Do you do it?

[Cybergod]

I'm sorry if the title might be a bit misleading but here it goes...

Do you select any of the following when playing a SMAC/X SP game? Some of these might apply to human factions only:

• blind research
• double blind research
• tech stagnation
• random events
• invisible map (no unity survey}
• select more agressive oponents (an option in the rules at start)
• spoils of war (steal tech when conquer base)
• flexible starting locations
• no scattered pods
• accellerated start
• iron man
• randomised faction personas/agendas

Since the forums do not have a "multiple choice" option when making a poll, I had to do it this way.

[Vlad Antlerkov]

Random events-- sometimes. Never see anything happen, though.

No Unity Survey-- always. It's cheating to know even the coastlines in advance

Random agendae-- sometimes. Seeing factions advocate what would normally be the antithesis to their ideology can be funny-- esp. Domai being FM/Wealth or Moran under Planned...

And yes, you can post multiple-choice polls.

[gwillybj]

ON:
Higher Goal: Allow Victory by Transcendence.
Total War: Allow Victory by Conquest.
Peace in Our Time: Allow Diplomatic Victory.
Mine, All Mine: Allow Economic Victory.
One for All: Allow Cooperative Victory.
Do or Die: Don't restart eliminated players.
Look First: Flexible starting locations.
Tech Stagnation: Slower rate of research discoveries.
No Unity Survey: World Map not visible.

OFF:
Spoils of War: Steal tech when conquer base.
Blind Research: Cannot set precise research goals.
Intense Rivalry: Opponents more aggressive.
No Unity Scattering: Supply Pods only at landing sites.
Bell Curve: No Random Events.
Time Warp: Accelerated Start.
Iron Man: Save/Restore restricted to exit.
Randomize faction leader personalities.
Randomize faction leader social agendas.

Sometimes, though, I will Intense Rivalry and both Randomizers
I also edit the tech research rate in alpha.txt to slow it down even more than just TechStag
I don't use IronMan because the electricity here has a nasty habit of going out right in the middle of a game so I have to save frequently
I don't understand why so many people say they rarely ever see Random Events. I see them very often - on an average of every three or four turns. They don't always affect my faction, but they are still announced. I have seen all of them at least once - not all in one game, of course

[Alex]

Ok...

- blind research: most of the time. Occasionally I turn it off, when I want a more relaxing game...

- double bl. res.: rarely.

- tech stag: most of the time.

- random events: always. I like unpredictability.

- invisible map: always. Otherwise, how fun is that?

- more agressive oponents: never. I like the challenge the way it is (or I am a crappy player)...

- spoils of war: rarely. I think it is almost a cheat.

- flexible starting locations: rarely. I like to think that I managed to create a vast empire even with a horrible start...

- no scattered pods: occasionally, just to spice things up.

- accelerated start: never. I like to build things from scratch.

- iron man: never.

- randomised faction personas/agendae: never.

[Lefty Scaevola]

Originally posted by Cybergod

Since the forums do not have a "multiple choice" option when making a poll, I had to do it this way.

VBB does has a multiple choiece option (the poll will then have square rather than round checkboxes) and IIRC it is enabled here.

[MariOne]

heh

invisible map (no unity survey)
I wonder who plays with visible map

random events
Why should you take them out in SP...

flexible starting locations
I don't find it challenging playing with a stupid HQ location, just annoying. Although it would be more important to allow it in MP than in SP

blind research
double blind research
tech stagnation
I've played some, but I feel natural to leave all these off. I don't think TechStag makes SP games more interesting, you just pass more time building more units even if you don't need them...

spoils of war (steal tech when conquer base)
really, tested and then never used it.

no scattered pods
as with random, it would make more sense to exclude it in MP. In SP even if a human should exploit them better, you'd deny yourself some variety in the game option - would it be more challenging? I'd say it would be less fun in SP without pods to pop.

select more agressive oponents (an option in the rules at start)
there is not consensus whether this would actually make the game tougher for the human player, on the contrary

randomised faction personas/agendas
well, so that until you infiltrate the blue facion you realize it's not the Hive? Not all that significancy, after all....


accellerated start
ABOVE ALL, NO! NEVER!

iron man
ABOVE ALL, NO! NEVER! This is also the most idiot option. You know, on fast machines, IF you're willing to cheat it's nt IronMan which would stop you. Saving and reloading takes JUST FEW SECONDS LONGER. And if you really want different outcomes, you can even resave to scramble the seed...
So, Iron Man are JUST BIG WORDS MEANING ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. They only screw up the scores.
Should I want to CHEAT on a score comparison scenario (which of course is the most pointless thing I can think of), I'd indeed expressly choose to play with IronMan just to throw some sand in idiot's eyes.

