just finished a round of Alpha Centauri. seems as good an excuse as any to create a thread about it>It is every citizen's final duty to go into the tanks and become one with all the people!- Chairman Sheng-ji Yang
I've played this game on and off since it came out decades ago and it is still just as enjoyable as ever
did you doomstack deathspheres?
>>2170746needlejets and locusts
playing Gaia and sending out wave after wave of Mind Worms to crush Sister Miriam
playing Believers and sending out wave after wave of Belivers to crush the worm slut
>>2171014>>2171021ladies! don't fight! there's plenty of space in the feeding bay
reading the wiki when suddenly
>>2171021Someone compared Miriam to Putin and this concept lives rent-free in my mind>supposed religious heavyweight, last bastion of Christianity, but in practice just uses it to fool rubes foreign and domestic for blind support>supposed military heavyweight, but the doctrine ends up boiling down to sending meatwave after meatwave>basically an inferior version of some Chinese guy
>>2171200Miriam's AI is different than Miriam in lore. And that's not to defend her ideology in particular, but rather all of the leaders are quite intelligent and respectable while the game mechanics treat the Believers in very unfair ways. Like how nobody gives a fuck about Fundamentalist ethics except her, so she will inevitably go to war with everyone simply because "other player fundamentalist = false".
>>2171212To add: how I'd fix this in some sort of SMAC2 is to separate religion from social engineering entirely and let each faction develop their own faith, and Miriam would naturally get the most bonuses associated with this.It's her whole deal, but it leaves her faction orphaned due to zero representation.
>>2171200>>2171212>>2171214Miriam was in the game as an expy of the SNL "church lady". This game came put when the "New Atheists"/"Brights" were picking up steam and thought of themselves very highly. Late 90s/Early 2000s, unironically wore Spaghetti Monster Shirts, bought The God Delusion/liked Dawkins, went onto campuses to insult preachers, etc. They expect that you think the Miriam obnoxious caricature is tasteful and "a real problem in the real world, and the obvious villain of this game". She spends the game being an irritant and impeding the noble, atheist "science" factions (which the Brights consider one and the same)
>>2171231No, I strongly disagree with that. Miriam's lore and quotes portray her as an intelligent person - maybe even the most intelligent person because she alone criticizes some of the more dystopian secret projects and technologies - the actual problem is the game mechanics treat her as the Civ archetype equivalent of Montezuma.
>>2171231nerds who played the game at the time (and redditors to this day) definitely read all this into her, but I agree with the other anon that she wasn't written as such and was actually pretty well fleshed out by Brian Reynolds.
is there any Deirdre Skye x Mindworms smut? asking for a friend
>>2171238>Miriam's lore and quotes portray her as an intelligent personAll of her lore portrays her as a religious nut. She demands blind faith and preaches against the kind of critical thinking associated with technological development because it threatens her power.Her character is intelligent only in the way that a charismatic demagogue is intelligent because she can convince a whole faction to follow her. I guess she's also intelligent enough to be pragmatic, because while her faction gets penalized in research (because she's loudly preaching against it) she's very good at stealing it from others because she still needs it as much as everyone else. The game mechanics seem perfectly in line with her characterization; a bullshitter whose quotes are made to sound convincing enough to keep the drones in line but won't stand up to scrutiny. If you think she's the most intelligent person in that world based on her quotes, you might be playing devil's advocate too much.
>>2171231>>2171376It's quite obvious she's just an atheists caricature, Inherit The Wind (a complete misrepresentation of William Jennings Bryan and the entire Scopes trial as an evolutionist aesop) all over again. It's just a product of its time.
>>2171376*Yes, that is how she is portrayed
>>2171376None of her quotes are even about religion, they're all about the danger of various technologies.
>>2171245Deirdre Skye x Santiago scissoring art, hopefully. Beastiality, gross.
>>2171231this guy never read the books...>>2171245no>>2171376this is just not true. miriam is a chemist and one of the few people on the Unity who actually give a damn about ethics. When Captain Garland got shot, she was the only one speaking for the crew - Yang was outright suggesting to murder them all. If there's a stupidest person in the franchise award, it belongs squarely to Santiago.
