Started playing again

miloII · September 17, 2002, 09:05

I have not played smac for well over a year. Coming back to it I am enjoying in more than Civ3.
I had given the original to my Father( hoping to get him hooked on strategy gaming) no luck getting him play much other than bewjeweled....lol
I must have given the manual to him, I can't remember how to destroy a captured city( that I know I can't hold)
Thanks in advance...

Chowlett · September 17, 2002, 10:35

I seem to recall (never done it myself) that you place a military unit in the base, and then it's under the right-click menu for that unit. Remember, however, that it's an atrocity unless the charter is repealed, and if performed against another faction's citizens they will hate you forever.

big_canuk · September 17, 2002, 11:15

Therefore, the prefered method is to starve to base down to size 1, by switching the whole population to specialists, and then to rush a CP. (This does not work at the lowest difficulty levels)

Or give the city to a submissive pactmate.

bc

Mongoose · September 17, 2002, 12:19

Shortcut command is B for an active unit in a base. The unit must have at least 1/3 of a movement point remaining to perform the obliterate function.

Be wary of using ships for this in a land base. The ship dies, having no sea in which to be. If a seabase, unless you have available seagoing transport capacity in the base, any ground units will drown upon obliteration.

MariOne · September 17, 2002, 13:00

It looks like Mongoose has experimented a lot with obliterations, to know these specific cases by heart!

I wonder... what about using a Jet? What about its fuel status thereafter?

BTW, just don't forget to sell the facilities!

Mongoose · September 17, 2002, 13:14

I've been known to obliterate a base or ten, yes.

Never did it with a jet, I don't know. I think it would use one MP.

CEO Aaron · September 17, 2002, 14:29

Ah, just use PBs. It will wipe our several adjacent bases, terraforming and all, leaving only the fresh scent of pine!

BustaMike · September 17, 2002, 16:05

Obliteration is fun. It's funny that the price for mass genecide is a few thousand years of sanctions.

Sardaukar · September 23, 2002, 14:44

Considering what PB's do, it should be more than that.

Yang gets me everytime..

Mr. President · September 23, 2002, 18:48

I never seem to get nuked, and I often want to as a pretext for nuking other people.

CEO Aaron · September 23, 2002, 19:04

Have you been reading the papers lately? Pretexts are starting to look pretty thin.

As an aside I can never recall ever being targetted by an enemy PB before I had already nuked them. I don't think the AI even considers building PBs unless the Chater's been revoked, to say nothing of launching them. On the other hand, I have used probes to sabotage the construction of enemy PBs, or the silos themselves, so who's to say whether the enemy might have used them or not.

Petek · September 23, 2002, 19:35

It's been a year or two since I've been nuked. However, IIRC both Yang and Miriam have launched PBs against me with the Charter still in place. I hadn't nuked anyone, didn't even have any PBs.

Method · September 23, 2002, 19:58

really? i've never seen the AI PB with the charter in place

Mongoose · September 23, 2002, 20:33

Quote:

Originally posted by TKG
really? i've never seen the AI PB with the charter in place

I have. Two nights ago, Yang nuked the base with the Hunter, a mere two turns after I took it from him. Charter in place. I had never comitted an atrocity. Five turns later, I got elected Supreme Leader and Yang defied the Council.

Cybergod · September 24, 2002, 14:06

I had Deidre nuke a sea-base I took from her couple of turns after I conquered it - see, hippies kill their own people!

Cybergod · September 24, 2002, 14:07

And the Charter was not lifted!

Chowlett · September 24, 2002, 18:45

[Off Topic]
Mr President - is that a Serra Angel in your avatar?
[/Off Topic]

Thankfully, I don't believe I've ever been in a PB war. I've certainly never started one, except just to see what they did, and I don't think the AI's ever hit me either. Nor have I ever seen an asteroid strike. Odd that.

Mr. President · September 24, 2002, 19:47

[Off Topic]

Chowlett - Well spotted.

