[TOT] Lalande 21185 - Civ2 Test of Time Sci-fi Scenario Help

[IMBC2]

Greetings all! Especially to Mercator, Valka D'Ur, and Wobbegong!

It has been over 2 years since I'd last posted. After seeing some shows about space exploration, I decided to give the Lalande 21185 game from Test of Time a whirl. I'd found a rather large set of graphics files illustrating the Sci-fi Tech Tree (very low quality though) so that I can sorta have an idea of what I'm doing here. (Hmmm, Valka or Mercator, are you absolutely sure that there isn't a high-quality tech tree for the Sci-fi, Fantasy, and Extended games like the one for the Original game in the Civ2 Downloads section?)

I am currently playing as Engineers (not to be confused with the Engineer unit in the Original Game) on Family (Prince) level on a normal-sized map with Barbarian Wrath of Gaia (highest possible Barbarian difficulty).

While I was playing, a few observations raised some questions:

1) What is the main purpose of the Primitive Weapons tech (NOT to be confused with Primitive Machinery)? My Engineer Civilization did not start with this tech, yet when I look it up in the Civilopedia, it doesn't seem to be a prerequisite to any other tech advance or allow any new units/buildings to be built.

2) Will Barbarian uprisings (or Eco-Reactive Incidents [sic]) occur in Orbit or on Naumacchia (assuming that I have at least one size 10+ city on each of the mentioned maps)? *

3) I know that I am far from reaching this point in the game, but I'd heard that as soon as you set foot on the gas giant Nona, some very powerful Barbarian units (cannot be bribed) show up, and they can instantly teleport to any map and wipe you out if you're not careful. What is a very effective way of dealing with them?

4) Also, what is an effective strategy for killing one of them? I'd heard that you get some very powerful techs for killing them, especially the one to allow nuclear weapons.

5) The unhappiness from troops issue -- mainly aircraft:
In the Original game, any aircraft unit other than the Stealth bomber automatically caused unhappiness by merely existing (regardless of their being in a friendly city or airbase). However, in Lalande 21185, my Giant Bee [sic], Interceptor, and Annulus units do not cause unhappiness at all in my Confederacy (like a Republic), even if more than one from the same city is currently not stationed in a town or airbase. (And no, I do not have the ability to build DoppleGarages (like Police Stations) yet.) Is this buggy or by design? (Not that I'm complaining, of course, as it makes empire management SO much easier for me as a Confederacy.)

6) "Evening the playing field" with aircraft that carry only 1 turn's worth of fuel:
I moved my Interceptor unit (carries 10 fuel) out over the ocean for 7 squares or so, saw something interesting, couldn't figure out what to do, then decided to hit W so I could build a new city with a Colonist elsewhere. I played a few more units until I got to an Arabber (Caravan unit) that was about to make an intercontinental delivery. However, I was just knocking on the door to a new tech with my beakers, so I decided to hit Ctrl-N, forgetting about my Interceptor! When my next turn started, I discovered that my Interceptor unit was still alive and had a full 10 units of fuel! And... it wasn't causing any city unhappiness. What is up with that?

7) As a human race, my Civilopedia states that there are certain advances that I "can't Posses". However, my ambassadors were able to Steal the Circular Supports tech from one of the aliens, and then I was able to build Orreries, which I should not have been able to build at all (and this REALLY helps keep my cities in order)! Is this a bug?


Whew! Thanks in advance for reading this ultra-long post and for any advice that you can offer me.


* I ask Question #2 based on my experiences in the Civ2: Test of Time Extended Original Scenario in which you get to colonize a planet in the Alpha Centauri star system. (By the way, I'd built about 100 cities on Centaurus before putting that game on the shelf.) I'd noticed that for 100+ turns, any Barbarian uprisings I'd seen (on Raging Hordes) began only on Earth and never on Centaurus. The only Barbarians I did see on Centaurus appeared from tipping unlucky huts.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Woot! Long time, no see, stranger!

I can't answer all your questions because I don't play with the Barbarians. They're annoying enough when the alien ones from Nona come invading, so I don't care to fuss with the regular ones.