Santiago always seemed like the odd one out to me, every other faction leader can be traced to a significant strain of thought when the game came out late 90s. I guess she's supposed to be a survivalist? Really wooden characterization compared to all the others, no depth to her
>>2171435Santiago is another leader with an orphaned ideology. 90's era survivalism was indeed a thing, and mostly revolved around conspiracy theories about the government and NWO. But Santiago ends up as just generic militarism with no particular rhyme or reason besides "muh survival of the fittest". She's not fascist, nor is she a Heinleinian citizen soldier democracy.
>>2171435>>2171437in the books she's a downright fucking moron. she's directly responsible for the unity exploding.because of her "survivalism".
>>2171441>not even head of security, that honor goes to Yang>not even a general, just a colonel
>>2171430Are the books any good, and available in audio book form?
>>2171466They suck desu.
>>2171463she's a paramilitary 'colonel'. she's not even a real colonel>>2171487fuck off idiot, they rule>>2171466>>2171466google it
>>2171489Kiss a toad, they suck dick
>>2171499Words words wordsFuck off band-kid
>>2171231>noble, atheist "science" factionsThis is one thing that always bothered me about the 1990s/2000s designs for a lot of media, I always wanted a techno-religious faction and very few games would let me indulge in it, most putting them opposed to each other. About the only time in the Civ series I remember being able to vaguely go that route was with Persia in Civ3, who had religious and scientific as their faction traits.Even Stellaris makes Spiritualism and technological development through materialism opposed ethics, so the same line of thought is still going on even if it's losing traction.
>>2170746The fuck is a deathsphere? Is that what gravships are called? I usually prefer hovertanks since they have 3 attacks with elite rank and can drop pod from far away.But if you need to just wipe someone out fast Needlejets with nerve gas are great and can be used against anything without collateral damage unlike nukes.
>>2171692helicopters are bretty good as well, especially for harassing
>>2171231Interesting thought, but Miriam isn't megalomaniac. Totalitarian shitholes are just using religion as a facade for controlling the population.>>217168840k Imperium is as techno-religious as it gets, but even there real science is at odds with religious practices and tech-priests practicing scientific method are branded heretics.I think the new Leagues of Votann actually worship their AI though.
>>2171437>nor is she a Heinleinian citizen soldier democracyThere's one Spartan quote that always reminds me of the scene in Starship Troopers where the guy gets a knife put through his hand during training>He held his arm too stiffly, and so was thrown back repeatedly, until at last I seized his forearm and snapped it back against itself. His training suffered while the arm healed, of course, but I felt this was a lesson he must learn early, and well.
>>2171692>The fuck is a deathspherepretty sure it's one of the generated names for gravship designs
>>2171245https://limewire.com/d/uKKDr#FW8LO0Jm7v
>>2172144use catbox.moe
Can anyone explain in depth Yang's philosophy?
>>2172323collectivism over individualism to 11
>>2172323the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few
>>2172323Collectivist spiritualism. Achieve zen while working 20 hours per day, sleep in communal pods and eat the flesh of your grandmother, and dream of hijacking Planet's hivemind to ensure immortality.
Is nerve stapping a good idea late game?
>>2172323Being based.
>>2172365Nerve stapling is situational. Normally, you'd want to solve whatever public order problem is going on, and usually that's easy enough to do or you should never get into a situation where it is unsolvable. You are partially shooting yourself in the foot by nerve stapling, as if I remember correctly it guts a city's science output and I think other things as well.Saying that, enemy cities? Solar flares? Nerve staple away.
>>2171688Sins of Solar Empire? THE MOTHERFUCKING ADVENT? Eve Online? Amarr?Dunno what you were smoking...
>>2172390To be fair, Amarr were an unapologetic "evil" faction (In the context of the real-life time period, fanatically religious slaving despots were seen as the worst possible outcome for a nation) for a lot of EVE's early years, it wasn't until around 2007-2008 CCP did a 180 and tried to make the four all be different shades of grey. That's how you got things like the dark underside of Gallente's political system or Minmatar's tribal warfare.
>>2170480When I first played this game at 10 or 11 I thought that Yang was a disembodied head bionically attached to some sort of mechanical flying unit. I just kind of accepted it was a thing without thinking about it for years, only later did I look at it and realize it's just an oversized collar looking like a miner.
>>2172374Surprisingly competent reply considering where we are. Unironically good job anon.>it guts a city's science output and I think other things as wellYes. It also gives a penalty to defence on that base for probe ops.
