Getting over the hump to Thinker level

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Author Topic:   Getting over the hump to Thinker level

OldCodger posted 09-01-99 10:53 AM ET
I've been playing SMAC for quite a while at Librarian level and just can't seem to get over the hump and climb to Thinker level. So, I need ideas, tips, etc., on what I need to do to improve my game to the next level.
Librarian level is not too difficult, but I find Thinker to be more frustrating than anything at this point.
I typically play on a Huge map with average settings. From what I have been able to gather thus far, one of the big changes that occurs at Thinker level is that your research rate slows down tremendously. For example, at Librarian level, Gaians will acquire a new technology every seven years at the beginning of the game. At Thinker level, this rate is reduced to a new tech every 22 years (use the F2 key to see this). Mind worms seem to be more of a problem as well.
Sometimes, it's just bad luck. Have you ever started out on small-to-medium land mass with both the Spartans and Believers? As UoP? Well, I have and it ain't pretty. But overall, I have a suspicion that my basic problem is simply that I over-build base facilities and don't spend enough time and effort on other aspects of the game. I guess I'm one of those people that thinks every base has to have every facility (except that rotten Gene Jack facility and a punishment sphere), though I am getting better.
When I start out, I usually create one scout per colony pod and send the scout out to find a new colony site while making the colony pod. I do not overlap base areas, but try to incorporate all energy/mineral/nutrient special squares into some base's working range. Every colony I build has the responsibility of launching at least two--or even three--more colony pods until my entire land area is covered. Each base gets its own terraformer. I nearly always get the Weather Paradigm, so I can do some more exotic terraforming early in the game. I may or may not get some of the other early SPs, but can usually get at least one more.
Diplomatically, I'll trade technologies with just about anybody early on. I will usually pay the "protection money" or give a minor tech away just to avoid early conflict (However, I do carry a grudge ). I'll agree to a Treaty with just about anybody, but try to avoid a Pact simply because they almost always want me to get involved in a Vendetta. With some factions, a Pact is unavoidable simply because if you don't, they will "extend" their Vendetta to you. When a
Pact appears inevitable, I try to arrange it so that my Pact brother/sister is between me and the faction we're at Vendetta against. I will avoid a Vendetta against an adjacent faction--at least early on--if I can possibly do so.
As my technology expands and more base facilities become available, I seem to want to build one of everything in every base I have. There are quite a few facilities every base should have. Others are more optional; i.e., not every base needs a Skunkworks. I also try to upgrade those scouts I made early on. They usually have more experience and I try to preserve that and improve them.
Some other areas that may be problems for me
include the number of military units that are stationed throughout my land area. I don't think I have enough to deal with the mind worms. Also, I am a habitual "pod popper" and this can get you into trouble early on as well (mind worms again). I'm also wondering if I have enough terraformers. I don't seem to start building my energy park, etc., very early and wonder if building more terraformers early on and starting this would be beneficial in the long term. One other thing that seems to be a problem is that I don't focus on naval units early on because the early units are so weak that they seem to invariably become "Isle of the Deep" fodder. It drives me nuts to watch my very first Impact Plasma Skimship gets two spaces away from its point of construction and then get wiped out by an Isle of the Deep. Transport foils are even more vulnerable.
Now you know how I play it. Those of you who are Thinkers and beyond, how do you do it? How many terraformers do you build per base? How many military units do you try to have? How do you overcome the slower research? When do you start constructing your energy park? What else should I be doing differently to get my game up to Thinker level?
All comments, tips, improvements, suggestions, etc. would be very welcome. A lot of SMAC is about resource management and trade-offs, i.e., deferring what is "good" for what is "better". And that's what I think I need to understand better to get to the next level.
Hydro posted 09-01-99 04:50 PM ET
Old,
I suggest you look up Velociryx�s Strategy Guide. It is located at the Apolyton Alpha Centauri Forum (there is a link to Apolyton under Community here at Firaxis) in the Strategy section. You�ll need to go back to August 16th, which was the last time it was updated. It is pretty inclusive. I know I learned a lot, and was able to shed a lot of bad habits!
