how to play. Obviously yo play like other civs, but I mean the build order and start of play. I have started off by using the science guys cause I love having a tech advantage. I guess I plan on doing a hybrid build but now sure how to go about this. So far I get my one city make my scout make a pod and make scouts tell I get a former. I make my second city and do the pod to scout to former opener and try to expand quickly that way but I just seem to be behind on bases from the others all the time. I get 7 up and running and think im doing good then I get a map form someone or allie with someone and see they have like 20+. I just can't seem to get my cities up fast enough. What policies should I go for. I tried getting the first two policies that gave me a growth increase to 4 but because of the dang drones getting a fast growth seems bad. Also hindering support isn't good either. I try buildings commons first when I can but reading the strategy guide I should be focusing on hospitals and labs.

Howdy yutterh,

Welcome to the fascinating world of Alpha Centauri!

First, did you get the game through GOG or from some other source? I'm asking to make sure that you have the most recent patches.

Here are some threads that contain advice for newcomers:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=480362
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=413510
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=458030
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=434901

Read these over and see if you have any questions.

Many players like the University because of their inherent tech advantage, but they do get more drones than other factions. However, drones are part of the game, so you might as well learn how to deal with them. Playing as the University, you should prioritize building the Virtual World Secret Project. That makes all your Network Nodes (which each base automatically receives) act as Hologram Theaters, supressing two more drones.

If you're having problems with early expansion, perhaps you're building too many scouts and formers. In the early part of the game, you only need one former per base, one garrison unit to defend the base and one or two other scouts to explore your territory. Other than that, your bases should be building Colony Pods to found new bases.

You said that you're running the two Social Engineering choices that aid growth, which I assume are Democracy and Planned. Planned is a good early choice since it increases growth and industry (build things faster). The negative efficiency from Planned doesn't hurt you until slightly later in the game. However, you should hold off on adopting Democracy until after you've finished with your base expansion. The reason is that when you adopt Democracy, new bases lose the 10 free minerals that they would otherwise get. It then takes longer to build your first unit and slows down the initial development of your bases. Also, as you observed, the negative support is more difficult to deal with early in the game.

You mentioned a strategy guide. Which one are you referring to? CGN's SMAC Academy contains many useful articles. Alphacentauri2 has a copy of Vel's Guide, which is a rich source of information.

So, I think that's enough information to help you get going. Please feel free to ask more questions!

Petek

sweet all of that is very helpful. I also am all patched up, looked for that first since most/all older games usually need them. Now another question is besides expanding when should I start building the virtual world? I always need to build a commons first because my population usually gets to 3 before its done. I figured building that will slow down my pod expansion pretty good. since im sure whichever city can make it the fastest is the best one. mow my next thing is forests to farm ratio. how many farms should I make compared to forests?

Are you playing with blind or directed research? I use directed research most of the time, which makes it easier to get certain key techs right away. Here's my research order when playing as the Uni:

Centauri Ecology (free tech)
Industrial Base
Industrial Economics
Planetary Networks (allows Virtual World and Planned)
Industrial Automation (allows Crawlers and Wealth)

(Adopt Planned and Wealth ASAP.)

Don't bother with Social Psych right away. You won't need Rec Commons until later. If your bases riot, just turn the Drones into Doctors for now. After you build the Virtual World, your size 3 bases will no longer riot.

First build in each base is a Former (rushed, if possible), then a Scout, then Colony Pods (CPs). First priority for each former is to make sure that its base has a tile that produces at least two nutrients (so the base can grow to size two before the CPs are finished). After that, plant Forests. One forest will provide the base with two minerals to help build the CPs faster. The rest will be crawled for two mins each to help build the Virtual World and other SPs.

