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Author Topic:   NEWBIE QUESTIONS

dawgchild posted 04-16-99 07:13 AM ET
ive only had the game for a few days but i'm lovin it. i just cant figure out how come i get eco problems when all i have are forests in the area... and yes i have those ecology city improvement thingys. i thought that forests actually eliminate eco problems. i really hate those damn polar caps melting and sinking most of my cities thats why. well thanks in advance for those who reply to this post.
p.s.
i forgot... can someone tell me what the difference is between just having forests vs. farms/improvements/mines... which one is the best to use and what are the benefits since it seems like its almost equal in resource output. i noticed that forests are much easier and faster to produce meaning it is more efficient than farm/improvements/mines. any comments are welcome. thanks.
Fiannaidh posted 04-16-99 09:05 AM ET
Actually, your eco damage is determined by the total ammount of minerals you are mining directly from planet (be it from mines, supply crawlers, or forests). It is relative to the size of your city: a larger city can draw more minerals with less penalty. So, make really big cities (I like about size 45-50) and build about 50 nessus mining stations/sky hydroponics labs/orbital power transmitters. This will give you a huge industrial core, but will either require democracy/green/cybernetic with a children's creche in every city, or the cloning vats. I have boosted my mineral production beond 150, and maybe even 300, I forget. Anyway, with that kind of production, you can set these core cities on secret projects, they should finish in about 5 turns max, then, if you cluster them, you can finish 5 secret projects every 5 turns if any are available.
kjoebert posted 04-16-99 09:10 AM ET
There are two factors that affect eco-damage: terraforming and mineral production. A large city surrounded by forests produces a lot of minerals and this will cause eco-damage, even if you have tree farms and hybrid forests (they only affect the eco-damage caused by terraforming).
Initially I use farms and solar collectors to make the city grow fast. When it reaches a decent size I switch to forests, especially if tree farms and hybrid forests are available.
Druid posted 04-16-99 09:44 AM ET
If the polar ice caps are melting, remember that you're not the only person on Planet who is spewing polllution...
from: "Always Blame the Other Guy"
by ... CEO Morgan...
dawgchild posted 04-16-99 02:32 PM ET
first of... thanks people. 45-50 people!!! i thought i've reached the max already(25). speaking of orbital transmiters... how exactly does that work? am i supposed to keep launching it all the time to get the benefits or what? are there any limits to the benefits it gives(i.e a certain amount of extra minerals it can produce)? also the orbital missile defense thingy... am i supposed to launch it all the time too? how can i find out which cities have launched any of those orbital enhancements and how much i've launched already since i couldn't find it anywhere... please explain in detail since it confuses the hell out of me.
back to terrain again... since forests have balanced output no matter the underlying terrain... does that mean it will also negate the extra resource a special landmark provides(i.e monsoon jungle... etc)? please explain like i'm stupid. i just don't wanna miss a thing and it doesn't seem to mention it in the book. thanks again in advance for those who take the time to read and answer this post.
Plato90s posted 04-16-99 05:36 PM ET
Bonus resources always come on top of the what the forest output. Rivers, nutrients, minerals, energy, whatever.
As for orbital facilities, it's hard to tell how they add because they don't make a separate display. The extra resources just appear. The resources can then be multiplies with facilities that give you bonuses.
dbrodale posted 04-16-99 08:27 PM ET
Regarding orbital facilities -
It does not matter which bases launch the facilities, *all* bases benefit (to varying degrees) no matter the launch site.
For bases with aerospace complex (or all bases after the Space Elevator), the max. bonus from orbital facilities is one per unit of population. So, a size ten base with a complex could take in (at most) ten nutrients, ten minerals, and ten energy from orbital facilities.
Bases without orbital complexes can only take in (at most) half their population size - I do not know whether SMAC rounds up or down on this count. So, building aerospace complexes becomes important in the late game, also for the +100% v. air attack defense modifier.
So, you should have *at least* as many orbital facilities of each type as the population size of your largest city ... The number of defense pods depends on how safe you wish to be from PBs and/or how many opposing orbital facilities you wish to knock down ... The only facilities that need to be replaced after launch are those defense pods you use to attack and/or block PB attacks - all other facilities "work" indefinitely unless another faction knocks them down.
Hope this clarifies things for you.
don
You can check for the number of orbital facilites in use by each faction under the orbital reports screen (F6).
dawgchild posted 04-16-99 09:42 PM ET
oh thanks that made it much clearer. i didn't know that it's possible to knock down orbital facilities.