Good luck!
Hydro
Zoetrope posted 09-02-99 04:22 AM ET
At least two formers per base, and lots of supply crawlers.
You already know that Energy is primary in SMAC, as you mentioned energy parks, but perhaps you don't get supply crawlers in action soon enough?
Also, when you have the tech, raise the terrain around your bases so that they produce much more energy, research, and psych.
Military? At first I build one scout per base, and later upgrade.
When I can afford, I place three police in each base.
Go for Clean Reactors, and build a huge defensive and offensive military.
Zoetrope posted 09-02-99 04:30 AM ET
Hydro: What strategy section? I see no mention of such a thing at Apolyton's SMAC page.
Hydro posted 09-02-99 10:02 AM ET
Zeo,
Looking at the site, I go to Forums, then under Alpha Centauri I see AC-General, AC-Creation, AC-Fiction, AC-Strategy, AC-Help and AC-Multiplay.
But, I guess you found it since I saw your post there!
Hydro
mcostant posted 09-02-99 10:51 AM ET
OldCoger - Well, I'm not one of the best SMAC player around, but I play succesfully at "thinker level", so...
First: you don't mention you use of Social Engineering. At my early game I didn't care enough to change my S.E. choice, but you should look carefully at your choice and try to change during game according to state of peace/war and before contact different faction (they are more friendly if you use their preferred society), then switch back after the talk (you get your money back, if you undo your change into the same turn of game). Second, don't exchange *every* discovery they ask to you, try to give away the alternative one, if less important, or try to gain at least some money and hurry up important building/unit.
You *should* pact to gain more energy by trade, because you aren't always forced to join Vendetta, in fact you should try to convince different faction to put an end to the war.
Build city improvement when strictly necessary, not always (who care building hab complex when you are 20 turns away from pop 4?). Build a borehole at every main base, for extra energy and mining. Who care about a little ecodamage? Switch to green economy and build tree farm to reduce it, build trance sentinel and few rover to hunter that annoying incoming mindworms.
In fact, put some expandable unit around fungus to hunt mindworms and gain energy point by planetperls - you can lose some scout, but the trade off is usually positive.
Build probe as early as possible, better Foil probe to steal tech or money to distant faction. If they become angry to you, their Vendetta will be void until they can reach you.
With enough army you should consider to conquer your weaker neighbor, to gain room, money and tech. In fact, if you try a conquer rush you must start conquer someone
Use crawler a lot - as Zoetrope suggest, to harvest resource or hurry up some critical Special Project.
Well, hope it's enough for a different approach to the level
Bye
sandworm posted 09-02-99 12:51 PM ET
Punishment spheres can be useful, don't rule out having one or two to support large industrial colonies - more population=more production and no need to spend production on happiness facilities.
Supply crawlers... they're almost unfair against the AI. Build lots of them and use them to haul energy or minerals from remote boreholes/mines/solar fields. Recall them when you need to rush SPs.
Zero posted 09-02-99 06:06 PM ET
You might want to play on a standard size map until you're more comfortable at this level. It's easier to secure your borders and fill up your continent. This also makes crawlers somewhat less important, since you can work most of the good stuff without them
Also, you could probably overlap your cities more. Even with hab complexes, you can't work every square in the radius (by the time you get hab domes, the game should be won).
Social Engineering: if you're not at war, Democratic is clearly the way to go, with positive growth and efficiency. The support penalty isn't too important after you get clean reactors. Don't forget to upgrade your existing formers and garrison units to clean versions. I tend to stay Green for most of the game, going Planned for a few turns to pop boom.
As for early wars: the Believers can be vulnerable early, if you can get at them before they get better than Synthmetal defenses. They don't have any defense bonuses, so as long as you're doing the attacking, you're OK. And the Gaians are very weak early unless they capture a few worms.
