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TICHQ: newbie questions answered here
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Alpha Centauri Forums
The Game
TICHQ: newbie questions answered here
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| Author | Topic: TICHQ: newbie questions answered here |
| player2 |
posted 03-29-99 05:16 PM ET  
If you are new to SMAC, you've come to the right place! New players in need of gameplay help can bring their problems to the attention of veteran players by posting in this thread. |
| IkshahI |
posted 03-29-99 07:42 PM ET
all hail the good sumaritan! |
| Shining1 |
posted 03-29-99 07:48 PM ET
And the crap speller! |
| yin26 |
posted 03-29-99 08:02 PM ET
O.K.--I'll bite. It's unfortunate, however, that you used the word "newbie" in the title because 1. I think of it as a put-down (though it technically isn't, I guess) and 2. You don't have to be a newbie to benefit from other people who know more than you. Anyway, How do I keep a faction I'm not a war with from expanding into an area that I have marked for future colonization? If I'm in a pact, they sometimes setup a city right in the middle of my growing empire. I HATE THAT! I parked a whole line of rovers at the border in one game. That seemed to help against non-pact factions. In other words, I know how to destroy enemy units to keep them from using up my hard-earned place in the world, but what's the best way to do this without going to war? I usually end up waiting until the inevitable war comes anyway and conquer the troublesome city first. [The "get off my land" option doesn't always work thanks to sunspots and people ignoring me.] |
| Shining1 |
posted 03-29-99 08:12 PM ET
You mean inside your territory? Or outside but worth future investigation? Basicially, get there first is the only advice I can offer. Rover colony pods are good, but expensive, so trance scouts in bunkers are also a good option, especially at any choke points there may be. Remember the ZOC around each unit helps, so you don't need three units to cover a V shaped area. This is the only cure for sun spots, too. And if you're being 'invaded' by that faction, maybe you should be at war with them, instead? The final alternative is to either buy, bully, or swap one of your bases for the offending city (i.e if you have an alliance going). For a new, size one base, you shouldn't break the bank, and if you have a captured city at risk of being retaken, it's a great option, particularly if the allied faction isn't at war with your adversary. |
| player2 |
posted 03-30-99 12:18 AM ET
Sorry if I offended any newbies out there; from now on, I promise to use the politically correct term "Strategicly challenged player"  Yin, you are experiencing a problem which colonizing empires have had since the beginning of time. How do you keep a rival faction off 'your' land without initating hostilities? The phase you are currently in is what I call 'the land grab' phase. As soon as you discover another faction on your continent, first determine if his intentions are peaceful. If he is a threat, then you must eliminate them before you can expand. If they are peaceful, then you will have to engage in a friendly competition of colonization. The best way to win the 'land grab war' is to switch production to colony pods in most or all of your early cities. Send these pods to colonize TOWARDS the other faction, placing your cities as close to the other faction's border as possible to push their borders back. Try not to send your pods into land that is in no danger of being settled by the opposing faction; its not going to be claimed, so worry about the land closer to his border first. Needless to say, this can get very frustrating if you are boxed in by several nearby factions. You can always try and fight for your land, but this can get dangerous if you have more than two neighbors. There is no silver bullet to this problem; you've just got to get the land before they do, and that means cranking out those colony pods as fast as you can. Someone here mentioned rover pods; I do not recommend this, as they are very expensive. One important thing; you mentioned that the faction was founding cities INSIDE your empire? I think that a faction cannot found a city inside another's borders unless they are at war. Although allies ignore ZOCs, they cannot found cities inside eachother's borders, if I am not mistaken. So you can consider everything inside your borders to be 'yours,' but remember that these borders will change if a new city is founded near its edge. Try to use this to your advantage and see if things don't improve. Good luck! |
| yin26 |
posted 03-30-99 12:27 AM ET
Shiny and player2, Good advice. It's a tricky balance settling a closely as possible to a rival faction because that leaves a weak city within their striking range. The payoff, as you said, is you box them in. I wasn't clear enough about the borders issue. What I mean is that, for example, I once had a few empty square (outside my borders) between two major cities and my pact brother put his own city there and began using resources that I was going to use later. What can a poor faction leader do in such a case? I just waited for the eventual war. Thanks |
