Alpha Centauri as one of them there 'Let's Plays'?

[Peck of Arabia]

A noticed a couple of weeks back I had a YouTube account that was underutilised. So I thought I might put it to use making a Let's Play Alpha Centauri series, see if I was any good at it.

Though the jury is still out on whether I can make palatable gameplay videos, I have nonetheless started a game which can be viewed here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc9KP455mzs&feature=channel_video_title

All I can say is I think it gets better, possibly


I'm, I'd say, halfway through the game facing the challenge of the three most aggressive leaders are left and the only thing stopping the major 2 causing me major mischeif is being on Seperate continents.

Still, take a look, if you dare, and feel free to comment and offer criticism or advise here or there, on my playing abilities or recording abilities. I just love feedback!



It turns out nothing is new under the sun and Quill18 did something similar here a few months back. Then again, I've never been particularly renowned for my originality and I see no reason to start now.

 

[civac]

Great! I will have a look tomorrow when I have got more time.

 

[Petek]

I watched the first three episodes. Interesting stuff! One observation: When discussing the pros and cons of Free Market (in episode 3?), you remarked that the negative Planet penalties apply to psi combat for both attack and defense. Actually, it's only for attacking. A defender with a negative Planet rating suffers no penalty in psi combat. Makes running FM slightly easier.

 

[Peck of Arabia]

I had no idea; that's largely the reason I stay in Simple Economics for so long, I'm terrified mind worms would just swarm over all my settlements. Well, that and War with the Gaians.

Thanks, also, for sticking with it so far; I know the recording quality is pretty shaky, I was learning the entire process practically from scratch. I think it picks up about episode 7 or 8, visually anyway; I couldn't possibly comment on the commentary

 

[civac]

Didn't get around to watch a lot yet. Just had a short look at the first episode. But I will definitely start watching at the weekend.

A general question: would you be interested in comments on your play?

 

[Peck of Arabia]

There's really no rush; I was tempted to carry on playing it today (My seminar's been cancelled) or over the weekend, but I'll give it a couple of days so people can catch up, offer suggestions, and I can put those suggestions into practice.

That and, y'know, catching up with uni work...

Also, absolutely feel free to comment on gameplay; what I demonstrate in my videos is my general playing technique (apart from being an early Warmonger, that was forced by circumstance) any comments, criticisms or suggestions would be very welcome, and probably lead to a better game and better video watchability (I know from experience that nothing's quite as frustrating as watch a Let's Play video of a game played sub-optimally, looking at the screen thinking 'No, you're doing it wrong!')

 

[stoferb]

One thing I would suggest for units that are expected to recieve alot of attacks from worms is to get 50% psi defense. Worms will no longer have a chance of destroying your scouts and garrisons and it's not very expensive. And also it's definitely time to start fullscale forestry in your empire. But your'e a better player than me so take it for what it's worth.

 

[Peck of Arabia]

I never thought of that, I usually just grin and bear mindworm attacks until I get the Neural Amplifier; the only real specialization of units I do is give garrisons none-lethal methods when I'm being dictatorial. These kinds of unit nuances are one of the reasons I so love this game

Good call on the forestry; looking back I should have started around my coastal bases when I started kelp farming. Now I have Tree Farms, though, the only thing holding back the forest is a lack of formers. I might even build a borehole or two something else I probably should have done a while back.

 

[civac]

Watched the first five of your videos now. I had some difficulty understanding your commentary. I found it non to clear and rather quiet at times. But that might just be me. Beyond that the videos are very entertaining. Did you use abundant native life settings? The number of worms you encountered was disgusting. But that might be due to the way you let your units prowl through the fungus fields. I also liked your short war against Deirdre. In particular the way your units were beamed next to her cities all the time. Poor Hippies.


I'm not sure I should give gameplay tips. If you follow my advice it's possible that the game will actually be less enjoyable to you. Near-optimal (or even just strong) play in Smac unfortunately means lots of tedious micro management. That is a common bane of all Civ games. You have been warned.

Spoiler :

You build your bases way to far apart. Usually two squares between bases is enough. One can even go below that at times. Morgan can't use more than four tiles at most for a long time.

Your former management is far from optimal. They were bases working 1-0-0 tiles while other bases had many more improved tiles than they could work. The long distances between you bases really hurt you there. In general, you had too many formers (especially sea formers) and too few forests (they are cheaper than farm/solar and therefore usually better).

Use your money to rushbuy stuff, especially formers, colony pods and rec tanks. A good way to spend money is as follows. Once you have founded a new base switch production to a former and rushbuy it immediatly. While the new former starts improving the new base you can start building a recycling tank or a colony pod and rushbuy it when appropriate. Morgan has the money for this. In some cases it is necessary to throw in a scout for defense somewhere in between.

 

[Peck of Arabia]

The commentary does leave a lot to be desired; I'm not the clearest speaker in the world and I don't think the microphone helped. I'd be interested to know if it gets better when I switch to talking and playing at the same time.

Native life settings are standard, I presume, since I picked Map of Planet but I've never had this much trouble with mindworms (it gets worse), and I usually play with abundant native life settings.

You make very good points regarding gameplay; I wish I had started this thread earlier so I could put them into practice sooner (unfortunately they'll start taking effect about video 15-16, by which time I imagine it's too late).

Oh I can account for the bases being far apart: This is due to habits formed playing Civ 4, but I think I fill in the gaps later.



Well it's all done now; took 72 videos and about 8 hours gameplay, I believe. A Transcendence victory, which is of course the victory condition you aim for if you're a player with style, or enjoy Interludes from the Book of Planet