However...

Primitive Weapons gives you nothing. You don't get any special abilities, movements, units, extra food, happiness, or money. It's just an annoyance that I prefer to trade for, steal (after taking the "good stuff" first), or best of all, get at the outset of the game.

I don't know about Barbarian uprisings on Naumachia. There aren't any goody huts there or on Nona, so you won't find Barbarians that way. The only ones I've encountered are those that come from Nona, that teleport wherever the heck they feel like. I'm not sure about the orbital stations.

I'm guessing that you're asking about the effects of pollution in Orbit and on Naumachia, like in global warming or meltdown? Again, I don't know, as I don't let things get that bad. I get the anti-pollution techs/structures as soon as possible, and make sure I've always got units available for cleanup.

I've had ecological disasters happen in the fantasy game, though, and was that ever a godawful mess! Moral: Always save the game before the Dragon's scroll gets translated, just in case it's the bad outcome!

You don't actually have to step foot on Nona for the alien Barbarians to show up. All it takes is getting the tech. Even if you never move your Dropship to Nona or teleport there, the aliens will still go after your cities in the other worlds.

As for how to fight them... Others may have different strategies, but I prefer to use Kineticore units, ideally at least two in every city, and you need to think three-dimensionally in this. One Kineticore can defend two or even three cities on multiple levels in one turn if the cities are close enough laterally (so the unit doesn't run out of moves). However, it's not enough to merely defend against them; you need to kill one of each kind of alien Barbarian in order to get more advanced tech. And note that Kineticores can't teleport to Nona. You will need to build new ones there.

There is yet one more alien Barbarian that shows up only on Nona. It's not a flying unit, though, strictly "ground"-based. So it's a good idea to thoroughly explore before building a city on Nona, because if you build on the same territory, you probably won't have time to build the necessary defenses/attack units before the Barbarian kills you - it's really tough! But there is a way to kill it, if you really want to. You need to be sure you want to, though, because when that Barbarian is dead, the game is over.

I love the Bombus unit (the Giant Bee). I use it as long as I can, because they're quick to build, good in both attack and defense, excellent to use for exploring (but don't fly them over a goody hut or they'll scare it away and you won't get anything), they make good scouts, and they never run out of fuel. But they're useless against the alien Barbarians, which croggles my mind, seeing the alien civilizations trying to fight Barbarians with Bombi.

There are bugs in this game (the way it works, not units ). For instance, Bombi can only exist on Funestis. They can't exist in space, nor can they travel to Naumachia or Nona (by that time they're long obsolete, anyway). But there was one game where I found a "goody hut" on an orbital station, and to my surprise it was a Bombus that turned up! I didn't argue; I just set it to exploring. At six squares per turn, it really helps, especially not having to go around the orbital stations.

I'd have to take a look at the Civilopedia for that game to answer your last question, as I don't recall offhand. I've tried to play the aliens, but prefer to play the humans.

And now you know where my CFC username comes from: Valka of the Uridians - Valka D'Ur.

I'm curious; what year is it when you usually build your Shuttlecraft and get into Orbit?

 

[Spoonwood]

Yea! I'm glad to see someone posting something about the sci-fi scenario.
I've never seen barbarians in Orbit or on Naumachia, even with them on Wrath of Gaia. One trick I've learned (if you didn't know already) comes as that if an invisible barbarian lies within the fat X of your city radius, you can see it from inside the city display screen. I also like the Kineticore for fighting the Nona barbarians. But, as I recall then can teleport to Nona. In terms of killing them the All-Field (the Great Wall) works as a nice help since it doubles your combat strength against them. With that, I haven't needed 2 per city. But, I've need to basically have some within range of any city of mine, since the barbarains teleport everywhere.

I have a game where it's 820 P. E. and it seems where I've just gotten into orbit. Another one where it's 420 P. E., I'm almost done researcing Spacecraft, and have explored a little bit of the orbital platform (with an Annulus). I think I've managed to get there around 1 P. E. in a game before, but I'm not sure.

