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Author Topic:   Drone control, help please.

Silt posted 03-23-99 11:34 AM ET
I'm having a heck of a time controlling Drones in my bases and am looking for some advice. In my last game, in my main compound, I had built the Children's Creche, Rec Commons, Holoplex Theater(or whatever the theater is called), had the Human Genome SP and 2 citizens were empaths. Even with all of this, 5 out of 7 citizens were drones and riots were becoming a pain.
Any adivce on what else to do to control drone riots. Obviously building all the enhancements that supposedly lower drones isn't working. Should I just always do an all out police state and nerve staple them every turn?
Thanks.
Silt
cyb78 posted 03-23-99 11:43 AM ET
Have you tried to click on the city control window (showing all the energy, nutrients and metal) and "remove" some of your workforce and turning them into talents?
Sometimes it works for me.
Rawhide posted 03-23-99 11:45 AM ET
Are you playing the Univercity? They receive 1 extra drone for every 4 citizens.
Silt posted 03-23-99 11:53 AM ET
cyb78: Yes, I had turned 2 workers into Empaths, which gave me two talents. It just doesn't seem that the buildings which are supposed to lower drones..doesn't lower them.
Rawhide: In my last game I was Spartans..though every game I've played so far, I've had drone problems. As I've said, this is after building all the "lower your drones" buildings, etc.

Silt
CEO Bernard posted 03-23-99 12:00 PM ET
Don't forget to raise your psych (social engineering) to at least 10%. Many facilities give a bonus percentage to your psych, but +50% (for example) of 0 (zero) is still 0 (zero). This is the most common error I have seen with regards to drone control (it was a common mistake for me in early games too).
CEO Bernard
Jimmy posted 03-23-99 12:18 PM ET
I have two words: punishment sphere
They have a -50% penalty on research but that can be overcome with network nodes+ bio labs etc... Punishment spheres will completely eliminate drones permanently. That means you won't need rec commons, hologram theatres which will save you some bucks. You can have free market. You will be able to build a big airforce with democracy and not worry about drones anymore.
Spartan Frank posted 03-23-99 12:33 PM ET
First, I have never had to build a punishment sphere, regardless of if I had a free market democracy or whatever else. Second, I am not sure CEO Bernard is correct. Although what he said makes intuitive sense, my base facilities seem to have an effect regardless of whether or not any energy is devoted to psych.
I think that the issue probably is that you have too many military units from that base outside the base. This combined with a low police rating will kill you. Check to see how many of your units have a peace symbol next to them in the city view. Each one of those represents a drone.
If this is the case, maybe you should spread out your military production to more cities. Take some existing units and home them on cities with less of a drone problem.
VulturesRow posted 03-23-99 12:34 PM ET
Another thing is depending on your police power, make sure you have a few military units in your city to help with drones. Also, I would stay away from the punishment sphere unless you are in the endgame phase having researched everything you wanted to research..not only does it eliminate drones, it eliminates talents and it does cut into your research. But it is usable I suppose. I just havent seen the need yet. And if you wanted to build a paradise garden, you cant do it in a city with a punishment sphere.
tOFfGI posted 03-23-99 12:40 PM ET
Non-Lethal Methods are nice. Does anyone know if Non-Lethal Methods + At least +3 police gives you quadruple police effects, or have I built Non-lethal units for no apparent reason?
Yecal Naes posted 03-23-99 02:20 PM ET
Spartan Frank: CEO Bernard is correct.
Although the buildings that "remove drones" do take effect regardless of Psych settings, they do not help with actual Psych production if you don't have at least 10%. Meaning....no Psych, no talents. (at least not without buildings such as the Paradise Garden or the Human Genome SP.)
Also, by setting it at 10%, you may start up quite a few Golden Ages, especially if your energy is high.
As for Silt and his drones:
Check your governmental settings...if you have the Free Market economy, that gives you 2 drones for EVERY military unit (meaning unit with armor or a weapon)
Spartan Frank posted 03-23-99 02:53 PM ET
Thanks, didn't get the distinction between removing drones and actual psych production (creating talents). My apologies to CEO Bernard.
Darts posted 03-24-99 05:27 AM ET
Silt, if you want to see wether or not your buildings and projects do affect the drones just check out the psycho box within the city window.
Downtime posted 03-24-99 08:42 PM ET
Have any of you noticed that on Transcend level at least it is possible for a city to have more drones than it has population? That is the only explanation I have been able to devise for some of the behavior I have encountered. Example: All of the faces in a base are red, then I turn one of them to a doctor but the Psych points he produces don't change any of the other drones back to workers; or you have the Genome Project and it does not change a worker into a Talent. I think SMAC must be assigning "shadow drones" over and above the population and they are cancelling out the benefits you would normally receive. This seems to happen when you have too many bases for your current efficiency level and are therefor getting extra drones due to your bureaucracy.
Fiannaidh posted 03-25-99 12:54 AM ET
Telepathic Matrix all the way. And if you can't build it yet, you can always switch over to police state/planned/power (it's perfect with yang) and put a ton of police units in your towns.
googlie posted 07-09-99 02:29 PM ET
bumping (it's a quiet day in the office)
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Author	Topic: Drone control, help please.
