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Author Topic:   Easy Base Capturing Method

G e o r g e r i f i c posted 05-07-99 08:03 PM ET
There's a very easy way to take bases that I carried over from Civ2. Here's how it works:
1. Max out on all techs ( At least Graviton)
2. Build 5-8 Blink Singularity Choppers (can use nerve gas too)
3. Take equal number of well-armed Gravships, and park em both on a carrier
4. Then, just use the choppers to attack the bases until the garisson is gone, then capture with gravships. Repeat as necessary...
Using this you can bag almost a dozen per turn, per group, if you're lucky. It works best if the enemy doesn't have great armor (I usually attack about 2400). Enjoy!
Al Gore Rythm posted 05-07-99 08:57 PM ET
Considering most people who play that far to get Graivton technology are usually the insanely dominant faction anyway, this "method" is moot.
In all my games only once did I get all the way to Singularity and Temporal technologies. And this was done by stealing technologies left and right while researching my own.
Give me a good base capturing tactic when my best armor is Synthmetal and my best weapon is the Particle Impactor when I'm the Believers parked next to Yang. Not when I'm the Omnipotent faction with every technology and single cities which are larger than entire factions.
Plato90s posted 05-07-99 09:36 PM ET
And there's that foolproof method.......

Get energy reserve of 100,000+ and bribe every city.

Seriously, by the time you have Graviton Tech, the game is pretty much over.
G e o r g e r i f i c posted 05-07-99 10:05 PM ET
To do something similiar sooner, you can just put your best weapon on a copter, and capture with Locusts, Paradroppers, or just some Rovers. Anyway, it's more a fun thing to do than a tactical necessity, because of the base needed.
Urban Ranger posted 05-08-99 12:04 AM ET
Seige should work although I have never actually tried it.
This is a two pronged attack. Send out probe teams to destroy facilities and drain energy reserves, and have units destroy terrain improvements. Planting fugus probably works better, since most factions can't use fugus squares until very late in the game, when the appropiate technology becomes available.
At any rate, the basic idea is to severely weaken a faction's ability to support troops. If your opponent doesn't have many units, you can just walk all over the place.
Beta1 posted 05-08-99 09:53 AM ET
So the easiest way to capture a base is to attack it with units with the highest attack value poosible and all the upgrades that remove the defenders advantages. Its brilliant. I dont know why I never thought of it.
Seriously though the easiest way of capturing most bases is just to mind control those (especially as I've just switch alliegances and I'm now a morganite).
The Hawk posted 05-08-99 04:45 PM ET
One effective way that works in early game, is to have 2-4 artilleries, 1-2 ships, and 1-2 rovers. All of these should have best attack and the rovers could use a good armor. Bombard all possible sensors and bunkers. Then use the ships and artillery to fire at the base. After doing this for 1 or 2 turns send the rovers to kill the almost dead defenders.
Wolf Dreamer posted 05-08-99 09:57 PM ET
The best way to capture a base is to use a planet blaster on it. Then walk over to the great big hole in the ground and say to the smouldering ashes that used to be the inhabitants, "consider yourselves conquered".
In my latest game, I'm just gassing everyone to death while my regular planes just bomb all the farms and mines. I watch the survivers starve and slow down their rebuilding attempts, as well as take out their undefended formers. My economy is stronger, therefor I will eventually win.
Why would you conquer a base anyway? They build them so close together that the enemy would just send in ground troops to retake it. Hit and run is the way to go. Bomb and gas everything you can, and see how quickly they can rebuild.
I make a research breakthough every 5 years now, and am so far ahead of the Believers, its a wonder they don't beg to surrender. It takes so long to finish off the defenseless masses, even though they have no real chance of survival. Too bad I can't speed this up. I can't automatically set my planes to bomb everything in range can I?
High Priest posted 05-08-99 11:57 PM ET
The easiest way I've found to take a city is the Prometheus Virus. Cheaper than mind control and simpler (but not much) than nerve gas.