I don't know if you should be able to steal techs from alien tribes or not. I do know that playing an alien tribe plays much differently than a human tribe. You can't research Confederacy yourself... so if you want a fast research game to the FTL ship or the EarthGate, things work out more difficult. Also, you can't research Humanics for the Living Wage... so even with ICS spacing happiness becomes a signficiant issue on upper levels if you don't use the luxury slider. I have built the FTL ship on Phylum with a non-human tribe a year or so ago (I think I even had Wrath of Gaia barbarians on, though I'm not sure), but I certainly didn't find that a cakewalk. When I first started playing I would basically go broke building workshops and transmogrifier's in too many cities too early. This game really taught me the value of carefully building only the improvements you want at the right time. Wonders sure do work out really easy to build here... even more so to the "regular" civ II game, don't they?

 

[IMBC2]

I'm curious; what year is it when you usually build your Shuttlecraft and get into Orbit?

Boy, I've got stories to tell about that one...

However, this is only my third go at Lalande 21185, so I couldn't answer about "usually". My first two times were "learning experiments" to get used to the units and the tech tree. In my first go, I'd built my first shuttle as a Despot at around PE 1350 (AD 1350) . It took me until PE 1500 to get to Expedient Hierarchy. (I'd known from the Civilopedia that there was a government type called Hierarchy, but noooo... the Civ2 designers had to put the word "Expedient" next to the tech in the tree to throw me off!) Anyway, as soon as I'd build that shuttle, I got the message about the shuttle's ability to blast off into orbit. Before hanging it up, I looked at my techs that I'd gotten (pretty pathetic ) and noticed one, "Plasma Chamber", that I had not recalled being given the option to research. I'd also noticed that it had been colored differently on my crude tech poster.*

Before my second go, I decided to jot down the necessary techs needed to "get out of Despotism fast":
Code of Trust, Craftsmanship -> Trade Guilds -> Expedient Hierarchy

(I felt like kicking myself after seeing just how easy that was...) From there, I decided to jot down the necessary techs to get Arabbers (Caravans):
Adaptive Farming -> Market Economy

From here, I concentrated on getting Hydroponic Farms (the equivalent of Granaries). After that, it was pretty much by ear.
I had gotten to Expedient Hierarchy by 1600 AP (1600 BC). (I guess I was fortunate at that time to have started with Craftsmanship and popped a tech from a wreckage site.)
That time around, I was able to build my first Shuttle at around PE 480 or so. I immediately looked at my Tech Tree at this point as I got that special message again for building the shuttle. Sure enough, "Plasma Chamber" appeared on my list of techs.

I had bungled my way to Confederacy (the Sci-Fi scenario's equivalent to The Republic) at around PE 1050. (Wow! Can't get to Republic quick like in the normal game!) It was satisfying to have a brand new form of government at that time, but I couldn't help but think that I could be doing just a bit better with the proper research. I decided to put this game on the shelf for experimental purposes and did some serious Civilopedia research.

This time, I'd made a "shopping list of techs" to research (assumes that you are a Human civilization):

Get out of Despotism Quick -- Expedient Hierarchy (Sci-fi's equivalent of Monarchy):
Code of Trust, Craftsmanship -> Trade Guilds -> Expedient Hierarchy

Arabbers (Sci-fi's equivalent of Caravans):
Adaptive Farming -> Market Economy

Ambassadors (Sci-fi's equivalent of Diplomats, human only, great for exploring):
Woodworking -> Merchant Marines

Hydroponic Reserves (Sci-fi's equivalent of Granaries):
Primitive Machinery -> Lab Instruments -> Gene Tailoring

Confederation (Sci-fi's equivalent of The Republic, human only):
Electronic Brains
Citizens' Compact -> Free Expression -> Wireless Networks -> Confederation

Morphon Attactor (Sci-fi's equivalent of Leonardo's Workshop):
Aerology -> Flood Prediction -> E-M Repulsion
Genetic Artistry -> Transmutation