Silt	posted 03-23-99 11:34 AM ET I'm having a heck of a time controlling Drones in my bases and am looking for some advice. In my last game, in my main compound, I had built the Children's Creche, Rec Commons, Holoplex Theater(or whatever the theater is called), had the Human Genome SP and 2 citizens were empaths. Even with all of this, 5 out of 7 citizens were drones and riots were becoming a pain. Any adivce on what else to do to control drone riots. Obviously building all the enhancements that supposedly lower drones isn't working. Should I just always do an all out police state and nerve staple them every turn? Thanks. Silt
cyb78	posted 03-23-99 11:43 AM ET Have you tried to click on the city control window (showing all the energy, nutrients and metal) and "remove" some of your workforce and turning them into talents? Sometimes it works for me.
Rawhide	posted 03-23-99 11:45 AM ET Are you playing the Univercity? They receive 1 extra drone for every 4 citizens.
Silt	posted 03-23-99 11:53 AM ET cyb78: Yes, I had turned 2 workers into Empaths, which gave me two talents. It just doesn't seem that the buildings which are supposed to lower drones..doesn't lower them. Rawhide: In my last game I was Spartans..though every game I've played so far, I've had drone problems. As I've said, this is after building all the "lower your drones" buildings, etc. Silt
CEO Bernard	posted 03-23-99 12:00 PM ET Don't forget to raise your psych (social engineering) to at least 10%. Many facilities give a bonus percentage to your psych, but +50% (for example) of 0 (zero) is still 0 (zero). This is the most common error I have seen with regards to drone control (it was a common mistake for me in early games too). CEO Bernard
Jimmy	posted 03-23-99 12:18 PM ET I have two words: punishment sphere They have a -50% penalty on research but that can be overcome with network nodes+ bio labs etc... Punishment spheres will completely eliminate drones permanently. That means you won't need rec commons, hologram theatres which will save you some bucks. You can have free market. You will be able to build a big airforce with democracy and not worry about drones anymore.
Spartan Frank	posted 03-23-99 12:33 PM ET First, I have never had to build a punishment sphere, regardless of if I had a free market democracy or whatever else. Second, I am not sure CEO Bernard is correct. Although what he said makes intuitive sense, my base facilities seem to have an effect regardless of whether or not any energy is devoted to psych. I think that the issue probably is that you have too many military units from that base outside the base. This combined with a low police rating will kill you. Check to see how many of your units have a peace symbol next to them in the city view. Each one of those represents a drone. If this is the case, maybe you should spread out your military production to more cities. Take some existing units and home them on cities with less of a drone problem.
VulturesRow	posted 03-23-99 12:34 PM ET Another thing is depending on your police power, make sure you have a few military units in your city to help with drones. Also, I would stay away from the punishment sphere unless you are in the endgame phase having researched everything you wanted to research..not only does it eliminate drones, it eliminates talents and it does cut into your research. But it is usable I suppose. I just havent seen the need yet. And if you wanted to build a paradise garden, you cant do it in a city with a punishment sphere.
tOFfGI	posted 03-23-99 12:40 PM ET Non-Lethal Methods are nice. Does anyone know if Non-Lethal Methods + At least +3 police gives you quadruple police effects, or have I built Non-lethal units for no apparent reason?
Yecal Naes	posted 03-23-99 02:20 PM ET Spartan Frank: CEO Bernard is correct. Although the buildings that "remove drones" do take effect regardless of Psych settings, they do not help with actual Psych production if you don't have at least 10%. Meaning....no Psych, no talents. (at least not without buildings such as the Paradise Garden or the Human Genome SP.) Also, by setting it at 10%, you may start up quite a few Golden Ages, especially if your energy is high. As for Silt and his drones: Check your governmental settings...if you have the Free Market economy, that gives you 2 drones for EVERY military unit (meaning unit with armor or a weapon)
Spartan Frank	posted 03-23-99 02:53 PM ET Thanks, didn't get the distinction between removing drones and actual psych production (creating talents). My apologies to CEO Bernard.
Darts	posted 03-24-99 05:27 AM ET Silt, if you want to see wether or not your buildings and projects do affect the drones just check out the psycho box within the city window.
Downtime	posted 03-24-99 08:42 PM ET Have any of you noticed that on Transcend level at least it is possible for a city to have more drones than it has population? That is the only explanation I have been able to devise for some of the behavior I have encountered. Example: All of the faces in a base are red, then I turn one of them to a doctor but the Psych points he produces don't change any of the other drones back to workers; or you have the Genome Project and it does not change a worker into a Talent. I think SMAC must be assigning "shadow drones" over and above the population and they are cancelling out the benefits you would normally receive. This seems to happen when you have too many bases for your current efficiency level and are therefor getting extra drones due to your bureaucracy.
Fiannaidh	posted 03-25-99 12:54 AM ET Telepathic Matrix all the way. And if you can't build it yet, you can always switch over to police state/planned/power (it's perfect with yang) and put a ton of police units in your towns.
googlie	posted 07-09-99 02:29 PM ET bumping (it's a quiet day in the office)