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Author Topic:   A Newbie's question...

Certhas posted 03-29-99 02:48 PM ET
Hi everybody, I just finished my second SMAC game, only my second, due to two facts:
I own an P133 48MB, so I can get a cup of coffee between two of my turns, and one blink approximately takes 3 to 4 seconds at the end of the game, due to 20 Formers crawling around on one screen.
I'm a bit disappointed, because the game actually is to easy IMHO.
I never beat Civ2 in Divine, or one less (I have the German Version, what is it called?) difficuty, but had no problems with University at thinker, reached 191% in my second game!!!
BTW you can dl it here:
http://www.germany.net/teilnehmer/101,110819/didit.zip
I think I would refer to my playing style as builder.
However, on to the question. This is especially about combat. I have Strength 1.9 and Power 30, and the attacker has strength 1.1 and Power 10, and I loose, and he stands victoriously getting only one point of damage. This actually was an Gravship with Graviton Gun and Psi Defense, against some kind of Interceptor. I own virtually all advanced SP, including the one that gives you + 50% PSI Defense. If this would only happen once, I would say, ok, bad luck, but it keeps happening. SOmetimes I even get the warning that I'm hopelessly overpowered when I attack an Mindworm, though I have 2 points more strength, and 20 more Power.
So could anybody please explain the combat system to me? The Handbook doesn't really clear this up.
Tin Cow posted 03-29-99 03:29 PM ET
I don't know about that battle you lost, but I can give you an answer about the mind worms.
Psi combat is completely independent of weapons and armor. It is mainly based on the EXPERIENCE of a unit. As a result, it is completely normal to have an X Graviton Deathsphere be killed my a measly mindworm boil if the Deathsphere is poorly trained. It doesn't matter if you've got singularity cannons and some badass armor, they aren't even a factor in Psi combat. Other than experience, you can give units special abilities that boost up Psi combat abilities on offense and defense, and you can also eventually give them Psi Weapons and Psi armor so that they attack and defend with Psi instead of with weapons and armor.
Actually, that makes me think... If your gravship had psi armor and was ATTACKED, it would be a psi battle and not a weapons/armor battle. If the needlejet was very experienced and your gravship was not, then it is not unlikely that the gravship would lose heavily.
Certhas posted 03-29-99 04:02 PM ET
I know about PSI Combat. The Strength-Values I posted, are the final strengths of the combat figures, in the lower middle console, that appear during combat. I always thought that combat was based upon this values only, but there seem to be some other values, too. For fuerther clarification, try the savegame, for I'm not native English (German in fact) and don't know how to explain it better.
Thue posted 03-29-99 06:12 PM ET
re slow computer:
After switching to the low-res units i have no problem running the game on my p133 w 32 mb RAM. See the readme file for info on how to switch.
The new patch 3.0 , which should be out for the german version soon, also made the game run a bit more smoothly
Certhas posted 03-30-99 01:42 AM ET
Fortunately I've got the English version, and gonna start my first V3.0 Game today. Thanks for the hint, I'm gonna try it.
master k posted 03-30-99 02:24 AM ET
hallo certhas,
nicht vergessen, in den ersten 3 schwierigkeitssufen ist das spiel nicht so komplex. man hat sehr viele vorteile, die einem in den oberen schwierigkeitsstufen zu schaffen machen.
in einem meiner ersten smac-spiele hatte ich auch mehr punkte als jemals in einem civ 2 (und ich habe verdammt viele civ-spiele gemacht).
thema geschwindigkeit: dem vorschlag mit den lo-res einheiten ist voll zu zustimmen. solltest du nicht einen 21 zoll-monitor haben wirst du keinen unterschied sehen, aber sp�ren.
gruss master k
Certhas posted 03-30-99 11:06 AM ET
Ich denke ich habe jetzt in diesem Spiel die meisten Aspekte gecheckt, ausserdem habe ich die Demo gespielt. Also besteht kein Grund mehr f�r die niedrigeren Schwierigkeitsstuffen )
BTW Thue, Your my savior, It realy runs great this way )
I posted this question in the newbies question topic again, I'll c if anybody knows what I mean....