Shuttle:
Flying Machines -> Spacecraft -> VTOL
Plasma Chamber (after building shuttle)

Environeers (Sci-fi's equivalent of Engineers, humans only):
Plasma Engines -> Mechanized Armor -> Basic Automation

Salmagundy (Sci-fi's equivalent of Spies):
Genera Nova -> GEnIEs
Heteromorph RNA -> Xenobiology
Frictionless Surfaces -> Positronic Brains -> Xenolinguistics, Plasmatronics ->
-> Hybrid Design -> Syncretic Biology

Proteocracy (Sci-fi's equivalent of Democracy):
Adaptive Automata -> Chaos Biogenics
Omniform Bacteria -> Allotropics -> Green Attractors -> Proteocracy


This way, I would always have a useful tech to research in case the one that I'd really
wanted turned out to be an Oedo tech (non-researchable for a certain turn).

So here I am now, on my third go at this, this time as the Engineers, having built a Shuttle at 50 AP, and researching Plasmatronics in PE 750.

*Still, I wish I had a better version of the tech tree. My "crude version" is a set of 8 files that I have to sift through using Windows Picture Viewer everytime I need to look at a different part of the poster (gets pretty annoying). This is why I am hoping for a high-quality PDF file for this tree like the one available for download for the Original game on this site.

 

[IMBC2]

I don't know about Barbarian uprisings on Naumachia. There aren't any goody huts there or on Nona, so you won't find Barbarians that way. The only ones I've encountered are those that come from Nona, that teleport wherever the heck they feel like. I'm not sure about the orbital stations.

Actually, there are goody huts in Orbit. They look white instead of brownish-red and blue. The first one I popped in my current game resulted in a hostile Inteliraptor. I haven't been to Naumacchia yet, but I will keep you updated.

I'm guessing that you're asking about the effects of pollution in Orbit and on Naumachia, like in global warming or meltdown? Again, I don't know, as I don't let things get that bad. I get the anti-pollution techs/structures as soon as possible, and make sure I've always got units available for cleanup.

Actually, I'm talking about Barbarian uprisings/Peasant revolts. They're called Eco-Reactive Incidents in the Sci-Fi scenario, but thanks for the heads-up anyway. (Don't you just love the new naming conventions ?)

You don't actually have to step foot on Nona for the alien Barbarians to show up. All it takes is getting the tech. Even if you never move your Dropship to Nona or teleport there, the aliens will still go after your cities in the other worlds.

And which tech might that be?

As for how to fight them... Others may have different strategies, but I prefer to use Kineticore units, ideally at least two in every city,

Thanks! Hmmmm... looks like I'll have to add the prerequisite techs for this unit onto my "shopping list"

There is yet one more alien Barbarian that shows up only on Nona. It's not a flying unit, though, strictly "ground"-based. So it's a good idea to thoroughly explore before building a city on Nona, because if you build on the same territory, you probably won't have time to build the necessary defenses/attack units before the Barbarian kills you - it's really tough! But there is a way to kill it, if you really want to. You need to be sure you want to, though, because when that Barbarian is dead, the game is over.

I've done my Civilopedia research and it seems as if the unit to which you refer is the Dondasch. I thought that there were only three ways to win this game:

1) Destroying every other civilization.
2) Launching a successful spaceship to Earth.
3) Researching "the Ultimate Tech" (can't remember what it's called here; in the Extended Original game, it was Transcendence).

So can anyone confirm that killing the Dondasch unit will grant you that "Ultimate Tech" from condition #3?

There are bugs in this game (the way it works, not units ). For instance, Bombi can only exist on Funestis.

Not sure if I would really call that a bug (no pun intended, hah ). It is listed as a restriction on the Tech Poster for the Sci-fi game that Bombi can only be built on Funestis. Several other units may have similar restrictions, such as the Kineticore, which can be built anywhere but Nona. An odd thing is that Arabbers cannot be built in Orbit, but their upgraded counterparts, the Hi-Die Tankers, can.

However, the "feature" that would allow me to hit Control-N and have my flying Interceptor unit (carries only 1 turn's worth of fuel) survive over water and get a full tank of fuel the next turn is kinda shady.

