[Strategy Discussion] Transcend Morgan – Help me with Super-City build (Thinker Mod)

[adatopoulos]

Hello everyone!
After about 25 years, nostalgia got the better of me and I restarted playing SMACx (with Thinker mod, with only one custom rule - ignore reactor power = 0).

Back then, I never could manage to hold my own against even the AI on Transcend consistently. I wasn’t very good in Early game, see?

Also, I almost always exclusively played with Morgan. For some reason, in every 4x game I like to play with the capitalist faction.

Anyways this is the first time I came up with a super-lean strategy which helped me beat the Transcend AI convincingly and consistently, across multiple starts.

I want your input about how to improve it, and also to ask in general — is it any good?

I do not have a yardstick to measure my success against (never played multiplayer) — especially in which turn I have to be at point X.

---

Here is the strategy in a nutshell:​

---

Early game (Before Industrial Automation and a few turns after it)​

• Rush for thin expansion, to about 9 bases (no bases for rest of the game).
• I run Democracy – Free Market – Wealth.
• Must build Merchant Exchange in capital.
• No other wonder is needed, in fact, we should skip all the other wonders in favor of other stuff (but boy, how I would like Weather Paradigm… just can’t squeeze it, too luxurious).
• Most of the energy production comes from bases themselves (with +4 Econ) and commerce treaties if possible.

Build all buildings in the capital. In other bases, only build:

• Recycling Tanks
• Recreation Commons
• Perimeter Defence (if bordering a rival)
  They don’t build any buildings for the rest of the game — just crawlers, formers and units.

Units used →

• Scouts/Trance Scouts (very early game, to defend against feral mind worms - until we sensor the **** of the entire portion of our map and transition to rovers)
• Lots of Synth Probes for defence (can defend the base but also buy their stuff if they get too close to base).
• Some Regular Probes for offense (used mostly to steal tech).
• A couple of Recon Rovers/Empath Rovers if possible for Mind Worm killing.
• Lots of Formers.
• Some Impact Rovers if we are attacked (to destroy their invading units).

---

Early - Mid Transition (Until the energy restriction lift)​

Since the energy limit is already 2, with +1 from square from Econ and +1 from Merchant Exchange, any square for the capital is equivalent to 2 energy with supply crawlers.

We build lots and lots of crawlers in all our bases.

First crawlers go to → Rocky+Mine+Road (for +4 prod) - not necessarily from capital, in fact, from other bases would be better.
Other crawlers go to the capital, support from there, and go collect from any non-fungus square.

• Build Hab in capital ASAP and make it go pop boom (with golden age) to 11.
• All other bases stay at 4 (build nothing there, except Recycling Tanks and Commons) and they spam crawlers, formers.

We try and build 2 boreholes in every base (3 in capital), instead of solar collectors for crawlers (the energy restriction is 2 anyways and mineral restriction is lifted earlier than energy) — also production is king.

Capital rush builds everything from this point on, and spams combat units otherwise because only it has the Command Center (3–4 empath rovers, few impact rovers for defence against other factions) and very high production.

Worms and fungal pops appear regularly in our capital because of rampant eco-damage, but only around the capital (important), and since we overbuilt its road infrastructure and stacked psi-attack rovers, kept some formers there, we easily beat the worms and repair the damage, while building eco-damage immunity for all our bases (safe minerals cap increasing every 2–3 turns).

---

Mid Game (after Energy cap lifted)​

At this point:

• We have 1–2 Boreholes in every base, possibly 2–3 in capital
• Rest of infrastructure is unimportant, except to support food
  
  • Maybe 1–2 farms each base? Or if they have access to a food square, ignore totally.
  • They only need 8 food each, they will stay at 4 for the rest of the game.

Capital is producing about 100–120 energy atm.

After the energy cap lift:

• We start building solar collectors and echelon mirrors for the capital’s crawlers (after boreholes).
• That, coupled with the fact that we are spamming crawlers in all bases like crazy, causes a massive spike in the capital’s energy in 10–20 turns.
• Hitting 250–300 energy is normal in ~20 turns after energy cap lift.

We overbuild:

• Road infrastructure (for crawler & former speed)
• Formers

You can terraform up and drill to aquifer if you want to get cute with solar panels, but I usually don’t.

---

At some point, we can swap to Police State – Knowledge – Free Market.

Why?

• We get most of our economy from capital anyway at this point
• We don’t need “+2 Energy/Base” anymore
• Police State gives equivalent of +3 minerals to every base until the discovery of Clean Reactors. Even after this, you can build some air units per base (1 is free without drones, interceptors don't cause any) and 3 Minerals / base is still very good compared to alternatives.
• Knowledge is strictly superior to Wealth (no more morale penalty and research is faster)

Technically, swapping Free Market to Green is also possible (due to +1 Econ from perma-golden age in capital, we have +1 energy/square there anyways) and I have done so at times.