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Author	Topic: Getting over the hump to Thinker level
OldCodger	posted 09-01-99 10:53 AM ET I've been playing SMAC for quite a while at Librarian level and just can't seem to get over the hump and climb to Thinker level. So, I need ideas, tips, etc., on what I need to do to improve my game to the next level. Librarian level is not too difficult, but I find Thinker to be more frustrating than anything at this point. I typically play on a Huge map with average settings. From what I have been able to gather thus far, one of the big changes that occurs at Thinker level is that your research rate slows down tremendously. For example, at Librarian level, Gaians will acquire a new technology every seven years at the beginning of the game. At Thinker level, this rate is reduced to a new tech every 22 years (use the F2 key to see this). Mind worms seem to be more of a problem as well. Sometimes, it's just bad luck. Have you ever started out on small-to-medium land mass with both the Spartans and Believers? As UoP? Well, I have and it ain't pretty. But overall, I have a suspicion that my basic problem is simply that I over-build base facilities and don't spend enough time and effort on other aspects of the game. I guess I'm one of those people that thinks every base has to have every facility (except that rotten Gene Jack facility and a punishment sphere), though I am getting better. When I start out, I usually create one scout per colony pod and send the scout out to find a new colony site while making the colony pod. I do not overlap base areas, but try to incorporate all energy/mineral/nutrient special squares into some base's working range. Every colony I build has the responsibility of launching at least two--or even three--more colony pods until my entire land area is covered. Each base gets its own terraformer. I nearly always get the Weather Paradigm, so I can do some more exotic terraforming early in the game. I may or may not get some of the other early SPs, but can usually get at least one more. Diplomatically, I'll trade technologies with just about anybody early on. I will usually pay the "protection money" or give a minor tech away just to avoid early conflict (However, I do carry a grudge ). I'll agree to a Treaty with just about anybody, but try to avoid a Pact simply because they almost always want me to get involved in a Vendetta. With some factions, a Pact is unavoidable simply because if you don't, they will "extend" their Vendetta to you. When a Pact appears inevitable, I try to arrange it so that my Pact brother/sister is between me and the faction we're at Vendetta against. I will avoid a Vendetta against an adjacent faction--at least early on--if I can possibly do so. As my technology expands and more base facilities become available, I seem to want to build one of everything in every base I have. There are quite a few facilities every base should have. Others are more optional; i.e., not every base needs a Skunkworks. I also try to upgrade those scouts I made early on. They usually have more experience and I try to preserve that and improve them. Some other areas that may be problems for me include the number of military units that are stationed throughout my land area. I don't think I have enough to deal with the mind worms. Also, I am a habitual "pod popper" and this can get you into trouble early on as well (mind worms again). I'm also wondering if I have enough terraformers. I don't seem to start building my energy park, etc., very early and wonder if building more terraformers early on and starting this would be beneficial in the long term. One other thing that seems to be a problem is that I don't focus on naval units early on because the early units are so weak that they seem to invariably become "Isle of the Deep" fodder. It drives me nuts to watch my very first Impact Plasma Skimship gets two spaces away from its point of construction and then get wiped out by an Isle of the Deep. Transport foils are even more vulnerable. Now you know how I play it. Those of you who are Thinkers and beyond, how do you do it? How many terraformers do you build per base? How many military units do you try to have? How do you overcome the slower research? When do you start constructing your energy park? What else should I be doing differently to get my game up to Thinker level? All comments, tips, improvements, suggestions, etc. would be very welcome. A lot of SMAC is about resource management and trade-offs, i.e., deferring what is "good" for what is "better". And that's what I think I need to understand better to get to the next level.