I'd have to take a look at the Civilopedia for that game to answer your last question, as I don't recall offhand. I've tried to play the aliens, but prefer to play the humans.

I don't know if you should be able to steal techs from alien tribes or not.

Actually, the technology needed to build Orreries is Astronomy, which humans "Can't Posses" in this scenario. However, I was able to steal it early on. If you were to start a new game as the Uridians (a human civilization) and then look up Astronomy from the Civilopedia, it would show the words "Can't Posses" (yup, this is a typo native to this game) in red.

So I wonder: Can I steal pretty much any tech I want?

And now you know where my CFC username comes from: Valka of the Uridians - Valka D'Ur.

Pleased to make your acquaintance, Valka of the Uridians

 

[Spoonwood]

I think you have to defeat more than one class of Nona barbies in order to get the ability to research the EarthGate technology. I believe you can steal any tech you want. I believe you need Quantum Gravitics to get to Nona. I'm not sure though. If you check the civilopedia you have Unifcation Theory as a prerequisite... which you can't reserach as a human. However, you can get this Unifcation Theory from the Acrolectic Solenoid, and the aliens somehow to all learn it at the same time, if I remember correctly. I believe Forward Vectoring allows you to go to Naumachia. It also allows the Hoh Mann. If I remember correctly, make sure you build one so you can get D-116 Capacitance (which allows the Singing Gardens and opens up other parts of the tech tree). If you haven't seen this already, you generally get more commerce and shields out of cities in orbit than on Funestis, and this happens even more so on Naumachia.

 

[Spoonwood]

If you haven't picked up on it, you can scout the orbital platform with an Annulus before you can make it to orbit.

In my current game I learned SpaceCraft on Phylum with no barbarians in 220 P. E. (with Living Wage already built). I didn't have Wireless Networks and took a detour for Transmutation first. So, I learned VTOL in 540 P. E. and bought the shuttle the next turn. I still ruled in an Expedient Hierachy at that time.

 

[Catfish]

Greetings all! Especially to Mercator, Valka D'Ur, and Wobbegong!

Hi IMBC2. I'm not really qualified to answer questions about the Sci-Fi game, since I've only played it once and that was aeons ago. Most of my experience comes from scenario design. I haven't seen Mercator in the forums (CFC or Apolyton) for months. He's dropped right off the radar.

However, I was just knocking on the door to a new tech with my beakers, so I decided to hit Ctrl-N, forgetting about my Interceptor! When my next turn started, I discovered that my Interceptor unit was still alive and had a full 10 units of fuel! And... it wasn't causing any city unhappiness. What is up with that?

The Ctrl+N fuel exploit is a well-known Civ2 bug. It's usually banned in multi-player games. Don't know about the unhappiness issue.

7) As a human race, my Civilopedia states that there are certain advances that I "can't Posses". However, my ambassadors were able to Steal the Circular Supports tech from one of the aliens, and then I was able to build Orreries, which I should not have been able to build at all (and this REALLY helps keep my cities in order)! Is this a bug?

Yes, it's a ToT bug. Sloppy programming. You can steal any technology that is flagged as 'Can't Posses [sic]' (Sci-Fi game) or 'Can Never Research' (Original game). The only difference between these techs and others, in this regard, is that they won't appear on the list when a spy (Salmagundy) attempts to steal a specific advance. When no advance is specified, these techs can be stolen.

There are bugs in this game (the way it works, not units ). For instance, Bombi can only exist on Funestis. They can't exist in space, nor can they travel to Naumachia or Nona (by that time they're long obsolete, anyway).

That ain't a bug. The unit flags in rules.txt prevent a Bombus from being produced on or travelling to the secondary maps. The Civilopedia description states the following:

Luckily, these immense insects do not seem to be capable of space flight.

One trick I've learned (if you didn't know already) comes as that if an invisible barbarian lies within the fat X of your city radius, you can see it from inside the city display screen.

