Defence through forestation

[LoD]

I have recently started a new game of SMAC, after a couple-of-months break.
I picked a new Random map, with 50-70% Ocean and Dense Cloud Coverage and PKs. Of course I have forgotten that last time I was playing with the fractal variables of the world generator, which resulted in me landing on a huge contiment, sprawling across the entire planet (water is about 15%!).
Anyway, after some early ICsing I found myself in between two waring factions - UoP and Spartans. Both were hostile towards, and I got weary with them constantly asking me for tributes. So here I am, gearing up for war:

(Sorry for the large size)


My problem main problem resides in both my eastern and western outlets, and it has the same background - move two units. I know Spartans will be attacking with rovers, and the UoP with probe teams (it's good being the Planetary Governor ). The threat is that they will overflood me with hordes of their minions. I needed to find a cheap, efficent way to provide at least semi-parment protection. And last morning I have found the anwer:

Forestation Defense

(strategy summary)

Idea: Using forests to damp an enemy army's momentum.

Place of use: Perimeter Land Bases

Time of use: Pre D:AP, Pre Hovertanks

How it's executed:
a) Basic plan - forests use 2 movement points, so you'll need to surround your base/defensive node with them. Let's say your enemy can attack only from the west. The basic defensive layout will look like this:

0	0	F
0	B	F
0	0	F

Base Garrison:
Defensive Infantry unit
Probe Team
Attack Rovers

This plan also takes into advantage that rovers are seldomly armored. Even if they reach the forest line, the advantage of a 50% defensive bonus will be meaningless. They can be easily destroyed by your attack rover sitting in the base.
Enemy Infantry is another story. Usually armored, it is much harder to pick off in forests than defenseless rovers. The solution to the problem is placing a road here:
000
0BR
000

By doing this, you enable a rover to come out, eliminate an infantry unit that has not yet reached the forest line, and reutrn safely to the base.

There is a real weekness to the simple layout however - vulnerability to Elite Probe Teams. Those little buggers have the possibility to enter a forest square and still make a move. There are three basic ways to deal with a problem - one is to place enough defensive probes, the seconed is to send a sucide rover to killthe probe when it has not achieved attacking distance, and third is to stack two units in the way of an oncoming probe(s). Of course the threat is not that big - the probe team does have to START its turn next to the forest barrier to do any harm, but it is a possibility.

Going into theory, I have devised a more expensive, but safer variant of the forest barrier:

b) Deluxe plan

0	0	0	0	F	F	F
0	0	0	0	FR	f	F
0	0	0	B	F	f	F
0	0	0	0	FR	f	F
0	0	0	0	F	F	F

0 - irrelevant square
B - Base
F - forest
f - farm
R - Road

This one is intended mostly to impede Elite Probe Teams. The extra forest barrier provides extra protection. The farms are here to control the forest growth - there must remain a "blast chamber" where the oncoming unit's defence ability is minimal (you can use solar collectors instead).

Sincerely I doubt that anyone will use the deluxe plan simply because the cost/effectiveness ratio is not much more lower than with the basic plan. Plus, it's much more suseptible to hostile desintegration.

Terraforming cost:
Basic Plan - Variable, min. 13-14 TPs
Deluxe Plan - Variable, min. 77-79 TPs (farms) 83-85 TPs (solars)

(I'm assuming that you will build the roads *before* the forests )

Est. minimal time of preparation (using 3 Formers - no WP, no SuperForming):
Basic Plan - 5-6 turns
Deluxe Plan - 30-33 turns

Assesment of Effectiveness:

SP - very high. Computer players will never attempt to destroy the defence system intentionally.

MP - considerably high. Human players will eventually try to destroy it, but the only thing suiceptible to that type of action are the farms/collectors in the deluxe plans. Unless overpowered, the system is very durable.


Notes to strategy execution:
-Placing Sensors in a safe place is always a good idea.


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Comments welcome.

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---LoD

He, who comprehends the past, shall conquer the present and rule the future.
[This message has been edited by LoD (edited November 02, 2000).]

[Garth Vader]

I have appreciated this kind of defence since my first MP game. While invading a size 2 base was destroyed cutting my enemies road network. What was left was basically your defense plan. A road ending on a forest square, with forest/rocky/fungus around it. I could enter the road square but then his rovers would take me out.

There are a couple of attack methods. Use a rover former to put a road on the square before your road in the forest to link your road networks. Then you can attack with your rovers full power. The WP helps with this because you can often build the road in 1 turn with 1 former.

The other attack method (pre DAP) is to use artillery to try and destroy the forest, but that is really hit and miss.

[Misotu]

I like to forest anyway, so I've appreciated this from early on though I haven't formulated it as succinctly as this. Recently, I've stopped building roads in vulnerable areas in certain types of game - the lost turn advantage is worth the price I find.

[mark13]

To me, this is one of the big advantages of using forests over farms - they take two movement points to get through. Another thing I often do is place a good defensive garrison in the front forest square, stacked with a probe team (if you have reasonable defensive tech, of course).This way, they effectively have three lines of defense to get through - it would need a big invasion force!

[LoD]

Garth: Glad you brought up the issue of the rover former method. I was going to note it, but then forgot about it .

