Advice for a returning player.

[VoodooChild]

I'm one of those gamers that will get a new game, play it into the ground and start another title soon after. Well I have reached a phase where I want to evolve as a player and I have starting going back to "old" titles and searching for the one I want to master. SMACX will be that game.

Being this type I player, I have picked up some bad habits that allow me to control the games and always arrive at a desired end by saving and reloading. Apart of my evolution will be becoming more of a fluid player and the ironman option will be on for all of my games. Even though in empire games, I have been a builder, I think for the time being I will favor a hybrid style so I can learn the timing elements and slowly drift back to being more of a builder.

I have read Velociryx's 3.0 guide and it has opened my eyes to some things I didn't pick up in my previous experience. This will be my starting point in my quest to find my own path. Now before I go home today and start playing the game, I need to decide which faction to play and some of the basic elements (planet size, difficulty, etc.) I want to learn in. Any advice would be appreciated..

Previously I was a tech hound, but lacked the economy or production to properly apply it. My last games were with Domai and seemed a good fit, so I might start there. Still after reading Vel's guide, I know I'm going to have to advance my economic thinking since extra cash seems to drive most of his strats, so a more economic faction might be in order.

A couple of stray thoughts have crossed my mind after reading Vel's guide that I would like to throw out for discussion.

During the 3rd tier of expansion send out an armored crawler as your pod escort. During the forest development have the crawler import minerals from one of your stable cities to give your frontier cities a kick start at production while defending (if necessary) these fledging towns. After the second forest, re-home the crawler and send them out into the world to bring whatever is lacking to the new city.

If my memory serves me correct, even though a sub is detected by the computer factions, only certain units (choppers and destroyers) can attack them. Given enough time and resources you could use as your coastal necklace a stack of a sub and an unarmored sea crawler. If an invasion force neared they would only be able to attack the sub (highest armored defender) and could only do so with certain units. With enough air force or missiles you could eliminate these elements from attacking fleets and make your continent that much more impenetrable.

Just some ideas that may or may not work, but I am always trying to stir the creative juices.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[WhiteElephants]

I think the true test of a players ability is in a multiplayer environment though the test is really drawn out in PBEM.

For the mulitplayer games I'm in the map size is standard with pod scattering on, do or die on, tech stag off, spoils of war off, the planet settings, I think, are all average.

Good luck and may the Force be with you!!!

[Beör]

VoodooChild

One of the biggest choices will be if you want to play directed or blind research:
Directed is better for getting a feel for the tech tree and climbing it fast, which favours the human player vs the AI.
Blind research is more realistic, slows you down considerably and makes the AI play better. It might also challenge your diplomatic skills a bit more, since more tech trading will probably take place. You might even want to opt for double blind, where you don't even choose between explore, discover, build and conquer, but simply check them all.

Another important decision is if you want pod scattering on or off. You could read the thread Alien Artifacts for some thoughts on this.

Being kind of a builder type myself I usually play large map, which gives you time and space to develop your empire. Other options I usually leave as the default.

Regarding choice of faction, I can only give you limited advice since I have only played SMAC. If you want to get into the rythm of conquest, you should try the Spartans, although their slow production is a pain. UoP has very basic Social Effects modifiers which should also be a nice starter. I have not ventured with Morgan yet, but from what I hear, this is a must if you are the builder type.

And remember to have fun: Of course you can micromanage and ICS your way to glory, but sometimes it is also fun to make an empire that flows with the land and simply looks cool!

[John-SJ]

Excuse me, this is perhaps a dumb question but where would I find Velociryx's 3.0 Guide? Thanks,

John-SJ

[big_canuk]

I bumped the guide thread. Vel's first post has the link to his website where you will find the html version. At the end of page 2, is a link to a word version, posted by Googlie.

Enjoy!