Yet another ToT bug. It applies to any tribe, not just Barbarians. To add to that, you can also see these invisible units listed in the status bar when you right-click their tile - even outside the city radius. These are units with the 'invisible until attack' flag (eg, Ophion), as opposed to those with the 'submarine' flag (eg, Kelpie, Pristrix) which require the 'spot submarines' flag or a collision to detect. Barbarian units with the 'submarine' flag are always visible.

So can anyone confirm that killing the Dondasch unit will grant you that "Ultimate Tech" from condition #3?

Checking the Events file, I see that if anyone researches Quantum Gravitics, 3 Dondasch, 3 Adamastor and 3 Urdar units belonging to the Barbarians will be created on Nona. They're all bad. Dondasch units can travel between all 4 maps, but require a Teleporter to do so. Adamastor and Urdar units can transport natively between all 4 maps (ie, they don't need a Teleporter). If ever you kill one of these monstrosities, it will be replaced by another on Nona. If you attack (important) and kill one of these monstrosities, you'll receive a technology: Singularity Physics (Adamastor), Wormhole Genesis (Urdar) and Wormhole Control (Dondasch). The two Wormhole techs are prerequisites for Transfer Gate, which is, in turn, a prerequisite for EarthGate. Research that and you win the game (condition 3). The Singularity Physics tech ultimately allows you to build the Sci-Fi equivalent of nukes (Ne Plus Ultra).

 

[Spoonwood]

The Singularity Physics tech ultimately allows you to build the Sci-Fi equivalent of nukes (Ne Plus Ultra).

Once you complete the Penance wonder, as I recall.

 

[Catfish]

Yeah, it's the Sci-Fi equivalent of the Manhattan Project.

 

[IMBC2]

Several other units may have similar restrictions, such as the Kineticore, which can be built anywhere but Nona.

To start off, here's one small correction. According to the Tech Poster for Lalande 21185, the Kineticore does not have any building restrictions.

Okay, that being said, here's a few more questions about the Lalande universe:

1) So it seems as if I must stay away from Quantum Gravitics if I don't feel prepared enough for the 9 Nonan Barbarian units. I'd recently researched Xenolinguistics which has enabled me to research Xenology Studies, which acts like Future Technology in the Original Game. Will I always have the option to research it every time I discover a new advance?

2) Is there any way that I can build cities on Naumacchia before I research Quantum Gravitics? Upon perusing Civilopedia info about Naumacchian terrain, Naumacchia seems to be an area better suited than Orbit for building up and growing towns, particularly the Permafrost regions. It seems such a tease that my units like Hohmann and Kineticore can explore Naumaccia freely yet I have no way to colonize it

 

[Catfish]

To start off, here's one small correction. According to the Tech Poster for Lalande 21185, the Kineticore does not have any building restrictions.

That checks out with the unit flags in rules.txt.

I'd recently researched Xenolinguistics which has enabled me to research Xenology Studies, which acts like Future Technology in the Original Game. Will I always have the option to research it every time I discover a new advance?

Yes.

Is there any way that I can build cities on Naumacchia before I research Quantum Gravitics? Upon perusing Civilopedia info about Naumacchian terrain, Naumacchia seems to be an area better suited than Orbit for building up and growing towns, particularly the Permafrost regions. It seems such a tease that my units like Hohmann and Kineticore can explore Naumaccia freely yet I have no way to colonize it

I believe Forward Vectoring allows you to go to Naumachia.

If anyone discovers Forward Vectoring, then Environeers and Meliors gain the ability to build Planetary Bases. These Teleporters allow you to link Funestis, Orbit and Naumachia.

 

[jonel1111]

The simple way to kill the Dondasch unit is way a large group of spies and a few very powerful units. The spies attack and do partial damage, then have a fifty percent chance to be transported away without dying. Attack with 40 or 50 spies and then it's so weak that powerful units can kill it. I don't normally play the SCI-FI version, but I remember that was the best way to kill that stupid beast and survive.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I don't remember Dondasch units teleporting to Funestis or anywhere else. I've noticed them zipping around whatever patch of territory they control on Nona, which is why I advise exploring thoroughly before deciding on where to put a city there. They've always been ground-based in my games, and never on any other world but Nona. You really don't want a city on the same territory as those Barbarians!