When you get IndAuto, two or three core bases build Crawlers, the rest of the bases keep building CPs. Each core base crawls enough forests to get approx. 15 mins, net. Then start building SPs. You can hold off on the VW since the AI doesn't usually build it right away. I start with the Weather Paradigm and the Human Genome Project (you should have picked up Biogenetics by now). You can build the Merchant Exchange, but it's not as important. If other factions start building any of the SPs that you're going after, have some of your other bases build crawlers, send them to the bases that are building the SPs and cash them in. This is a highly efficient way to build SPs faster.

This approach will delay your expansion, but solve your Drone problems in the early game.

Any more questions?

It's been awhile since I've played, but for fast early expansion it helps to build your cities directly on the green nutrient resources and rush buy your colony pods whenever you have extra credits and population to spare. To obtain the credits, you'll want to be aggressive about popping Unity pods on land; also take Doctrine Flexibility later on to continue popping them at sea.

That is for a builder game. If you start next to Miriam, Yang, or Santiago you have to adjust. It is worse if you start near aliens.

I usually beeline to Nonlinear Mathematics with my tech advantage with Zak. Impact weapons are a huge advantage early game. I do agree with Petek about Centuari Ecology first though with any game.

Would like to jump in on this thread as a new SMAC/AX player. Just downloaded from GOG this weekend and played for an hour the map of planet with standard rules but couldn't get my head around the research...I see from Peteks post this is most likely because of the blind research option being set as standard where you choose a path rather than individual techs.

I will read through the articles and see how we get on.

Nethogs tech chart is good to look at if your new to the research tree. I would recommend turning off blind research, trying to predict and manipulate which tech you will get is a very complicated and uncertain process even if you deeply understand all the mechanics. In a game about making strategic decisions i dont like options that reduce choice and increase the luck factor.

In addition, a rough list of particularly important technologies:

Centauri Ecology - Access to terraformer units and also the Weather Paradigm, arguably the strongest secret project in the game

Planetary Networks - Access to the Planned social engineering choice, very helpful for early-game expansion (but weaker later on) and the Virtual World, comparable to the Weather Paradigm in power

Industrial Automation - Access to the Wealth social engineering choice and to the overpowered Supply Crawlers. The Planetary Transit System secret project is also powerful but sometimes comes a bit later than when it would be most useful

The limit-lifting technologies (lift limits on Nutrient, Mineral and Energy production per tile): Gene Splicing, Ecological Engineering and Environmental Economics

Mind-Machine Interface - Access to the Cloudbase Academy secret project (SMAX only), the third contender for best secret project, and also the Cyborg Factory secret project, as well as to the overpowered Copter unit chassis. Also allows Diplomatic victory if you've already assembled a winning coalition.


General rule of thumb is to always research Centauri Ecology first. There are also a few other secret projects that are very strong but whose technologies are otherwise unremarkable--the Planetary Energy Grid (SMAX only) and the Hunter-Seeker Algorithm are particularly noteworthy in that regard.

Ok thanks, its the tech tree I am really struggling to get my head around. In game it seems so user unfriendly.

I am also struggling to see what benefits building each improvement also will make until I actually go right ahead and build it. Just going to take some time adjusting I think.

Lots of formers making forests, focus on building a good number of early colony pods, and proper drone control (psych on the SE screen is handy) are key to the early part of the game. Facilities are useful, but you need good terraforming for them to be worthwhile (except rec tanks, which are almost always good investments), and near the start that's usually forests (ideally on a bonus square or river). Don't clog your mineral income by making too many non-former units, one defender per base is fine in the early game, plus a scout rover from a few bases to explore the map.

Make getting The Weather Paradigm and The Virtual World early on top priorities (rush infrastructure at a base with a load of forests/min bonuses near it then build there), plus ideally the HGP, and when you get later available good projects try to grab them (PEG, HSA, CBA, and of course the cloning vats which is, imo, almost an "I win" button vs AI).

This is why the formerstech is the most important:





I used it to expand my landmass by raise terrain a formerskill thats not availible early unless you build the weather paradigm ( That comes with the ability to build formers),

some others would have used it to build farm condensers and boreholes and spam the living crap out of any map but I find i like this approach more.