Scenario Name: Heavy Terrain
SMAC/ SMAX: SMAC
Author: Doctor Joseph Balderson
Date of original posting: 8/25/99
Original host site: Civilization Gaming Network
As your unity pod streaks away towards Planet, you
are pleased that at the last minute your technicians managed to
download a copy of the recovered data from the wreck of the Unity
that was found by the now asassinated Captain Garland. You thought
you might have to rebuild everything from scratch, reinvent new
technologies, recreate civilization anew. But much was saved of
the original files, which has greatly accelerated your initial progress
on Planet. From last you heard, the other factions also had the
exact same data upon their arrival.
Your findings have shown Planet to be replete with rolling,
mountainous terrain, with large tracts of Xenofungus everywhere.
And then there are the mind worms...
But you have not had much luck finding the other factions.
Until now. As head of the $FACTION3, you have recently acquired
the commlink signals to two of the other factions.
And until now you have not paid much attention to the survey
records made by the original Unity pod. Looking again at the
findings of the pod's AI as it made its way to planetfall, you
notice several spots on Planet that might be of interest to
future growth and colonisation. And one picture of what seems
to be some evidence of debris, or a structure of some sort...
another faction, or evidence of a non-human civilization?
You are unsure...
Start Date: 2200
End Date: 2500
You will find one base with all the basic facilities and a population of
10, along with some units. All factions have been given all level 1, 2
and 3 technologies. Each faction begins the game with commlinks for two
other factions. Each faction begins with one Secret Project.
OBJECTIVES:
Win by acheiving Transcendance.
Win by acheiving Diplomatic Victory.
Win by acheiving Economic Victory.
All other victory conditions are disabled. This does not mean you cannot
cooperate with, or even conquer other factions in this scenario. Just
that you can only win by these conditions. There are no objective bases
to conquer.
SETTINGS:
Difficulty is set at Thinker.
The terrain altitude is very high, the xenofungus and the cloud cover also high.
All natural settings of v.4.0 are represented in the game.
This is a difficult scenario to play multiplayer, as it takes too long
time to acheive scenario objectives unless a substantial amount of time
is devoted, but can be quite a rewarding multiplayer experience. It is
also a challenging scenario to play, because of the new terrain rules
and how it affects strategy.
A NOTE ABOUT TERRAIN:
The changes in alpha.txt makes terrain very important, the high ground
very strategic. Attacking from the high ground can mean the difference
between victory and defeat. That is why all the bases have been placed
in the highest local elevation. Natural regions such as Mount Planet and
Sunny Mesa now take on added strategic importance. Reconnaissance, by
air when you acquire it, and Deep Radar, become key technologies that
enable you to survey your route of attack before you encounter it.
For a faction to be able to build sea units, they must build a base on a
coastline downhill, making it vulnerable to attack. Sensor Arrays now
become of major strategic importance -- imperative for coastal cities.
Attack high, defend high. This, I believe, also applies for air units,
although on this I am unsure. Build sensor arrays within 2 squares of
your lower elevation bases for protection, and bunkers for your supply
crawlers.
KNOWN PROBLEMS:
- none as of yet -
EPILOGUE:
The reason I have set the victory conditions such is that often it is
too easy, even at higher levels for the more experienced players, to win
by conquest. Better to keep your enemies alive so they can work for
you, either by warring against your enemies for you, giving you trade or
stealing their technologies, even if the game does not inherently favor
diplomacy and trade over conquest. This is more of a builder scenario,
without necessitating the extreme game modifications, such as SNAC 1.2,
for example. A successful strategy is to war successfully against your
enemies, make them subservient to you, while you skyrocket up the tech
tree, or scoop up that wealth or garner in those votes. The high terrain
makes for good energy collection, although not very useful for borehole
construction, making flatlands such as the Great Dunes and Monsoon
Forest, and the borhole cluster very strategic. Good luck!
And I have always thought the 'Advanced Start' rules option quite
inadequate for playing the kind of game where most of the starting techs
have all been discovered, and the game is about to enter into the
'intermediate' phase of the ascent up the tech tree. I also wanted to
see a scenario where the terrain was more interesting, and a lot more
pivotal to strategy. So I created one with quite a bit already
established, begining at what I consider the middle phase of the game.
This is still the first version of the scenario.