I do agree with the strategy for killing them, though. Gather a couple of Dropshipfuls of Salmagundy units and try to keep them safe until you can build powerful aerial attack units (not a nuke!). Sabotage it with the Salmagundies, then use the air units... usually that's enough to kill them.

2) Is there any way that I can build cities on Naumacchia before I research Quantum Gravitics? Upon perusing Civilopedia info about Naumacchian terrain, Naumacchia seems to be an area better suited than Orbit for building up and growing towns, particularly the Permafrost regions. It seems such a tease that my units like Hohmann and Kineticore can explore Naumaccia freely yet I have no way to colonize it

Of course, you can build cities on Naumachia. All you need to do is build your Hohmann units to explore and find a good spot - dust runs function like rivers, and dust bowls/lakes are like ocean/lake territory. Build your city with access to the dust runs/bowls, and you can do irrigation. But it sometimes takes a lot of terraforming to get good production going, so it's best to build in the temperate latitudes - or at least in a "well-dusted" area and away from the Sulci and spikes, as that terrain isn't good for anything and takes forever to terraform. And make sure you build plenty of teleportation links to Funestis and the orbital stations. It's essential to be able to scoot around to the different worlds quickly and really helps when you want to take freight to different worlds.

You'll be amazed at how fast and productive Naumachian cities can grow. Once you get to the point of farming, all you really need to worry about is pollution and Nona barbarians. It's actually much easier to manage cities there than in orbit, since those can take a godawful lot of terraforming before they can produce enough food so your city doesn't starve to death.

 

[Spoonwood]

I believe Havocs and some small looking unit can explore Naumachia and move faster than the HohMann.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Okay, if you want to explore Naumachia really fast, use Kineticores. But just remember that they have to end their turns in a city/carrier (flattop) or they run out of fuel.

Otherwise, I like to use the Engineer-equivalent units (sorry, I've blanked on the proper term) to explore, as they can move 6 spaces each turn regardless of terrain (except for dust bowls).

There is also an aerial unit that's handy - it resembles a bird/flying reptile, but it's less handy if you need to fight anybody.

A Hohmann is useful for starting to explore, but I usually replace them fairly quickly with faster, better fighting units.

 

[IMBC2]

Wow! I did not expect so many replies about this game given that before I brought it up, Lalande 21185 discussion was pretty much dead on these boards (well, at least according to my searches for "Lalande", "Sci-fi", and "Test of Time" via the Search function). Thank you to all who have participated in this discussion thus far!




So first of all...

If anyone discovers Forward Vectoring, then Environeers and Meliors gain the ability to build Planetary Bases. These Teleporters allow you to link Funestis, Orbit and Naumachia.

All hail the mighty Wobbegong!

Before reading this post, I had no idea what "Planetary Bases" meant!
Thanks to your advice, I found an island of mine on Funestis with 3 Environeers (Sci-fi's equivalent of Engineers (for the humans, anyways)) so I used 2 of them to build the portal and the other to start my very first Naumachian city, Wednesday, on a Permafrost square

I was searching for vessels other than the Dropship (nope, don't want to get Quantum Gravitics just yet ) that could transport Environeers using its native teleport ability and was frustrated to no end that there was no such unit. I guess I should have looked up the Civilopedia for Game Concepts...

I'm now researching the off-path techs from my "Shopping List" posted here earlier like Piracy and Applied Euthenics. ATM, I am a bit reluctant to research Allotropics because I don't want to expire my Morphon Attractor (Sci-fi's Leonardo's Workshop) .




