New player 1st silly question

[DADDYT]

Bought Smac (Sold Out Version) at my local GAME shop for 2 pounds, at that price it was just an impulse buy, having... 1) Never heard of it and 2) never really got into strategy games. I normally play RPGs and space Sims (X3), but they were all getting the same and could not really get into Mass Effect , anyway that was another reason for getting SMAC and at 2 pound and could not really go wrong. Well what a little gem this is, played it for 2 weeks and I am really enjoying it, just discovering how the game works (not completed a game yet just keep starting again and taking note of what each tech advancement does and making notes). Cannot believe that this game is nearly 11years old and a bigger surprise was finding this forum and it being still active. Anyway to my first of many silly questions (I am nearly 60 and things seem to take a lot longer to stick).
At 2 of my Bases the energy bar is showing a red segment and is telling me …
INTAKE (CONSUMPTION+INEFFICEIENCY) = SURPLUS
What does this mean and how do I rectifier it?
Thanking you all in advance for your patience

 

[Buster's Uncle]

It's a great game, isn't it?

You can't eliminate inefficiency for most factions. The more bases, the further away from your headquarters, the more inefficiency. Headquarters gets no inefficiency waste.

Now, you can reduce inefficiency with the right Social Engineering settings (hit "e" to go to that screen). Play around with those, once you've discovered the technologies to have a selection...

 

[DADDYT]

thanks for a quick reply, just done the Social Engineering Tour again , think I understand it more, thanks again and please standby for the next silly question !!!

 

[Buster's Uncle]

Oh, good; I was worried that I hadn't provided enough detail, but most SMACers are self-starters - and I see you're one of them. Delighted to have been of service.

Standing by.

 

[Petek]

Howdy DADDYT!

Welcome to the board! To elaborate on Buster's Uncle's reply, after you discover Ethical Calculus, you can build a Children's Creche in a base. Doing so will reduce the inefficiency at that base. A lot more can be said about efficiency, but that's enough to get you started. This game is rich in details, so take your time. You might want to read past threads on this board. Another useful resource is the SMAC Academy. And, take a look at Vel's SMAX Guide.

Feel free to post your questions. We offer virtually round-the-clock service!

Petek

 

[vyeh]

a bigger surprise was finding this forum and it being still active. Anyway to my first of many silly questions (I am nearly 60 and things seem to take a lot longer to stick).

First, welcome to CFC and to the SMAC community. I encourage you to post all of your questions here. None of the people who have responded (Buster's Uncle, Petek or myself) will treat your questions as silly and you will get a great tutorial.

There is an in-game help system called the "Datalinks." You can reach it from Menu > Help.

Under both the Basic Concepts and the Advanced Concepts are listings for "Inefficiency".

I am quoting conceptx.txt, one of the text files in SMAC, that produces the Datalinks. It looks a lot nicer in game!

#CONCEPT25
As your colony grows and you claim more territory and build more
bases, this growth will put a strain on your economy. This strain
shows up as {inefficiency}, which can cause you to lose some of your
$LINK<energy=43> production each turn.
^
The farther a base is away from your $LINK<Headquarters=100001> base, the more
inefficiency it will experience.
^
Inefficiency can be mitigated at all of your bases by making
social engineering choices which increase your $LINK<EFFICIENCY=130001> value.
$LINK<Democratic=120003> politics and $LINK<Green=120009> economics each increase efficiency.
^
Inefficiency can be mitigated at a particular base by building a
$LINK<Children's Creche=100002> there.

#ADVCONCEPT1
The formula used to compute the energy lost to {Inefficiency} by
a base is:
^
^Inefficiency = (Energy * Distance / (64 - ((4 - Efficiency) * 8))
^
^Energy | Amount of energy produced by base this turn.
^Distance | Distance from $LINK<Headquarters=100001> base (16 if no HQ).
^Efficiency | Social Engineering $LINK<EFFICIENCY=130001> (+2 if
$LINK<Children's Creche=100002>)
^
^* If denominator reaches zero, ALL energy is lost to inefficiency.

At 2 of my Bases the energy bar is showing a red segment and is telling me &#8230;
INTAKE (CONSUMPTION+INEFFICEIENCY) = SURPLUS
What does this mean and how do I rectifier it?

Besides the approaches Buster's Uncle and Petek have mentioned (Social Engineering and Children's Creche), there is one other major approach that players take when their bases get large (pop 5 or more) and they get more technology and that is specialists.

Inefficiency does not apply to specialist output.

Thanking you all in advance for your patience

If you are interested in having many "silly" questions answered, this is the right forum for you. Petek is the moderator here and he can quickly find answers at the other SMAC forums. Buster's Uncle is a visitor from a SMAC forum. And I am a visitor from another SMAC forum. We are both very active in our respective forums, so you get the benefit of the expertise of three forums.

