Just how do you play a 'short' game of SMAC?

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Author Topic:   Just how do you play a 'short' game of SMAC?

AlexanderIII posted 08-07-99 06:03 AM ET
I love SMAC. It's the best thing since sliced bread. Play it for hours.
And I'd just like to find a way to, just for once, play a short game of SMAC that doesn't take days or weeks to finish. In fact, I've played an average of 20 hours a week for the last four months, and I've yet to finish a game. I usually get half the way up the tech tree in everything, and usually by then I'm either tired of the tedium of micromanaging all those bases (you don't actually think I'd trust the AI to automate by bases and formers, do you?), or just plain bored I'm winning by such a good margin, even on Transcend, so I start over, usually always in the 'advanced start' option in the custom rules.
Trouble is, the 'advanced start' custom rule isn't 'advanced' enough for my taste. the games usually start you off with 3-5 bases, from 30-80 years after planetfall. I use the fast battle resolution option and turn off all the animations to speed things up but it still takes a long time.
The thing that really slows down the game, in my opinion, is micromanaging the terraformers. Sure, mostly I use a builder startegy, then when I've enough of an infrastructure I switch over to a total wartime economy and just whoop the heck out of anyone in my way. But it would be soooo much better if you could use scripts or macros with the terraformers. That you can't is a major drawback. Heck, with the new Age of Empires coming out you can.
The other thing that really is a drawback is how easy it is to win against the AI once you get the hang of the game, even on Transcend. The AI is real good at skirmishes, not real good at fighting wars. (And what is it with the base trading bug? C'mon!)

So my questions are, is there a way of somehow somewhere tweaking the 'advanced start' variable (which seems to be random) to a much higher number?
Or is there a way to create a scenario that doesn't take two days to invent where all the factions are pretty even with medium-sized empires of 10-15 cities each, equal tech, equal military strength, and using that as a departure point for the kind of games I want to play?
Does anyone else feel the same way I do about SMAC?