Anyway, I'd like to share some of my strategies and ask what everyone thinks:

1) So I was thinking that one of my "side-goals" at this point could be to research Total Immunity to get Ur-Titans, the strongest defensive land unit available before researching Quantum Gravitics. They have 6 defense, 5 firepower, and double defense versus air units (like Adamastors and Urdars ). If my put a Fulmine Ring (Sci-fi's equivalent of SAM Battery) in my city, then that effectively gives them 24 defense and 5 firepower versus air units. The one downside is that they're god-awfully expensive (150 shields!). So are they worth it for my purposes, or am I better off by continuing to build Havocs (5 def., 5 firep., double defense versus air units)?

2) I studied the Sodak's "Complete Civ2 Combat Guide" and noted the following section:

iii) Can attack air units (fighter): The unit can attack air units with range > 1. This also affects other combat circumstances, as follows:

(1) A fighter stationed in a city that is attacked by an air unit with range <> 1 scrambles, gaining a x4 defense bonus.

(2) A fighter stationed in a city scrambles and gains a x2 defense bonus when attacked by another fighter.

(3) Any helicopter attacked by a fighter suffers a x0.5 defense adjustment and has its firepower reduced to 1.

(4) A fighter cannot benefit from a SAM (3.f) adjustment unless attacked by a missile. This applies to any domain unit with this flag.

Note: Scrambling applies only to air units with the fighter flag.

So, I'm not sure what my Kineticore's defense (base defense 3 with firepower 5 IIRC) in my city will be in case an Adamastor or an Urdar comes to visit, though I am fairly certain that the Kineticore is a fighter unit. Will a Kineticore defend my town better than an Ur-Titan assisted by a Fulmine Ring (assuming that my town center is on Graminae (Sci-fi's version of Grassland (no special defense bonus))?

 

[Spoonwood]

I believe the tech needed for the Ur-Titan expires the effects of the Living Wage wonder... so you might not want it.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Kineticores are more useful, in my opinion. They're great for defense, especially the Veteran units, but more importantly, they have a nice long range of movement both laterally and vertically. A Flattop can carry four Kineticores to areas of your map where there may not be cities handy but where it would be to your advantage to kill the Nona aliens anyway. Flattops can exist on Naumachia as well, I believe, in the Dust bowl/lake areas.

I agree on the matter of Allotropics. I hang on to the benefits of the Morphon Attractor as long as possible. Mind you, Allotropics gives you the Griffe unit, which I use in tandem with Salmagundies to kill the Dondasch aliens.

Fulmine Rings are useful if you have the money to spend on them, but if you're not so wealthy, I recommend concentrating on building units and making sure you don't have runaway pollution problems.

 

[IMBC2]

Want to know what sucks?

The Xenology Studies Tech (which is very much like the Future Technology from the (Extended) Original Game) can become inaccessable just like any other tech. I just noticed that fiasco when there was a point in my current Lalande venture where the only techs I had a choice to research were Collective Government, Proteocracy, and Quantum Gravitics, but no Xenology Studies!

All three of these are bad for me to research since Collective Government reduces the effectiveness of my Hologaming Arcades, Proteocracy is extraneous to me since I've already built the Julian Bureaucracy wonder (Sci-fi's Statue of Liberty), and Quantum Gravitics will unleash those horrible Nonan Barbarians !

So it seems as if Valka D'Ur is correct, in a way, that if I were to hunt down and kill a Dondasch (assuming I'd already gunned down at least one Adamastor and one Urdar with a Kinetocore), the game will end shortly. At that point, it seems that I might be able to research Xenology Studies for a while as long as it is not an "Oedo tech", and eventually, I will be "forced" to research Earthgate and win the game.

I never had this problem in the Test of Time Extended Original Game. In my on-the-shelf game where I'd built about 100 cities on Centaurus, I am currently researching Future Technology #70 or so, and I'd always had the option to research Future Technology and forgo researching Transcendence (which would automatically win the game).

I would love to have all the techs available in this game and try raising a handful of colonies on Nona to see how conducive the gas giant is to scientific studies. Sure, I could always set my Science slider (Shift-T menu) to zero whenever "Earthgate or bust" arises, but... it just wouldn't be the same... it sucks to think that I can't research Xenology Studies "until the cows come home".

So what gives with this "Oedo Future Tech" called Xenology Studies?