I usually use it in late games with an opponent who I thought I could bully, but turned out to have almost unbreachaeble defenses. I've got two choices,
1. Rebuild my army with nerve gas
2. Give up and give them some cash for a truce, or...
3. Launch a few well placed Prometheus viruses in their major cities, and watch them squirm in horror.
PS: If you have nerve gas troops, this system can be devastatingly unbeatable.
Ghost posted 05-09-99 12:40 AM ET
Actually, the easiest way to capture a tough set of bases is to trade a couple of centrally located pop1 bases of yours for them, which have probe units waiting in the wings. Then you take back your old bases for 1/2 cost and have gained a) a few new good bases and b) a bunch of spoils of war benefits for almost no capital outlay.
This is, of course, about as close to cheating as you can do without actually cheating.
On a slightly more honest level, I have to say that variety is the best way to go. If you gross out on any one attack form, the opponent can anticipate and build in the appropriate weaponry, such as AAA or Empath/Trance. If, however, you force your opponent to plan for all possible attack modes, then he can be strong on none of them, and will fall to one or another of your attacks.
And there is always the perennial favorite of nerve gas wielding Believers.
Ghost
G e o r g e r i f i c posted 05-09-99 08:17 PM ET
Wolf Dreamer,
The best way to prevent captured bases from being liberated is just to attack almost all of them at once, to throw them off-balance and keep them from concentrating force. And if they get too close together, a fission planet buster here and there can thin things out a little...
GaryD posted 05-10-99 01:33 PM ET
"by the time you have Graviton Tech, the game is pretty much over"
Hmm I must be in a fairly unusual game then. I reached Graviton Tech a while ago, but I'm still only just ahead of Deirdre. And while I've been seeing off Miriam (almost there) she's been jumping ahead in tech (probably due to her obscene Pact with Zakharov (and anyone else who will have her)).
Wolf Dreamer posted 05-10-99 03:20 PM ET
G e o r g e r i f i c, How can you attack all the bases at once when dealing with Miriam? All of her bases are stacked extremely close together in the game I'm playing. I'm just slowly gassing them all to death, and currently make a new tech breakthrough every 2 years. The game gets kind of boring when you know there is no way for your enemy to threaten you, and all you have to do is keep sending in wave after wave of aircraft to eventually destroy them.
I say, just gas everyone to death while bombing all the farms, roads, and mines. I destroyed her navy already, and there is no land bridge connecting her to my continent, so I just fly over and bomb and gas her bases into oblivion. Nothing but an offensive compain.
Does anyone ever attack with land units after discovering air power?
Wolf Dreamer posted 05-10-99 03:22 PM ET
G e o r g e r i f i c, How can you attack all the bases at once when dealing with Miriam? All of her bases are stacked extremely close together in the game I'm playing. I'm just slowly gassing them all to death, and currently make a new tech breakthrough every 2 years. The game gets kind of boring when you know there is no way for your enemy to threaten you, and all you have to do is keep sending in wave after wave of aircraft to eventually destroy them.
I say, just gas everyone to death while bombing all the farms, roads, and mines. I destroyed her navy already, and there is no land bridge connecting her to my continent, so I just fly over and bomb and gas her bases into oblivion. Nothing but an offensive compain.
Does anyone ever attack with land units after discovering air power?
trippin daily posted 05-10-99 03:51 PM ET
Planet Buster Nothing is easier than that. Sure, they have a little collateral damage to the surrounding terrian, but with a colony pod and a whole lotta formers. Oh yeah, and some patience. But it works.
Trippin Daily
-probably just wrote the dumbest post he ever wrote-
Ghost posted 05-10-99 09:22 PM ET
Wolf Dreamer
Depends on what you call airpower. You really need ground units to take over enemy bases, and with spoils of war on taking over enemy bases is a good idea. Jets and copters both have uses, as do gravships... but if you want a defensive unit or just a much cheaper unit, make a best-best drop infantry unit and whale on your opponent. I find best-best-best gets a little pricey, and so I prefer spreading the love around. (although, pre-patch SMAC really loves airpower by giving them cut-rates on armour)
Jet's need to return home frequently annoys me. When everything is going well, I can hit a base with a large number of air units, move in with a ground unit to grab the base, and then move in the air units into that base next turn. When things aren't going well... they aren't going well.
