Am I the only one who hates playing on Transcendent?

Pandir · August 30, 2003, 06:59

I like a challenge but its just annoy how much of a warmonger all the leaders seem to be on transcendent. I have had factions declare vendette on my in our first initial contact. Its not that I cant handle being at war but it gets a little annoying to be at war with 90% of the planet 99% of the time.

Lazerus · August 30, 2003, 08:23

It's like living in the middle east rather then then being swiss

Jamski · August 30, 2003, 10:21

On Trancend level the AI hates you if...

You are the most powerful,
You are the weakest,
You're running the SE choice they hate,
They are Miriam

So you can stay friendly by running no SE choices, and trying to stay 3rd in the powergraph.

Or simply make your worst foes submissive. If you're Yang, then makes sure to flatten Lal early, or he'll never stop bugging you.

-Jam

Lazerus · August 30, 2003, 12:40

If you're Yang just flatten everybody since they'll never stop bugging you. Though sometimes Aki is nice

Jamski · August 30, 2003, 13:04

Nah, you can make Santiago friendly too, if you run Power, and avoid Wealth and Knowledge. She was once a VERY useful ally against Miriam, even dropping a PB on New Jerusalem for me.

-Jam

Lazerus · August 30, 2003, 19:03

I'll be damned if im going to change my policy to kiss her stuck up arse (even if it is probably a nice arse

)

TimeTraveler · August 31, 2003, 00:07

I recall playing a game where I had to pay massive credits to Miriam for a while, just to avoid being beaten down by her unsurpassed Spartan ally, and this was just at Thinker level. It's problems like these that may prevent me from winning a Transcend level game before 2004.

Method · August 31, 2003, 00:18

Quote:

Originally posted by Jamski
On Trancend level the AI hates you if...

You are the most powerful,
You are the weakest,
You're running the SE choice they hate,
They are Miriam

You are neither the weakest nor the most powerful
You're running any SE choice
You are male
You are female
You have eyes
etc..

Pandir · August 31, 2003, 05:52

Quote:

Originally posted by Method

You are neither the weakest nor the most powerful
You're running any SE choice
You are male
You are female
You have eyes
etc..

Heh to true.

CEO Aaron · August 31, 2003, 13:13

On this topic, I seem to be having difficulty getting the damned AI to see reason and go submissive with me. I recently had a game playing the Spartans on Transcend (yes, I know I'm always bashing them...) and after a good while I decided to open up a land bridge to my northern neighbor, Domai. A whole crowd of impact rovers, missile infantry and missile batteries later, Domai loses his last base on the continent, and is left with a solitary base on a remote island. So I take a few turns to cook up 4 destroyer transports and fill them with troops, but by the time I get there, he's apparently forgotten how soundly I whupped him when he was at full strength, so he insists on fighting to the last man. Is there anything I can do to force him to see reason?

PS: Never did I commit any atrocities against him, so that's not why.

Lazerus · August 31, 2003, 19:58

Suicidal tendancies, tends to happen with the builders more so then the actual military factions. He knows hes screwed because of you so hes just going to bite away at your ankles and cause as much damage as possible, ie none

Mr. President · September 1, 2003, 07:56

Quote:

Originally posted by Pandir
I like a challenge but its just annoy how much of a warmonger all the leaders seem to be on transcendent. I have had factions declare vendette on my in our first initial contact. Its not that I cant handle being at war but it gets a little annoying to be at war with 90% of the planet 99% of the time.

It's for the same people who play Mortal Kombat blindfolded.

Pandir · September 1, 2003, 09:21

People still play Mortal Kombat?

Certhas · September 2, 2003, 10:13

Absolutely agreed. I hate going to war, I play for style and fun and not for efficiency (and that means for me close to zero city radius overlap), and I can manage that at Thinker level. On trans it's just not fun anymore.

On thinker I can make all the early trade offs for late game efficiency that I dig so much and stay on par up until midgame when the trade offs kick in and punch me so far ahead that it's almost ridiculous.

Add in slow blind tech and I'm in Zaks builder heaven.

Snowflake · September 4, 2003, 12:33

Quote:

Originally posted by Jamski
On Trancend level the AI hates you if...

You are the most powerful,
You are the weakest,
You're running the SE choice they hate,
They are Miriam

So you can stay friendly by running no SE choices, and trying to stay 3rd in the powergraph.

Or simply make your worst foes submissive. If you're Yang, then makes sure to flatten Lal early, or he'll never stop bugging you.

-Jam

It is 2150. I'm Yang, and Lal (AI) has my common link but he has never bugged me. I have tried to stay out of his sight because I'm sure it would be wiser not to go to war with him with all the other human players standing by and laughing. Now should I try some trick to flatten him?

He is still the first in the power graph right now.

gwillybj · September 6, 2003, 03:41

I'm too busy tweaking and experimenting as a Librarian to be at all concerned about how I might fare as a Thinker or Transcend.
I've tested those waters, yes, but have yet to feel a need to go in for a swim.

CEO Aaron · September 6, 2003, 15:56

Don't flatten him unless you can a) do it quickly and b) profit by conquering him. Your human opponents always represent a greater threat, and if you get bogged down in an attrition war with Lal, your fellow humans will probably run away with the game.

How do you measure risk/reward? Well, does he have any SPs you might want? How heavily defended are his bases? How close are his bases to yours, will you be able to easily defend your home territory as well as your conquests?

The bottom line is that unless you catch him with his pants down, conquering someone else's territory is far more expensive than just adding more bases to your own, so make sure you're getting something else for your trouble.

Curiosity · September 6, 2003, 19:29

HongHu,

Do you have mobility and applied physics or impact?

How far from your main production centre to his?

Unless the AI has been boosted, you can probably take it down at this point with about 4 impact rovers or 6-8 recon rovers. The longer you leave it the more difficult it will be, and Yang is so land hungry that I would always want to remove an opponent eventually.

Snowflake · September 6, 2003, 21:44

We are not in the same land. I need ships to go to war with him.

As for SPs, well all the ones I want is in hands of CEO Rubin.

Clear Skies · September 9, 2003, 15:31

Transcend is SO not a challenge...I remember playing my first Transcend Ironman with Intense Rivalry on, and my friends were all yelling at me 'no, no, no, you'll get slaughtered!', and I won easily.