We are all pleased to see a newcomer to the game.

How did you find this forum?

 

[DADDYT]

WOW what can I say, what a great response, just been reading the manual again,( wish I had a paper version instead of electronic) I do believe that playing this game is going to be some experience , Thanks again, O I found the Forum on Google

 

[vyeh]

You might be interested in Prima's Official Strategy Guide if you want a paper reference.

Check Amazon.com; for U.S. addresses it is only $4.00 including shipping.

The manual is also available at Amazon U.S. Perhaps Amazon UK also has manuals for sale cheap.

You might also be interested in GameSpot's Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri game guide

 

[DADDYT]

HI have taken your advice and ordered Prima's Official Strategy Guide from Amazon UK ( ordered a used copy for 4 pounds as a new one was 20 pounds!!!!) thanks again.

 

[vyeh]

You're welcome.

I'd like to refer you to Ecodamage for intermediate players and Some help to 'really' start playing well.

Please feel free to post your questions about either of those posts in this thread.

 

[AljayBoy]

Hi guys, firstly I'd like to say to DADDYT that I hope you don't mind a slight hijacking of your thread, but I also have a nooby question or two.

I have been playing civ since CivIII and moved on to cIV when it came out. I love both games and they have sucked hours from my day-to-day life and so naturally had a look at forums a few years ago to see who shared my addiction. I found CFC and joined up, however done more lurking than actual posting. One thing however that I could never figure out was what this 'SMAC' thing was that cIV was continually being compared too . . .

Done a google search and found the Sid had created a game, similar to civ, but set on a different planet! With an actual storyline and lore to boot! Until recently however the game hasn't been available to buy new, but I came across it when pre-ordering civ 5, and that Amazon were selling it by 'Sold Out Software' for less than £4! Purchased immediately, and expecting delivery in a few days. So after this long introduction, the questions:

Firstly, can someone recommend any Mods or Unofficial Patches to use with the game straight from the off? As the Sold Out Software version comes with the expansion they would need to be compatible with SMAX (if my terminology is accurate ).

And secondly, I'd just like to ask anyone else who has the Sold Out Software version if they have had any problems with the SecuROM DRM? I've heard a few scare stories and slightly concerned.

Any help would be appreciated and sorry for the extra long post.

 

[vyeh]

AljayBoy,

Welcome to CFC and the SMAC Community!

Hi guys, firstly I'd like to say to DADDYT that I hope you don't mind a slight hijacking of your thread, but I also have a nooby question or two.

Technically, I am not sure it is even a slight hijacking as long as you are a new player with the 1st silly question.

I have been playing civ since CivIII and moved on to cIV when it came out.

I started with Civ (the original so it doesn't have a number!) and moved onto Civ II. I loved Civ II and played a lot of it. I bought SMAC, CtP, ToT, various expansions, Civ III and Civ IV when they came out, but they only gathered dust.

I love both games and they have sucked hours from my day-to-day life and so naturally had a look at forums a few years ago to see who shared my addiction.

I joined Apolyton and CivGaming within days of each other Christmas 2005 (CivGaming was on Christmas Day) and CivFanatics 5 months later (May 16). I downloaded a lot of Civ 2 mods.

I found CFC and joined up, however done more lurking than actual posting.

Same here.

One thing however that I could never figure out was what this 'SMAC' thing was that cIV was continually being compared too . . .

I bought both SMAC and its expansion when they first came out. I had read a glowing review in a magazine I subscribed to (it got 99% - the highest rating at the time).

Done a google search and found the Sid had created a game, similar to civ, but set on a different planet! With an actual storyline and lore to boot!

I think SMAC owes more to Brian Reynolds than to Sid. In the 50th Polycast episode, DanQ, then owner of Apolyton Civilization Sites, included my question. I transcribed the question and answer in Sid Meier answers question about Alpha Centauri:

Dan Q was kind enough to include my question to Sid Meier in the 50th Polycast episode.

The question and answer occurred from 23:00 to 23:44 of the 44:59 podcast.

Question: What were your goals in designing Alpha Centauri?

Sid Meier: Well, Alpha Centauri really was a Brian Reynolds design.

The concept was to take a lot of the ideas that worked well in Civilization and place them in a Science Fiction setting.

And I think that allowed Brian to really introduce some new ideas that were a lot of fun.

It was an experiment to see where the basic Civ ideas could go and how it would work in a different setting.

People really enjoyed that game. We still hear about people who would like to see another Alpha Centauri.

So I think in a lot of way it was a success. It kind of allowed us to stretch Civ in some new and interesting ways while keeping, hopefully, the one more turn going.