[Mr. President]

I play with Steal Tech When Conquer Base, because it's fun. I tried randomizing faction agendas once, but it gave Zakharov Fundamentalist politics and Miriam Knowledge values, which was dumb because their text files forbid them from using these choices. I'd try it again, though; it seems like it might be fun.

[Tovarich]

I usually play with all the options default, with the exception of Tech Stagnation and Flex Starting locations. I sometimes turn those on. I think Ironman would be more frustrating than fun. I have never reloaded for a better outcome. The only time I load an autosave is when my computer crashes or something like that.

[Yxklyx]

blind research - YES

double blind research - YES

tech stagnation - NO

random events - YES

invisible map (no unity survey} - YES

select more agressive oponents (an option in the rules at start) - NO

spoils of war (steal tech when conquer base) - NO

flexible starting locations -NO

no scattered pods -YES

accellerated start -NO

iron man - YES

randomised faction personas/agendas - NO

PLUS NO Crawlers & NO Base Trading

[Yxklyx]

Actually, The Unity Survey isn't that bad. It only shows the outlines of the continents - all is still greyed out. The map isn't all visible - try it out once. You can sort of see it anyway when you play with Survey off - at least you can spot the Garland Crater and other landmarks, etc...

[xeno7667]

I take the default options. They are most balanced.

I never use direct research in SP's. So stupid and annoying to research direct to IndAuto against the AI.

What does double blind mean? Does it mean to never change the default research categories? If so, I play always double blind.

[Shai-Hulud]

I usually play with default rules because they fit my style. I turn off Transcend and Economic victory because they are too easy to achieve. I don't use Spoils of War because I want to keep Probes in the center of action, not to unbalance Probe oriented factions. I play with Blind research because of realism. I always take Random Events but never customize factions...maybe I'm being loayal to the original concept, it might be interesting though.

[wheathin]

I almost always play:
No Survey
No Pods
Double Blind tech
Random events
Flexible start

I don't select tech stag, but I altered the tech rate in alpha.txt, so I guess it's the same thing.

I don't play spoils of war - it hurts factions who have that as a special ability.
I find the aggressive opponents are more annoying. They are tough in the early game, but they don't build enough to last long. I actually added a build priority to all factions, per Blake's suggestion and reduced the aggressiveness.

[Yxklyx]

Build Priority?

[RedFred]

For single player games:

Blind research - rarely, I prefer double blind or fully directed

Double blind research - about half of the time, I used to do it all the time but you need beelining practice for MP games.

Tech stagnation - rarely, the games are long enough for me already.

Random events - almost always. But the first time I cornered the energy market I cheated and turned it off.

Invisible map (no unity survey} - Always. And always random maps and not map of planet.

Select more agressive oponents (an option in the rules at start) - No. Not only that, but if they had a LESS aggressive option, I'd probably select it.

Spoils of war (steal tech when conquer base) - Never. I think that the game was meant to be played without it. Otherwise why would they give Aki that special ability? But I am not a momentum player in any case.

Flexible starting locations - No. The SMACX first bases are generally in decent spots. I wish that the game would distribute the seven factions more evenly throughout Planet though.

No scattered pods - Never. Pod recovery is one of the fun things in the game.

Accellerated start - On occasion. The first few turns are the most important in the game to play well and often the most fun. But it is good MP practice to try this option now and then. You get very few of the early key SPs and your first few cities will be no better than the AIs.

Iron man - I used to with SMAC. But I still have crashes with SMACX, so I never use it anymore.

Randomised faction personas/agendas - I have only tried this once. Part of the fun for me in this game is the role playing aspects.

[Shai-Hulud]

What's the problem with Ironman? You can use autosave if you're suffering from crashes. I always play "Ironman" even though I don't always choose it in options...saving&loading to improve gameplay is lame anyway

[RedFred]

You only get one save per turn with autosave. This can be really irritating if you are getting towards the end of the game when micromanaging can take upwards of ten minutes per turn. If you crash you have to replay your entire turn. With Ironman=off you can save anytime, particularly when you are about to do something risky like moving at the top or bottom of the map. This often causes crashes for me.

I would never save and reload just to cheat, as in get a better outcome in a battle or pod pop.

[mrdynamic]

Originally posted by wheathin


I don't select tech stag, but I altered the tech rate in alpha.txt, so I guess it's the same thing.

Curious: What value do you use ?

Blind Research
No Pods
Abundant Worms
Random Factions
Win by Conquest or Peace in out time only
Tech Stag
Standard Random Planet
No Random Events
Flexible starting locations
Invisible Map
Fog of War:
Maximum Cloud Cover: diminishes effect of Monsoon Jungle

[Adalbertus]

Yes, I do it !!!

