posted 09-15-99 12:56 PM ET        

I was playing the half-naked, pacifist, tree-huggers (Gaians) on a huge map with average settings. There were several large land masses with "interesting" pairings. The Hive and the Peacekeepers were on one land mass, the Believers and UoP on another, and the Gaians were sharing a land mass with the Spartans and the Morganites. Things went along calmly for a bit and then the fun started. The Hive took out the Peacekeepers and the Believers started in on UoP (my pact brothers) and the Morganites. I pacted with Morgan--who later back-stabbed me in a very
vicious way. Basically, I was #3 on the power scale with the Believers at #1 and the Hive at #2. I was pretty much at Vendetta with both for most of the game. I actually
ended up clawing my way to number 1, and at the end of the game, there was only the Gaians, the Hive, and the Believers. I ended up winning by Transcending.

There were a lot of things that happened in
this game that I had never seen before. Things like PlanetBusters being launched all over the place (that would be me :-), the famous "Mind Worm Rape" that has been mentioned elsewhere, and watching helplessly as Miriam and Yang voted about four times to melt the polar ice caps--how many times can that actually be done? By the time the game ended, Planet was about 90 percent water.

Some things I did right: First, I downloaded and read Velociryx's Strategy Guide from the Apolton site. If you haven't done it, I strongly recommend it. Second, I made large numbers of terraformers early in the game. I ended up with two 5-by-7 energy parks throughout most of the game. Third, I used
PlanetBusters profusely and strategically to
even up the odds with the Hive and the Believers--those factions have a TON of units.

Some things I did wrong: In the middle of the game, I got caught up in my usual "build every base facility in the world at every base" mode and failed to press my technical advantage over Miriam. Second, I didn't let Miriam take out the UoP. Instead, I gave UoP a city deep in my territory where Miriam couldn't reach him (thought Zach might be useful for trading technologies). Unfortunately, Miriam
captured the Planetary Datalinks from UoP, so her technology was surprisingly good throughout much of the game. Not a good combination. Third, I trusted Morgan. I pacted with Morgan for a rather substantial
sum of credits against Miriam. Later, he dropped a sea colony right in the middle of an area that was rather strategic--I should have killed it then but I didn't. Later, he broke his pact with me and pacted with Miriam, who promptly put 15 zillion needlejets in that sea base and proceeded to chew up one of my energy parks. Finally,
my energy parks were not well-defended at all. Miriam chewed on them for a bit--until I started nuking her back to the stone age--and when she got done, about 80 demon boils of mind worms showed up to finish the job. I should have posted more defenders around the energy park and upgraded my crawlers to AAA/Trance armored versions.

By 2400, I was starting to get tired of playing and was looking for any possible victory path. By this time, there was only
the Hive, Believers, and tree-huggers, so I
got myself elected Supreme Leader, but both Yang and Miriam chose to oppose that, so I had to go for another option (I had never had that happened before). So, I started
the process for Ascendance and at the same time started lobbing PBs at the remaining Hive/Believer cities to see if I would Transcend or conquer first. I transcended.

posted 09-15-99 02:07 PM ET            

I also found your guide very useful (have read it twice and am just starting my second reading of the actual manual for the second time). Your hard work is appreciated.

Call me simple, but one of my weaknesses is deciding when to change SE settings (I just don't like to be in the negative anywhere). If you have a few words of advice in this area, I am all ears.

Thanks again.

posted 09-15-99 03:29 PM ET            

I used to do the same thing. When I first started playing, my basic approach where Social Engineering was concerned was to try to totally cancel out my SE negatatives, and there are actually several spreadsheets floating about which help you toward that end, but I have found that doing this generally puts you in a weaker "social stance" than dealing with and planning around a few negatives. Cases in point:

Free Market: There's almost no way you can undo the negatives this Social Choice brings about, but there's also no comparing the economic benefits of running market in peacetime. In fact, during times of peace, the penalties imposed by a Market economy are not really even noticable.

Wealth: A GREAT social choice if you're looking for an industry kick, and if you're playing a builder game, the presence of Children's Creches in your bases totally negates wealth's only penalty.