Rover formers are really helpful during conquests actually. They are equivalent to Engineering Corps. Rebuilding destroyed road networks, setting up ad hoc defense stations, buiding airbases to stage an attack - those are some of their possible functions. The downsides are that they are quite costly, plus you need a significant number of them in to perform effectively.

LoD

[VoodooChild]

While I appreciate the thinking behind your strat, there are just too many varibles in the game to really plot terrian like this. Like Bruce Lee would say "Be like water". I forget the rest of the quote at the moment, but his point is to be flexible, fluid. Let the conditions of the game determine what is the best startegy to use.

In a situation like this I would be more inclined to set up fungus at the borders of my empire, and sensors that will see into the edge. All it takes is a artillery battery or ship to waste both a bases productivity and outer defensives.

[LoD]

VoodooChild: I have a reason to believe that this quote is actually misenterpreted Sun Tzu. The proper interpretation in that case would be "to strike the enemies weaknesses and avoid his strenghts".
Anyway, I got your point .
But, remember that SMAC has a lot of different variables. It is very dificult to develop a generic defensce/offense strategy. IMHO, the one I just posted is one of the most adaptable anyhow. It cannot be applied only on rocky terrain. It fits well in all other cases.

Artyllery - like Garth, it's a game of chance. Plus, with a good sensor net and infiltration (which I always apply), I'd be able to oppose the artillery with a slew of security measures (hint to one of those measures - you can't destroy an enhancement if there's a unit standing on a square).

Your proposal about fungus - consider several points:
-fungus takes much more time plant than forest.
-you have to obtain a tech to plant fungus.
-this is a pre-D:AP strategy - how much resources can you collect from fungus with that tech level (unless you have a faction that has a corresponding bonus, but it's a special case).
-by placing that nice carpet of fungus you are putting a huge, big, neon sign that reads:"Go on! Churn out several mindworms and trample me!". Quite a temptation for your opponents, isn't it?

You know what, you just gave me an idea with the fungus - placing the entire fortification scheme near (but not too close to) a fungus patch will vatly enhance. That, and placing a several sensors and putting some MWs on patrol in the fungus .

LoD

[VoodooChild]

No its a Bruce Lee quote from a one on one interview he gave... dont make me have to dig out the tape for the full quote please Sun Tzu can be quoted a dozen times over reguarding what should or shouldn't be done for SMAC situations such as these.

About the fungus idea... I was only talking about placing the fungus outside of your base limits on the edge of your territory lines. Yes it is a time consuming activity, but if the situation warrants its use then I have no problem with upgrading one of my formers into a fungiside former (or whatever they are called)

A builder planting fungus has several benefits:

Earlier Wraning - Yes a forest takes two movement points, but so does fungus. Also as you know a unit can be prevented from entering a fungus even if it has the nessisary movement points. With these delays you have more time to prepare your defenses and plan a counter strike.

Funneling Units Together - If you leave an avenue open, then the AI pathfinding will usually cross through it and you will have the opprotunity to ambush them as they come through.

Sacking Units Together - If the AI has to travel through the fungus and because once a unit is stationed ahead in the next fungus square the following units will always be able to move, they will start to stacked together. This allows your artillery to do some collateral damage or a friendly unit able to kill off several units at once.

Damage or destruction from native lifeforms - Moving through fungus will bring about native attacks. This can damage or kill off elements of an attacking force. Now you shouldn't be spreading fungus next door to a green faction anyway, so this should always work to your avantage.

Preventing a Faction ftom moving in next door - By having a fungus bed at your borders, the AI will have a limit about how far it can push back your territory.

Planting fungus is not a pre D:AP, quite the contray. pre D:AP I usually wont have the time to waste not delevoping my base radius squares. Once D:AP comes along you should concentrate on keeping your bases outside the range of the enemies range. Thats where the "keep them from moving in next door" becomes critical. This also allows for missles to be used instead of formers to set up your fungus bed.

I could go on with more advantages, but these are the key ones that i can think of so far.

Cheers,

[LoD]

quote: Sun Tzu can be quoted a dozen times over reguarding what should or shouldn't be done for SMAC situations such as these.

Sun Tzu can be quoted a dozen times over reguarding what should or shouldn't be done in life .

quote: Earlier Wraning - Yes a forest takes two movement points, but so does fungus. Also as you know a unit can be prevented from entering a fungus even if it has the nessisary movement points. With these delays you have more time to prepare your defenses and plan a counter strike.

Again, two points for consideration:
-Fungus takes a lot of more time to build.
-MINDWORMS TREAT IS AS ROADS.

quote: Funneling Units Together Sacking Units Together

Good points, but I bet you can do the same with forests.

quote: Damage or destruction from native lifeforms

Think what will those native mindworms do if there are only your units nearby (eg. you are moving your army towards the opponent's bases).

quote: Preventing a Faction ftom moving in next door

Good point. Forests will not do the same.

quote: Planting fungus is not a pre D:AP, quite the contray.

Well, now. First of all I intended this as a talk about pre D:AP strat. Anyway, I think that building such a sophisticated defense structure has sense only if your formers stand idle. Other than that, it is pointless to make a defense scheme that can be traversed instantenously by the enemy.

Unless of course you're using missiles instead. I don't have SMACX, so I cannot discuss that.

LoD

PS. You have forgotten to mentioned one point in your defense of fungus of forests - fungus cannot be destroyed simply by units and/or arty. This does make it a little bit more useful.