But I like to keep eco-damage rampant (to build immunity), for fluff, and for 1 more reason (see below).

---

Key Techs to Aim for in Mid Game:​

• Fusion Power → Massive spike in power parity, also Fusion Lab in capital
• Applied Relativity → For x2 Lab wonder
• Unified Field Theory → Again, for x2 Lab
• Clean Reactors → Insane in our build.
  
  • Longevity Vaccine + Free Market is very good in our capital (biggest reason I keep Free Market)
  • I upgrade all Formers to clean (with plasma armor, same production value anyway in Fusion reactor)
  • Not combat units (to make them cheaper, our bases can support them anyway and I won't build a massive army unless attacked)

---

All other wonders are luxuries. I don’t build them.

Well, maybe sometimes Planetary Energy Grid (with rush-build if I have lots of cash — it pays itself in the long run), but cash/lab production of other bases is peanuts compared to capital.

Even Aerospace Complex and Bioenhancement wonders are luxuries, but of course, they are nice to build.

Any given wonder/building in capital is built by:

• Spending 1 crawler + huge amounts of cash, because production of our capital is king (we want it to produce combat units most of the time)

---

Unit Roster at This Stage:​

• A veritable army of Probe Defenders in every base (probably with silksteel armor/fusion) - they defend against probe incursion too!
• ~6 Empath Resonance Rovers in capital for killing mindworm pops
• 12–15 air units (interceptors and attack copters/planes) to kill invaders. Can all be supported in the capital (because we produce insane amounts of psy there anyway) without causing drone riots due to Free Market.
• Gazillions of Plasma Armor, Clean Reactor (maybe super terraformer too, if we got that cute) Formers.
• Gazillions of Supply Crawlers (basic or with Fusion Reactor, a bit cheaper).

---

Terraforming​

We keep building solar collectors and echelon mirrors. (Done building all Boreholes by now, Boreholes -> Rush)

At this point, we usually encounter the Global Warming event (due to rampant boreholes and mirrors).
But with this many formers, we just terraform our way through it:

• Save the boreholes
• Empty any square that's going to wash
• Rebuild solar panel / road (most solar panels are high up and don’t get washed anyway)

---

Optional: Cornering the Global Market​

At some stage, we could aim to corner the global market. Will require tweaking the mid game a bit i.e. skip Applied Relativity and Unified Field Theory. But I have never done so. I just go pure power.

---

End of Mid Game​

At this stage:

• We reach 1 tech per turn
• Rack up about 2000 energy credits/turn
• I reach here consistently in usually around Turn 150-160'ish

After this stage, things go vertical. I sometimes rush-build the Factory line of buildings in every base (because we already have eco-immunity from the capital running rampant eco-damage the whole game) — and even in capital (because f** the planet, I have 8 elite psi-attack rovers and 6 super formers ready in capital*)

Achilles Heel: Planet Buster to Capital​

AI sometimes uses this. In multiplayer, I’m sure I’m pretty much dead.

Defense options:​

1. Orbital Pod (obvious)
   I rush this after all other techs above and build lots and lots of orbital pods.
2. Terraform up + capture bases around Capital
   Planet Buster’s range is 12. With Fusion, it can reach 13.
   If I can capture all bases around the capital to 13-tile radius and terraform up all shores (not impossible), I can reach virtual immunity.
   I don’t care if other bases are blown — I just want to keep capital.
3. Flechette Defense
   Not reliable, but it’s on the way to Orbital Pod tech (so I build it on capital).

---

But to be realistic, this tactic won’t work in multiplayer at all
(That’s fine — I don’t intend to play MP anyway, just like the theorycrafting)

Technically, to go even more vertical, we can go Super-Tensile Solids, build a Hab Complex, and collect food from lots of farms/condensers/soil enrichers and pop boom (via Democracy — not even need Clone Vats).

Main base has insanely high psy and is always in golden age. This can let us reach insane levels of main base production (with specialists — Engineers are the equivalent of 5.5 energy due to 10% slider to psych). Food will be technically more valuable than energy. Also, Space Elevator = x2 money in capital!

But I’ve never done this.
I usually rush orbital pods, then quit the game after building ~10 orbital pods — thinking “I won” anyway.

---

Anyhow, thanks for reading this far — I hope some of the veterans out there can give me some pointers to improve!
Cheers!

 

[civac]

Thinker has changed tech costs that make this kind of strategy weaker as you unlock all the infrastructure and secret projects later so there will be times waiting around in the early game which you wouldn't have in vanilla. Other factions would expand in these periods while you do not.

As for beating up the AI in vanilla or Thinker there is nothing wrong with this approach. As you said it is fragile. The main Achilles heel usually is the energy park which is expensive, exposed and difficult to defend. Whether you can defeat Thinker Transcend AIs this way likely depends on the detail, efficiency of micromanagement in the early game, diplomacy, success in defensive warfare and some luck.