Until recently however the game hasn't been available to buy new, but I came across it when pre-ordering civ 5, and that Amazon were selling it by 'Sold Out Software' for less than £4!

£ for £, it will be a better value than Civ 5 (I've seen some complaints about the lack of tech trading in Civ 5). How many £ did you pay for Civ 5?

Purchased immediately, and expecting delivery in a few days.

Let's get started helping you with installation! What is your OS (e.g. Win 7, Vista, XP, Win 98, etc.; we can collect information about problems that have arisen between SMAC/X and your OS)?

So after this long introduction,

Not long enough! What other games do you play? Besides CFC, what other forums do you belong to?

the questions:

Firstly, can someone recommend any Mods or Unofficial Patches to use with the game straight from the off? As the Sold Out Software version comes with the expansion they would need to be compatible with SMAX (if my terminology is accurate ).

Part 1, regarding "Mods," take a look at chuft's Lazymod and SMAniaC, which are both compatible with SMAX and are both hosted at another SMAC forum, WePlayCiv. (Note that you do not need to register. The link for Lazymod downloads the mod from a private site and the download area of WPC does not require registration.)

Part 2, regarding "Unofficial Patches," CFC will only allow me to tell you about the official patches. There is a good guide to the official patches, where to download them and how to apply them at WePlayCiv.

You may be interested in looking at the forum in my signature, as you may find something of interest to you. Please post. (A garbage post now will facilitate PM communication in the future - my box at CFC is almost full. You will need to register to download and to post.)

And secondly, I'd just like to ask anyone else who has the Sold Out Software version if they have had any problems with the SecuROM DRM? I've heard a few scare stories and slightly concerned.

There is a thread DRM/SecuROM in this forum and a thread Sold Out Software ... at CGN that discuss SecuROM.

Any help would be appreciated

I appreciate that you risked less than £4 on SMAC. I hope you will stay around and share with Petek and me your impressions as you play SMAC.

and sorry for the extra long post.

Did you post somewhere else?

I have referred you to several other forums, including one that I run. (My forum is scary for a newcomer. Eawyne started a thread Some help to 'really' start playing well. He came back a month later to read it and it was on page 4 or 5!)

So, I urge you to come back here. It is easier to work with you here. Unless DaddyT or Petek objects, this is a good thread for you to ask your questions and I can always link you to answers elsewhere. And Petek is a good moderator and can also help you install the software.

Edit: I made more additions and changes. Post is final.

2nd edit: Added "only" to answer about "Unofficial Patches" after correspondent suggested that it was confusing.

 

[chuft]

Thanks for directing AljayBoy to my Lazymod.

AljayBoy you may be interested in an after-report (which is actually still in progress - a during-action report?) of Lazymod that can be found here.

My mod (and SMAniaC I believe) are not aimed at beginners, rather they are for people who want tougher AI opponents, new factions etc. so I would not recommend them "straight from the off". There is plenty of gameplay in SMAC and SMACX for you to enjoy first. You might want to download them and save them for later but I would not try to learn the game with them, since they do change some significant gameplay rules.

 

[Buster's Uncle]

chuft has a good point. I've made about a million custom factions, but the originals are the best - it'll take you a very, very long time to get bored with what comes with the game; it took me years. You should learn the basics before you worry about tracking down mods.

A few years from now, that'll have the benefit of making it all fresh again.

 

[vyeh]

My mod (and SMAniaC I believe) are not aimed at beginners, rather they are for people who want tougher AI opponents, new factions etc. so I would not recommend them "straight from the off". There is plenty of gameplay in SMAC and SMACX for you to enjoy first. You might want to download them and save them for later but I would not try to learn the game with them, since they do change some significant gameplay rules.

Note one important difference between mods and scenarios: the difficulty level can be adjusted for mods.

I agree that you might want to download the mods. I downloaded a lot of mods years ago and I might now be the only active SMAC poster who has them. I would love to get my hands on the Harsh Planet mod.

The links I gave you will get you the most recent versions and I believe they are worth downloading for the artwork. (I played a version of SMAniaC without the artwork by Buster's Uncle, but I have seen numerous screenshots from the Lazymod and it is very impressive.)

 

[AljayBoy]

Just a quick post to say thanks for the replies guys, SMAC has been delivered and installed and I'm about to play my first game. I'll post again soon after a game or two with more details and after having a look at the websites and mods recommended.

Thanks again!

 

[vyeh]

Just a quick post to say thanks for the replies guys, SMAC has been delivered and installed and I'm about to play my first game. I'll post again soon after a game or two with more details and after having a look at the websites and mods recommended.

Make sure you are fully patched before you start. I look forward to hearing your reactions to SMAC. While SMAC is very good, I suggest you start playing SMAX (the expansion).

Thanks again!

You're very welcome! I hope to see you soon here,