Economic victory? Ever? - Page 2

Frankychan · April 25, 2003, 14:24

whoa, ease up ppl. I still have a hard time with SMAC, I've only recently come back and I'm finding it rather hard to get back where I was. Shoot, the last game I had against the comp, I got whupped by Miriam and Morgan of all people. Miriam fled after I crushed her, only to come back later. Morgan....well, lets just say HE decided to 'Buster me...of all people.

I was like "WTF just happened?"

Mr. President · April 26, 2003, 01:19

Quote:

I still have a hard time with SMAC

So do I. Like Qualicide, I don't use crawlers and I don't micromanage. Now I'm going away like a "stopid n00b".

CEO Aaron · April 26, 2003, 15:06

Franky and Prez, my comments were not directed at you, nor would I other circumstances suggest that either of you were 'noobz'. If you _choose_ not to use crawlers or micro your formers, that's fine, everyone can play this game in the way that satisfies them the most, that's one of the best things about it. Being part troll, however, I couldn't pass up Qual's 'I play like a real man' comment without making a tiny, little bit of fun of him.

Alinestra Covelia · April 27, 2003, 19:35

This is so off topic it probably deserves a forum thread of its own, but wasn:t Qualicide once known as Qualiciide (2 "i"s)?

Just checking.

Qualicide · April 28, 2003, 12:54

Yeah, a looooong time ago.

Frankychan · April 30, 2003, 00:18

nah, I don't care. It's my game so I'll do what I feel like....for example: My drones are rioting, I'll just nerve staple everyone and nuke the planet.

But going back to my previous post....how the h*** does MORGAN of all people decide he wants to bust out a nuke? I have never seen him do that.

And no, I don't consider myself a n00b, I consider myself...grand master of the rusty gamers!

CEO Aaron · April 30, 2003, 02:54

Well, Morgan is supposed to be a pacifist, but I've found that no matter how innately peaceful a faction is supposed to be, if you persist in refusing their shakedowns and don't kowtow to their agenda, they'll all devolve into the same self-righteous 'I must destroy you for the sake of everyone else' zealotry.

I tend to hold a zero-tolerance policy toward blatant shakedowns, so by the mid-endgame, I'll have 1 or perhaps 2 pact-mates, whose SE agendas I share, and I'm in a state of intractable war with everyone else. Also, I believe the AI makes no distinction between the 'light' atrocities and the heavy ones. Once you open the door, you're fair game for the whole kit n' kaboodle.

In spite of my extreme diplomatic truculence, I tend to be very scrupulous about the commission of atrocities, at least if the charter's in effect, however, I've been itching to try a game where I'm completely ruthless and despotic. High use of police, punishment spheres, you name it. I'm not sure which faction I want to try it with, although Zak or Yang seem the obvious choices.

Frankychan · April 30, 2003, 03:15

I think you would make a grand addition to the 'Minions of Yang'.

Alinestra Covelia · April 30, 2003, 03:51

I have played one game as the Hive where I was entirely despotic and tyrannical.

The commerce hit really screwed up my infrastructure support, and I ended up with no friends except those whom I could batter into submission (and whose captured bases I could refrain from torching or stapling).

Played that way, the game is much more challenging and interesting but I wouldn't recommend it if you're up against humans. Planet Busters are a very fast way of dealing with Pirates, I've noticed. It's so inconvenient to go vacuuming up their sea bases, so just drop a Quantum PB and *whoosh!*

Got the bugger.

Clear Skies · April 30, 2003, 12:17

Frankychan - when I was flipping through the forums really quickly I thought your avatar was Annie Lennox...

Lazerus · April 30, 2003, 12:19

Dear old yang doesn't really believe in punishment spheres, instead in his benevolance theres only 20 men wearing all black uniforms and berets are on every street corner waiting for any trouble to occur

I've tried playing a few times as a tyrant nerve stapling and using atrocities, it really gives the AI no chance at all to survive but your research/income will be quite abit lower then if you just beat them fairly into submissive with that no trade.
I would disagree with never using nerve stapling against humans. I've used it a few times in my MP games before 2150-60 or so when your commerce bonus is crappy and you're usually giving other people the bonus without getting anything back (aggressive or what

) or another good situation is if the map is rather large and you simply haven't found anybody yet but that high mineral base is rioting and you need the SP its working on finished.

oh and obliterating size 14 pirate bases which are made up entirely of drones and you really can't be bothered policing is such fun

CEO Aaron · April 30, 2003, 16:00

Well, it seems to me that the best use of punishment spheres is while going Free Market, so you can have your +2 energy per square, spend none of it on psych, and still field a military. You'll have about the same tech rate as if you were in Planned, and your energy income would be much higher. Is it easier to just switch to green? Perhaps, but if you're playing the Usurpers or Free Drones, I think it could be a viable strategy. Thoughts?