>>2172527Lol
>>2171692I... I'm pretty sure I played this game at some point and I have no idea what you're talking about. Time to reinstall I guess
>>2173270Needlejets are the jets of the game. Very effective, first one to get them is usually going to be the big dog. Anon also mentioned Hovertanks, which are essentially the upgrade to Speeders, and the best ground-exclusive attack vehicle. When he said he didn't know what Deathspheres are, those are Gravships, the final vehicle type unlocked by Graviton Theory (Explore 13). They are basically the best "ground-type" vehicle in the game because they use flying rules (e.g. they can cross ocean as though it's open terrain, but don't have a fuel limit). All of the most expensive, stupidly-overpowered vehicles you usually make at the end of the game tend to be Deathspheres of some kind.
>start new game as Free Drones>get bullied mercilessly by pirates and aliens for decades>cuck to their demands just to survive>200 years later picrelWe have no compassion and we ask no compassion from you. When our turn comes, we shall not make excuses for the terror.
>>2173325How the fuck did you play SMACX? Are you still on Windows 10? I upgraded to 11 years ago and unfortunately it looks like the newest updates are totally incompatible with the game in some way.
>>2173370Allegedly this mod is requiredhttps://github.com/induktio/thinker/
>>2173370wine64 on Debian trixie
>>2173325I have no idea how you managed to lose early game vs them. With that industry bonus you should've drowned them in rovers.>>2173276Based. Gravships with clean reactors are the missile rover of lategame.
>>2173548I spawned close to the Caretakers and they absolutely destroyed me with their 6-3-1 starting units until I researched the ability to talk to them. after that they were actually really chill - gave me plenty of tech for free. I will kill them last
>>2173550Ouch.
>discount yang
>>2173619'blue-sky' makes so much more sense now.
>>2173548I never really saw the point of gravships. At the point you can afford to spam them armored, you've probably won. If you can't armor them then jets + tanks are better.
>>2173325update: the caretakers stabbed me in the back and stole a bunch of tech. now the usurpers are my best friends
>>2173370https://github.com/DrazharLn/pracx
dammit I wish I could get into it but the interface is just too rough for me - moving around and all that is a pain. and before you say anything I'll have (You) know that I'm in my mid 30s. are there any mods or anything to tighten up the controls? trust me - I want to like this game.
>>2173990Extremely mobile across all terrain while being able to capture bases unlike copters or jets. Sucks they have a weakness to air superiority tho.
>>2174050I first got into AC almost in my 30s, so you have no excuse. Just learn common hotkeys for infrastructure and basic actions.>>2174038 provides additional overlays and whatnot but there is no way around hotkeys.
>>2174096thank you
>>2174050>select with left mouse button>hold left mouse button to move>find everything else in the right click menu or use the hotkeysif this is rough you must be comatose
>>2174175Worse. He's awake enough to post here.
>>2174050>what? i have to press F for farm and M for mine? I'm going INSAAAAAANNNEEE
>>2174050This video has some tips:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HLF5B9FEYU
why could they never surpass the first SMAC?
>>2170480I BELIEVE
>notice I can ask the data'jaks to vote for me as supreme ruler, with only the cyberneticists as the third human faction>think that "aw sweet I can win the game">game informs me that I must wipe out the alien scum firstso close yet so far. also maybe I should give up thought control since these irrational w*men don't seem to like it
>>2179350Maybe you should ask the cyborgs to graft you a pair of balls so you can take care of those ayys
>behind in tech and population>Yang declares war on me>manage to hold him off with navy and some needlejets parked in a strategically placed airbase I built on an islet next to his continent>start terraforming a bunch of emtpy space in advance while I build a batch of colony pods to pop boom and double my empire>finally get everything set up around my new bases and start pop booming>get all of them to population 7>power graph spikes above everyone else's (screenshot was taken at this point)>switch back to Planned + Knowledge, get shard weapons tech while Yang still has chaos>decide to take advantage of my now doubled industrial capacity and tech lead over Yang>build a few dozen shard amphibious invaders and shard battery artillery>invade and easily crush units, taking over 3 of his bases including one with The Virtual World that he conquered from Zakharov>he starts building dozens of probe teams>I build a few of my own quickly in each of the conquered bases>he sends waves of them at each of the bases and despite perimeter defense + sensor arrays + higher morale, my probe units start dropping like flies>he uses mind control to retake all bases AND MY UNITS INSIDE THEM>taunts me>is now building shard units of his own>my power graph nosedivesI'm seriously considering ragequitting (again) right now bros, I want to cry
>>2179461What difficulty you playing at sister?
