Let's talk about exploration

Lemmy · August 28, 2002, 17:32

any preference among the population?

Options i see:

Go for any pods in sight...
Explore around our first base for colonization locations...
Explore the coastline, need good beaches for the summer...
Explore as far possible in one direction, and probably meet other factions...
Water, playing Colombus and stuff...

any other suggestions, thoughts, pros, cons?

DeathByTheSword · August 28, 2002, 17:35

option 1 and 2 in my book and then just follow the coastline.

- Groucho - · August 28, 2002, 18:05

My usual early game exploration routine is to try to rush out and pop as many pods as I can get my hands on. I then go back and fill in the promising looking blank areas on the map once my pod poppers hit a dead end. Once I've done that I've usually either ran into someone else (which leads to its own issues) or determined I'm alone on my landmass (which leads to its own issues as well).

MrWhereItsAt · August 28, 2002, 18:59

Perhaps avoiding the larger patches of pod-less fungus - they will provide shite base sites and thus we don't need to explore them early on.

FlameFlash · August 28, 2002, 19:11

1 & 2 good

however I'd like to see that our inner borders are constantly kept explored as we grow early on so nobody can sneak up on us.

Method · August 28, 2002, 21:53

i like them all lemmy

also, get a boat out early, and get all the sea pods. later if in Free Market, use a sea probe, or sea crawler. you don't pay support, or have pascifist drones.

GeneralTacticus · August 29, 2002, 03:18

All of them. In order of priority, I would say:

1/2)
3)
4)
5)

Maniac · August 29, 2002, 07:12

Would you pop pods in fungus in the early game or do you consider the risk of mind worms appearing too great?

Zakharov VII · August 29, 2002, 12:08

Off on a bit of a tangent...

What's psi combat like on Thinker? I know on Citizen the player gets immense advantages against worms (usually a non-combat unit can beat back an attacking Mindworm even from the fungus! The numbers look all weird for Strength - I think I've seen a 0.06 strength Isle of the Deep!), but on Transcend it's very even (Strength looks like it's calculated like normal). Is there a slight advantage on Thinker?

Z

Proserpine · August 29, 2002, 12:22

Options 1 and 2 for sure

Vlad Antlerkov · August 29, 2002, 13:59

-- Finding locations for new bases is a must-- do this very quickly.
-- Grab whatever pods we can.
-- Scout out the coastline, so we can figure out where we are.

Maniac · August 29, 2002, 15:22

From my limited experience on Thinker the PSI combat is exactly the same.

Anodyne · August 29, 2002, 15:26

Vlad

Haon · August 30, 2002, 07:02

Lemmy all your choices make sense to me except for slight change to 4, since this is on the planet map we shoudl know what continent we are on and we can then make a more educated guess on where other leaders are and find them quicker.

Andemagne · August 30, 2002, 09:58

Vlad

Anodyne · August 30, 2002, 12:32

When I'm playing alone, and situated in a big continent, I prefer to find narrow isthmuses and peninsulas that I can block with one unit, to keep other factions (outside war, of course) from passing, effectively holding big areas in "our possession", if not inside our borders.

(well, I guess that was quite obvious but I said it anyway)

Method · August 30, 2002, 12:37

Vlad

(everyone else was doing it)

Ade, since we're playing map of planet, i can think of:

Planetneck
Around the freshwater sea (at NE and NW)
North of Mount Planet
North of the unity wreckage, or north of the freshwater sea for SMAC map (not 1 unit or base, but at times 3 or 4)
Around the end of the long channel that separates the big continent

Vlad Antlerkov · August 30, 2002, 13:02

TKG: IIRC, Planetneck is at the end of that channel...

A start just south of the Jungle would be very nice-- close to Planetneck AND the Monsoon Jungle. Strategery, indeed.

Method · August 30, 2002, 13:03

no, i meant the OTHER end too

Lemmy · September 1, 2002, 03:52

I don't know if i'll be able to get online later today, so in case i don't make, i'll leave some exploration instructions here for the you to see, i'll also sned them to Crisler.

First thing would be to go for pods in sight, and in the process find a good site for our second base to be built.
After that i would like to send our scouts out to our borders, and explore outside them, while popping pods.
When exploring i suggest to avoid fungus, and only pass it if there is no other option to explore new land.
However if there is a pod in fungus, right next to normal terrain, i think it would be acceptable to go for it.