Enjoy!
SMAC/ SMAX: SMAC
Author: Doctor Joseph Balderson
Date of original posting: 8/25/99
Original host site: Civilization Gaming Network
As your unity pod streaks away towards Planet, you
are pleased that at the last minute your technicians managed to
download a copy of the recovered data from the wreck of the Unity
that was found by the now asassinated Captain Garland. You thought
you might have to rebuild everything from scratch, reinvent new
technologies, recreate civilization anew. But much was saved of
the original files, which has greatly accelerated your initial progress
on Planet. From last you heard, the other factions also had the
exact same data upon their arrival.
Your findings have shown Planet to be replete with rolling,
mountainous terrain, with large tracts of Xenofungus everywhere.
And then there are the mind worms...
But you have not had much luck finding the other factions.
Until now. As head of the $FACTION3, you have recently acquired
the commlink signals to two of the other factions.
And until now you have not paid much attention to the survey
records made by the original Unity pod. Looking again at the
findings of the pod's AI as it made its way to planetfall, you
notice several spots on Planet that might be of interest to
future growth and colonisation. And one picture of what seems
to be some evidence of debris, or a structure of some sort...
another faction, or evidence of a non-human civilization?
You are unsure...
Start Date: 2200
End Date: 2500
You will find one base with all the basic facilities and a population of
10, along with some units. All factions have been given all level 1, 2
and 3 technologies. Each faction begins the game with commlinks for two
other factions. Each faction begins with one Secret Project.
OBJECTIVES:
Win by acheiving Transcendance.
Win by acheiving Diplomatic Victory.
Win by acheiving Economic Victory.
All other victory conditions are disabled. This does not mean you cannot
cooperate with, or even conquer other factions in this scenario. Just
that you can only win by these conditions. There are no objective bases
to conquer.
SETTINGS:
Difficulty is set at Thinker.
The terrain altitude is very high, the xenofungus and the cloud cover also high.
All natural settings of v.4.0 are represented in the game.
This is a difficult scenario to play multiplayer, as it takes too long
time to acheive scenario objectives unless a substantial amount of time
is devoted, but can be quite a rewarding multiplayer experience. It is
also a challenging scenario to play, because of the new terrain rules
and how it affects strategy.
A NOTE ABOUT TERRAIN:
The changes in alpha.txt makes terrain very important, the high ground
very strategic. Attacking from the high ground can mean the difference
between victory and defeat. That is why all the bases have been placed
in the highest local elevation. Natural regions such as Mount Planet and
Sunny Mesa now take on added strategic importance. Reconnaissance, by
air when you acquire it, and Deep Radar, become key technologies that
enable you to survey your route of attack before you encounter it.
For a faction to be able to build sea units, they must build a base on a
coastline downhill, making it vulnerable to attack. Sensor Arrays now
become of major strategic importance -- imperative for coastal cities.
Attack high, defend high. This, I believe, also applies for air units,
although on this I am unsure. Build sensor arrays within 2 squares of
your lower elevation bases for protection, and bunkers for your supply
crawlers.
KNOWN PROBLEMS:
- none as of yet -
EPILOGUE:
The reason I have set the victory conditions such is that often it is
too easy, even at higher levels for the more experienced players, to win
by conquest. Better to keep your enemies alive so they can work for
you, either by warring against your enemies for you, giving you trade or
stealing their technologies, even if the game does not inherently favor
diplomacy and trade over conquest. This is more of a builder scenario,
without necessitating the extreme game modifications, such as SNAC 1.2,
for example. A successful strategy is to war successfully against your
enemies, make them subservient to you, while you skyrocket up the tech
tree, or scoop up that wealth or garner in those votes. The high terrain
makes for good energy collection, although not very useful for borehole
construction, making flatlands such as the Great Dunes and Monsoon
Forest, and the borhole cluster very strategic. Good luck!
And I have always thought the 'Advanced Start' rules option quite
inadequate for playing the kind of game where most of the starting techs
have all been discovered, and the game is about to enter into the
'intermediate' phase of the ascent up the tech tree. I also wanted to
see a scenario where the terrain was more interesting, and a lot more
pivotal to strategy. So I created one with quite a bit already
established, begining at what I consider the middle phase of the game.
This is still the first version of the scenario.
Enjoy!