>>2179461>picks a fight with yang gang>becomes part of itthe goals of the group and of the greater race are transcendent, and to embrace them is the achieve enlightenment
>>2179461That's why you hold back and play carefully until you build the hunter seeker algorithm, and only then unleash a blitzkrieg across the entire planet
>>2172323Buddhist legalismYou are a cog in the machine that is the state, accept that you are a cog and are going to be treated as such. Overcome the suffering associated with being a cog by becoming master of your internal mind. Become zen, achieve oneness with the whole of the State and People, rejoice in a life of little material substance by becoming a thing which transcends its physical shell's demands.
>>2182404Gotta love believers and how easy they get that for free.
>>2171231That's cool Miriam. I'm still going to nuke you.
>My gift to industry is the wage worker, or Wagie. Specially designed for labor, the Wagie's muscles and nerves are ideal for his task, and the cerebral cortex has been atrophied so that he can desire nothing except to perform his duties. Tyranny, you say? How can you tyrannize someone who cannot >feel pain?– Chairman Sheng-ji Yang, "Essays on Mind and Matter"
>Hey Foreman Domai>You call your faction the Free Drones yet you still have drone riots. Curious.>- Turning Point Chiron
>my infiltrator tells me the Usurpers are making at least one planetbustershould I be worried?
>>2171692Hovertanks are not bad, but Helljumpers [Infantry with airdrop and the Space Elevator perk] do it for me. That additional bonus to city fights is nice and they are a fair amount cheaper.
>>2187593>What do I care for your cooming? Jugs, even poonan, is no more than information before the cumbrain, data fed to the computer of the fap. The lesson is simple: you have received the information, now act on it. Take control of the wang and you shall become master of the jizz.
just won a game on Librarian difficulty as Zacharov. will probably try Transcend next time. also nerve gas really does a number on enemy cities. excellent for de-ayyy-ification
>>2172323It's like if the Dao De Jing had been written by Nietzche. I never want to (nor am I able to) get off Chairman Yang's Wild Ride.
>>2170480I BELIEVE IN YOU
>>2171376>She demands blind faith and preaches against the kind of critical thinking associated with technological development because it threatens her power."The righteous need not cower before the drumbeat of human progress. Though the song of yesterday fades into the challenge of tomorrow, God still watches and judges us. Evil lurks in the datalinks as it lurked in the streets of yesteryear. But it was never the streets that were evil."How is this anti-technology?
>>2171200Woman leader.
>>2171376There are no atheists in the history of science
>>2193289>nerve gas really does a number on enemy cities. excellent for de-ayyy-ificationI usually try to maintain Noble integrity all the way to the end and I appreciate the fact that using nerve gas against alien factions is considered moral and just.
>>2200251Solar flares are a thing...
>>2170480Everyone gets stuck on the act part
>>2200259Not if you play without random events
>>2171392It's ironic that you caricaturize Inherit The Wind in turn, which is actually positive towards Christians. There's just as much of a biblical argument for the defense's position in that movie, with rendering unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, and the final scene showing that the defense attorney was a devout Christian all along. It was in fact the prosecutorial side that got involved in demagoguery and casted aspersions towards the faith of the defense that were not acting Christlike.
Anons, it has been like 5 five years since I played SMAC. Any suggestions about playing a new game?. I used to play with the Proctor or the Cyborgs, but I am open to other factions as long as I can get the ropes again.
>>2202100Well, start with all original factions, don't turn up the heat or difficulty too much and bumrush water if it's SMAX. Bumrush crawlers if it's not.
>>2202142or just play as the pirates unless that makes it too easy
>>2202286I don't think it gets easier than that. Caretaker ayys included.
>>2202291I still got absolutely mauled by the Cyborgs in my last Transcend playthrough :'(
>>2202301https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmjn_vrShmU
>>2202286Pirates you say huh? I cannot recall playing with that faction. Maybe I will give it a try on Specialist diffculty.The most annoying (or funny) is recalling what tech are worth investigating.