I also like artillery. I recognize that in some ways it is not as good as a conventional ground troop, but a nice cheap best-1-2 artillery rover really makes my day when laying sieges. The softening strikes are good, but it's really nice to be able to pulverize enemy roads, etc, out of the range of their artillery.

I think a large determining factor in the units you make is the faction you play. Believers in particular carry large armies well; thus they can afford to make lots of weaker units. Morganites can't afford large armies, and so you really have to make each unit count.
--Ghost
wtiger posted 05-10-99 11:26 PM ET
Errr.....Why would you need to park gravships on a carrier?
Plato90s posted 05-10-99 11:35 PM ET
The only reason to put Gravship on a carrier is to protect it. After all, Gravships are very vulnerable to counterattacks by air superiority fighters/copters/gravships.
Once you have carriers, here's a fun little tactic you can use when attacking a seabase or a coastal city.
1) Start with a fleet of a carrier and 1-2 cruisers armed with AAA and your best armor. Station the fleet about 4 squares away from the target.
2) Launch the fighters [gravship or needlejet] and let them attack the target city.
3) Once the attack is completed and those fighters are just hanging around, move your carrier in. Overlap the fighters and collect them.
4) During the same turn, run your carrier back under cover of your AAA cruisers. Being 4 spaces away, no ground-based artillery can hit your and air-attack won't fare well against AAA-cruisers.
This strategy can also work by sailing your carrier right up to the target city, letting the docked fighters attack, and then sail away. Either way, the enemy never gets a chance to hit your vulnerable fighters.
This strategy is also fun with Amphib Units and transports loaded with repair bay. Sail it, attack from ship, and sail away in the same turn. Works even better if you have a seabase nearby.
wtiger posted 05-11-99 12:05 AM ET
So why don't you just park some air-superiority gravships over your ground-attack gravships? Since air combat between air-superiority air units is attack vs. attack, I believe you'll get 1-1 odds (assuming other factors are equal).
If you put your gravships on a carrier, won't they become more vulnerable? Since best weapon is 2x best armour, the best way, IMHO, to attack a carrier is with naval units i.e. you get 2-1 odds. BOOM! You kill 16 birds with one stone.
Granted, the AI may not be hot on naval strategy, but still.....
--wtiger
<still scratching his head>
Wolf Dreamer posted 05-11-99 12:25 AM ET
How can you make the AI keep the game going long enough to develop all these new technologies? Making the Transcend level last long enough to develop copters is hard enough, but long enough to make grav ships and the rest of the stuff everyone mentions has never happened to me. I guess it depends on which faction I'm fighting near the end, since Miriam for instance has a social setting that limits her research breakthrough. Maybe if I didn't kill off the University until the end, then I would get the chance to see some of these more advanced units be developed.
Are you playing on a customized map with different settings than me perhaps? It sucks to keep on playing against an enemy you know you have no chance of losing to. I should probably try playing against a human opponent one of these days.
Plato90s posted 05-11-99 10:14 AM ET
The fun part about AAA cruiser is this...
If you are using a fighters to cover your forces, and another fighter comes after you, it's attack vs. attack, which usually leaves you with 1:1, assuming equal experience.
But if you have a AAA-cruiser, the AI needs to attack you with a ground attack fighter. If an air-superiority fighter came after you, they'd take the 50% ground-attack penalty in addition to giving your cruisers the 100% AAA tracking bonus. And because the AAA bonus is applied AFTER the experience bonus, you pick up the exact same odds as if you were using an air superiority fighter. Since you can't cover a carrier with an air superiority fighter, AAA-cruiser is your best bet.
As for other naval units, you should be able to see them coming and sink them with your own aircraft long before they come into range.
G e o r g e r i f i c posted 05-11-99 08:13 PM ET
Wolf Dreamer,
I didn't mean attack every single base as much as just hitting all her regions, and from all directions. Attacking on only 1 front lets her concentrate her forces there.
