SMAC Install problem - TTLG Forums

Swiss Mercenary on 12/4/2007 at 20:05

Install woes: Safe mode works - or, alternatively, you can copy the contents of the Game directory (Or whatever it's called) from the CD to your HD. Game still works fine.

Moi Dix Mois on 12/4/2007 at 21:33

Quote Posted by Fringe

That's what Svensgaard's land invasion armadas (with marine detachments) are for.

Bringing people together.

One of my biggest weaknessess in any strategy games is never building enough troops. I know I do it, but I never seem to learn. I end up with an empire stretching across half the planet, precariously protected by half a dozen combat units which were outdated within ten years of game start.

This is all a problem until around the time I research Fusion Planetbusters. :cool: Then the concept of an army becomes somewhat obsolete, as even the slightest border infraction from a rival leads to massive apocalyptic genocide.

Hmm... really must load up Alien Crossfire again soon. Right after my replay of Warcraft 3.

HamburgerBoy on 13/4/2007 at 02:20

Quote Posted by Moi Dix Mois

Everybody always plays as the University. They're probably the most overpowered faction in the game.

Morgan Industries is probably the easiest for me. I suck at the game, but with him it's no problem for me. Free Market + Democracy in times of peace and I make crazy amounts of energy, which in turn gives me crazy amounts of tech upgrades and cash to burn on secret projects when needed to be rush. Disobey your fundamental purpose in war time by switching over to Police State and what not and he still isn't too bad at killing things.

Of course, I play the game one off of Citizen difficulty, so don't listen to me. :o

Swiss Mercenary on 13/4/2007 at 18:35

Quote Posted by HamburgerBoy

Free Market is great for the +1 energy/tile - Morgan's only advantage from having +3 economy, as opposed to the +2 that everyone else can get with Free Market, is that he gets extra commerce from treaties and pacts with other factions. It's the only reason for why I'm not wholly fond of him - most of his advantage comes in times of peace.

Quote:

Of course, I play the game one off of Citizen difficulty, so don't listen to me. :o

That might be that. The AI is much less agressive in the lower difficulties. In higher difficulties, by the time you get full contact, you'll just about always have at least 2 or 3 factions that you'll be at war with for most of the rest of the game.

Depending on the geography, and who else they are fighting, it's still possible to get away with minimal military, though.

Zak's Unversity is a great faction, too - although I haven't played him much, past my newbie steps, for some reason. I really like the Gaians, with their starting mind worm capture, and the easy push for The Weather Paradigm, but lack of Free Market is painful. A lot of terraforming is required to even the gap between them and the other factions.

On another note, I don't use Planet Busters - too much eco-damage, and global warming. It's also somewhat off my prefered research path - in mid-late game, I try to push for the Theory of Everything, and The Universal Translator secret projects, then follow up on that lead with Secrets of Alpha Centauri, and hopefully, Digital Sentience. Even if I'm behind in tech before ToE and the UT, those projects are often enough to blaze ahead. The AI doesn't place a big priority on building them, either.

Fringe on 14/4/2007 at 05:15

Quote Posted by Swiss Mercenary

Yeah, the important thing for your ECON rating is just to try to get to +2 it takes for you to earn extra energy every square. Anything else is almost too much. But that's why Morgan is magic.

With his natural +1 ECON faction setting, all you need to do is switch to the Wealth Value SE choice (which also gives +1 ECON), and then you can get that extra energy per square without Free Market (and Free Market's ridiculous Police and Planet penalties). You can keep your economy on Green or Planned, and so rake in the cash while staying on a war footing. No other faction in the game can do that.

Moi Dix Mois on 14/4/2007 at 10:01

Even the Alpha Centauri forum at Civ Fanatics doesn't get this much activity. :D (:()

How many of you still actually play this game? If it's more than just a couple perhaps we could get a multiplayer game going, even if it's just play-by-email. Any takers?

Swiss Mercenary on 15/4/2007 at 18:16

Quote Posted by Fringe

With his natural +1 ECON faction setting, all you need to do is switch to the Wealth Value SE choice (which also gives +1 ECON), and then you can get that extra energy per square without Free Market (and Free Market's ridiculous Police and Planet penalties).

The planet penalty isn't a problem, as any native worm-rape in your territory can easily be turned into Goodie Goodie energy credits, by just throwing Scout Patrols at the worm stacks. Of course if Deidre or Cha Dawn is coming for you with worms, then priorities change.

The police hit means that you've gotta invest 10% of your econ into psych, and you can't warmonger. I personally am not too keen with warmongering on Wealth, myself - the -2 morale means that all morale modifiers on units you build are halved. You'll have a better army if you were running FM (Hello veteran/commando units), but decided to switch to Planned for waging offensive war, then if you were running Wealth, and switched to Knowledge (Disciplined/Veteran units). Switching to Power would get them up to Veteran/Commando levels, but Morgan can't run Power.

Factors like surprise attacks, or the need to sink transports before they land throw a bit of a monkey wrench into the works, yes. I suppose it's just a matter of not really having played a non-Free Market Morgan, for me, much. I'll try it, and see.

Quote:

How many of you still actually play this game? If it's more than just a couple perhaps we could get a multiplayer game going, even if it's just play-by-email. Any takers?

Not on a regular basis, but I load it up every once in a while. I'd love running multiplayer, though.

Fringe on 16/4/2007 at 03:52

I've never played multiplayer SMAC(X) before--and I imagine saying this is something akin to a stranger sitting down at a poker table of hardcore gamblers and asking, "Now how do you play this game again?"

I think I'd need more practice at beating at least a Transcend AI first :erg:

Moi Dix Mois on 16/4/2007 at 12:43

I never played multiplayer either for what it's worth.
And I can just barely win on Talent difficulty. :rolleyes: :D
Might be a fun little experiment though, if enough people are up for it.

In my current game as the Hive I'm at war with the Belivers, Peacekeepers and Gaians. How I managed to piss off three factions with such utterly different ideologies I don't know, but thankfully they're over the other side of the world and I laugh at them.
(While chewing my fingernails and praying they don't have lots of transports.)

Swiss Mercenary on 18/4/2007 at 03:39

Quote Posted by Moi Dix Mois

In my current game as the Hive I'm at war with the Belivers, Peacekeepers and Gaians. How I managed to piss off three factions with such utterly different ideologies I don't know, but thankfully they're over the other side of the world and I laugh at them.
(While chewing my fingernails and praying they don't have lots of transports.)

Police State-Planned.

Miriam hates you if you aren't a fundie, Lal hates you for being a ruthless dictator, and Deidre hates you because you aren't hugging enough trees.

Most probably Morgan won't be too happy with you in the future, and if you go Wealth, you'll tick both Santiago and Zakharov off. Enjoy!