SMAC in SMAX default units

[Buster's Uncle]

kyrub, yours just bounced...

[Ford_Prefect]

No cheaty units that are unbuildable for the player. 

[Buster's Uncle]

Geo?  What's the date on the scient version you have?

[Buster's Uncle]

kyrub, I've tried to send the file three times to the email addy you gave AC2, and it bounces for security issues, even .zipped.  I just tried from my other email.  Let's see if that works.

[Buster's Uncle]

Nope - that bounced, too.  I'm fresh out of ideas.

[ete]

Upload it to a file sharing site then PM him the link on here.

[Buster's Uncle]

Eww.  I've never messed with one of those places and feel averse.  This has turned into another chore.

[ete]

You can use Google Drive as a fileshare site, and Google Drive is just generally a really good thing to have for automatic free backups+being able to get at your files from anywhere if you travel.

[Buster's Uncle]

I'm frustrated I can't get our tech guys to just fix my server access, and I could upload here.  -Also, I need it for other things.

[kyrub]

BU, sorry for the incovenience.
The small housenet I am part of had a security problem yesterday. I solved it yesterday (at least spamhaus confirms so), but it seems gmail has some sort of quarantine, to prevent further issues.

Nevermind for me, since I don't have any time on my hands for next 2 days. Maybe we can contact each other on Monday and retry?

[Buster's Uncle]

Okaydoke.  Remind me when you're ready.

[Geo]

Geo?  What's the date on the scient version you have?

Can't tell for another week...

[Buster's Uncle]

You and your constant &^%$#@! travels.  You pee away all your money jet-setting and now you make it my problem. 

I think I'll ask Vish to punch you.

[diessa]

You and your constant &^%$#@! travels.  You pee away all your money jet-setting and now you make it my problem. 

I think I'll ask Vish to punch you.

I thought I'd quote this because it is an amazing post in an amazing thread. I don't have the level of experience to participate in a discussion about targeted unit designs to optimize gameplay. However, it seems like a great idea to me; the AI clearly relies on some predetermined benchmarks for unit design, so it could benefit from some more that address some of the more obscure, yet more potent, combinations of technologies. At minimum, developing "core" units that help with basic functions, which the AI is lacking, makes sense. For example, ensuring that they have probe teams and  formers that have a variety of movement. The other would be police units, since it can mismanage its drones sometimes. (I.e., I agree with the general trends in this thread.) Lastly, I agree that some of the more obscure designs shouldn't be shared with the player; that allows them to explore, and it isn't cheating for the AI because they still need to get those technologies. An exception to this should perhaps be some of the core travel and police units. Having a police unit pre-designed, for example, could help new players learn more about drone mechanics.

[DrazharLn]

Moving on, scient's patch is now open domain and Yitzi has developed support in his patch v3.4 (released) to disable a lot of SMACX engine and gameplay features.

(see http://alphacentauri2.info/wiki/New_alphax_variables_in_Yitzi's_patch )

This project can now sensibly move forward again and the original topic of this thread is still relevant: Let's collect a list of good default units to enhance AI behaviour!

Getting back on topic. Everyone seems on board with adding at least a few units, and (correct me if I'm wrong) most people seem to prefer units which use default cost/are potentially worthwhile for humans to build rather than AI-specific superunits since AI units appearing to players is ugly and annoying, plus kinda cheating rather than making the AI play smart. We've not actually had much in terms of suggestions, other than Kilka's of basic phi troopers.

First off: How does the AI react to Psi units? If they're only built by factions who can really use them, then there's little harm including. If they're built inappropriately sometimes, then maybe best included in a text file with the factions who may want them as an "add this to #UNITS if you use this faction" thing?

Second here's a list to start us off. Suggestions please!

Probe Foil - Should be standard, but never used by AI and easily missed by humans
Trawler - Sea Crawler, perhaps only prototyped at fusion power with level 2 reactor because before then it's prohibitively expensive.
Probe Defender (aka Security Team) - Probe on infantry chassis. Cheaper and just as good at defending. Potentially armor it with something low level? iirc a guide talked about giving probes armor as last-ditch defenders, I think they still take -50% non-combat but are a lot less useless in conventional combat.

Possible:
Police Infantry - much better than scout infantry, ends up being useful until pretty late in the game when you stay out of FM.
some kind of air colony pod? - I think BFG was super keen on these, not tested myself. Could be handy especially without good roads or for getting to islands.
Basic Psi infantry - depends on whether the AI knows when to build them


Ideas? Opinions?