Just got SMAC!

[Yuri2356]

Well, as the title says: I have finaly been blessed with ownership of Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri.
[dance] [dance]

Now, for the point of the thread:

Being new to the game, I have a few semi-detailed questions to get out of the way:
1) Firstly, I intend to wipe out all life native to Planet. To Hell with ecology, this world is mine now and I don't care how many mindworm boils start crawling out of the fungus, I will not be stoped. What's the best way to go about acieving this goal while playing as the university?

2) Is adjusting the slieders (energy/labs/entertainment) realy worth it when you take into account the penalties? Also, what are those penalties?

3) Which landmarks do you considder to be most usefull? (Ie Garland Crater, Uranium Flats, Ect.)

4) I've only played a few hours and I already hate Yang. Would it be more painfull for him if I burned his cities to the ground, gassed his citizens, Stapled my new subjects, or just plain P-bust him?

 

[Amenhotep7]

Be easy on the atrocities. I say don't commit them at all, but that's only one style of play. Using a Planetbuster while the Charter still holds however is suicide if your army isn't strong enough.

 

[Yuri2356]

Well, #4 was sort os a joke bit, though it would be usefull to know whick atrocities are the most worth-while to commit. (I'll be certain to deal with the UN before trying anything though)

 

[Amenhotep7]

Probably nerve stapling, thousg do remember that for each nerve stapling you get ten years of sanctions, which could affect your income...

 

[Cuivienen]

1) Firstly, I intend to wipe out all life native to Planet. To Hell with ecology, this world is mine now and I don't care how many mindworm boils start crawling out of the fungus, I will not be stoped. What's the best way to go about acieving this goal while playing as the university?

Believe it or not, play green. Use Green Economics and build the Pholus Mutagen. The Xenoempathy Dome will also be helpful. Use your terraformers to wipe out the Xenofungus. Mindworms can only appear in Fungus.

2) Is adjusting the slieders (energy/labs/entertainment) realy worth it when you take into account the penalties? Also, what are those penalties?

Not really. On lower levels, 50-0-50 is always your best bet. On higher levels, 40-20-40 sometimes becomes necessary to control Drones. The penalties are just what they look like -- disadvantages that make you keep the sliders even.

3) Which landmarks do you considder to be most usefull? (Ie Garland Crater, Uranium Flats, Ect.)

Monsoon Jungle, far and beyond the others. An AI in the Monsoon Jungle is the only threat you'll ever really face. A human in the Monsoon Jungle makes the game a cakewalk. Garland Crater is also very useful.

4) I've only played a few hours and I already hate Yang. Would it be more painfull for him if I burned his cities to the ground, gassed his citizens, Stapled my new subjects, or just plain P-bust him?

Just kill him in any way possible. (Planet Busters can backfire if the UN Charter is still in place. A complete and permanent dogpile makes life difficult.)

 

[Gelion]

I agree with everything that was said .
One addition: plant trees. Trees are nice and green. They always give some bonuses and make the eyes relax. I always try to destory fungus, plant trees and move all production to space in my "untill the end" type games. I usually play as Uni or Gaians. Even Spartans...

 

[Cataphract887]

i sent you a pm about smac\smax but i see you already have obtained it i highly advise building only forests and boreholes and removing the 's' and 'f' and 'm' from your keybord knowledge

 

[Yuri2356]

i sent you a pm about smac\smax but i see you already have obtained it i highly advise building only forests and boreholes and removing the 's' and 'f' and 'm' from your keybord knowledge

Could you elaborate on that? Would I be building boreholes within forests, or arround them? (BTW, I go for the Weather-something secret project first, so I already have access to boreholes )

 

[Cuivienen]

I personally don't use Boreholes, but they can be useful. They just pollute a lot (and thus make it difficult to wipe out the fungus). You can't build Boreholes in Forests, but what you can do is have one base with 16 Forest tiles and 5 Boreholes in its radius with a Tree Farm (+1 Food in Forests as well as minor Econ and Psych bonuses) and Hybrid Forest (+1 Food and +1 Energy in Forests as well as minor Econ and Psych bonuses) for maximum production.

 

[Cataphract887]

just what i was gonna say tree farms\hybrid forests reduce eco damage so its not that bad on the fungus,unless your free market,but i only have 2-3 tile spacing anyhow,so i cant max boreholes

 

[Yuri2356]

Well, with your advice I've managed to set my plans into motion just as the planet started trying to invade my dreams. It's about to learn that messing with "earthyuri's" sleep cycle is like dousing oneself in gasoline and then jumping into a fireplace.

 

[Gelion]

Keep us posted
If you need any advice just ask...

 

[Horizon]

A good advice :
there is no diplomatic problem that can't be solved by 20+ Planetary Busters

 

[spycatcher34]

Yes, but twenty planet busters is a sure way to get a low score...

 

[Horizon]

Maybe,
But you will have no more diplomatic problems with the other factions

 

[spycatcher34]

Im guessing your favourite factions are the hive and spartans?
You should try playing a game as the Morgans or University, you have to change your stratgeies to be sucessful, but it adds to the challenge and fun

 

[Horizon]

He he
No, it is not like this, when i play SMAC , i usually select random and then i "roleplay" my game to act according to the faction i am, i find this way of playing SMAC to be more interesting (and it can be harder in some encountered situations) .

An example :
Recently, as Aki Zeta-05 of the Cyborg faction (SMACX) , we came to the conclusion after some elections that the illogical beings that were masterminding the other factions were too dangerous for the unification behind our collective future that i planned.

So we had to protect our logical collective by taking definitive actions to prevent more illogical actions from the other factions.

And after agreeing with ourselves that the 20+ Planetary Busters in our stock s would be the more definitive tool to use in face of this dangerous situation, us of the collective destroyed the illogical threat to our unification future.

Of course, the beings that logically survived the storm (their cities were carefully selected) were assimilated to our collective and are now a part of us.

That can be fun to "roleplay" in SMAC , i lost a game recently , as the Morganites because of that.