favorite fraction?

SPasmofiT · April 18, 2001, 16:13

do you play with only one fraction, or do you swing a lot? ... after the initial `testing`, I guess.

I'm a little bit of Yang fanatic, and that's because I share some of his views... Damn, this game isn't political enought ;-)

cbn · April 18, 2001, 16:29

My favorite fraction is 7/8 but I do use others-- don't know why-- and Ms. cbn and I never swing-- LOL

Seriously-- I play all factions. In fact I chose random factions in all my single player games over the last several months. Ypu only get a true appreciation of a factions attributes by playing them. I do have favorites to play and they include the Cult, drones, Uni and I am coming to like Yang.

Jokka das Trevas · April 18, 2001, 16:29

Yeah my friend, Yang rules big time! =)

But by ideologies I'm more like Sinder Roze(I'm not a hacker or anything, though I share the same views)

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Long live THE HIVE!

SPasmofiT · April 18, 2001, 16:39

Damn!
Am I the only one w/o SMACX in the World!?!
I can't get it in ROmania! I couldn't even get the original!

RedFred · April 18, 2001, 18:21

LOL, cbn!

S-man, can't you still order it over the Net?

Cybergod · April 18, 2001, 18:41

quote:

Originally posted by SPasmofiT on 04-18-2001 04:39 PM
Damn!
Am I the only one w/o SMACX in the World!?!
I can't get it in ROmania! I couldn't even get the original!

Hey! I am you southwest neighbour (formerly, since I moved to UK)! Figure that out!

You might need to travel abroad to get SMAX, maybe Hungary (next to you?)?

Cybergod · April 18, 2001, 18:42

BTW my favourite faction is Data Angels

.

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"I hate this storm. The others all pretend they're not afraid but I know better. They're as scared as I am, but they won't admit it. They look at me and smile and make brave faces and they can see how frightened I am. The wind howls out there and they all pretend they don't hear it. And when I turn my back to them, when they think I can't see them, they laugh at me. I can hear them laughing at me even over the noise of the wind."

Extract from
"Return to Mars"
by Ben Bova

Sikander · April 19, 2001, 04:53

I usually play the University, the Pirates or the Gaians. I should try each faction eventually, though there are several I have never yet played and aren't too intersted in (Roze and the aliens come to mind).

knowhow2 · April 19, 2001, 05:42

It use to be Cha Dawn, before I discovered MP. Now I would say mostly Zak or Morgan if I want a challenge (I always have aliens in SP and they always attack my poor FM/W defences).

Skanderbeg · April 19, 2001, 07:05

I play random factions, but the faction I like most to play is the Cult.
But lately, I have discovered the how much fun it can be to play the Hive in the way the good Chairman would have intended

Solver · April 19, 2001, 09:13

Random is the favored choice, but I love Zak for his research, and also the Gaians for the nice native life boom.

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Solver the "Running Beer" - http://www.aok.20m.com

The Commodore · April 19, 2001, 11:24

Zak, Aki, Seven, Morgan, or Santiago. I play them all hybrid. I'm REALY into tech. Probobly why I never use Yang, Miriam, Domai, or Cha.

I'll use Lal, Roze, or Dee only at times...to moderate.

DilithiumDad · April 19, 2001, 18:04

I play all the factions, although I least like playing as the Believers. Her -2 research and lack of research for the first 10 years can be overcome, but the increased cost of each research advance is what really kills you.
I rarely play University because they're overpowered and it's too easy to win. I like to play Morgan as a challenge. Has anyone won a multiplayer game as Morgan? It's rare, I believe, although I always want Morgan on my team if cooperative victory has been enabled.
Gaians are always interesting and either their advantages nor their disadvantages are overwhelming.
The Hive rules in single player, but it's tough to play in multiplayer.

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Creator of the Ultimate Builder Map, based on the Huge Map of Planet, available at The Chironian Guild:
http://guild.ask-klan.net.pl/eng/index.html

johndmuller · April 19, 2001, 19:02

quote:

Originally posted by SPasmofiT on 04-18-2001 04:39 PM
Damn!
Am I the only one w/o SMACX in the World!?!
I can't get it in ROmania! I couldn't even get the original!

I think that Alien Crossfire is currently out of production; despite what you see in banner ads on this site from Chips & Bits, the best you can do is a "backorder". I saw somewhere that Electronic Arts might make an additional batch if there was enough demand, but who knows what that means? It pops up on eBay, but seems overpriced, going for about $40(US) plus shipping. Meanwhile, I've been kicking myself for not buying a Planetary Pack when I saw one in the store a few months ago because the packaging had been abused. So, I put in a backorder with EA and occasionally make a (too low) bid on eBay. I still haven't really worn out my enjoyment of SMAC, but I do ultimately want to get SMACX, so if anyone knows a actual real non-rumor place to get a copy of Xfire, please let me know. Thanks.

Edit: Just looked at eBay and the going price is now over $50
[This message has been edited by johndmuller (edited April 19, 2001).]

RedFred · April 19, 2001, 23:03

I saw some Planetary Packs in the delete bin a few months ago for CAN $9.99. Who'd a thunk it? I could have made a fortune speculating on Alpha Centauri.

Alinestra Covelia · April 20, 2001, 00:07

I have to say the Hive, although I'm starting to get tired of Corner victories (ones which are conquest intensive even if the end victory is not a Conquest one).

I tried playing as the University on Transcend and got five layers of arse kicked squarely by the Spartans. **Humble Allie** I'm going to make it a personal crusade to get good with a Build heavy faction like the Uni during this holiday.

gwillybj · April 20, 2001, 05:29

22/7
I like pie

. Any kind of pie. Well, maybe not all; I don't like rhubarb pie

.

