TI: Micromanagement vs. Macromanagement

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Author Topic:   TI: Micromanagement vs. Macromanagement

cbraga posted 05-12-99 06:21 PM ET
So, how do you transcend ironmen out there do?
I've been reading some of the threads, and it seems that you people micromanage everything. Some guy said he sometimes took 20 min/turn. Do you actually use gorvernors or automated formers at all?
I currently play pretty well at librarian, and I haven't tried transcend yet.
I found that "autoimprove home base" formers work pretty well and by the time I have 25-30 bases I start hiring governors, with severe restrictions allowing them to just improve my bases, and micromanaging SP and warfare.
Since I believe I understand some 97% of the game mechanics, is that why I'm not so successful at thinker? I simply don't have the patience to micromanage formers (except for the occasional borehole...)

trippin daily posted 05-12-99 08:41 PM ET
You got it, the AI is very adaptive in its approach to management. Micromanage EVERYTHING
Trippin Daily
trippin daily posted 05-12-99 08:44 PM ET
I ****ed up that last post. I meant to say: "The ai ISN'T very adaptive"
Trippin Daily
K posted 05-13-99 03:05 AM ET
Micromanagement is the key to ANY TI game. I always know when I've been neglecting my management to blast through the turns because bad **** starts happening, like attacks on unprotected fronts and resource shortages cost me something valuable.
StargazerBC posted 05-13-99 06:45 AM ET
I never use auto-anything anymore (unless of course, air patrols count). It's forest all the way unless there are lush "green" areas where I can farm. My cities all have access to water so food is not a problem. The only city that has a Hab Dome is my Capitol and even that is unbalancing. Forest are good for minerals, energy, and later on food (with tree and hybrid). I make sure I build a road on a necessary square before the forest (else vital lost of turns from moving back and forth in forest sq's). Granted--most of my cities are under Pop 3 until tree/hybrid (which I don't mind b/c of riots with a pop of 3)
Wolf Dreamer posted 05-13-99 02:49 PM ET
If you are worried about riots StargazerBC, just build some facilities. The recreation dome(I thought the were called the 'recreation commons' but the manual says dome), will elimate 2 drones. Keep the workers, lose the attitude.
Remember, drone riots are caused by drones. Drones are workers with attitude problems that aren't happy serving you all day with nothing in return. To turn a drone back into a happy efficient citizen, build things to make the mindless masses happy and/or content(eliminate drones). You can also use military units to keep them under control, depending on your social rating.
I assume that you didn't know this, otherwise you wouldn't have bases with population three.
Sorry if I'm stating the obvious.
StargazerBC posted 05-13-99 05:45 PM ET
Yes, you are stating the obvious; and I do know about Receation Commons. This IS TI. Why would I want to build a rec com. when I can build another colony pod to expand? and expand? and expand? Have you even tried playing TI? Granted, everyone has their own strategy--but never EVER assume. ::goes back to TI thread in 'the game'::
jhankla posted 05-13-99 06:50 PM ET
Okay, some auto former tips:
Turn off roads, they take a turn to build and don't help movement of the formers themselves unit you get the advanced formers.
With no roads fungus and enemies can't hit you that fast and you can later automate a former to create single roads from point to point instead of creating crosshatched mayhem at one turn per road!
As soon as you get doctrine Mobility, you create a Rover Former, that increases their movement rate by one (to two) and kill one move from their forming time.
Turn on remove fungus from the automation menu, turn off create boreholes! Unil you get the superformers, they are 16 turns to build at a time you can't afford 16 turns with an inactive former!
If you on a small island get the Weather Paradigm early and build lots of formers and RAISE hell, literally. You can pull up land lots faster than you think with three formers raising the same square! I've turned a small island into a large landmass in six turns with four formers!
Porkmonger posted 05-15-99 01:17 AM ET
I sadly don't play TI (yet), but summer vacation looms on the horizon... I just got 5000+ Transcendence on Librarian. I was up to 30 mins. to an hour per turn.
You _have_ to micromanage everything in order to really understand the game. Turn on all the pop-up menus (except for the "hey! this base is undefended! one, which really gets annoying). This makes using base governors actually helpful, as you always know when you've built something new. The governor will, if you're lucky, pick what you want to build next, and you can save a couple mouse-clicks.
Also, after your formers build something new, go into the base screen and click on your home base square to re-assign your workers. While this isn't always optimal, and screws you up if you have guys on drone suppression duty (doctors, empaths, etc.), it does make it so you don't lose a turn with that spanking new borehole.
If you've got 50+ bases with 2 formers at each, it's really hard to remember what's going on... that allows you to develop a "personal AI" strategy that's probably bad form but makes things go much faster.
High Priest posted 05-15-99 07:20 PM ET
I never use governors anymore, they just seem to screw up my tactics. Though I like a more hands on approach, I usually automate formers unless I only plant trees(on Transcend). In the late game, when I get there, I usually put some bases working on redundant SPs, often I can build the Ascent in one turn, Stockpiling energy, or building satellites and or Nessus mining stations. Obviously when I'm at war, I build a constant supply of clean units. For building structures, I get my queu together, and each time I build a new base, a copy the queu from another.
