brainygamer
Moderator
Registered: 07/13/08
Posts: 524
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Posted 05/22/09 at 07:22 PM
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#1
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Post your thoughts and experiences, questions and advice on strategy here. Diplomacy, research, exploration, conquest; establishing colonies, dealing with mind worms, employing probe teams, and a host of other topics are welcome here.
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Michael Abbott
Brainy Gamer blog and podcast
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Kloreep
Registered: 08/04/08
Posts: 294
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Posted 05/25/09 at 11:40 PM
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#2
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I have a couple new thoughts about the game, strategy wise, from the course of my recent playthrough.
First, I've come to appreciate probe teams a whole lot more during this first game with the Morganites. I used probes much more than I remember doing in previous AC games. I'm sure that's partly to do with the fact that I was playing the Morganites, who can have insane amounts of energy flowing in very early, and with the fact that I mostly played the University when I last played AC. Still, even for one of the other five factions that doesn't have that much cash, I'm sure probes are quite useful. After relations turned sour with my neighbor the University, I used probes to extract energy and techs from them. (Mostly the former after a while, as they couldn't keep up with my research.)
I got some good benefits by plaguing my neighbors this way, but the main thing that stood out to me was an event early in the game, when I was at peace with Zakharov. The University and the Hive were at war, and the University was swarming with 4-attack Impact infantry. I was paranoid about being attacked by the clearly superior University should the war end (more on that below), and considering abandoning the rapid expansion I was undertaking in favor of researching military techs and doing some prototyping to make sure I'd be prepared. But I also knew that the early game is vital for establishing a base; if you can build up early, it generally pays to do so.
A single probe action solved everything for me. Spotting one of Zakharov's super-duper Impact units on a tile by itself, I sent out a probe team and took the risk of subverting it. The mission was hugely successful - Zak didn't even seem to notice. In one fell swoop, I got an impact unit without diverting production, AND from that I got a free prototype, completely eliminating the need to actually research to Impact weaponry or to spend extra minerals prototyping the unit. If Zak attacked, I would be able to build my own Impact infantry immediately. Technological parity assured, I went back to building.
Which brings me to my second point: I was way off in worrying about an attack, because the AI is.... not good. I knew that, but was reminded of how an AI can corner itself sometimes in this game. The war between Zak and Yang of the Hive never ended. It must have lasted almost 100 turns, because it was still going at the end of the game. Which is strange, because Zakharov did whittle Yang down to one base pretty early, and had a horde of those Impact Infantry units I was talking about. Even with Yang's increased defenses, my infiltration of Yang's faction showed that he didn't have anything better than scout patrols. A good swarm of 4 units would have finished Yang off, and from infiltration, I can again tell you that Zak had far more than that. The only reason I can see for Zak keeping his units inside his bases is that I switched sides and united with Yang against Zak in the hopes of propping Yang up long enough to hurt Zak's economy. It turns out it worked really really well, because he didn't attack Yang - and he didn't attack me, even though he should have when we first went to war; my army was not comparable. Zak had almost no production left so long as he kept his army standing (because of support costs) and he wasn't big enough to research new technology very well, so his best chance was to attack as early as possible. But he didn't. If it weren't for Yang who survived in a single base, Zak could have won an award for Most Stagnated Faction over the course of the game. With Yang and Zak rotting away in one corner of the continent, I spread out over the rest, activated the Wealth value to get +1 energy on every tile, and quickly ran away with the game builder-style, while technically constantly at war. It was a very strange outcome, and I imagine that if I knew the AI better, all the temptations to bait it could make for a very strange style of play.
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zsozso
Registered: 05/26/09
Posts: 3
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Posted 05/26/09 at 02:02 PM
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#3
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I have been playing this game for 10 years now, and there are a lot of very interesting details to it and lots of fun strategies to work out. There is a very detailed excellent strategy guide available online written by one of the masters of the game:
http://www.weplayciv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48
Good luck with your play-through!
And if you have any specific questions about strategy or game mechanics, I am happy to help out.
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cameleon
Registered: 05/12/09
Posts: 10
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Posted 05/26/09 at 08:14 PM
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#4
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I also found the AI not so good. I tried to play nice (I was the University), so I traded techs in the beginning and made peace. Later I gave out loans. But at some point, the other factions started declaring war on me, one after the other. Literally. I built an army to fight one of them, and when I had won, the next one declared war. I could move my army around the map, neatly finishing them off one by one. If they had attacked together, I might have had a problem, but now, it was just too easy.
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vyeh
Registered: 05/25/09
Posts: 26
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Posted 05/29/09 at 02:50 PM
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#5
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One of the things that makes SMAC superior is that there is no one killer strategy.
Besides the probe strategy that has been discussed, another strategy to try is the 'native strategy.' Research the Centauri ecology until fungus is very productive. Then spread fungus through your empire. Capture and build mindworms.
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Unofficial SMAC/X Patches Version 1.0 @ Civilization Gaming Network
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Marceux
Registered: 04/15/09
Posts: 62
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Posted 06/18/09 at 06:53 PM
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#6
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I have a feeling I so much more to learn about how to think and operate within the game, and I've already gone through a handful of playthroughs.
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vyeh
Registered: 05/25/09
Posts: 26
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Posted 06/21/09 at 08:03 AM
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#7
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Marceux, there is plenty more stuff on strategy. There is Vel's SMAC Guide.
One of the hallmarks of SMAC compared to the Civilization series is that there are a lot of choices. You can change almost any square into almost any other square with advance terraforming.
You can design specialized units. There are lots of special abilities to give units.
You can establish bases in the oceans. And sea bases have distinct advantages and disadvantages over land bases.
Crawlers are a lot more powerful than caravans.
There are more options in diplomacy/planetary council.
If you are interested in pursuing SMAC after the playthrough ends here (we have almost finished the month set aside here for SMAC), you can find me here, where you can post specific questions, which I will be happy to answer.
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Unofficial SMAC/X Patches Version 1.0 @ Civilization Gaming Network
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