| Gebhard Blucher |
posted 03-30-99 04:03 AM ET
Well, I think I can help you out Yin (even though I don't consider myself a part of the "TICHQ" yet :-). I've found that the key to hemming in a peaceful neighbor, is to use probes and sensors. The sensors keep tabs on his movement, and the probes 1) bribe his colony pods in transit and 2) bribe the newly founded cities he does manage to build. The catch is you have to attempt "total thought control" in the case of cities and "untraceable capture" (or whatever) on the pods. Neither of these seem to have a negative affect on diplomacy. Alternately, you can attempt to release some mindworms "into the wild" near the offending city or pod, in the hopes that they will do the dirty work for you (it's a gamble though). GB |
| yin26 |
posted 03-30-99 04:19 AM ET
Hey, Gebhard Blucher: Good hints. I have sort of done those things randomly, but not as part of a concerted effort. That will have to change, I think. |
| MoSe |
posted 03-30-99 05:04 AM ET
Let's skip the rookie-bean-... matter Forgot this one, may use your experience: Pact (say with Spartans) Do I have to stand and bear the theft, Ready to barter (fie-fo, info free-flow) |
| edromia |
posted 03-30-99 08:37 AM ET
MoSe: If you have a Pact with the Spartans, you can "attack" the proble, and the game will give you the option to simply interrogate them and send them back to Santiago with a stern warning, rather than kill them. Even if you kill them, I'm not sure that's grounds for breaking a pact. Now for my newbie question, which incidentally also involves Probes: occasionally, I'll infiltrate a base and try to sabotage a facility, only to be told that the facility possesses a "high-security interlock" and I should proceed with caution. My chances of success then drop to essentially zero. How can one bypass a high-security interlock? And how can I put one on my own facilities? |
| Radegast2 |
posted 03-30-99 08:41 AM ET
I think high security interlock comes when you try to steal a second tech from the same base. Maybe, elite probes would stand a better chance (certainly the AI can steal 2 (and more) from my bases)) |
| Certhas |
posted 03-30-99 11:01 AM ET
Ok, here I am, and I am a newbie, and I have a question, so I figured I'd suit in this topic, and here we go... My problem is that I decided to put PSI defense on my Gravships. Having nearly all SE I also have the one which gives you +50% on PSI Defense, now if one of my Gravships is attacks a situation pops up in which I have 30 HP and he has 10, and I have 1.8 Strength and he has 1.2, and neitherless I loose VERY often, now my question is what other factors then this two influence combat? I even got the warning I'd be hopelessly overpowered when I attacked a mindworm, and the figures said that I had more Strength and power, so I know it's not just my bad luck, so WTF is it. If you want to test the situation, here's a savegame: http://www.germany.net/teilnehmer/101,110819/didit.zip This is close to TtA, so better put back TtA, lunch a solar shade (heavy pollution!!), and conquer the cities of the other factions, which try to build it, it's quite easy actually, There are three Gravships I'm building, the CM-Bomber (24PSI), the FSC-Bomber (20PSI) and the Interceptors. I choose to continue this game to get a higher score, I get a tech every two turns, so this shouldn't be a problem, and I have build VoP, so no Mindworms in the remaining hundred years. |
| MoSe |
posted 03-30-99 11:10 AM ET
thanx edromia, BUT me too expected that beavior, i.e. attack/expel/nevermind choice. To my utter dismay (ohmypod!) when I moved my garrison to the adjacent spartan (supposed, no shield, confirmed later) probe, it simply abandoned the base (unguarded) and stacked with the allied probe (allied units always stack)! The best you can get is an option when you order your probe to enter an allied base (attempt some 'probing', as brothers actually do, or simply enter), otherwise allied units can't attack each other, you must break pact and recall them before. I would say that what you report applies to treaties, not to pacts. After probing an allied base, the probed one (AI or human) has the BreakPact/SternRebuke option you cited. Security Interlocks:
Did I actually read a "Probe this!" in the manual or blurbs? Keep'em comin' |
| micje |
posted 03-30-99 11:29 AM ET
Has anyone tried using transport rovers to move colony pods to their destinations? Might be an idea. Oh, wait, they lose 1 movement point, don't they? Then they'd have to be elite, and building elite transport rovers is pretty much impossible. But at least you can put trance on them. MoSe: you might try switching to fundie fir one turn. Certhas: don't forget that Sing. engine units are (unintentionally) handicapped towards psi combat. 30 hit points counts as 7.5 hit points in psi combat. (not for quantum engine, just sing. engine). |
| edromia |
posted 03-30-99 11:50 AM ET
MoSe: ah, yes. You're right; I'm thinking about Treaties, not pacts. You could try ordering all her units out of your territory (can you do that in Pact?). Might piss her off, though. How vital is the Pact to you? Maybe you should just turn around and wop her wid' da ugly stick a few times, see if she behaves. -M. |
