A few n00b questions

[Frollo]

1. Is it impossible to capture Secret Projects? Last night, I tried to capture Gaia's Landing, which had the Human Genome Project. The base was size 6 before the skirmishes, went down to 4 after the first attack, and to 1 after the second. Then it vanished as soon as I moved my troops in. What went wrong?
I should add that I used nerve gas in the battle Maybe that was the reason why the population went down so quickly? Should I rather not use nerve gas if I want to capture a city with its structures intact?

2. Some sources say the Hive is not influenced by a negative efficiency rating. Well, I'm playing the Hive, but even with 100% taxes, my income is -1. None of my bases is generating any energy, except for the one base that has Recycling Tanks. Is energy generated by Recycling Tanks uncorrupted? And what about the Hive not being subject to inefficiency? I guess that's for the expansion only, right?

3. I have some problems with supporting my army. I find myself continually re-assigning home bases to make sure that there are no bases supporting too many units while other bases support none. Is there an easier way to go about?

 

[Heniu]

1. well, you rather shouldn't use it then. This is the reason. And it IS possible to capture Projects.

2. that's true that the Hive doesn't suffer negative effects of unefficiency. this means that you can use police state and planned economy without any cost. [what makes them a very easy faction to play]

but - the hive has -1 economy probably this is the reason.

energy generated by tanks is wasted as any other energy of the colony.

3. unfortunately not. but myself don't have any trouble with it at all. If you have some limit unused - just build formers and terraform terrain around your base. If you have too many units - try to use them on your enemy. simply.

or play Miriam - she has +2 support.

 

[The Person]

Regarding your first question: Every time a base loses a defender to an attack, its size drops by one. (I think you can avoid this by building Perimeter Defenses.) This also holds true when you capture it. Therefore Gaia's Landing got destroyed in your example, as 1 - 1 = 0, as you know.

 

[YNCS]

Perimeter defenses don't stop population losses, they just improve unit defensives by 50% (I think that's the right factor).

 

[The Person]

@YNCS
Nice to know. I guess I've been playing a little too much Civ2...

 

[Cuivienen]

Perimeter Defenses do stop population loss when a base is captured, however. A size 1 base can be captured if it has a Perimeter Defense. Also, population loss from a unit inside the base losing a battle cannot destroy a base, only reduce it to size 1.

 

[roidesfoux]

Actually, it works like this:
-When you use nerve gas pods against a defender, and you win, you kill half the population of the base, rounded up. (I don't know what happens if you lose; I've never had a nerve gas pod attacker lose.)
-When the last defending unit is killed, the base loses 1 population UNLESS it has a perimiter defense.
-When you capture (but not when you liberate) a base, the population decreases by 1.

-RdF

 

[Frollo]

Thanks for all your detailed answers, everyone!
Greatly appreciated

 

[Frollo]

Well, I'm back with some new questions!

1. I'm doing pretty fine as Yang. Subdued Miriam, destroyed Deirdre and Morgan, and right now I'm well on my way destroying Zakharov. However, I'd rather make him my pet -- I may need his research capabilities. Exactly what do I have to do in order to subjugate another faction? Do I wait for them to offer a pact or do I have to offer one myself? Yeah, I know I've already subdued the Believers, but I can't remember exactly how that happened.

2. Can ships capture a city? Can flying units?

3. What do the different reactors do?

Thank you all in advance
I realize this is all pretty basic stuff, but it's my first SMAC game. Well, not my first game ever, but I didn't grasp it back in 1999 and abandoned it. I recently re-discovered the game though and now I'm having a great time!

 

[Grand Cadfael]

1. If you destroying them they'll contact you first they ask you to pay for peace(refuse eavery time),then they offer it for zip,they try to bribe you,then they give you ALL there energy and tech and swear apact to serve you(agree).
2.Not sure about the first but ship can capture waterbases
3.lower the cost of a unit and(I think)the later ones add to th units movement
Welocome to the addiction!

 

[Petek]

Going back to your original questions:

Yang and efficiency. What others posted was true. However, in the original release of SMAC, Yang DID suffer inefficiency penalties. This was changed in a patch. So, make sure that you have applied the most recent patch.

Support: In addition to the other suggestions, you can:

* Build crawlers and crawl minerals on forests or mines (especially mined/rocky squares). This won't increase your support, but it will give your bases more minerals, allowing you to build more units.

* Research Bioengineering and then build units with Clean reactors. These units don't require support.

Subjugating opponents: It isn't always possible to do this. Sometimes the AI will fight to the death. In fact, they will always do so if you've commited an atrocity against them (such as using nerve gas or a PB). There's no way to ask them to surrender. They have to make the offer. One technique that seems to help is to switch to their preferred social setting before contacting them (and away from ones they abhor). For example, with Zak, switch to Knowledge (after you've beat him up pretty well). Then contact him. Refuse any offers for truce and see what happens.

Capturing bases: Ships can only capture sea bases, not land bases. Needlejets and choppers cannot capture any type of base, but Locusts and gravships can.

Reactors: Higher reactors are, in general, cheaper than lower ones. They also give units more "hit points", making the unit more powerful on both offence and defence. Needlejets and choppers with higher reactors get additional movement points. Probably some other things that I can't think of right now.

 

[Frollo]

Thank you all!

I guess I'll just have to wait for the University to surrender. Switching to Knowledge seems like a smart move, I'll try that.

I was a bit confused on the reactors. I automatically assumed that more advanced hardware would cost more, as is the case in Civilization. In game terms, it seems counterintuitive that a better component would lower the unit cost, but I guess it's not that strange. RAM memory, for instance, is much, much faster and bigger than 10 years ago, but costs much, much less.

I know how beneficial crawlers can be, but almost all of the continent is mine already, and there are hardly any tiles that are not being worked. I'm not confident enough to have my crawlers work on a different continent where I can't protect them. I will make more use of them though, as soon as I get the chance.

More tips are always welcome!

 

[Albow]

Another good tip - don't underestimate the power of probe teams!! If you infiltrate datalinks of an enemy, you can see exactly what each base is defended with!! Big advantage ... also, for early game shipping (esp for peaceful factions), use foil with probe equipment - doesn't cost maintenance and doesn't create unhappiness when it leaves the base.

 

[Cuivienen]

Better yet - be elected Governor and/or build/conquer The Empath Guild for free infiltration.

 

[Midwinter]

Ah, that's got to be one of the best SPs to get!

The value of permanent infiltration on everyone plus extra Council votes is colossal, and picking up the extra comm frequencies you may not have is just gravy.

Do it as Lal, and you've almost got the game right there.

 

[Eli the Lich]

Perimeter Defenses do stop population loss when a base is captured, however. A size 1 base can be captured if it has a Perimeter Defense. Also, population loss from a unit inside the base losing a battle cannot destroy a base, only reduce it to size 1.

you can destroy a zize 1 base with one defender if the defender is suport from the base w/o capturing the base