You are wise beyond your years - indeed; the manual is there.
For those wondering: It's a disc that is part of a standard software package for an OEM - computer.
Rik tries a bit of SMAC
- Thread starter Rik Meleet
- Start date
For those wondering: It's a disc that is part of a standard software package for an OEM - computer.
Kilkakon
King
I haven't looked at the save but I can say that the Hive tend to be a stronger faction. Their faction straits lend themselves well to the AI's rather spammy strategy (same goes for Oblivion in my mod). Just keep up I suppose! 
Bibor
Doomsday Machine
A bit of extensive help:
The basic key combinations:
R = road, R again for mag tube (railroad equivalent; requires tech)
F = farm (nutrients)
M = mine (minerals)
S = solar collector (energy)
O = construct sensor (+25% defense, 2-tile sight); place it on forests
N = construct condenser boosts farms in 1-tile radius. Allows farms on top of it.
E = construct echelon mirror, boosts solar collectors in 1-tile radius. Allows farms on top of it.
ctrl+F = plant forest
ctrl+shift+M = build mine, farm and road on the same tile
ctrl+shift+S = build solar collector, farm and road on the same tile
If you have Weather Paradigm (and you probably should):
Q = drill to aquifier, creates a river on the tile, most effective on high terrain
B = construct thermal borehole
***
Units have movement points, but terrain also has movement point requirements. If your unit movement does not equal or is lower than the terrain requirement, you might not get there that turn.
For example, a tile with fungus may have a movement requirement of 2, but your unit has only 1 move. 50% it won't get there this turn.
***
Units can heal per turn anywhere, but only to a maximum of 80% health.
Monuments heal up a unit instantly to 100%.
Only cities (and some wonders and I think bunkers) allow healing to 100% outside cities.
Native life (worms etc) can heal up to 100% in fungus.
This one is a bit messy.
When you press U the Unit workshop opens up. This has nothing to do with actual upgrade of units. This is how it works:
Lets say you have a scout (1-1-1) and you discover Doctrine:mobility which enables you to build rovers (a new chassis).
- open unit workshop by pressing U
- in the unit buildup screen (big middle thing) select the new chassis, add weapons and/or armor (terraforming and other non-lethal equipment is "weapon" too)
- click "rename" and type in "Basic Rover" just to know later which one is it
- click "apply"
- close the workshop with ESC
If you open up a city screen build order, you'll now see a new unit named Basic Rover on the listed options for build.
It will also say "+50% prototype cost". Any new armor, weapon or chassis needs to be prototyped first, i.e. you need to build at least one unit with the new stuff.
***
Now lets say you discover a new weapon type, say Laser (strength 2) and you want to build new units with that weapon.
- open unit workshop again
- in the unit buildup screen select the rover chassis
- select the new laser weapon
- click rename and name it "Laser Rover"
- click "apply"
- close the workshop
Open a city build screen again. You'll see two rovers listed now:
- Basic Rover (1-1-2)
- Laser Rover (2-1-2)
The Laser Rover will have the +50% prototype tag now.
***
Once you finish the first Laser Rover the prototype tag will disappear.
Now you can upgrade all your existing Basic Rover units to Laser rovers:
- select a Basic Rover
- press CTRL+U
- a confirmation screen pops up with listed upgrade options and costs.
- select the desired option (only one for now - Laser Rover)
- click upgrade.
***
Prototyping armor and weapons works with all other chassis types.
For example, you have rovers (1-1-2) and you prototype the laser on a rover (for a 2-1-2 unit).
But you also have scouts (1-1-1) and you would want them to become Laser Scouts (2-1-1).
You need to prototype the laser only once, say in this case you did it on a rover, but you can now freely build or upgrade your scouts to laser scouts.
The only thing you need to do is open the workshop again, select infantry chassis, add laser weapon and click apply. Now you can upgrade your scouts to laser scouts for normal upgrade price or build them in your bases.
Hope this helped.
The basic key combinations:
R = road, R again for mag tube (railroad equivalent; requires tech)
F = farm (nutrients)
M = mine (minerals)
S = solar collector (energy)
O = construct sensor (+25% defense, 2-tile sight); place it on forests
N = construct condenser boosts farms in 1-tile radius. Allows farms on top of it.
