What to do after a bad start?

[Skanderbeg]

I had to say first, that I normally play blind research on huge map on transcendent level. I usually play a random facton against random AI factions.

And I have to say that I am still not very experienced
on transcendent level, won only two of seven games.
There seem to be a lot of people for whom it is quite easy to win on transcendent, but for me it is stille hard work and fight.

I know I have a good chance to win if I get a good start, starting on good land with no warmonger next to me, expanding, getting one or two of the first SP's, getting contact and trading techs and so on.

But what to do in my situation, if You had a bad start?
Starting on bad land without special resources, getting bases attacked my mindworms early, or getting a visit of Marr's ogre or Miriams rovers? Or (this had happend to me in two of this seven games) me starting on a small island without getting any contact, and in the same time, Miriam starting on a huge continent an rushing one or two other factions very fast, so she get's overall and tech graph leadership (ever haven seen Miriam launching the first orb?).
Then You find Yourself in 2150 maybe as number 3 in powergraph, with no or only one of the lesser sp's, bad tech and science, a weak army and underdeveloped infrastructure. I normally try to get in the tech race again concentrating on science improvements, but the number 1 normally is getting faster and faster, because he get's all the sp's.

Do You have a strategy to come up again, if You are behind?

[Aredhran]

It really is a question of skill, and of course a bit of luck. I started a SMAX game as Chadawn recently, and started on the west coast of a medium-sized island. Early exploration shows the Jungle a few tiles away and I think "cool, but there's gotta be a catch".

Of course the catch was that north of the jungle were the Caretakers, and south of the big fungus patch was Marr ! The Pirates were very close as well, but fortunately I managed to secure a pact with him.

I lost two of my 4 early bases (still managing to destroy 2 of the caretakers' though). The key here was to concentrate on active defense, with sensors to spot approaching enemy units, 2 strong garrisons in the exposed bases and a couple offensive units for preemptive or counter attacks.

Forget about growth. It's all about survival... As soon as I saw who I shared the land with, I switched to conquer techs. Trade with Pirates gave me Mobility, IndBase and PlaNets (much needed for probes), while I discovered Laser and then Impact weapons. Once I had probes, I set 100% econ and sent the spies out. The harvest brought back 3r armor and SotHB (Fundy).

With that, I managed to hold Marr at bay, while founding 2 bases (replacing the ones I lost), starting sea exploration and capturing a few worms. Once I had a sizeable army I launched the offensive on the Caretakers, eliminating them within 20 turns or so, followed by the Usurpers another 15 turns later.

Of course, the result was that I didn't get a single project. However, I have a very strong position, am almost on a par tech-wise (thanks to numerous artifacts and probe operations) and, in the middle of the Progenitor Wars, managed to submit the Pirates who had the bad idea of cancelling the pact with the help of 4 captured IoD's

So, a bad start is very rarely completely desperate.

Aredhran

[Jason Berkan]

My initial response is to play on.

Some of the most exciting SMAC games I have had, have been ones where my start postion was horrendous.

It gives me a great sense of accomplishment to play my way out of a poor position, even if I don't win the game.

[mark13]

You have to live by your wits - this game wouldn't appeal if every game was a cake-walk. I, too, have had some interesting experiences with awful starting positions - I once had about twelve fungal towers acting as a perimeter, throwing mind worms at me. I cannot tell you the satisfaction I felt when the last one fell prey to my empath chopper....

[cbn]

Bad starts make for a better challenge so enjoy them . I know that I have gleaned many tips here as to ways to turn bad starts into good results. The most fun games have been the ones where there was some adversity to overcome. hey sometimes you might lose, but does that not make the game a bit more fun?

I continue every game I start until (1) I get a hopelessly winning position (and stop due to the PIA factor) or (2) my last base sinks into the dust. At my stage of play I am looking for additional SP challenge so I don't want to have the Jungle all to myself (save that result for when I get to MP LOL). Meanwhile, bring on those bad starts!!