newcomer to SMAC

[postal83]

I've always heard nothing but great things about SMAC, so I finally decided to grab it on GOG.... and holy lord I can't believe I never played this when it came out. Instantly got sucked in and look forward to learning more about this game.

Just lurked on these forums a bit today before making an account and have already learned 2x from these forums than playing about 3 or 4 games now (I abandoned them after learning more).

Any golden tips you follow early on in the game?

 

[Petek]

Hey postal83,

Welcome to CFC and the Alpha Centauri forum!

1. If you haven't already done so, go back to gog.com and download the latest Universal Update for SMAC. It fixes some problems with the prior version.
2. At the beginning of the game, build several Colony Pods and found new bases. This will allow you to grab territory and build more units and base facilities.
3. Research Centauri Ecology and build several Formers (one per base to begin with). Formers are like Workers in Civilization. They allow you to improve tiles and make your bases more productive. You can automate them until you become more familiar with teraaforming. If you are using Blind Research (which is the default setting), initially set your research priority to Explore.

I'm sure that other players will provide you with additional tips.

Petek

 

[postal83]

Thanks Petek - I'll be sure to download that patch!

 

[Petek]

You're welcome. BTW, are those hints that I gave too simple? Also, do you have any specific questions about how to play?

 

[postal83]

No they are good hints. I'm still a little fuzzy on resources.

One question I have is on energy. So does every surplus energy I make every turn go into my "bank"? And how do I alot energy to like LAB or PSYCH?

Another question I have is about the crawlers. So say I have a mine, do my resources I earn from that mine automatically go to my base every turn? Or do the crawlers have to move it? And do the roads just make the crawlers move it faster? Sorry I just dont understand how that works. Or do the crawlers just make the mine more efficient giving it a bonus, and with the road enhancement give another bonus?

 

[AdamCrock]

Hi ^^ Welcome ! I'm glad that You like the game. It is truly a masterpiece (much like a golden nugget - as is civ 4 - absolute gem among the games today) My golden tip is to get SMACX (Alien crossfire expansion if You don't have it already, get it asap if You like the main game). Also crush Yang of Hive and/or Miriam of Believers if You have opportunity early, play "green" watch out for eco, strive to get tree farms early, build thermal boreholes regardless, get the top spot (high altitude (every 1000 meters above ocean is +1 energy if I'm not mistaken) pholus ridge scores +1 energy/square regardless of altitude tho) to build echelon mirror and collectors around linked to Your capital via supply units (use lots of supply units - rush secret projects with 'em) and most of all take pleasure in Your gaming ^^ cheers PS. understand golden ages and play them to get +1energy/square and more also try to get Your bases 30 pop + and strive for pop boom via social engeenering Don't play PSI if You have bad morale

 

[AdamCrock]

No they are good hints. I'm still a little fuzzy on resources.

One question I have is on energy. So does every surplus energy I make every turn go into my "bank"? And how do I alot energy to like LAB or PSYCH?

Another question I have is about the crawlers. So say I have a mine, do my resources I earn from that mine automatically go to my base every turn? Or do the crawlers have to move it? And do the roads just make the crawlers move it faster? Sorry I just dont understand how that works. Or do the crawlers just make the mine more efficient giving it a bonus, and with the road enhancement give another bonus?

Energy is not credit , energy is divided among econ/psych/research (it's like commerce in civ 4) For example 1 base score 10 energy per turn - social engeenering says 50% for econ and 50% for science wchich is 10 energy divided by 2 (50%) = 5 credits / 5 labs. Maintenance paid for buildings is substracted from Your econ (not energy) so if Your net econ from total 10 energy gets you 5 credits (50% on social engineering) the maintenance costs are substracted from that 5 credits.

supply crawlers are like pop working a tile but they bring only one kind of a resource a tile can yield. for example You have a tile which yield 1 nutrient/4 minerals/1 energy - send in a crawler and this crawler only gets one kind (yu can choose from nutrint/mineral/energy). Supply crawlers can also "trensfer" nutrients/minerals/energy from base to base but to figure it out just take some time and micromanage Your bases and You'll see how it's done Good luck and have fun ^^

 

[Petek]

No they are good hints. I'm still a little fuzzy on resources.

One question I have is on energy. So does every surplus energy I make every turn go into my "bank"? And how do I alot energy to like LAB or PSYCH?

Yes, if you produce more Energy Credits (EC) than you use, the excess is added to your balance. Press the F3 key to see a report on how many ECs you are producing each turn and how much is required for building maintenance. To change the allocations of ENERGY, PSYCH and LABS, use the sliders at the bottom of the Social Engineering screen (accessed by pressing the E key).

Another question I have is about the crawlers. So say I have a mine, do my resources I earn from that mine automatically go to my base every turn? Or do the crawlers have to move it? And do the roads just make the crawlers move it faster? Sorry I just dont understand how that works. Or do the crawlers just make the mine more efficient giving it a bonus, and with the road enhancement give another bonus?

There are two ways to harvest minerals (or any other resource). If the resource tile is within your base radius, you can have one of your citizens work the tile. The other way is to send a crawler to the resource tile and press the O key. You then select whether to crawl nutrients, minerals or energy. Crawlers can crawl resources that are either within the base radius (as long as no citizen is already working the tile) or outside the radius. So yes, the crawler has to physically move to the tile you wish it to work. Crawling a tile doesn't give a bonus. However, if the tile is outside your base radius, then you can realize more nutrients, minerals or energy than the base could produce just by having its citizens work tiles.

Here's an example: Suppose that you have a mineral special on a rocky tile and that tile is not within your base radius. Send a former to that tile and build a mine and a road there. Now send a crawler to that tile. You can crawl seven minerals just from that tile. That's seven more minerals than your base could produce without the crawler.

Roads allow crawlers (and other units) to move faster. Also, placing a road on a mined rocky tile will yield one additional mineral.

Hope this answers your questions. If not, please post again.