If you want to play with the advanced techs, you could always go on an easier difficulty... not real challenging, but just to see what the technology can do.
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Author	Topic: Easy Base Capturing Method
G e o r g e r i f i c	posted 05-07-99 08:03 PM ET There's a very easy way to take bases that I carried over from Civ2. Here's how it works: 1. Max out on all techs ( At least Graviton) 2. Build 5-8 Blink Singularity Choppers (can use nerve gas too) 3. Take equal number of well-armed Gravships, and park em both on a carrier 4. Then, just use the choppers to attack the bases until the garisson is gone, then capture with gravships. Repeat as necessary... Using this you can bag almost a dozen per turn, per group, if you're lucky. It works best if the enemy doesn't have great armor (I usually attack about 2400). Enjoy!
Al Gore Rythm	posted 05-07-99 08:57 PM ET Considering most people who play that far to get Graivton technology are usually the insanely dominant faction anyway, this "method" is moot. In all my games only once did I get all the way to Singularity and Temporal technologies. And this was done by stealing technologies left and right while researching my own. Give me a good base capturing tactic when my best armor is Synthmetal and my best weapon is the Particle Impactor when I'm the Believers parked next to Yang. Not when I'm the Omnipotent faction with every technology and single cities which are larger than entire factions.
Plato90s	posted 05-07-99 09:36 PM ET And there's that foolproof method....... Get energy reserve of 100,000+ and bribe every city. Seriously, by the time you have Graviton Tech, the game is pretty much over.
G e o r g e r i f i c	posted 05-07-99 10:05 PM ET To do something similiar sooner, you can just put your best weapon on a copter, and capture with Locusts, Paradroppers, or just some Rovers. Anyway, it's more a fun thing to do than a tactical necessity, because of the base needed.
Urban Ranger	posted 05-08-99 12:04 AM ET Seige should work although I have never actually tried it. This is a two pronged attack. Send out probe teams to destroy facilities and drain energy reserves, and have units destroy terrain improvements. Planting fugus probably works better, since most factions can't use fugus squares until very late in the game, when the appropiate technology becomes available. At any rate, the basic idea is to severely weaken a faction's ability to support troops. If your opponent doesn't have many units, you can just walk all over the place.
Beta1	posted 05-08-99 09:53 AM ET So the easiest way to capture a base is to attack it with units with the highest attack value poosible and all the upgrades that remove the defenders advantages. Its brilliant. I dont know why I never thought of it. Seriously though the easiest way of capturing most bases is just to mind control those (especially as I've just switch alliegances and I'm now a morganite).
The Hawk	posted 05-08-99 04:45 PM ET One effective way that works in early game, is to have 2-4 artilleries, 1-2 ships, and 1-2 rovers. All of these should have best attack and the rovers could use a good armor. Bombard all possible sensors and bunkers. Then use the ships and artillery to fire at the base. After doing this for 1 or 2 turns send the rovers to kill the almost dead defenders.
Wolf Dreamer	posted 05-08-99 09:57 PM ET The best way to capture a base is to use a planet blaster on it. Then walk over to the great big hole in the ground and say to the smouldering ashes that used to be the inhabitants, "consider yourselves conquered". In my latest game, I'm just gassing everyone to death while my regular planes just bomb all the farms and mines. I watch the survivers starve and slow down their rebuilding attempts, as well as take out their undefended formers. My economy is stronger, therefor I will eventually win. Why would you conquer a base anyway? They build them so close together that the enemy would just send in ground troops to retake it. Hit and run is the way to go. Bomb and gas everything you can, and see how quickly they can rebuild. I make a research breakthough every 5 years now, and am so far ahead of the Believers, its a wonder they don't beg to surrender. It takes so long to finish off the defenseless masses, even though they have no real chance of survival. Too bad I can't speed this up. I can't automatically set my planes to bomb everything in range can I?