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Author	Topic: NEWBIE QUESTIONS
dawgchild	posted 04-16-99 07:13 AM ET ive only had the game for a few days but i'm lovin it. i just cant figure out how come i get eco problems when all i have are forests in the area... and yes i have those ecology city improvement thingys. i thought that forests actually eliminate eco problems. i really hate those damn polar caps melting and sinking most of my cities thats why. well thanks in advance for those who reply to this post. p.s. i forgot... can someone tell me what the difference is between just having forests vs. farms/improvements/mines... which one is the best to use and what are the benefits since it seems like its almost equal in resource output. i noticed that forests are much easier and faster to produce meaning it is more efficient than farm/improvements/mines. any comments are welcome. thanks.
Fiannaidh	posted 04-16-99 09:05 AM ET Actually, your eco damage is determined by the total ammount of minerals you are mining directly from planet (be it from mines, supply crawlers, or forests). It is relative to the size of your city: a larger city can draw more minerals with less penalty. So, make really big cities (I like about size 45-50) and build about 50 nessus mining stations/sky hydroponics labs/orbital power transmitters. This will give you a huge industrial core, but will either require democracy/green/cybernetic with a children's creche in every city, or the cloning vats. I have boosted my mineral production beond 150, and maybe even 300, I forget. Anyway, with that kind of production, you can set these core cities on secret projects, they should finish in about 5 turns max, then, if you cluster them, you can finish 5 secret projects every 5 turns if any are available.
kjoebert	posted 04-16-99 09:10 AM ET There are two factors that affect eco-damage: terraforming and mineral production. A large city surrounded by forests produces a lot of minerals and this will cause eco-damage, even if you have tree farms and hybrid forests (they only affect the eco-damage caused by terraforming). Initially I use farms and solar collectors to make the city grow fast. When it reaches a decent size I switch to forests, especially if tree farms and hybrid forests are available.
Druid	posted 04-16-99 09:44 AM ET If the polar ice caps are melting, remember that you're not the only person on Planet who is spewing polllution... from: "Always Blame the Other Guy" by ... CEO Morgan...
dawgchild	posted 04-16-99 02:32 PM ET first of... thanks people. 45-50 people!!! i thought i've reached the max already(25). speaking of orbital transmiters... how exactly does that work? am i supposed to keep launching it all the time to get the benefits or what? are there any limits to the benefits it gives(i.e a certain amount of extra minerals it can produce)? also the orbital missile defense thingy... am i supposed to launch it all the time too? how can i find out which cities have launched any of those orbital enhancements and how much i've launched already since i couldn't find it anywhere... please explain in detail since it confuses the hell out of me. back to terrain again... since forests have balanced output no matter the underlying terrain... does that mean it will also negate the extra resource a special landmark provides(i.e monsoon jungle... etc)? please explain like i'm stupid. i just don't wanna miss a thing and it doesn't seem to mention it in the book. thanks again in advance for those who take the time to read and answer this post.
Plato90s	posted 04-16-99 05:36 PM ET Bonus resources always come on top of the what the forest output. Rivers, nutrients, minerals, energy, whatever. As for orbital facilities, it's hard to tell how they add because they don't make a separate display. The extra resources just appear. The resources can then be multiplies with facilities that give you bonuses.
dbrodale	posted 04-16-99 08:27 PM ET Regarding orbital facilities - It does not matter which bases launch the facilities, all bases benefit (to varying degrees) no matter the launch site. For bases with aerospace complex (or all bases after the Space Elevator), the max. bonus from orbital facilities is one per unit of population. So, a size ten base with a complex could take in (at most) ten nutrients, ten minerals, and ten energy from orbital facilities. Bases without orbital complexes can only take in (at most) half their population size - I do not know whether SMAC rounds up or down on this count. So, building aerospace complexes becomes important in the late game, also for the +100% v. air attack defense modifier. So, you should have at least as many orbital facilities of each type as the population size of your largest city ... The number of defense pods depends on how safe you wish to be from PBs and/or how many opposing orbital facilities you wish to knock down ... The only facilities that need to be replaced after launch are those defense pods you use to attack and/or block PB attacks - all other facilities "work" indefinitely unless another faction knocks them down. Hope this clarifies things for you. don You can check for the number of orbital facilites in use by each faction under the orbital reports screen (F6).
dawgchild	posted 04-16-99 09:42 PM ET oh thanks that made it much clearer. i didn't know that it's possible to knock down orbital facilities.