posted 03-16-99 04:12 AM ET        

I have been noticing that there must be a great many things others are doing that I am not. Why do I want to know? Simple... by the time I have Missile weapon tech, the game is over. All this business of "when I get Shard, I weed wack the AI to death" seems silly.
If I am a *militant* Faction, the only thing that slows me down is not all the Factions are on my CONTINENT, requiring that I obtain the transport foil.
Mind you, I doubt these tactics would work on most human opponents. I simply don't see a need to *rebalance* the high weapons. You can generally wack the begeevers out of any Faction with Lasers and Impact. Heck, on small maps, I sometimes don't need lasers to finish off those pesky 2 strength defence guys, merely my veterans that rolled over a few pesky mind worms. End of game.
Mind you, I never had this problem in Civ... I was quite a traditional player and didn't get the old bulldozer of death rolling until Industrialization... or I went Hi Tech and won the space race.
But there seems to be a serious imbalance in SMAC's initial Guns and Butter. Or have I turned into a raving warmonger? Don't get me wrong, I am enjoying the game, but it just seems like it encourages you to get out and secure your home continent from year one. That leads to an experienced, blooded army that is wasted just lying around, especially when viewed that as soon as you alter your Social Engineering, everyone or their allies are going to get mad at you. Might as well kill them now before they get an army that can handle yours, or yours gets antiquated and only useful for trolling for planetpearls/worms (if green) and helping to rush large projects.
On the typical medium map, its a race between total conquest and MMI for me. And why is Morgan screwed so bad? Stopping at 4 without habs is absolutely horrid. At least Miriam gets a fanatical bonus.
OK guys, let me have it... I have my Dantes Inferno Suit on... rated to the seventh layer...

BTW, you CAN play (and win) SMAC in under 3 hours if you automate. Very informative about how computer uses its units as well...

posted 03-16-99 05:49 AM ET            

No need for Inferno Suits (yet?). BTW, there is this stairway going up, just when you pass Big Lucifer

I'm experiencing the same thing. You can lengthen your game by trying the "hot 'n' rocky archipellago" setting. Much sea, no clouds, no erosion. Though the AI is not so clever about naval stuff, it should be able to get somewhere when you use a huge map.
Sometimes I tend to give away techs so the AI can keep pace. Alas, this is basically cheating and takes away some fun. The final answer is probably multiplay.