I like playing as Morgan just to keep him off the bottom of the power graph. Or as Yang or Miriam to keep the wars from starting too soon. I stopped playing Lal, Zakharov, or Deirdre because I couldn't avoid Transcendence (and I don't want to turn it off in case another faction might actually do it first). Which leaves Santiago. I've been trying a few things, but always seem to end up no better than third, and much of the time as low as sixth

.

Earwicker · April 20, 2001, 08:09

I enjoy playing all the factions for variety's sake and to find their strengths/ weaknesses -- so I go for random and see what comes up. I will usually restart if I'm the Aliens. I have a great time playing as the Drones, with their bigtime production bonus (and he's the one who has to be the Hacker because of his tech penalty). But my favorite factions are the planet-friendly ones: Gaians and Cult.

Iskandar Reza · April 20, 2001, 15:42

prolly most of you know which faction i prefer to play, albeit all the difficulties i'm having with that faction.

Killjoy · April 20, 2001, 16:08

The Hive most definitely is my favourite (strong industry, strong military, and if played right strong research. All adds up to one hell of a tough faction to beat), although I'd agree with Alinestra about getting tired of the conquest intensive victories — even if it that isn't the goal.

I find the University is too easy, and that the Spartans can't seriously compete, on Transcend. I've recently started to seriously play with Morgan, and find the faction challenging, and a whole lot of fun! The Morgans could possibly be my second favourite faction!

Sadly, I don't care for the SMAX factions.

Misotu · April 21, 2001, 22:29

I like the builder factions. No surprise there. Principally PK. Well, they're the easy ones

No drone problems. Try dealing with PK inefficiency though, that's a neat one. I just love the way the old hands describe the PKs as the "easy" faction. Yeah. Right. Easier in terms of micro-management, but try the inefficiency for a while guys. You'll get a bit of a shock.

Otherwise it's Gaia, CyC or, more recently, I've been experimenting with Morgan. The Angels are fine, but too boring. UoP is strong, but the drones make them tedious.

Googlie · April 22, 2001, 10:07

RF:

Prolly Staples - I saw the cd-packaged versions there (no box and no manual) yesterday at CDN $9.99

I'll play any faction - I think in all my PBEM's I'm everyone but the Pirates - and they are a great faction for an OCC win.

My current SP challenge is to play the Pirates without ever building a land unit - so no formers nor crawlers to improve land squares, and no rover chassis vehicles. Makes for a whole different strategy on siting your bases.

G.

Ned · April 22, 2001, 15:38

All the factions have their plusses and minuses. The best factions are, in my view, Aki and Morgan. Aki's +2 efficiency and +2 research are unbeatable. Aki can run Demo, Planned, Wealth with a 20% Pysch boost to put her bases in GA. The result is +2 efficiency, +2 industry, +2 economy (the all coveted +1 energy per worker), +1 commerce, and to boot, +7 growth (including Children's Creche's and minus Aki's -1) which places Aki's bases in permanent pop boom!

The only downside to these SE choices is the -2 morale.

Morgan, in turn, can run Demo, Green, Knowledge to yield +6 efficiency, +2 green, +2 knowledge, and with a 20% Pysch boost to place his bases in GA, +2 economy and +2 commerce. Note, there is no negative morale in this combination. However, income is maximized. War can be waged (no negative police.) Wealth and Power! (Sounds like the United States in WWII.)

Ned

Chris Collin · April 26, 2001, 05:36

The aliens are the best factions for an easy win. appart from them i think Aki is the best followed by Zaharov. Technology is power. One game i played with the believers (the worst factoin i think) and the University had built mid/late game every secret project before anyone else had discovered the techs to build them.

Personaly I like the Drones becouse they are not that good but not as bad as the believers. The are a challange to play. (its strange though that they can choose free market and not green economics when their agenda is to free the working classes)

senatus · April 27, 2001, 00:14

Believers, since I've gotten into their heads via Spartan Chronicles

.

Seriously though, I like 'em because I like to play hybrid. With +2 support, you can expand horizontally and grow vertically (using Demo / Planned) at the same time. Choose FM and / or Wealth when you need the tech, and you won't be too far behind... -KNOWLEDGE is, IMO, a minor penalty. Go Demo/Green once you hit Hab limits, and keep expanding - it's the Orange Tide.

Otherwise, when I want to simply crush the enemy, I'd choose University - their minuses are a joke if you hold the tech lead and get VW (must) and HSA (want). But why bother playing a faction you can easily win with? (In SP, that is).

Alinestra Covelia · April 27, 2001, 14:40

quote:

Originally posted by Killjoy on 04-20-2001 04:08 PM
Sadly, I don't care for the SMAX factions.

I agree. The two alien factions are interesting to have as antagonists, but they are far too powerful for human play. The other factions are largely elaborations on existing factions (Cybernetic Consciousness are an upgraded University - Cha Dawn is a militant Deirdre) or lowgrade experiments with game mechanics (I like the idea of the Pirates, but found their style of gameplay very restrictive indeed).

Aesthetically, too, I believe that the SMAX factions practically scream "gimmick" at you when compared to the fully rounded personalities of the SMAC leaders. I occasionally play against the two alien factions plus CyC when I want to challenge myself in single player, but I don't use them for anything else.

WhiteElephants · April 27, 2001, 18:40

What the heck, I'll third that notion on the SMAX faction. Don't like em'!

I generally play Gaia, and have experimented with Morgan.

I like Gaia because of her efficency bonus and her ability to pop boom rather easily. A freebie mindworm here and there never hurt either.

As for Morgan, I don't know why I like him I'm not very good with him. The money I suppose.