It's the Alpha version; I downloaded her picture from the Wizards website, cut and pasted, and here we are.

[/Off Topic]

Back on the topic, I've only ever been hit by an asteroid once. It was really nasty. It took out three bases and gave every base on the planet -1 energy each square because of dust clouds.

Straybow · September 24, 2002, 22:16

Just about every AI faction builds at least one PB, Sanctions or no. I usually try to interrupt construction. Just in case.

My current game Yang nuked one of my little bases. He keeps trying to get everybody to lift sanctions and so far only Meriam has gone for it.

I got the asteroid once. Ever since I always play with survey and then I check to make sure the telltale signs of the Garland Crater are there.

Cybergod · September 25, 2002, 13:36

Quote:

I got the asteroid once. Ever since I always play with survey and then I check to make sure the telltale signs of the Garland Crater are there.

WHat? So asteroids can't happen if the crater already exists??? Is this true????

gwillybj · September 25, 2002, 17:08

No, Cybergod.
The asteroid strike creates another Garland Crater in addition to the one already there from the beginning of the game.
In one particularly long-lasting game I played, there were four Garland Craters at the end - the original and three from asteroids. That same game had so many meteor showers destroying solar collectors that I thought for sure I would see some hidden event like a wayward comet hit the planet and end the game outright.

Jac de Molay · September 25, 2002, 17:20

Same goes for volcanoes too. You might see 2 or 3 mount planets.

Dave

The Vagabond · September 25, 2002, 21:47

Quote:

Originally posted by Chowlett
Remember, however, that it's an atrocity unless the charter is repealed, and if performed against another faction's citizens they will hate you forever.

If you change one parameter in alpha.txt, the obliteration won't count as an atrocity. When I played SMAC, I even changed the text that appears upon obliteration. For example, instead of

"60.000 Hive citizens were murdered"

it read

"60.000 Hive citizens were expelled".

Unfortunately I didn't figure out the way to get rid of the nasty picture that also appears on the message. This picture gives me cramps and makes me feel very guilty.

Sikander · September 26, 2002, 02:19

How about "60,000 Hive citizens left to take teaching positions in Australia."?

Mr. President · September 26, 2002, 03:41

It's funny because it's (in some very obscure way) true.

Nubclear · September 26, 2002, 05:23

[OFF TOPIC]

Mr. President, your avatar gives me the wrong image about you. For some reason, i think of some french woman carrying a flag. And I usually (in my head) have people be represented by your avatar.

Your condemned to be a French Flag Lady

[/OFF TOPIC]

Darius · September 26, 2002, 11:51

How do you know that's the wrong image of him? Maybe he really IS a French Flag Lady!

Cybergod · September 26, 2002, 17:16

Ooops!

Sorry, I had the luck of never being hit by an asteroid in all my gaming life (but I had my bases completelly destroyed by locusts, killed off by a plague, nuked by the enemy, and had Planet pop-up a volcano (which didn't have a name, so no 2 Mount Planets))

Straybow · September 27, 2002, 03:14

Well, I've seen a map generated with 2 volcanos, and I've seen volcanos appear. But the game I got an asteroid there was no Garland Crater before I got swatted.

I thought it was dumb because a crater that big would make the Xichulub (spelling?) KT crater look small in comparison. Heck, even the PB craters are bigger than the Xiwhatever. Continent-spanning shield volcanos appearing overnight is idiotic, too. Such things kill my suspension of disbelief.

Mr. President · September 27, 2002, 04:15

Quote:

Originally posted by Tassadar5000

Mr. President, your avatar gives me the wrong image about you. For some reason, i think of some french woman carrying a flag. And I usually (in my head) have people be represented by your avatar.

[Off Topic]

Not even close. She's not even a mortal, and she could kick you six ways from Sunday.

Quote:

Your condemned to be a French Flag Lady

And you're condemned to the dust-heap of history.

[/Off Topic]