to be or not to be

TresXF · January 15, 2002, 16:28

since smac offers a nice variety of victories i'm curious:

what is your prefered way to win your games (singleplayer/smac)?

speaking for myself: i prefer to reach a higher level of consciousness

- transcendance...

Flubber · January 15, 2002, 16:40

I have not played SP in a few months but I would almost always win as planetary governor (so thats what I voted for) but I would usually achieve it by conquest such that I got 3 times as big as the rest of the factions combined. I have NEVER had a faction defy the governorship vote

At the stage where a win is a foregone conclusion, it just seemed to be a pain to go to transcendence or hunt down all those isolated AI bases. So I would trigger the vote to end the game

Cybergod · January 15, 2002, 17:07

Transcendance

It is the only way... for a builder, since I was first a momentum player, then switched to hybrid, and then to builder. I don't like Economic victories, probably beacues they cost too much.

Frankychan · January 15, 2002, 19:25

I voted for bloody conquest cause that's my style

I either make other factions submit to me and vote myself as planetary governor, or wipe out the other factions. I've never won by economic victory cause when I usually attempt it, it says I need around 20,000 creds---->something that would never happen since I'm usually raking in a net worth of 12 creds a year!

Subvert the other factions and make them your slaves!!!

Miriam, Lal, Santiago, Morgan, Skye--->I usually befriend Zak

Frankychan · January 15, 2002, 19:27

Oh yeah,

I forgot to mention that one time I was voted planetary governor and Skye defied it as well as Lal.

Maybe it had something to do with all those quantum fission busters I launched at them...

RedFred · January 15, 2002, 19:47

Transcendance - I just have to smash that big floating ball. (Okay - I have no clue as to what that movie is trying to tell me.)

Googlie · January 15, 2002, 20:02

Transcendence 90% of the time, Energy market cornering and diplo for the balance.

It's also neat to be the pactmate of a co-op transcendence - you get to be the emissary back to Earth and see a cool movie

MattyBoy · January 15, 2002, 23:09

Bloody Conquest.

1] Thin Expansion
2] Building & Tech Race
3] Once that race is won, I have an advantage that I can take into battle.

I Ascended once just to see how it looked, but I don't usually have the patience to play for that long (hence I have almost never experienced orbital insertion, nukes, hovertanks et al.)

Actually I have almost never made anything clean.

It just goes to show, you can "master" the SP game without being much of a master at all.

Mr. President · January 16, 2002, 02:34

I'd really like to win an economic victory, but I've never had enough money to do it. I play Morgan most of the time, so I should . . .

Anyway, I also like diplomatic victory, because I like the idea of all the other leaders kneeling before my golden throne.

TresXF · January 16, 2002, 08:00

you may take a look at the votes of my german fellows.

k.k.fly · January 17, 2002, 04:47

I like to take over the land masses where my inital base is, preferably on an island with no more than 20 cities. My gaming interest drops dramatically when I have go conquer other people's lands or islands, either by sea or by ground connected by formers.

And I enjoy playing as a perveted neighbor who occasionally harasses other peoples' dominion, but have absolutly no intention of conquering nor obliterating their bases. I want this kind of game to go on forever, as long as I am able to maintain my 20 cities on my island, I am as happy as a clam.

GeneralTacticus · January 17, 2002, 05:35

I voted for Transcendance, but it's generally either that or conquest. I don't usually intend to conquer the world, it's just that the other factions keep on declaring war on me, and to deal with that, I beat them into into submission... and I end up doing that to everyone. Also, sometimes if I subdue a couple of factions easily, I just get on a roll and start conquering everyone else.

Vultur · January 17, 2002, 07:52

Trancendence, for three reason:
Because it's difficult, and I love the challenge (the true challenge is to not destroy too fast your enemies

...)
Because I'm fond of the final "movie" (it's the only type of victory that has the movie)
But over all:
Because of the score!

-Vultur

fluffy · January 17, 2002, 10:43

you missed out alien victory (which btw also has a movie)

TresXF · January 17, 2002, 11:53

Quote:

I want this kind of game to go on forever

@ k.k.fly: then you have to vote for "timeout"

Quote:

you missed out alien victory

@ fluffy: i forgot to mention: SMAC only

(editing now...)

gwillybj · January 19, 2002, 22:36

My preferred victory is Diplomatic, and all the better if shared

.
I more often end up Transcending

. I won't turn the option off, because I would enjoy it if another faction would Transcend before (and without) me.
I pursue diplomacy (no matter which faction I am) while building my country (I rarely become anything near an empire), researching whatever tech looks pretty at the moment (but not necessarily frivolous). If someone declares vendetta and isn't adjacent or particularly close

, I comm them every turn

until they tire of me

and offer terms of truce

. If they aren't absolutely outrageous

, I accept and go on about my more important internal affairs

.

Admiral · January 19, 2002, 23:15

I always try to go for a transcendance vistory, but about halfway through the game some AI or another launches an unprovoked attack on my empire, thus making it my duty to wipe them off the face of planet. Sooner or later, all the AIs do this, and before i know it i have wiped them all out.

Vytae · January 21, 2002, 01:08

Depends on if its MP or SP in MP

SP i find Transcendance far to easy even on transcendance difficulty. Besides,after building the prelimary project for ascent the massive fungal blooms ruin my beautiful beautiful lovley builder empire. Being Morgan,i also play with economic victory off,because its far to easy. Diplo victories are anticlimatic i think,besides its more satisfying to march and torch everything

k.k.fly · January 21, 2002, 20:34

IMHO, economic victory is virtually impossible on harder level of the game.

unless of course if u capture most of the cities or bomb them into fungus, then wait 20 years until you corner the market. You might as well as win by conquest.

Killjoy · January 21, 2002, 23:30

Transcendence...who'da thunk it with a name like Killjoy?

Being a 'builder' by nature though, and playing on large-to-huge maps mostly, I find that a bloody conquest victory is just far too slow and frustrating! Moving all your units to the far reaches of the planet, maintaining those supply lines, and sending in reinforcements, just to engage and hopefully conquer a few enemy factions!?! Too much effort that I can't be bothered to deal with.

I prefer to focus on;
my faction's overall expansion and growth (I may have to conquer one or two factions in the early stages, though that's usual it for the rest of the game),
each individual base's infrastructure,
maximizing energy production,
strategic terraforming, and
solidfying a flexible and versatile faction-wide defense

All this in order push the envelope on my tech lead, and get to transcendence that much faster!!

And if any rival faction comes nosing around, looking for trouble I'm usually capable of taking the battle back to them (and hopefully expanding my influence a bit further).

But transcendence is always my focus. Makes for a faster, less arduous game IMHO.

Cheers

Vytae · January 22, 2002, 23:02

I play Morgan almost exclusivley,my whole play style is about getting credits credits and more credits. ive managed to get up to 9k credits Per Turn on Transcend. To bad i dont have the save game still