Finished my first OCC

Vev · September 27, 2003, 04:11

After managing 100+ cities I decided to give OCC a go.

Setting:

Transcend
Custom Huge Map
every option at middle, e.g. avg land size, erosion, moisture, fungus, etc

All victory available
no pods

Custom Faction:
No Social bonus or negative
Have 'TECH, 1' as starting tech
No SE restriction

Opponents:
Uni
Cycon
Peacekeepers
Drones
Believers
Morgan

Whee I transcended in 2313
I was largely ignored, although later in the game I heard around 5 PB explosions.

After a slow start, I flew away after nabbing Supercollider and Theory of Everything.

Learnt that Echelon Mirrors does not work outside your territory.

spartak · September 27, 2003, 06:48

Nice one, well done.

Vev · September 27, 2003, 08:54

I had fun making a a plateau. Now if I know beforehand that echelon mirror only work within your territory, I would not have extended my plateau so far away from my city.

Mead · September 27, 2003, 10:13

Quote:

Originally posted by Vev
I had fun making a a plateau. Now if I know beforehand that echelon mirror only work within your territory, I would not have extended my plateau so far away from my city.

I have done OCC a couple of times. Yes it's fun and requires lot less management. It is nice have to worry about 1 build que verses 100+.

When I did do OCC I would try to make myself an island and try to ensure that there was no land on the island that was not my territory. This was because I was afraid that a friendly faction would decide to build a city on the 'free' space and begin to encrouch on my territory.

I would make a nice energy park, but work work to ensure that I did not make any new land that would be outside my control.

Mead

Lazerus · September 27, 2003, 13:42

Put the Hive in next time and turn steal tech when conquer base on. Damn that really increases the difficulty.

Jamski · September 27, 2003, 16:08

Now try without using a custom faction

-Jam

Vev · September 27, 2003, 20:45

I am thinking of playing the Hive. That will be a very different game.

I choose a custom faction that has no specialties to provide a middle ground game. Some factions are more suited for OCC like the Uni and peacekeepers.

But if I try using faction more suited for momentum play in OCC that would be very interesting.

Pandir · September 28, 2003, 02:03

I did a Hive OCC, was a pain because everyone hated me for being the weakest and/or my social engineering choices.

Lazerus · September 28, 2003, 10:29

yeah the only ally you can really rely on is the Conc, if they dislike you for some reason then you're screwed. That is unless the aliens are playing.
The Cult and Gaians are easier to play with then Pk's and Uni btw.
Just played a game on large, very easy if you get a small island to yourself, try playing it on standard or even small, it becomes fiendishly impossible if Yang, Miriam and Santi are all present

Yang's killed me three times on small maps

tonic · September 30, 2003, 21:32

Any success in OCC is laudable!

I only play SMAC and find it quite a challenge to complete an OCC game on a small-to--medium map if my city is close to a momentum-type tribe having to postpone the crucial tech path for defence.

Ecthy · October 2, 2003, 04:57

I've tried OCC in SMAC several times and always failed utterly

You just get crushed easily, and your research tends to be laughable compared to the other factions...

Pandir · October 2, 2003, 21:03

Yeah keeping up in research is always the big problem in the ones I have done. Gets to the point were I was glad to be getting a tech ever 8 turns. :P

Vev · October 2, 2003, 21:20

But those multipliers sure help.

Ecthy · October 4, 2003, 06:27

What multipliers....?

8 turns per tech sounds cool enough. Not quite as good as 8 techs per turn though

wrg · October 4, 2003, 07:39

I assume the "multipliers" mentioned are facilities and projects that multiply tech production. Of course, since in any OCC game one effectively follows the Super Science City centralized research approach, the facilities and projects that boost research (or anything else) in one city are very useful.

I recently finished a Thinker OCC (not quite up to mature, Transcend play yet) and, after spending a while with techs taking more than 10 years each, came up to speed after building the Supercollider and Theory of Everything. In the end, with a decent little energy park, I reached slightly better than 2 turns / tech, and came from behind to a decided superiority over the AIs. So I can definitely vouch for the effectiveness of the research projects in OCC.

I agree with some other posters that OCC can be difficult. My finally mighty city started out small and weak, constrained by nutrient and habitation requirements. In the attempt just before that one, I'd actually been wiped out by Morgan, of all people. In order not to repeat it, I had to settle for some unpleasant diplomatic compromises, and postpone some infrastructure projects for player and mindworm security. One city that produces 60+ mins a turn can really get a lot of pops.

Lazerus · October 4, 2003, 07:58

OCC's are quite easy once you've got the hang of them, they all follow the same pattern in the end. Build a few formers, rush a SP, get crawlers out, build some infrastructure, more crawlers to an energy park, shoot a few AI that are coming for you, trade a few techs, more SP's and before you know it its 2300 and you've transcended

Weather paradigm first, then merchant exchange if you can. HGP, VW and all those other usual nice SP's are basically useless for this.

Ecthy · October 4, 2003, 08:56

Civ2 OCCs are supposed to be easy as well, yet I cannot manage them. It's all a matter of civ2-god-ness

Straybow · October 9, 2003, 13:19

Hmmm, hadn't even occured to me to try OCC SMAC.

Vev · October 9, 2003, 18:41

Now that I come to think of it, the crucial era is the first 180 years and that is where you will be struggling against any form of hostiles.