High Priest
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Author	Topic: TI: Micromanagement vs. Macromanagement
cbraga	posted 05-12-99 06:21 PM ET So, how do you transcend ironmen out there do? I've been reading some of the threads, and it seems that you people micromanage everything. Some guy said he sometimes took 20 min/turn. Do you actually use gorvernors or automated formers at all? I currently play pretty well at librarian, and I haven't tried transcend yet. I found that "autoimprove home base" formers work pretty well and by the time I have 25-30 bases I start hiring governors, with severe restrictions allowing them to just improve my bases, and micromanaging SP and warfare. Since I believe I understand some 97% of the game mechanics, is that why I'm not so successful at thinker? I simply don't have the patience to micromanage formers (except for the occasional borehole...)
trippin daily	posted 05-12-99 08:41 PM ET You got it, the AI is very adaptive in its approach to management. Micromanage EVERYTHING Trippin Daily
trippin daily	posted 05-12-99 08:44 PM ET I ****ed up that last post. I meant to say: "The ai ISN'T very adaptive" Trippin Daily
K	posted 05-13-99 03:05 AM ET Micromanagement is the key to ANY TI game. I always know when I've been neglecting my management to blast through the turns because bad **** starts happening, like attacks on unprotected fronts and resource shortages cost me something valuable.
StargazerBC	posted 05-13-99 06:45 AM ET I never use auto-anything anymore (unless of course, air patrols count). It's forest all the way unless there are lush "green" areas where I can farm. My cities all have access to water so food is not a problem. The only city that has a Hab Dome is my Capitol and even that is unbalancing. Forest are good for minerals, energy, and later on food (with tree and hybrid). I make sure I build a road on a necessary square before the forest (else vital lost of turns from moving back and forth in forest sq's). Granted--most of my cities are under Pop 3 until tree/hybrid (which I don't mind b/c of riots with a pop of 3)
Wolf Dreamer	posted 05-13-99 02:49 PM ET If you are worried about riots StargazerBC, just build some facilities. The recreation dome(I thought the were called the 'recreation commons' but the manual says dome), will elimate 2 drones. Keep the workers, lose the attitude. Remember, drone riots are caused by drones. Drones are workers with attitude problems that aren't happy serving you all day with nothing in return. To turn a drone back into a happy efficient citizen, build things to make the mindless masses happy and/or content(eliminate drones). You can also use military units to keep them under control, depending on your social rating. I assume that you didn't know this, otherwise you wouldn't have bases with population three. Sorry if I'm stating the obvious.
StargazerBC	posted 05-13-99 05:45 PM ET Yes, you are stating the obvious; and I do know about Receation Commons. This IS TI. Why would I want to build a rec com. when I can build another colony pod to expand? and expand? and expand? Have you even tried playing TI? Granted, everyone has their own strategy--but never EVER assume. ::goes back to TI thread in 'the game'::
jhankla	posted 05-13-99 06:50 PM ET Okay, some auto former tips: Turn off roads, they take a turn to build and don't help movement of the formers themselves unit you get the advanced formers. With no roads fungus and enemies can't hit you that fast and you can later automate a former to create single roads from point to point instead of creating crosshatched mayhem at one turn per road! As soon as you get doctrine Mobility, you create a Rover Former, that increases their movement rate by one (to two) and kill one move from their forming time. Turn on remove fungus from the automation menu, turn off create boreholes! Unil you get the superformers, they are 16 turns to build at a time you can't afford 16 turns with an inactive former! If you on a small island get the Weather Paradigm early and build lots of formers and RAISE hell, literally. You can pull up land lots faster than you think with three formers raising the same square! I've turned a small island into a large landmass in six turns with four formers!
Porkmonger	posted 05-15-99 01:17 AM ET I sadly don't play TI (yet), but summer vacation looms on the horizon... I just got 5000+ Transcendence on Librarian. I was up to 30 mins. to an hour per turn. You _have_ to micromanage everything in order to really understand the game. Turn on all the pop-up menus (except for the "hey! this base is undefended! one, which really gets annoying). This makes using base governors actually helpful, as you always know when you've built something new. The governor will, if you're lucky, pick what you want to build next, and you can save a couple mouse-clicks. Also, after your formers build something new, go into the base screen and click on your home base square to re-assign your workers. While this isn't always optimal, and screws you up if you have guys on drone suppression duty (doctors, empaths, etc.), it does make it so you don't lose a turn with that spanking new borehole. If you've got 50+ bases with 2 formers at each, it's really hard to remember what's going on... that allows you to develop a "personal AI" strategy that's probably bad form but makes things go much faster.
High Priest	posted 05-15-99 07:20 PM ET I never use governors anymore, they just seem to screw up my tactics. Though I like a more hands on approach, I usually automate formers unless I only plant trees(on Transcend). In the late game, when I get there, I usually put some bases working on redundant SPs, often I can build the Ascent in one turn, Stockpiling energy, or building satellites and or Nessus mining stations. Obviously when I'm at war, I build a constant supply of clean units. For building structures, I get my queu together, and each time I build a new base, a copy the queu from another. High Priest