E = construct echelon mirror, boosts solar collectors in 1-tile radius. Allows farms on top of it.
ctrl+F = plant forest
ctrl+shift+M = build mine, farm and road on the same tile
ctrl+shift+S = build solar collector, farm and road on the same tile
If you have Weather Paradigm (and you probably should):
Q = drill to aquifier, creates a river on the tile, most effective on high terrain
B = construct thermal borehole
***
Units have movement points, but terrain also has movement point requirements. If your unit movement does not equal or is lower than the terrain requirement, you might not get there that turn.
For example, a tile with fungus may have a movement requirement of 2, but your unit has only 1 move. 50% it won't get there this turn.
***
Units can heal per turn anywhere, but only to a maximum of 80% health.
Monuments heal up a unit instantly to 100%.
Only cities (and some wonders and I think bunkers) allow healing to 100% outside cities.
Native life (worms etc) can heal up to 100% in fungus.
I've found and played the tutorials - thanks.
Now playing faction v faction , believers v University , citizen and getting my butt handed to me on a silver plate. I don't understand why. Every battle (attack or defense) I seem to lose.
And I don't understand the "upgrade thingy". It says it upgrades fine, but I see no effects. And I seem to be able to upgrade a landunit into a boat ?? Strange to me ....
This one is a bit messy.
When you press U the Unit workshop opens up. This has nothing to do with actual upgrade of units. This is how it works:
Lets say you have a scout (1-1-1) and you discover Doctrine:mobility which enables you to build rovers (a new chassis).
- open unit workshop by pressing U
- in the unit buildup screen (big middle thing) select the new chassis, add weapons and/or armor (terraforming and other non-lethal equipment is "weapon" too)
- click "rename" and type in "Basic Rover" just to know later which one is it
- click "apply"
- close the workshop with ESC
If you open up a city screen build order, you'll now see a new unit named Basic Rover on the listed options for build.
It will also say "+50% prototype cost". Any new armor, weapon or chassis needs to be prototyped first, i.e. you need to build at least one unit with the new stuff.
***
Now lets say you discover a new weapon type, say Laser (strength 2) and you want to build new units with that weapon.
- open unit workshop again
- in the unit buildup screen select the rover chassis
- select the new laser weapon
- click rename and name it "Laser Rover"
- click "apply"
- close the workshop
Open a city build screen again. You'll see two rovers listed now:
- Basic Rover (1-1-2)
- Laser Rover (2-1-2)
The Laser Rover will have the +50% prototype tag now.
***
Once you finish the first Laser Rover the prototype tag will disappear.
Now you can upgrade all your existing Basic Rover units to Laser rovers:
- select a Basic Rover
- press CTRL+U
- a confirmation screen pops up with listed upgrade options and costs.
- select the desired option (only one for now - Laser Rover)
- click upgrade.
***
Prototyping armor and weapons works with all other chassis types.
For example, you have rovers (1-1-2) and you prototype the laser on a rover (for a 2-1-2 unit).
But you also have scouts (1-1-1) and you would want them to become Laser Scouts (2-1-1).
You need to prototype the laser only once, say in this case you did it on a rover, but you can now freely build or upgrade your scouts to laser scouts.
The only thing you need to do is open the workshop again, select infantry chassis, add laser weapon and click apply. Now you can upgrade your scouts to laser scouts for normal upgrade price or build them in your bases.
Hope this helped.
Save attached.
I looked at your game. Here are some comments:
Yang is dominating the game because he started next to the Monsoon Jungle with no other factions nearby. The Monsoon Jungle is usually regarded as the most powerful landmark. Each tile gets +1 nutrients, resulting in rapid base growth. Notice how his jungle bases are much larger than most of the others.
Your main problem is your economy. You are generating negative income. When your energy reserves drop below 0 (which they apparently will next turn), some base facilities will be randomly destroyed. I see two immediate causes. First, you're running Police State/Planned, which results in -4 efficiency. Negative inefficiency causes bases that are far away from your capital to generate less energy (which means less research and less energy credits (EC)). You can correct this by switching from Police State to Democracy and also adopting either Knowledge or Wealth. Also, running Demo/Planned will allow you to Pop Boom. You can read more about SE choices and pop booming at the SMAC Academy at CGN.