| player2 |
posted 03-30-99 12:22 PM ET
Yin: The 'land grab' phase can get very frustrating in some circumstances, namely the one you mentioned. Basically, if someone else claims land that you had set your sights on, the only way to get it back is by hostile action, probe team mind probe operations, or diplomatically by trading bases (or demanding one). Once the land is taken, your options become pretty limited. The key is to get there first. Problem is, if you devote too many resources to colony pod production, you won't be able to defend yourself against an aggressive faction with a foothold on your territory. If there is any hint of a possible confrontation, you need to build up a military force to counter it. I recommend building rovers in your cities farthest from the 'land grab' area; their higher movement rate makes up for the geographic separation, and allows you to keep your newly built cities out of your rivals greedy hands. The best way to decide how much military you need is to infiltrate your neighbors' datalinks to know what they're up to. Then use your judgment on how to balance your production. Hope this helps! edromia: Security interlocks are placed in enemy cities where you have previously stolen technology via. probe team operations. You can't 'build' your own interlocks (the AI seemingly can steal as many times as it wishes from your cities without penalty) but you CAN build your own probe teams to act as counter-espionage unit garrisons for your cities. That way any probe team that tries ANY operation against that city must first eliminate your probe team. Probe teams can also be attacked, of course. Or you can capture and release them in the event that they belong to an ally. The best thing is to have a good surveylance system so that you pick up any approaching units before they can reach your cities, thus giving you time to respond before they can cause any damage (this goes for ordinary military units as well) Don't give them a fair chance; nail 'em before they get to you! Certhas: Psi combat is different from normal combat. Any attacking ground unit gets a 3 to 2 advantage in psi combat. This, SPs, and morale solely determine the outcome of psi combat. In your situation, I would check to see what the morale difference between your units and your attacker are. If they have a signifigant morale advantage, they could conceivably defeat your unit. Check this out and see if this is the reason (I'll bet money you're using very green troops against commandos; not a good combo for psi combat) |
| Certhas |
posted 03-30-99 01:38 PM ET
micje, I think this is what I'm experiencing, could you explain to me why they count like 7.5, though? Is the PSI damage (damage, not strength) multiplyed by the enemy reactor strength? Sorry player2, but I'm not quite that dumb |
| Analyst |
posted 03-30-99 02:00 PM ET
On Security Interlocks: I'm not so certain that these actually exist, but aren't rather just a colorful way of the game alerting you to the fact that the normal odds of Probe success aren't going to apply. I've gotten this message on my first probe attempt and I've also not gotten it after multiple probings of the same base. I think it's triggered when the combination of base improvements/psych rating/probe rating at the targeted enemy base reduce the odds of probe success/survival below a certain threshhold. I don't think that it's something that the enemy AI actually does to it's bases. I would agree that it's most common to get this message after a spate of initially successful probing of the enemy, but I think that's the "reactive" AI kicking in and trying to thwart your probe strategy. Yin26, though I've minutely detailed my dissatisfaction with the SMAC AI in my Constructive Criticism thread, it's occasionally necessary to give the devil his due. In this case, the AI's land-grab "behavior" is perfect and occasionally insanely frustrating to the Builder style player. One must either accept the AI's tendency to claim jump and border crowd or be prepared to go to war to prevent it. There are precious few practical alternatives. This was one of Sid & Brian's shrewder AI programming moments. |
| beanish |
posted 03-30-99 05:01 PM ET
Here's a question for you all. I'm working on crushing (or at least crippling) Miriam's crew. She got killed by me several times early in the game (I accidentally had the escaping-faction option on), and so has been a slow starter. Now she has enough tech to start to be an annoyance, and she remembers well how I brutalized her early colonies. Miriam is a pact sister of the Spartans, who have a pretty good tech level and have been quite pleasant to me all game. The Spartans have some units in some of Miriam's strategic cities. If I attack one of those cities, I can kill all of Miriam's units, but then I can't capture it with Santiago's units in there. Unless I want to mix it up with Santiago, which I have no desire to do (crushing Miriam and keeping Yang-the-planet-buster unbalanced is plenty for me, thanks). Santiago won't go for a pact, and won't turn on Miriam. Miriam's social engineering choices rule out use probe teams for mind control. After I started on one city, I noticed Santiago