CrankyHotDog posted 08-19-99 01:56 AM ET
Get the demo. It lets you play for 100 turns.
Krushala posted 08-19-99 07:07 PM ET
Play on tiny maps. It definately speed things up. It will still take several hours to complete a gain though. There isn't a way to change the time warp start. Also Aceplayer has some scenarios that start you out with bases. And you can play smac that way. If you play conquerer you can win quickly. Once you get laser rovers you just start rolling over everybody.
NoviceCEO posted 08-22-99 12:24 PM ET
Have you guys looked on the .txt files on SMAC's root if you can't change timewarp?
To speed up things you can maybe cheat a little... Like change your txt files so that a mine on rocky sqaure gives you 10 minerals, I don't know if that would be nice and would speed up the game, but you could try. By changing the rules you could even make terraforming useless.
If you don't want to do that, I'd suggest you to get timewarp in the start, with opponnets personality to aggressive. You can also forget about terraforing and build a bunch of forests, and get tree farm and hybrid forests.
laurens posted 08-22-99 12:33 PM ET
Answering to your 'short' game of SMAC -
It should be sufficient to win the game with Impact/Missile weapon level. Just keep on building the rovers and X infantry at will. This will even be sufficient for winning on Huge Maps/Transcend. If you are to reach the Copters-technology most probably you will be using those killers to give the finishing touch.
But such a game is really boring, to me it's like exploiting the insufficient AI...
If you want some challenge,
modify the faction .txt files. The AI only start to pose more of a challenge after I gave all the other factions +2 bonus to industry and growth and +1 bonus to economy.
Trust me, you will have a very different fight on your hands with Miriam, Morgan and especially, Hive
-Evolution do happen.-
fromhell posted 08-22-99 09:32 PM ET
Well, I will agree I guess that it is pretty easy to win on Transcend, especially when you use a military faction and just research up the conquer tech tree. If you nab the right SP's, then things are pretty easy AND usually pretty fast to. I've played Transcend games as Sparta/Hive that were over in that day of play. Supreme Leader wins mind you where I often scared the begeezis out of some factions into giveing up after only a few cities have fallen. Hell, I've won with Sparta haveing only missles (needle jets helped a bit).
BUT, if you want to play the builder factions, yes, the game will likely take a while. And of course a builder has problems with smaller and smaller maps. And for me builders can give a lot of challenge, especially in the first 100 years or so. Sure, if the AI lets you live to the point that you're putting satalites into space, there's no way they can stop your pure industrial might.
But anyway, short games. I concure that you might want to try out some scenarios. I haven't tried to many of them; but I suspect that some of them would be designed with a shorter play in mind.
Also, play with no restart for early erradications and spoils of war. Both should help speed things up (assuming you're considering military victory)
Now myself personally can find plenty enjoyment in that week long game that involves plenty of micromanagment. The last game I finished was Lal (my first serious try with him on Transcend) and I loved building up huge (yes, HUGE) cities. Seeing all those citizens (transcends for those with no square to work and the rest talents!) was cool. And then letting my arch enemy of the game Mirium build herself up (we were neck and neck most of the way) only to dismantle her with my superior technology and industry was most enjoyable. And then I slid into a transcend victory. Yes, long, yes major micromanagment, but very enjoyable none the less.
Boy, I've really gone off on a tangent here. Maybe your next level of enjoyment in this game will come from seeking out human aponents?
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Author	Topic: Just how do you play a 'short' game of SMAC?
AlexanderIII	posted 08-07-99 06:03 AM ET I love SMAC. It's the best thing since sliced bread. Play it for hours. And I'd just like to find a way to, just for once, play a short game of SMAC that doesn't take days or weeks to finish. In fact, I've played an average of 20 hours a week for the last four months, and I've yet to finish a game. I usually get half the way up the tech tree in everything, and usually by then I'm either tired of the tedium of micromanaging all those bases (you don't actually think I'd trust the AI to automate by bases and formers, do you?), or just plain bored I'm winning by such a good margin, even on Transcend, so I start over, usually always in the 'advanced start' option in the custom rules. Trouble is, the 'advanced start' custom rule isn't 'advanced' enough for my taste. the games usually start you off with 3-5 bases, from 30-80 years after planetfall. I use the fast battle resolution option and turn off all the animations to speed things up but it still takes a long time. The thing that really slows down the game, in my opinion, is micromanaging the terraformers. Sure, mostly I use a builder startegy, then when I've enough of an infrastructure I switch over to a total wartime economy and just whoop the heck out of anyone in my way. But it would be soooo much better if you could use scripts or macros with the terraformers. That you can't is a major drawback. Heck, with the new Age of Empires coming out you can. The other thing that really is a drawback is how easy it is to win against the AI once you get the hang of the game, even on Transcend. The AI is real good at skirmishes, not real good at fighting wars. (And what is it with the base trading bug? C'mon!) So my questions are, is there a way of somehow somewhere tweaking the 'advanced start' variable (which seems to be random) to a much higher number? Or is there a way to create a scenario that doesn't take two days to invent where all the factions are pretty even with medium-sized empires of 10-15 cities each, equal tech, equal military strength, and using that as a departure point for the kind of games I want to play? Does anyone else feel the same way I do about SMAC?
CrankyHotDog	posted 08-19-99 01:56 AM ET Get the demo. It lets you play for 100 turns.
Krushala	posted 08-19-99 07:07 PM ET Play on tiny maps. It definately speed things up. It will still take several hours to complete a gain though. There isn't a way to change the time warp start. Also Aceplayer has some scenarios that start you out with bases. And you can play smac that way. If you play conquerer you can win quickly. Once you get laser rovers you just start rolling over everybody.
NoviceCEO	posted 08-22-99 12:24 PM ET Have you guys looked on the .txt files on SMAC's root if you can't change timewarp? To speed up things you can maybe cheat a little... Like change your txt files so that a mine on rocky sqaure gives you 10 minerals, I don't know if that would be nice and would speed up the game, but you could try. By changing the rules you could even make terraforming useless. If you don't want to do that, I'd suggest you to get timewarp in the start, with opponnets personality to aggressive. You can also forget about terraforing and build a bunch of forests, and get tree farm and hybrid forests.
laurens	posted 08-22-99 12:33 PM ET Answering to your 'short' game of SMAC - It should be sufficient to win the game with Impact/Missile weapon level. Just keep on building the rovers and X infantry at will. This will even be sufficient for winning on Huge Maps/Transcend. If you are to reach the Copters-technology most probably you will be using those killers to give the finishing touch. But such a game is really boring, to me it's like exploiting the insufficient AI... If you want some challenge, modify the faction .txt files. The AI only start to pose more of a challenge after I gave all the other factions +2 bonus to industry and growth and +1 bonus to economy. Trust me, you will have a very different fight on your hands with Miriam, Morgan and especially, Hive -Evolution do happen.-
fromhell	posted 08-22-99 09:32 PM ET Well, I will agree I guess that it is pretty easy to win on Transcend, especially when you use a military faction and just research up the conquer tech tree. If you nab the right SP's, then things are pretty easy AND usually pretty fast to. I've played Transcend games as Sparta/Hive that were over in that day of play. Supreme Leader wins mind you where I often scared the begeezis out of some factions into giveing up after only a few cities have fallen. Hell, I've won with Sparta haveing only missles (needle jets helped a bit). BUT, if you want to play the builder factions, yes, the game will likely take a while. And of course a builder has problems with smaller and smaller maps. And for me builders can give a lot of challenge, especially in the first 100 years or so. Sure, if the AI lets you live to the point that you're putting satalites into space, there's no way they can stop your pure industrial might. But anyway, short games. I concure that you might want to try out some scenarios. I haven't tried to many of them; but I suspect that some of them would be designed with a shorter play in mind. Also, play with no restart for early erradications and spoils of war. Both should help speed things up (assuming you're considering military victory) Now myself personally can find plenty enjoyment in that week long game that involves plenty of micromanagment. The last game I finished was Lal (my first serious try with him on Transcend) and I loved building up huge (yes, HUGE) cities. Seeing all those citizens (transcends for those with no square to work and the rest talents!) was cool. And then letting my arch enemy of the game Mirium build herself up (we were neck and neck most of the way) only to dismantle her with my superior technology and industry was most enjoyable. And then I slid into a transcend victory. Yes, long, yes major micromanagment, but very enjoyable none the less. Boy, I've really gone off on a tangent here. Maybe your next level of enjoyment in this game will come from seeking out human aponents?