The other cause of a poor economy is building facilities in bases that aren't big enough to support them. Most base facilities require one or more ECs per turn of maintenance. Recycling tanks are an exception; they require no maintenance. For example, let's look at Zarya-Sunrise. It produces 6 ECs (ECONOMY) per turn. On the other hand, its facilities cost (if I'm counting correctly) 16 ECs per turn, a net of -10 ECs per turn. This situation is undoubtedly caused by the base governors not understanding how the economy works and also making poor choices. For example, Zarya-Sunrise does not need a Rec Commons yet. If you click on the Rec Commons in the Base Display, select Scrap and Recycle and then confirm, you'll see that the base still has no drones. Knowing when to build certain facilities takes experience. As a rule-of-thumb, I'll build Recycling Tanks in any size base. I'll wait for a base to grow to size three before building a Children's Creche or Network Node (not a consideration for the Uni, however), both of which require 1 EC per turn in maintenance, and wait for the base to grow to size 5 before building more expensive facilities such as Research Hospitals and Tree Farms. I build Rec Commons only when needed to control Drones and seldom build Biology Labs. I could keep writing on this subject, but that's enough for now.
I also noticed that several bases have Hologram Theaters. These must have been build before you completed the Virtual World (which provides free such facilities in bases with Network Nodes). You can also scrap all of them.
Another tip: You should station a Probe Team in each land base to prevent other factions from probing you. If you go into the Design Workshop, you can design a unit with an infantry chassis and a probe weapon. Those are cheaper to build than standard Probe Teams.
Another tip for this specific map: On the right side of there Freshwater sea there are several tiles such that a base built there would allow access between the sea and the rest of the ocean.
Finally, you might want to build some Crawlers. They work like Caravans in Civ 2, in that they can be used to rush build Secret Projects. They also have other uses. See the SMAC Academy cited earlier for an article about them.
That's enough for now. Hope you get something out of this. The game has lots of depth!
Yang is dominating the game because he started next to the Monsoon Jungle with no other factions nearby. The Monsoon Jungle is usually regarded as the most powerful landmark. Each tile gets +1 nutrients, resulting in rapid base growth. Notice how his jungle bases are much larger than most of the others.
Your main problem is your economy. You are generating negative income. When your energy reserves drop below 0 (which they apparently will next turn), some base facilities will be randomly destroyed. I see two immediate causes. First, you're running Police State/Planned, which results in -4 efficiency. Negative inefficiency causes bases that are far away from your capital to generate less energy (which means less research and less energy credits (EC)). You can correct this by switching from Police State to Democracy and also adopting either Knowledge or Wealth. Also, running Demo/Planned will allow you to Pop Boom. You can read more about SE choices and pop booming at the SMAC Academy at CGN.
The other cause of a poor economy is building facilities in bases that aren't big enough to support them. Most base facilities require one or more ECs per turn of maintenance. Recycling tanks are an exception; they require no maintenance. For example, let's look at Zarya-Sunrise. It produces 6 ECs (ECONOMY) per turn. On the other hand, its facilities cost (if I'm counting correctly) 16 ECs per turn, a net of -10 ECs per turn. This situation is undoubtedly caused by the base governors not understanding how the economy works and also making poor choices. For example, Zarya-Sunrise does not need a Rec Commons yet. If you click on the Rec Commons in the Base Display, select Scrap and Recycle and then confirm, you'll see that the base still has no drones. Knowing when to build certain facilities takes experience. As a rule-of-thumb, I'll build Recycling Tanks in any size base. I'll wait for a base to grow to size three before building a Children's Creche or Network Node (not a consideration for the Uni, however), both of which require 1 EC per turn in maintenance, and wait for the base to grow to size 5 before building more expensive facilities such as Research Hospitals and Tree Farms. I build Rec Commons only when needed to control Drones and seldom build Biology Labs. I could keep writing on this subject, but that's enough for now.