got most of her planes out of there, but still left at least one unit. Argh! This game, btw, is at the second highest difficulty level, and I'm playing that crazy Gaia witch. Another question that's less pressing is, how do you handle economics when playing the Hive? I finished a game recently at the middle difficulty level where I played them and conquered the world. However, towards the end of the game, I found the Hive's economic penalties to be crippling (combined with the fact that not many other factions were left to trade with, and they all hated me). Perhaps it was because of social engineering choices that I had made early (going for police to keep the drones in line, rather than using city improvements, meant that I was had no flexibility about that choice). Late in the game, I could scarcely pay for my base facilities - I had to be very selective about them, and scrapped quite a few in the late game. Of course, "late" in the game is relative - I nuked the last opposing city with the first planet buster I had been able to build, so we weren't at a very high tech level overall. Overall, I found the Hive great for an early expansionist aggressive strategy, but I felt like I was just barely able to stretch that into a final military victory - mostly due to the barely-sufficient economy and slow research. |
| yin26 |
posted 03-30-99 05:34 PM ET
Analyst, I agree. On the land grab point, SMAC does a fairly good job--could be better player2, Again, thanks for the input. |
| Certhas |
posted 03-31-99 07:07 AM ET
Tip on how to destroy allied units, move your unit on the same square, and activate selfdestruction! very effective. Figured it out when I was in a very tricky situation, Anybody was dead or had surrendered to me, expect Santiago, she had one small city left, and I was building upon my score, to build TtA just befor 2400 (I gain 4 techs/turn in this game at thinker difficulty and AT 80) now one of the surrendered factions attacked Santiago, and if he had taken her base, this would have meant conquest victory for me  so I put some of my far advanced gravships*4 on her units and selfdestructed them, I don't know how the AI reacts on this long term, though, but I think it's worth a try. |
| Darkstar |
posted 07-20-99 02:40 PM ET
The TIs answer questions from the public here... -Darkstar |
| Dman37 |
posted 07-22-99 01:07 PM ET
Ok I think I figured this out but I thought I would ask anyway. Was going for a conquest victory, and tried to take one of the factions last bases. Took it but got a message that the leader escaped in a colony pod. When I took some of the other factions though it didn't happen. In fact in all the times I've played that was the only time it did. Started messing around with the rules one day and saw the do or die box (was unchecked so that must be the default). Thought I understood it then, the faction was simply restarted, my question is this. Is it possible to win a total conquest victory with this checked? If you conquer a faction enough do you eventually capture them? Is the effect random? Thanks! |
| Dman37 |
posted 07-22-99 02:03 PM ET
oh yeah alo how do you release mindworms? |
| absimiliard |
posted 07-22-99 02:55 PM ET
Hail DMan37. On 'Do or Die' it is not random. In essence prior to a certain time the enemy leader will escape. After that time they will not. I apologize for not knowing exactly when the cut-off is but I am pretty certain this is how it works. On releasing mindworms to the wild. Try a right-click and go through your options. I do not recall the exact sequence but I think it lays off of the 'actions' selection. Correct me if I am wrong people. -absimiliard |
| Darkstar |
posted 07-22-99 03:00 PM ET
Do or Die not clicked... not only is there a time limit of when early factional erasure due to whatever reason, the SMAC game will try and resettle the lost faction again. If there is enough unclaimed land, they will be set down again. I have seen the Spartans escape 5 times in a game... So to recap... the bigger the map, the more likely the lost faction will be resettled. This includes YOU and can be a big boost to your empire dreams if done early. (This is known as the Reincarnate Maneuver.) -Darkstar |
| Summit |
posted 07-22-99 04:27 PM ET
Help, my daughter has thrashed my manual and I can not for the life of me figure out how to change the energy allocation in my cities. I've got drone riots out the ying-yang and can not set any energy to Psi. almost ready to start nerve stapleing. |
| Darkstar |
posted 07-22-99 04:38 PM ET
Social Engineering screen. There you can change your SE as well as your Econ/Psych/Labs. Shift+E is the shortcut key (I think). -Darkstar |
| player2 |
posted 07-22-99 04:50 PM ET
correction: just 'E', not Shift-E. This will take you to the social engineering screen that Darkstar mentioned. Use the horizontal scroll bars at the bottom to change your settings. |
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notice that I posted the strength values aboth, which kinda indicates that my troops are +50% from this particular SE and that my troops are getting +25%/37% from Veteran Commando status, furthermore, if one involved unit is flying, the ration isn't 3 to 2 but 1 to 1 (as in my case)