Knowledge: Same thing. The probe penalty is far exceeded by the boost to research and the efficiency kick.

As to specifics, here are the rules of thumb I use:

Planned: Switch to this as early in the early game as you can, as it's a GREAT way for a smallish empire to grow! I generally switch from this to Market as soon as I grow to a number of bases that puts me just under the point where I'd take an additional hit where drones and inefficiency are concerned, and as soon as those bases all have Rec. Commons. At that point, I'm making enough money to continue expanding and combat the additional drone problem.

Wealth: Add this to Planned as quickly as you can in the early game if you find yourself relatively isolated and you'll find your empire coming together very rapidly indeed.

Democratic: Ethical Calc. is probably pound for pound the best tech in the game, as that one advance will net you a +4 Growth and a +4 Efficiency (Allows the switch to Dem, AND gives you the ability to build CC's in your bases). Build the CC's as soon as you are able to, but hold off on the actual switch to Dem until you're done expanding as the hit to support will strip you of free minerals when founding a new base).

Fundy: Unless you're playing the Believers, I'd not recommend this at all unless you want to switch on the turn or two you plan to do a massive amount of probe-actions.

Police State: With CC's everywhere, this is a decent wartime stance, but if you're looking to do some heavy researching, the efficiency kick will really hurt.

Green: At some point, when your empire gets REALLY big, Green can actually make more money for you than Market, due to greater efficiency. Keep checking as your empire expands, and when you get to the point where you can make a good, solid profit, make the switch and you will be in a position to go to war....

posted 09-15-99 04:29 PM ET            

SE was one of those things I was kind of afraid of, especially dealing with the negatives associated with the various choices. In this game, I finally "bit the bullet" and started making choices to fit the current situation. And it really helped.

If nobody is bothering me, I'll tend to settle in to Demo/Green/Knowledge/Cyber. In this particular game, that was getting me killed, so I started switching around a lot. When battling Miriam or the Spartans, I switched to SE choices that improved Morale and Support. I spent a lot of time in Police State/Power/Knowledge/Thought Control because that brought my unit morale up to elite and I needed elite troops to oppose the Spartans and the hordes of Miriam.

Vel's strategy guide had it right. Pick the SE settings that give you what you *NEED* now and deal with the negatives as best you can.
Judicious use of base facilities and SPs can
really help.

posted 09-15-99 05:36 PM ET            

First, it means that you'll likely not have any military units outside of your borders (with the possible exception(s) being independent units found from pod-popping....and this makes independent units EXTREMELY valuable for fans of Market.

Note though, that this does not mean you are confined to your continent, as there are several good ways to get out and see the world while running Market (and without creating a drone problem for yourself).

Probe Foils, Trance/Armored Sea Formers, and similarly outfitted sea-crawlers and transports make worthy (if unarmed) exploration units, and will still allow you to uncover the unexplored portions of the map while running market and getting that beautiful +1 energy per square.

Another great possibility is to start building sea colony pods (which are great for energy production anyway, but absolutely THRIVE under a Market economy). Because land bases do not have borders that extend into the sea, you will not even be able to move your navy out of port without creating some sea bases (if running Market). And of course, if you're in the mood to cause a bit of trouble for your opponents, you can start colonizing via sea-bases toward your enemy, giving your naval units a clean route to get up close and personal with the bad guys (and giving them safe places to stop in every turn).

The planet rating is only a problem if you're attacked by a large contingent of worms, and even then, the Trance/Empath abilities more than offset your penalty (-30% penalty, compared with +50% bonus), and the police thing is only an issue if you plan to commit attrocities or if you have a drone problem, but with the kind of money Market nets you, you'll very quickly find yourself in the position to rush build absolutely everything....no more drone problems....

The one thing that some people DO find hard to swallow about Market is the fact that the only kinds of Choppers and Needlejets you can build without causing drone problems are those which can attack air units (ie., "Interceptors"). This IS admittedly something of a limitation, but while you're running Market, you're probably trying to keep peace anyway, so.....

Ah, one thing that bugs me though....I LOVE using missiles for point defense, but, missiles cause drones, so I can generally only toss one into each base....::sigh::