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Author	Topic: A Newbie's question...
Certhas	posted 03-29-99 02:48 PM ET Hi everybody, I just finished my second SMAC game, only my second, due to two facts: I own an P133 48MB, so I can get a cup of coffee between two of my turns, and one blink approximately takes 3 to 4 seconds at the end of the game, due to 20 Formers crawling around on one screen. I'm a bit disappointed, because the game actually is to easy IMHO. I never beat Civ2 in Divine, or one less (I have the German Version, what is it called?) difficuty, but had no problems with University at thinker, reached 191% in my second game!!! BTW you can dl it here: http://www.germany.net/teilnehmer/101,110819/didit.zip I think I would refer to my playing style as builder. However, on to the question. This is especially about combat. I have Strength 1.9 and Power 30, and the attacker has strength 1.1 and Power 10, and I loose, and he stands victoriously getting only one point of damage. This actually was an Gravship with Graviton Gun and Psi Defense, against some kind of Interceptor. I own virtually all advanced SP, including the one that gives you + 50% PSI Defense. If this would only happen once, I would say, ok, bad luck, but it keeps happening. SOmetimes I even get the warning that I'm hopelessly overpowered when I attack an Mindworm, though I have 2 points more strength, and 20 more Power. So could anybody please explain the combat system to me? The Handbook doesn't really clear this up.
Tin Cow	posted 03-29-99 03:29 PM ET I don't know about that battle you lost, but I can give you an answer about the mind worms. Psi combat is completely independent of weapons and armor. It is mainly based on the EXPERIENCE of a unit. As a result, it is completely normal to have an X Graviton Deathsphere be killed my a measly mindworm boil if the Deathsphere is poorly trained. It doesn't matter if you've got singularity cannons and some badass armor, they aren't even a factor in Psi combat. Other than experience, you can give units special abilities that boost up Psi combat abilities on offense and defense, and you can also eventually give them Psi Weapons and Psi armor so that they attack and defend with Psi instead of with weapons and armor. Actually, that makes me think... If your gravship had psi armor and was ATTACKED, it would be a psi battle and not a weapons/armor battle. If the needlejet was very experienced and your gravship was not, then it is not unlikely that the gravship would lose heavily.
Certhas	posted 03-29-99 04:02 PM ET I know about PSI Combat. The Strength-Values I posted, are the final strengths of the combat figures, in the lower middle console, that appear during combat. I always thought that combat was based upon this values only, but there seem to be some other values, too. For fuerther clarification, try the savegame, for I'm not native English (German in fact) and don't know how to explain it better.
Thue	posted 03-29-99 06:12 PM ET re slow computer: After switching to the low-res units i have no problem running the game on my p133 w 32 mb RAM. See the readme file for info on how to switch. The new patch 3.0 , which should be out for the german version soon, also made the game run a bit more smoothly
Certhas	posted 03-30-99 01:42 AM ET Fortunately I've got the English version, and gonna start my first V3.0 Game today. Thanks for the hint, I'm gonna try it.
master k	posted 03-30-99 02:24 AM ET hallo certhas, nicht vergessen, in den ersten 3 schwierigkeitssufen ist das spiel nicht so komplex. man hat sehr viele vorteile, die einem in den oberen schwierigkeitsstufen zu schaffen machen. in einem meiner ersten smac-spiele hatte ich auch mehr punkte als jemals in einem civ 2 (und ich habe verdammt viele civ-spiele gemacht). thema geschwindigkeit: dem vorschlag mit den lo-res einheiten ist voll zu zustimmen. solltest du nicht einen 21 zoll-monitor haben wirst du keinen unterschied sehen, aber sp�ren. gruss master k
Certhas	posted 03-30-99 11:06 AM ET Ich denke ich habe jetzt in diesem Spiel die meisten Aspekte gecheckt, ausserdem habe ich die Demo gespielt. Also besteht kein Grund mehr f�r die niedrigeren Schwierigkeitsstuffen ) BTW Thue, Your my savior, It realy runs great this way ) I posted this question in the newbies question topic again, I'll c if anybody knows what I mean....