posted 05-13-99 02:18 PM ET     

Is there a way (besides saving build orders)to build things on the F-key screen(the screen with the list of all your cities)without toggling back and forth to every single stinking city?

My next question, is how do you divide the labor of your cities up between labs, war machine, and other duties. Assuming a peaceful interlude in the game, what proportion of cities are devoted to secret projects, building infrastructure, and military units?

Finally, if anyone can stand to answer one more question, when you are attacked, is possible to wage a limited war with the AI and get it to call off Vendetta? Will that faction be then always be predisposed to attack (i.e. does the AI especially remember wars as it does atrocities)?

posted 05-13-99 02:36 PM ET            

I have no automatic units, and spend more time with the formers than I do with any military units.

Press the E key and the social settings menu pops up. At the bottom you can choose what percentage of the energy you make each turn goes to economy, psych, or labs. Economy is of course the number of energy credits you have stockpiled. Psych is something I have never had any points in. Labs of course, determines how much of the energy you make each turn, goes into research. In peacetime I turn labs up to 100%, because I usually have enough energy credits to handle managing the empire.

On the regular base menu, push the button that shows you the economy, psych, labs statis of that base. You can tell how much of that bases energy it sends to the labs or economy(energy credits). Some base facilities increase this amound, such as the network nodes, etc. So it sends the energy it normally would, plus a bonus, based on your base facilities and the settings of your citizens. Thinkers, engineers, empaths etc. increase your labs, economy and/or pysch bonus.

posted 05-13-99 02:37 PM ET            

I know of no way to change build orders from the city/F4 screen.

Many people divide their empires up into three "zones", the center, developed cities with lots of infrastructure for SP building, the next layer of cities undergoing lots of city improvements and some military production if needed, and the frontier regions primarily involved in either producing new colony pods or military/scout units.

Its pretty easy to gain a truce, not so easy to gain peace in a limited war. You only need to take one colony (or lose one), and the AI usually offers a truce in exchange for energy, tech, or the return of their captured colony. No telling how long it will last before they either surprise attack or start making more demands from you. A Friendship treaty is usually going to cost you, big time. You can get an idea of the other faction leaders moods from the bioscan or the faction mood in diplomacy - you're going to get the best results negotiating with submissive or magnanimous factions, if they're seething and the bioscan is all red, its difficult to get a truce, and they may turn around and surprise attack in a few turns anyhow. Your honor and integrity are also supposed to affect negotiations, but I've heard that there are some problems with enemy AI actions affecting the player's honor and integrity (I remember the same thing happening in Civ2, darn it).

"Rome became a great empire by crushing all of their enemies, not by holding meetings. - not completely true, but funny when applied to SMAC."

posted 05-14-99 09:14 AM ET            

What pains me is that after closing the city screen, the list of cities reappears but you are put back to the top of the list. Means you have to scroll back down to get the next one after the one just worked on. A real bummer.

posted 05-14-99 08:34 PM ET            

1: Hurry any purchases that have two turns left, just enough to make them one turn left. Also changing queues in reaction to circumstances (Wars, new SPs available).

2: Drone management - switching empaths and thinkers/transcends to try and steer away from trouble. Also dealing with workers that have been poorly placed by the AI, or reacting to changes in production brought about by tech advances.

3: Upgrading my garrison units, a few at a time.

I've only played four games so far, so this strategy is still developing. I found it quite a drag, but the Governors seem useless to me. Anyway, perhaps the management challenge is what I get out of SMAC.

posted 05-16-99 01:12 AM ET            

* Typically I build only 1 SP at a time, at whatever hi-mineral production site opens up.
Toward the end of the game, I stockpile crawlers... send 'em all to the site of the new SP and build it almost immediately.

*As soon as it's safe, I devote a couple of those slow 011 superformers to builiding magtube to every city. That way I can cut down on defense units and still cover everything... assuming you dont get attacked from too many directions at the same time.
Why use the slow 011 superformers? Cause you wont lose anything cause they travel only on existing roads. Superformer = mag tube builds in 1 turn on a road.

*I never pay retail for a hurry. You can figure that every spare mineral is worth about $2. So if your city has 10 minerals/turn production, you can deduct $20 from the cost of a hurry and still have it in the next turn.

*When it gets to be burdensome in terms of time, I selectively micromanage. I'm willing to accept letting the cities go to drone riots just so I dont have to look there as often.

--and NO it's not endless patience. A dozen years back, or more, I was playing an online game at Compuserve, called Megawars. Space game, hundreds of players, on teams etc etc. I'll spare you the details, but to attack a enemy base you had to stockpile scads of fighters on a nearby staging area. BORING, to haul those fighters. [Made CIS happy, tho, all those folk, spending all that time online at $6/hr.. but I digress.]

--One of the consistent winners at that game was on the same team as I once. His comment on the boring chore: "Hell, it's not boring. It is WHAT IT TAKES TO WIN. Winning is not boring."

SO... it's not so boring to micromanage if that's what it takes to win. One can win in SMAC without it, I suppose. *I* cant win without it.. at least not very easily.. so I do it.