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Author Topic:   Beginner's thoughts on strategy

Talamascan posted 06-18-99 12:40 AM ET
If there's anything in this that's interesting to you, then great.
More than holding my own on transcend, I think there are three strategic actions in the game, all based on attaining growth.
1. Military expansion
2. Colonizing expansion
3. Consolidation (science, internal growth)
If your empire is large enough, these can be local, but since things like science and gov't are global, you generally want to take only one of these actions at a particular time. You'd rather not keep fundamentalism when half of what you're doing is just protecting borders while racing up the tech tree to get the next great military advantage.
Though I just play Gaian, this is why I'd think that Yang is probably the best race. Not so much that random initial placement doesn't overcome its statistical advantage, but nonetheless the overall best. During consolidation, it has safe defense and growth, as well as good production, while in both kinds of expansion it has a good industrial and strategic base, pumping stuff out. Yang gets benefits for each strategic action without any hinderances; for example the economic minus is offset by having more population, so their science doesn't suffer.
Of course, if I was going against them I'd use democracy for all it's worth.
I don't know how obvious this is to some, but basically the game for me at this point is very much of switching between these three actions and doing little tactics to carry them out. This is basically what I learned after starting to give orders to my units and cities out of sequence (except when I pretty much know where everything will go and don't have to think very much).
Flame on; I don't mind since I am a beginner. Some might see where I'm saying something interesting, and if someone points out where I am being silly, great.
TheMadStork posted 06-18-99 02:55 AM ET
Hitting the nail on the head, the game consists of:
EXPLORE (colonizing Planet);
DISCOVER (scientific growth);
BUILD (infrastructure development);
CONQUER (murder death kill).
Yang is definitely the best faction for attempting all of the above.
Don't fool yourself about maintaining an empire that is anything other than a collection of city-states. Devote perimeter bases to Conquer and Explore, and internal bases to Discover and Build. But, to avoid confusion, DO NOT SET THE GOVERNORS TO THOSE SETTINGS. Do not even use governors at all for a while. When learning the game, micromanagement is key.
And remember, it really is fun.
I go now.
Zoetrope posted 06-18-99 05:46 AM ET
Single-player at Thinker level against Yang, I've noticed that the Believers march right through him no trouble, and he doesn't cope at all with mindworms.
When I was (University I think) at vendetta against him, I marched a series of mindworms up to his base perimeter defences, sat them there, some in the fungus, some in the open.
Yang just ignored the worms, and they took out his defenders next turn. I did this again and again, but he never grew any wiser. After losing most of his bases, he abjectly surrendered.
So Yang as an AI opponent has the very exploitable weakness that he seems to be overconfident of his own security behind those perimeter defences, he underestimates the attacking strength of troops just outside his walls, and he doesn't go for the quick pre-emptive kill as he should.
He was not within sight of airpower, and I had more worms around each base than he had defenders, so although he used artillery extensively, he was not able to hold his own, and seems to have opted for a cautious "keep the defence infantry out of the action" policy.
How did he fall to this low ebb? He used to be my ally, but turned on me after countless nerve gas tests I made against the PeaceKeepers and outraged Chiron's worms.
Yang sent many troops, assault infantry supported by artillery, toward my bases, but my airforce was on seek and destroy missions. (I did this manually: is there a hotkey for that kind of patrol?) So he was unable to do more than occasional long-range fire on my troops, and pillaging.
To defend my bases, I destroyed sections of road between his bases and mine (this is when my troops were most at risk). Then after I had built up my mixed army of native and human troops, my forces travelled over the fungus (he didn't seem to notice my approach) to demolish much of the terraforming around Yang's bases, to cripple his troop production, research and food supplies.
Then I crowded his bases as described above, and took his pride down several notches. Not bad as a wimpy University, eh?
---------------------------------------------
Now, if you really want an easy-to-win-with faction at Thinker level, try the Believers, and attack constantly. When I tried this, the game was in the bag on both the conquest and technology fronts before turn 100.
One way or another I got hold of the Planetary Datalinks, used probes constantly, picked up some artefacts, and bullied tech out of my neighbors. Very soon I was number one in science. From that point, Miriam cannot lose; indeed everyone else became hopeless at research, and she won before anyone reached chaos guns.
Interestingly, although Miriam is an implacable opponent as a computer player, when you play her you will soon discover that she can get very good (often submissive relations with most other factions throughout the game. The AI players seem only too eager not to offend The Believers.
If you're accustomed to a building game, you probably go through an expansion phase, then you meet border bases of other factions, and go into a consolidation. During this, you will be using diplomacy to survive and hopefully prosper. Playing as Miriam, however, first contact is an opportunity to put the fear of God into your neighbors, one by one. Make constant demands of everyone, and when anyone gets stand-uppish, take a few of their bases.
You don't need the option ot take tech from each base, because Miriam has so many ways of extorting technology. Her Probes Teams are excellent.
A very valuable use for probes is when you're facing those pesky Perimeter Defences. Send a couple of Probes to sabotage the base facilities (with no specified target), and in the vast majority of cases (I lost count of the dozens of bases I tried this on), one of the probes (usually the first) will take out the perimeter defences. Then your Elite Assault Infantry take out the defenders, then march in.
Simple but good strategy from Civ2 that applies also to SMAC: when you have several city/base assault units with two moves each (for example, Civ2's Howitzers or SMAC's Elite Infantry) don't exhaust the moves of each unit: instead, fire each once, then after the defenders are gone, most (often all) of your units will, on the same turn, be able to march into the captured base, where they can be repaired, and are less vulnerable to counter-attack.