High Priest	posted 05-08-99 11:57 PM ET The easiest way I've found to take a city is the Prometheus Virus. Cheaper than mind control and simpler (but not much) than nerve gas. I usually use it in late games with an opponent who I thought I could bully, but turned out to have almost unbreachaeble defenses. I've got two choices, 1. Rebuild my army with nerve gas 2. Give up and give them some cash for a truce, or... 3. Launch a few well placed Prometheus viruses in their major cities, and watch them squirm in horror. PS: If you have nerve gas troops, this system can be devastatingly unbeatable.
Ghost	posted 05-09-99 12:40 AM ET Actually, the easiest way to capture a tough set of bases is to trade a couple of centrally located pop1 bases of yours for them, which have probe units waiting in the wings. Then you take back your old bases for 1/2 cost and have gained a) a few new good bases and b) a bunch of spoils of war benefits for almost no capital outlay. This is, of course, about as close to cheating as you can do without actually cheating. On a slightly more honest level, I have to say that variety is the best way to go. If you gross out on any one attack form, the opponent can anticipate and build in the appropriate weaponry, such as AAA or Empath/Trance. If, however, you force your opponent to plan for all possible attack modes, then he can be strong on none of them, and will fall to one or another of your attacks. And there is always the perennial favorite of nerve gas wielding Believers. Ghost
G e o r g e r i f i c	posted 05-09-99 08:17 PM ET Wolf Dreamer, The best way to prevent captured bases from being liberated is just to attack almost all of them at once, to throw them off-balance and keep them from concentrating force. And if they get too close together, a fission planet buster here and there can thin things out a little...
GaryD	posted 05-10-99 01:33 PM ET "by the time you have Graviton Tech, the game is pretty much over" Hmm I must be in a fairly unusual game then. I reached Graviton Tech a while ago, but I'm still only just ahead of Deirdre. And while I've been seeing off Miriam (almost there) she's been jumping ahead in tech (probably due to her obscene Pact with Zakharov (and anyone else who will have her)).
Wolf Dreamer	posted 05-10-99 03:20 PM ET G e o r g e r i f i c, How can you attack all the bases at once when dealing with Miriam? All of her bases are stacked extremely close together in the game I'm playing. I'm just slowly gassing them all to death, and currently make a new tech breakthrough every 2 years. The game gets kind of boring when you know there is no way for your enemy to threaten you, and all you have to do is keep sending in wave after wave of aircraft to eventually destroy them. I say, just gas everyone to death while bombing all the farms, roads, and mines. I destroyed her navy already, and there is no land bridge connecting her to my continent, so I just fly over and bomb and gas her bases into oblivion. Nothing but an offensive compain. Does anyone ever attack with land units after discovering air power?
Wolf Dreamer	posted 05-10-99 03:22 PM ET G e o r g e r i f i c, How can you attack all the bases at once when dealing with Miriam? All of her bases are stacked extremely close together in the game I'm playing. I'm just slowly gassing them all to death, and currently make a new tech breakthrough every 2 years. The game gets kind of boring when you know there is no way for your enemy to threaten you, and all you have to do is keep sending in wave after wave of aircraft to eventually destroy them. I say, just gas everyone to death while bombing all the farms, roads, and mines. I destroyed her navy already, and there is no land bridge connecting her to my continent, so I just fly over and bomb and gas her bases into oblivion. Nothing but an offensive compain. Does anyone ever attack with land units after discovering air power?
trippin daily	posted 05-10-99 03:51 PM ET Planet Buster Nothing is easier than that. Sure, they have a little collateral damage to the surrounding terrian, but with a colony pod and a whole lotta formers. Oh yeah, and some patience. But it works. Trippin Daily -probably just wrote the dumbest post he ever wrote-
Ghost	posted 05-10-99 09:22 PM ET Wolf Dreamer Depends on what you call airpower. You really need ground units to take over enemy bases, and with spoils of war on taking over enemy bases is a good idea. Jets and copters both have uses, as do gravships... but if you want a defensive unit or just a much cheaper unit, make a best-best drop infantry unit and whale on your opponent. I find best-best-best gets a little pricey, and so I prefer spreading the love around. (although, pre-patch SMAC really loves airpower by giving them cut-rates on armour) Jet's need to return home frequently annoys me. When everything is going well, I can hit a base with a large number of air units, move in with a ground unit to grab the base, and then move in the air units into that base next turn. When things aren't going well... they aren't going well. I also like artillery. I recognize that in some ways it is not as good as a conventional ground troop, but a nice cheap best-1-2 artillery rover really makes my day when laying sieges. The softening strikes are good, but it's really nice to be able to pulverize enemy roads, etc, out of the range of their artillery. I think a large determining factor in the units you make is the faction you play. Believers in particular carry large armies well; thus they can afford to make lots of weaker units. Morganites can't afford large armies, and so you really have to make each unit count. --Ghost
wtiger	posted 05-10-99 11:26 PM ET Errr.....Why would you need to park gravships on a carrier?
