Some help needed with supply crawlers

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Author Topic:   Some help needed with supply crawlers

Wank posted 06-25-99 02:54 PM ET
Ok, I have quick question about crawlers.
Actually more than one, but they're all quick. Mostly it has to do with what can they do, because I've never used them yet (only been playing a week).
1) Can crawlers harvest resources from squares on which you already have workers?
2) Can crawlers harvest more than just one resource? I built a crawler, and when i told it to collect stuff, it asked me I if wanted energy, nutrients, or minerals from that square??
thats it..for now..MWUAHA
Wank
Plato90s posted 06-25-99 03:16 PM ET
1) No.
2) Only one resource per square can be harvested.
Wank posted 06-25-99 04:28 PM ET
then why are they so useful?? Especially when you overlap base territories (Morgan).
Wank
googlie posted 06-25-99 04:39 PM ET
They're not limited to squares within your base zone. Send them off across the continent to energy, mineral or nutrient squares.
Or build your bases in a circle with lot's of land in between and exploit that unzoned land with crawlers (Make sure that your bases in a circle do overlap so that other factions don't sneak thru and build a base within your circle)
Use the workshop to create sea crawlers, and sent them off to the sea mineral and energy squares. Even better, build mines/tidal harnesses there and convoy the bonuses.
Within your base zone, turn your pops into Talents and use only crawlers to get minerals or energy (you need lots of hydro sats to make that one work, else your pop starves)
IMHO crawlers are the single most useful unit in the game, and the secret to winning at the harder challenge levels (tactics perfected via the One City Challenge, where you need to Transcend while building only one base - crawlers are a must for that)
Hope this helps
googlie posted 06-25-99 04:42 PM ET
ps.
You can also armor crawlers, to help them against attack, even psi-armor.
I read in an old post that someone was using them in the squares immediately surrounding his base to give a secondary defense, allowing time to rush more conventional units to the scene.
Googlie
Wank posted 06-25-99 06:32 PM ET
No, what I meant when I said that my bases were overlapped was that there is pretty much no res a safe distance from my cities that is not being harvested by city workers.
Altho, hmmm, I just thought of this but, if you have a pact brother/sister/bitch(miriam),
can you send the crawlers to harvest in their territory?
And what is the priority for harvesting, IE:
if you have a crawler, and you assign a worker to that square, does the crawler get kicked off, or can you not assign a worker there? (in case say, you wanted to prevent a pact ally from using a monolith or one of HIS boreholes...>=)
Wank
Plato90s posted 06-25-99 07:30 PM ET
You can't order a supply crawler to harvest a square which already has a city. And it's often better to build large, standalone cities rather than a whole maze of overlapping cities. The inefficiency is a killer.
Krushala posted 06-25-99 07:37 PM ET
I agree Plato. It's a waste building tons of overlapping cities. Their radiuses (or radi?) should be adjacent though. I do overlap if it means getting an extra resource square within the city radius. The ai will abide by territorial restrictions and won't build a city in your borders. If you are at war then just destroy the city.
Wank posted 06-25-99 09:59 PM ET
Hehehe, you're all still confused. You see, I didn't mean putting crawlers in already used squares, or about enemy bases near me. I was asking if it is possible to order a crawler to harvest in the territory of a Pact ally.
Wank
PS: I play Morgan, with him, especially early on, I find it a lot more efficient building lots of overlapping cities instead of less stand alone ones.
Wank again =)
Krushala posted 06-25-99 10:26 PM ET
I was responding to the idea of a ring of bases with overlapping borders. Crawler in an ally's territory is something I never tried. I'll have to try that in my next game.
DrPhibes posted 06-27-99 10:54 AM ET
Crawlers can harvest resources in pact bros/sis territory.
Resource Consumer posted 06-27-99 06:11 PM ET
Wank,
As a fellow Morganite I am sympathetic about overlapping bases. Early on - maybe you don't want to push your borders and fight but you still need to expand against the hab limits. This strategy makes more sense with Morgan than the others so, though I agree that it's less than ideal (you want to fight those wars?) it does make a pile of sense in the context.
So, what do I do with SCs? I'm a bit of a late convert but I tend to shepherd them out way beyond any decent sized city and let them do planet til it bleeds. Then all those nasty mindworm muzhiks don't queue up at the gates of your best city. Or so I hope....
Resource Consumer
- still believing tinfoil can beat mindworms-
googlie posted 07-05-99 06:23 PM ET
RC:
I posted elsewhere about my last night's game - UN HQ was my mineral city, with two borholes in its zone and SC's tapping mins from about 9 others that were free (Inside my ring of touching bases - ok the occasional overlap)of any base zone - I had about 30 squares that i hadn't put bases on.
Anyway, Mineral City was producing over 600 mins per turn, and Planet was going berserk. Had to keep 6 shard copters on full alert at the base, plus reinforce with needles from elsewhere. My eco was -295 or something at that base.
So the moral is that even if your boreholes aren't in your zone, you still get kicked by Planet if you are utilizing crawlers.