On:
all victories activated.
blind research
tech stagnation
random events
invisible map (no unity survey}

Off:
double blind research
select more agressive oponents (an option in the rules at start)
spoils of war (steal tech when conquer base)
flexible starting locations
no scattered pods
accellerated start
iron man
randomised faction personas/agendas

About research, I think that blind research is the most realistic: You can decide who to support, but the actual results are uncertain. Perhaps even the classical division in fields like Physics/Chemistry, Biology/Medicine, Maths/Computers, Economics/Society, Philosophy would give a better "blind research" because I would hope that the usefulness of the results would be more mixed up. As a builder/hybrid, I find that I nearly never research the conquer techs, except for when I shoot for the SSC SP's.

Acelerated start: This is the place where you gain most of your turn advantage. Perhaps this option would make for a tougher game? Any experiences?

[Yxklyx]

For Double Blind research do people check all four category boxes or do they leave it as is (the default for that faction)?

[Blake]

Almost always ON:
Higher Goal: Allow Victory by Transcendence.
Total War: Allow Victory by Conquest.
Peace in Our Time: Allow Diplomatic Victory.
Mine, All Mine: Allow Economic Victory.
One for All: Allow Cooperative Victory.
Do or Die: Don't restart eliminated players.
Look First: Flexible starting locations.
No Unity Scattering: Supply Pods only at landing sites.

Sometimes ON, sometimes OFF:
Spoils of War: Steal tech when conquer base.
Blind Research: Cannot set precise research goals.
Bell Curve: No Random Events.
No Unity Survey: World Map not visible.
Tech Stagnation: Slower rate of research discoveries.

Always OFF:
Intense Rivalry: Opponents more aggressive.
Time Warp: Accelerated Start.
Iron Man: Save/Restore restricted to exit.
Randomize faction leader personalities.
Randomize faction leader social agendas.

Apparently I am one of few who play regularly with the map revealed. I kind of figure that atleast some sort of surface survey would be done by the unity, or the landing pods themselves.

When playing BLIND I almost always leave it at faction defaults.

[wheathin]

Yx: in the text file for each faction, there are five AI values in the first line: aggression, conquer, tech, build, explore. Blake had a couple of really good posts about how the AI survives longer and better as a builder, and suggested setting the build priority for all factions to one. Seems to work for me.

Mr. Dyn: i tried 70. Now I have progressive research penalties keyed off the more advanced SE choices (thanx agaim!) to slow down the late game techs, so I have it set it to 40, although at game start, each faction has an effective +3 - +5 RESEARCH bonus.

[moi]

what is double blind research? i dont remember seeing it as an option

[Yxklyx]

Setting Blind Research and then either not changing the default category preferences or setting/unsetting ALL category preferences.

[Cybergod]

Yey! Good responces received! hew: ) But I didn't know that you CAN have a multiple choice poll (d'oh!)

I myself use (mostly):

All victory condicions
Do or Die
Blind research but rarely double blind
Unity survey (yes, those who designed Unity wouldn't be so dumb not to know where to land there pods, or otherwise design sensors to scan surface)

Sometimes I turn these on:

Bell Curve (no random events) but only when playing builder
Look First (flex start locations) but I prefer the challenge of the dumb Artifical Idiot selecting my landing site
No Unity Scattering
Spoils of War (sometimes it is good to pillage!!! )
Co-operative Victory (I hate sharing out my points of the game with the pacts )

Never:

Tech Stagnation
Intense Rivalty
Time Warp (it is plainly stupid IMHO)
Random agendas/personnas

I also like to modify the AI personnality to make them build more. It seems to help them...

[MattyBoy]

ON
blind research (adds to atmosphere & tension)
random events (adds to atmosphere & tension)
invisible map (I think that's on. I can't see all the squares until I visit them, which adds to the fun of discovering the planet.)
flexible starting locations (if that's look first, I like it on - it makes things a bit easier, but it is a fun decision to make)

OFF
no scattered pods (easier, but popping is fun)
accellerated start (the start is the fun bit. I usually abort the game part way through anyway)
iron man (You must be talking about somebody else
double blind research (enjoy making that decision, as it forces me to think ahead)
tech stagnation (Gaining techs is too exciting to miss)
select more agressive oponents
spoils of war (leave that advantage with Aki)
randomised faction personas/agendas (too scared to turn that on)

[fluffy]

I find SP far too easy without using TechStag - at least with it set, all the factions all get an SP to start with. This gives them some help in getting started.

It also gives me a reason to capture their main base...

[RedFred]

fluffy was that accelerated start, not tech stag?

I agree that accelerated start makes for a more challenging game.

[fluffy]

Originally posted by RedFred
fluffy was that accelerated start, not tech stag?

I agree that accelerated start makes for a more challenging game.

oops! i should stop thinking about one thing when I'm writing about another - thanks for pointing it out...

[RedFred]

No worries. Off topic, but is 'Hitsville in UK' a reference to an old Clash song?