Plato90s	posted 05-10-99 11:35 PM ET The only reason to put Gravship on a carrier is to protect it. After all, Gravships are very vulnerable to counterattacks by air superiority fighters/copters/gravships. Once you have carriers, here's a fun little tactic you can use when attacking a seabase or a coastal city. 1) Start with a fleet of a carrier and 1-2 cruisers armed with AAA and your best armor. Station the fleet about 4 squares away from the target. 2) Launch the fighters [gravship or needlejet] and let them attack the target city. 3) Once the attack is completed and those fighters are just hanging around, move your carrier in. Overlap the fighters and collect them. 4) During the same turn, run your carrier back under cover of your AAA cruisers. Being 4 spaces away, no ground-based artillery can hit your and air-attack won't fare well against AAA-cruisers. This strategy can also work by sailing your carrier right up to the target city, letting the docked fighters attack, and then sail away. Either way, the enemy never gets a chance to hit your vulnerable fighters. This strategy is also fun with Amphib Units and transports loaded with repair bay. Sail it, attack from ship, and sail away in the same turn. Works even better if you have a seabase nearby.
wtiger	posted 05-11-99 12:05 AM ET So why don't you just park some air-superiority gravships over your ground-attack gravships? Since air combat between air-superiority air units is attack vs. attack, I believe you'll get 1-1 odds (assuming other factors are equal). If you put your gravships on a carrier, won't they become more vulnerable? Since best weapon is 2x best armour, the best way, IMHO, to attack a carrier is with naval units i.e. you get 2-1 odds. BOOM! You kill 16 birds with one stone. Granted, the AI may not be hot on naval strategy, but still..... --wtiger <still scratching his head>
Wolf Dreamer	posted 05-11-99 12:25 AM ET How can you make the AI keep the game going long enough to develop all these new technologies? Making the Transcend level last long enough to develop copters is hard enough, but long enough to make grav ships and the rest of the stuff everyone mentions has never happened to me. I guess it depends on which faction I'm fighting near the end, since Miriam for instance has a social setting that limits her research breakthrough. Maybe if I didn't kill off the University until the end, then I would get the chance to see some of these more advanced units be developed. Are you playing on a customized map with different settings than me perhaps? It sucks to keep on playing against an enemy you know you have no chance of losing to. I should probably try playing against a human opponent one of these days.
Plato90s	posted 05-11-99 10:14 AM ET The fun part about AAA cruiser is this... If you are using a fighters to cover your forces, and another fighter comes after you, it's attack vs. attack, which usually leaves you with 1:1, assuming equal experience. But if you have a AAA-cruiser, the AI needs to attack you with a ground attack fighter. If an air-superiority fighter came after you, they'd take the 50% ground-attack penalty in addition to giving your cruisers the 100% AAA tracking bonus. And because the AAA bonus is applied AFTER the experience bonus, you pick up the exact same odds as if you were using an air superiority fighter. Since you can't cover a carrier with an air superiority fighter, AAA-cruiser is your best bet. As for other naval units, you should be able to see them coming and sink them with your own aircraft long before they come into range.
G e o r g e r i f i c	posted 05-11-99 08:13 PM ET Wolf Dreamer, I didn't mean attack every single base as much as just hitting all her regions, and from all directions. Attacking on only 1 front lets her concentrate her forces there. If you want to play with the advanced techs, you could always go on an easier difficulty... not real challenging, but just to see what the technology can do.