My first diplomatic victory for SMACX

Adam_Smith · August 19, 2000, 13:15

I finally won a diplomatic victory for SMACX and with the aliens (Usurpers) in it too. For those of you who don't know, you have to defeat the aliens before you can win diplomatic victory in SMACX.

I was playing Cha Dawn. Here are the other factions: Believers, Usurpers, Spartans, Pirates, UoP, and Cyborgs. I was on the same continent as the Believers and the Spartans. Zak was on a nearby continent. Aki-Zeta was on a far away continent with Marr, and Sven was far away around the jungle. It was a standard planet.

I started out strong as Cha usually does. I met Santiago first. To my suprize she just wanted to trade tech and make peace. It must have been because I was so powerfull. Truth be known, I really didn't want to mess around with her disciplined troops early on. Then I met Miriam. She didn't start anything either and she only had scouts for military. I needed to take some territory from one of them and make her a submissive so that I didn't end up fighting both of them at the same time. I chose to take out Miriam first. I took one base and she was done. BTW, that was the beginning of the worsening of my reputation which eventually became "wicked"

.

Meanwhile, I signed a pact with Santiago and went after Zak. He also surrended after I took one base. I think it's because my power was so big. Anyway, now I was really strong, because I had three pact mates and treaties with the other two human factions. So I go after Marr. I started Nerve Gas/Raiding his coastal bases. He had no Navy, and even if he had my IoDs would have taken it out easlily.

Stupid Aki-Zeta wanted me to remove my troops though, and when I wouldn't she declared war. I sent about 6 mindworms over there. She held out until she lost 2 bases, and then submitted. I wanted to get the Manifold Nexus from her, but that didn't work out.

During that time Santiago started taking advantage of the situation. I think she stole 3 techs from me. They were good too. One was Neural Grafting, and I was trying to build the neural amplifier of course. I couldn't declare war on here right away, because my troops were up north. That meant that I would have to ruin my rep further later when I was ready to take her on.

Marr was beaten down hard, so I only had to worry about Santiago and Sven. I had MMI so I could call council and elect myself supreme guy of the planet as soon as I eradicated the aliens. Aki-Zeta was helping me a lot there. Since Santiago was not my submissive I would definitely have to be ready to fight her though.

So I repealed the U.N. Charter. This worked out great since I had built the Neural Amp, and I had native life at every base. Nerve Gas doesn't work against native life. My production was also very good so I was able to build 2 X-needlejets, and 3 X-Choppers very quickly. To make a long story short, the plan worked out very well. I even captured the Empathy Guild from her.

Meanwhile in the ocean, I attacked Sven at the same time that I attacked Santiago. Pretty bold, I know, but I felt that I could do it. So I was fighting 3 wars at the same time. All of my enemies were pretty weak though. Still it was tough to round them all up since they had a lot of combined territory. Finally, I killed the last Usurper (with much help form Aki-Zeta).

I called council in MY2234, and won. I thought that Miriam might defy along with Santiago and Sven since she was #1 in military and second in power, but she went right along.

I haven't played the last 20 years yet, but Sven really has no chance. Now I can use my whole military against him and even get Miriam along for the Crusade. Plus, I will research Centauri Geneitics in 4 years. Locust do great for capturing those remote bases.

stuntman19 · August 19, 2000, 13:46

So factions can defy diplomatic win? Is this based on integrity even if U N charter is repealed? Then you most capture all remaining bases?

Adam_Smith · August 19, 2000, 19:11

Yes, they can defy the council. They always do if they are already at war with you. Sometimes they do if they aren't your submissive. Occasionally they still defy the council if they are your submissive. I've only known Santiago to do this, but some people say that Yang has been known to do it. All of those who defy the council have twenty years to capture your HQ in order to stop your win. They are usually weak so you just have to keep whooping them for twenty years. If you conquer them within the twenty years it becomes a conquest victory instead.

stuntman19 · August 19, 2000, 19:27

Interesting, my original smac manual only explains the defy as the loyal factions to the one attempting to win most capture all remaining bases in defiance. It says nothing about the 20 year period in diplomatic win only in the economic win is this given as a condition of the win.

Adam_Smith · August 20, 2000, 01:41

You are right. I was mixing it up with economic victory. I do have to conquer them. Essentially it would be the same as conquest victory.

Thanx for setting me straight stuntman

Helium Pond · August 20, 2000, 17:54

Yeah, in the manual it says: "When a supreme leader is elected, a faction leader may choose to defy the will of the council and refuse to submit. In this case, the Supreme Leader must...conquer all defiant factions to achieve a Conquest victory."

So it seem that to *actually* win a Diplomatic victory, you have to be able to win Supreme Leadership without betraying anybody... makes it a little harder, doesn't it? Hm. That seems like a fun challenge. Maybe I'll try it.

Adam_Smith · August 22, 2000, 00:13

Technically, I've never won a diplomatic victory I guess. I've always ended up having to conquer someone. I guess you could look at it two different ways. The first way is that if you elect yourself supreme leader the other factions will help you conquer the rest of the factions. That could be helpfull if they aren't already at war with them. The second way of looking at it is that they may not defy the council and you will have won.

oh darn, I've written another post that doesn't even make sense to me

Grigger · August 22, 2000, 00:41

Strangely, I've had factions that are Vendetta with me that still submit if my record is untarnished. They are peaceful ones generally, like Deirdre and Morgan, but a noble reputation can be worth more than you thought.

Helium Pond · August 24, 2000, 14:06

I have to admit I've never thought much of the diplomatic victory option, but this gives it a whole new twist. If you try to win it without having to turn it into a conquest victory, you have to watch your step diplomatically for the whole game. That's cool! Of course, it could never work in MP...

RedFred · August 24, 2000, 14:50

My experience has been similar to Grigger's. Stay noble and it is pretty easy to have everyone go alone with the vote. Sometimes factions will vote for you that aren't even in your back pocket.

For those you have not yet won diplomatically, I can't say that you are missing much. Even with the aliens, it is still the least satisfying type of victory for me.

Helium Pond · August 25, 2000, 13:08

Well, I'm sure I'm not "missing much" in terms of a flashy cut-scene or anything (ha), but I usually find it hard to keep a Noble reputation throughout the game: I'm usually infamous by the end of any game. So it seems like fun to try and stay noble in order to win a diplomatic victory.