Googlie
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Author	Topic: Some help needed with supply crawlers
Wank	posted 06-25-99 02:54 PM ET Ok, I have quick question about crawlers. Actually more than one, but they're all quick. Mostly it has to do with what can they do, because I've never used them yet (only been playing a week). 1) Can crawlers harvest resources from squares on which you already have workers? 2) Can crawlers harvest more than just one resource? I built a crawler, and when i told it to collect stuff, it asked me I if wanted energy, nutrients, or minerals from that square?? thats it..for now..MWUAHA Wank
Plato90s	posted 06-25-99 03:16 PM ET 1) No. 2) Only one resource per square can be harvested.
Wank	posted 06-25-99 04:28 PM ET then why are they so useful?? Especially when you overlap base territories (Morgan). Wank
googlie	posted 06-25-99 04:39 PM ET They're not limited to squares within your base zone. Send them off across the continent to energy, mineral or nutrient squares. Or build your bases in a circle with lot's of land in between and exploit that unzoned land with crawlers (Make sure that your bases in a circle do overlap so that other factions don't sneak thru and build a base within your circle) Use the workshop to create sea crawlers, and sent them off to the sea mineral and energy squares. Even better, build mines/tidal harnesses there and convoy the bonuses. Within your base zone, turn your pops into Talents and use only crawlers to get minerals or energy (you need lots of hydro sats to make that one work, else your pop starves) IMHO crawlers are the single most useful unit in the game, and the secret to winning at the harder challenge levels (tactics perfected via the One City Challenge, where you need to Transcend while building only one base - crawlers are a must for that) Hope this helps
googlie	posted 06-25-99 04:42 PM ET ps. You can also armor crawlers, to help them against attack, even psi-armor. I read in an old post that someone was using them in the squares immediately surrounding his base to give a secondary defense, allowing time to rush more conventional units to the scene. Googlie
Wank	posted 06-25-99 06:32 PM ET No, what I meant when I said that my bases were overlapped was that there is pretty much no res a safe distance from my cities that is not being harvested by city workers. Altho, hmmm, I just thought of this but, if you have a pact brother/sister/bitch(miriam), can you send the crawlers to harvest in their territory? And what is the priority for harvesting, IE: if you have a crawler, and you assign a worker to that square, does the crawler get kicked off, or can you not assign a worker there? (in case say, you wanted to prevent a pact ally from using a monolith or one of HIS boreholes...>=) Wank
Plato90s	posted 06-25-99 07:30 PM ET You can't order a supply crawler to harvest a square which already has a city. And it's often better to build large, standalone cities rather than a whole maze of overlapping cities. The inefficiency is a killer.
Krushala	posted 06-25-99 07:37 PM ET I agree Plato. It's a waste building tons of overlapping cities. Their radiuses (or radi?) should be adjacent though. I do overlap if it means getting an extra resource square within the city radius. The ai will abide by territorial restrictions and won't build a city in your borders. If you are at war then just destroy the city.
Wank	posted 06-25-99 09:59 PM ET Hehehe, you're all still confused. You see, I didn't mean putting crawlers in already used squares, or about enemy bases near me. I was asking if it is possible to order a crawler to harvest in the territory of a Pact ally. Wank PS: I play Morgan, with him, especially early on, I find it a lot more efficient building lots of overlapping cities instead of less stand alone ones. Wank again =)
Krushala	posted 06-25-99 10:26 PM ET I was responding to the idea of a ring of bases with overlapping borders. Crawler in an ally's territory is something I never tried. I'll have to try that in my next game.
DrPhibes	posted 06-27-99 10:54 AM ET Crawlers can harvest resources in pact bros/sis territory.
Resource Consumer	posted 06-27-99 06:11 PM ET Wank, As a fellow Morganite I am sympathetic about overlapping bases. Early on - maybe you don't want to push your borders and fight but you still need to expand against the hab limits. This strategy makes more sense with Morgan than the others so, though I agree that it's less than ideal (you want to fight those wars?) it does make a pile of sense in the context. So, what do I do with SCs? I'm a bit of a late convert but I tend to shepherd them out way beyond any decent sized city and let them do planet til it bleeds. Then all those nasty mindworm muzhiks don't queue up at the gates of your best city. Or so I hope.... Resource Consumer - still believing tinfoil can beat mindworms-
googlie	posted 07-05-99 06:23 PM ET RC: I posted elsewhere about my last night's game - UN HQ was my mineral city, with two borholes in its zone and SC's tapping mins from about 9 others that were free (Inside my ring of touching bases - ok the occasional overlap)of any base zone - I had about 30 squares that i hadn't put bases on. Anyway, Mineral City was producing over 600 mins per turn, and Planet was going berserk. Had to keep 6 shard copters on full alert at the base, plus reinforce with needles from elsewhere. My eco was -295 or something at that base. So the moral is that even if your boreholes aren't in your zone, you still get kicked by Planet if you are utilizing crawlers. Googlie