I also noticed that several bases have Hologram Theaters. These must have been build before you completed the Virtual World (which provides free such facilities in bases with Network Nodes). You can also scrap all of them.
Another tip: You should station a Probe Team in each land base to prevent other factions from probing you. If you go into the Design Workshop, you can design a unit with an infantry chassis and a probe weapon. Those are cheaper to build than standard Probe Teams.
Another tip for this specific map: On the right side of there Freshwater sea there are several tiles such that a base built there would allow access between the sea and the rest of the ocean.
Finally, you might want to build some Crawlers. They work like Caravans in Civ 2, in that they can be used to rush build Secret Projects. They also have other uses. See the SMAC Academy cited earlier for an article about them.
That's enough for now. Hope you get something out of this. The game has lots of depth!
Thanks Petek.
Yes, I've noticed that the economy was in trouble.
I've selected all buildings to be build manually (so don't blame the governor
), being oblivious to the cost of them.
Just wondering; if I don't build the buildings that I don't need and are too expensive; and I can't build too many units in cities since they require upkeep as well; then what do I build?
Another question: in quill's youtube film I saw sliders for (I think) science etc.
I can't find them in my game. How do I ..... ??
Yes, I've noticed that the economy was in trouble.
I've selected all buildings to be build manually (so don't blame the governor
), being oblivious to the cost of them. Just wondering; if I don't build the buildings that I don't need and are too expensive; and I can't build too many units in cities since they require upkeep as well; then what do I build?
Another question: in quill's youtube film I saw sliders for (I think) science etc.
I can't find them in my game. How do I ..... ??
Thanks Petek.
Yes, I've noticed that the economy was in trouble.
I've selected all buildings to be build manually (so don't blame the governor
Just wondering; if I don't build the buildings that I don't need and are too expensive; and I can't build too many units in cities since they require upkeep as well; then what do I build?
Another question: in quill's youtube film I saw sliders for (I think) science etc.
I can't find them in my game. How do I ..... ??
Hi Rik,
In addition to Recycling Tanks, Perimeter Defenses (AKA "Walls" in Civ) don't have a maintenance cost, so you can build them after you discover Doctrine Loyalty. In the early part of the game, you can keep building Colony Pods until you run out of room to expand. You can build Probe Teams after you discover Planetary Networks and Crawlers after you discover Industrial Automation. Both of those units are "clean" (don't add to unit support). Also, after you discover Bioengineering, you can design units with the Clean Reactor special ability. Such units also don't require support, but they take longer to build. Secret Projects can be a good build option. SMAC Secret Projects are in general better than Civ Wonders. For example, they never expire so you get the benefits for the entire game. Their effects aren't limited to a single continent. Some of them grant a free facility in every base, saving maintenance costs. Finally, you can set any base to Stockpile Energy. The base will then generate ECs per turn equal to 1/2 its mineral output. You can Stockpile Energy right from the beginning of the game.
You can access the sliders for Economy, Psych and Labs by pressing the "E" key. They're at the bottom of the screen.
Bibor
Doomsday Machine
To add on Petek's post:
The Termocline Transductor (I think its called like that?) is also maintenance free (+1 energy from tidal harnesses).
You can turn your probe teams into defenders by doing the following:
- select infantry chassis
- equip with probe equipment/weapon
- add armor (whatever is available, but synthmetal and Resonance3 are good choices)
- add Hypnotic Trance ability (available with Secrets of the Human Brain)
Armor turns them into military units (they loose the 50% combat penalty for civilians), and Hypnotic Trance adds 50% to their PSI defense. Oh, and they are maintenance free, that's the whole point.
The Termocline Transductor (I think its called like that?) is also maintenance free (+1 energy from tidal harnesses).
You can turn your probe teams into defenders by doing the following:
- select infantry chassis
- equip with probe equipment/weapon
- add armor (whatever is available, but synthmetal and Resonance3 are good choices)
- add Hypnotic Trance ability (available with Secrets of the Human Brain)
Armor turns them into military units (they loose the 50% combat penalty for civilians), and Hypnotic Trance adds 50% to their PSI defense. Oh, and they are maintenance free, that's the whole point.