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Author	Topic: Beginner's thoughts on strategy
Talamascan	posted 06-18-99 12:40 AM ET If there's anything in this that's interesting to you, then great. More than holding my own on transcend, I think there are three strategic actions in the game, all based on attaining growth. 1. Military expansion 2. Colonizing expansion 3. Consolidation (science, internal growth) If your empire is large enough, these can be local, but since things like science and gov't are global, you generally want to take only one of these actions at a particular time. You'd rather not keep fundamentalism when half of what you're doing is just protecting borders while racing up the tech tree to get the next great military advantage. Though I just play Gaian, this is why I'd think that Yang is probably the best race. Not so much that random initial placement doesn't overcome its statistical advantage, but nonetheless the overall best. During consolidation, it has safe defense and growth, as well as good production, while in both kinds of expansion it has a good industrial and strategic base, pumping stuff out. Yang gets benefits for each strategic action without any hinderances; for example the economic minus is offset by having more population, so their science doesn't suffer. Of course, if I was going against them I'd use democracy for all it's worth. I don't know how obvious this is to some, but basically the game for me at this point is very much of switching between these three actions and doing little tactics to carry them out. This is basically what I learned after starting to give orders to my units and cities out of sequence (except when I pretty much know where everything will go and don't have to think very much). Flame on; I don't mind since I am a beginner. Some might see where I'm saying something interesting, and if someone points out where I am being silly, great.
TheMadStork	posted 06-18-99 02:55 AM ET Hitting the nail on the head, the game consists of: EXPLORE (colonizing Planet); DISCOVER (scientific growth); BUILD (infrastructure development); CONQUER (murder death kill). Yang is definitely the best faction for attempting all of the above. Don't fool yourself about maintaining an empire that is anything other than a collection of city-states. Devote perimeter bases to Conquer and Explore, and internal bases to Discover and Build. But, to avoid confusion, DO NOT SET THE GOVERNORS TO THOSE SETTINGS. Do not even use governors at all for a while. When learning the game, micromanagement is key. And remember, it really is fun. I go now.
Zoetrope	posted 06-18-99 05:46 AM ET Single-player at Thinker level against Yang, I've noticed that the Believers march right through him no trouble, and he doesn't cope at all with mindworms. When I was (University I think) at vendetta against him, I marched a series of mindworms up to his base perimeter defences, sat them there, some in the fungus, some in the open. Yang just ignored the worms, and they took out his defenders next turn. I did this again and again, but he never grew any wiser. After losing most of his bases, he abjectly surrendered. So Yang as an AI opponent has the very exploitable weakness that he seems to be overconfident of his own security behind those perimeter defences, he underestimates the attacking strength of troops just outside his walls, and he doesn't go for the quick pre-emptive kill as he should. He was not within sight of airpower, and I had more worms around each base than he had defenders, so although he used artillery extensively, he was not able to hold his own, and seems to have opted for a cautious "keep the defence infantry out of the action" policy. How did he fall to this low ebb? He used to be my ally, but turned on me after countless nerve gas tests I made against the PeaceKeepers and outraged Chiron's worms. Yang sent many troops, assault infantry supported by artillery, toward my bases, but my airforce was on seek and destroy missions. (I did this manually: is there a hotkey for that kind of patrol?) So he was unable to do more than occasional long-range fire on my troops, and pillaging. To defend my bases, I destroyed sections of road between his bases and mine (this is when my troops were most at risk). Then after I had built up my mixed army of native and human troops, my forces travelled over the fungus (he didn't seem to notice my approach) to demolish much of the terraforming around Yang's bases, to cripple his troop production, research and food supplies. Then I crowded his bases as described above, and took his pride down several notches. Not bad as a wimpy University, eh? --------------------------------------------- Now, if you really want an easy-to-win-with faction at Thinker level, try the Believers, and attack constantly. When I tried this, the game was in the bag on both the conquest and technology fronts before turn 100. One way or another I got hold of the Planetary Datalinks, used probes constantly, picked up some artefacts, and bullied tech out of my neighbors. Very soon I was number one in science. From that point, Miriam cannot lose; indeed everyone else became hopeless at research, and she won before anyone reached chaos guns. Interestingly, although Miriam is an implacable opponent as a computer player, when you play her you will soon discover that she can get very good (often submissive relations with most other factions throughout the game. The AI players seem only too eager not to offend The Believers. If you're accustomed to a building game, you probably go through an expansion phase, then you meet border bases of other factions, and go into a consolidation. During this, you will be using diplomacy to survive and hopefully prosper. Playing as Miriam, however, first contact is an opportunity to put the fear of God into your neighbors, one by one. Make constant demands of everyone, and when anyone gets stand-uppish, take a few of their bases. You don't need the option ot take tech from each base, because Miriam has so many ways of extorting technology. Her Probes Teams are excellent. A very valuable use for probes is when you're facing those pesky Perimeter Defences. Send a couple of Probes to sabotage the base facilities (with no specified target), and in the vast majority of cases (I lost count of the dozens of bases I tried this on), one of the probes (usually the first) will take out the perimeter defences. Then your Elite Assault Infantry take out the defenders, then march in. Simple but good strategy from Civ2 that applies also to SMAC: when you have several city/base assault units with two moves each (for example, Civ2's Howitzers or SMAC's Elite Infantry) don't exhaust the moves of each unit: instead, fire each once, then after the defenders are gone, most (often all) of your units will, on the same turn, be able to march into the captured base, where they can be repaired, and are less vulnerable to counter-attack.