Hydro	posted 09-01-99 04:50 PM ET Old, I suggest you look up Velociryx�s Strategy Guide. It is located at the Apolyton Alpha Centauri Forum (there is a link to Apolyton under Community here at Firaxis) in the Strategy section. You�ll need to go back to August 16th, which was the last time it was updated. It is pretty inclusive. I know I learned a lot, and was able to shed a lot of bad habits! Good luck! Hydro
Zoetrope	posted 09-02-99 04:22 AM ET At least two formers per base, and lots of supply crawlers. You already know that Energy is primary in SMAC, as you mentioned energy parks, but perhaps you don't get supply crawlers in action soon enough? Also, when you have the tech, raise the terrain around your bases so that they produce much more energy, research, and psych. Military? At first I build one scout per base, and later upgrade. When I can afford, I place three police in each base. Go for Clean Reactors, and build a huge defensive and offensive military.
Zoetrope	posted 09-02-99 04:30 AM ET Hydro: What strategy section? I see no mention of such a thing at Apolyton's SMAC page.
Hydro	posted 09-02-99 10:02 AM ET Zeo, Looking at the site, I go to Forums, then under Alpha Centauri I see AC-General, AC-Creation, AC-Fiction, AC-Strategy, AC-Help and AC-Multiplay. But, I guess you found it since I saw your post there! Hydro
mcostant	posted 09-02-99 10:51 AM ET OldCoger - Well, I'm not one of the best SMAC player around, but I play succesfully at "thinker level", so... First: you don't mention you use of Social Engineering. At my early game I didn't care enough to change my S.E. choice, but you should look carefully at your choice and try to change during game according to state of peace/war and before contact different faction (they are more friendly if you use their preferred society), then switch back after the talk (you get your money back, if you undo your change into the same turn of game). Second, don't exchange every discovery they ask to you, try to give away the alternative one, if less important, or try to gain at least some money and hurry up important building/unit. You should pact to gain more energy by trade, because you aren't always forced to join Vendetta, in fact you should try to convince different faction to put an end to the war. Build city improvement when strictly necessary, not always (who care building hab complex when you are 20 turns away from pop 4?). Build a borehole at every main base, for extra energy and mining. Who care about a little ecodamage? Switch to green economy and build tree farm to reduce it, build trance sentinel and few rover to hunter that annoying incoming mindworms. In fact, put some expandable unit around fungus to hunt mindworms and gain energy point by planetperls - you can lose some scout, but the trade off is usually positive. Build probe as early as possible, better Foil probe to steal tech or money to distant faction. If they become angry to you, their Vendetta will be void until they can reach you. With enough army you should consider to conquer your weaker neighbor, to gain room, money and tech. In fact, if you try a conquer rush you must start conquer someone Use crawler a lot - as Zoetrope suggest, to harvest resource or hurry up some critical Special Project. Well, hope it's enough for a different approach to the level Bye
sandworm	posted 09-02-99 12:51 PM ET Punishment spheres can be useful, don't rule out having one or two to support large industrial colonies - more population=more production and no need to spend production on happiness facilities. Supply crawlers... they're almost unfair against the AI. Build lots of them and use them to haul energy or minerals from remote boreholes/mines/solar fields. Recall them when you need to rush SPs.
Zero	posted 09-02-99 06:06 PM ET You might want to play on a standard size map until you're more comfortable at this level. It's easier to secure your borders and fill up your continent. This also makes crawlers somewhat less important, since you can work most of the good stuff without them Also, you could probably overlap your cities more. Even with hab complexes, you can't work every square in the radius (by the time you get hab domes, the game should be won). Social Engineering: if you're not at war, Democratic is clearly the way to go, with positive growth and efficiency. The support penalty isn't too important after you get clean reactors. Don't forget to upgrade your existing formers and garrison units to clean versions. I tend to stay Green for most of the game, going Planned for a few turns to pop boom. As for early wars: the Believers can be vulnerable early, if you can get at them before they get better than Synthmetal defenses. They don't have any defense bonuses, so as long as you're doing the attacking, you're OK. And the Gaians are very weak early unless they capture a few worms.