>>2203000they're relatively ez because you start in the water so you can expand unmolested for many turns. but I overextended myself I think
>make peace/pacts with all my fellow humans>vendetta on all the ayys>start building nerve gas needlersoh yeah it's all coming together
>>2204304plz post screenshots :3
>>2203100You have free reign over water for 100 turns easy, you have bonus minerals in ocean on top of all the busted shit SMAX added for water, they get 2 buildings for free, of which naval yard which works for probe teams too and the Pressure Dome not only makes you immune to flooding but also doubles as a third free building recycler. And if the AI does decide to attack you, you get to capture their units. >>relatively
>>2205100>And if the AI does decide to attack you, you get to capture their unitsoh yeah this happened to me a few times and I didn't understand why because I didn't add any special ability to my units for it. only now does it dawn on me that oh yeah, pirates
>>2170480>- Chairman Sheng-ji YangI make sure to squash this slant eye bug as early as I can in the game because he is a constant source of conflict and is able to churn out infantry like a motherfucker. Used a planet buster on me too, which resulted in my razing his cities and raping/murdering the populations.
>>2170796Needlejets early game basically can be used to blitzkrieg across the map, wiping out enemy ground units, while a small ground force does the mopping up and taking cities.
>>2205858It's insanely good once you realize "civilian" naval units such as formers, colonizers and probe teams count too.>>2205928They never really fall off. Worst case scenario if the enemy has lots of cruisers or AAA you get to use some of them as transports to drop infantry. Or soften him with cruise missiles and then send in the gasjets.
>>2205959>They never really fall off.They kinda do by the time I can mass produce improved cruise missiles in 1 turn in my forge cities. By the time I'm sufficiently strong to be ethnically cleansing the entire planet my surviving force of shard and better needlejets is still active but I switch to cruise missiles and drop pod hover tanks which do orbital insertions from my space elevator.>you get to use some of them as transports to drop infantry. Oh shit, I didn't realize you could transport infantry in needlejets. Which feature allows that and how early can you get it?
>only now notice you can put a transport pod on a jetguys this solves so many problems (until you get drop pods)>send missiles to soften up defenses>send gas jets after that>finally fly in with ground troops and capture what's left>>2205919I have a yang problem right now. gas helps but it's not enough. also the other humans are getting angry at me for gassing the hivescum
>>2206042You didn't try changing the main module? And no, they don't fall off if you don't want them. By far the best counter to massive worm swarms if you piss of the hivemind and THE budget solution to other people sending cruise missiles or deathstacks your way.
>>2206225>supply jet that needs to refuel every other turnfor what purpose?
>>2206232Convenience? Feeding those super popbooms, setting up a new base in 5 turns instead of 50, finishing special projects instantly without artefacts, sectioning off an area to buy a turn. Lots of uses if you're inclined. Between those and regular armored supply crawlers you can bring some real cancer to Chiron.
>>2171376>blind faithDumbass
>>2171376Man's unfailing capacity to believe what he prefers to be true rather than what the evidence shows to be likely and possible has always astounded me.
Are there any let's play's of this game on youtube that aren't made by mouth-breathing retards?As a mouth-breathing retard myself, I'd like to see someone actually play this game properly, explaining their strategy, why they pick certain techs, switching SE choices etc.I finished one campaign recently with Aki the robo girl, but i only played on Talent. I had the thinker mod installed, and I guess that made it a bit harder? But I'd really like to see someone good play this
>>2209193I liked Grimith's playthrough his recent one not the one he did like a decade ago
>>2209348thanks
>>2209193Not a video, but here's a link to some text based game reports with screenshots. He's really good at the game. Reaches Transcendence within 150 turns or less in his games. On a tiny map he even finished in 60 turns. http://www.dos486.com/alpha/
>>2210712this inspired me to try a couple of rounds on a 16x16 map to see if I can manage to win a Transcend game that way. the answer is no
Favorite faction and why? Mechanics only so no larp reasons please.
>>2214768Gaians. An early worm is the best exploration unit and usually gets you easy artifacts and other goodies and lots of money from killing other worms. Extra efficiency is always nice, and the ability to boom with democratic+planned is something I value more than free market. It's just a very well-rounded faction with no big weaknesses.
>>2214768>Mechanics onlyUniversity or Morgan as far as the vanilla concerned. Free research nodes plus innate +2 research give you +80% to your research assignations from the get go. Insanely massive boost to science.Morgan is great because he can effectively run free market without adopting free market, and his commerce bonus benefits my preferred playstyle of building up diplomacy with AIs to get that sweet trade revenue income. In terms of pure science output Uni is better but Morgan overall gets more energy (my ballpark estimate).In SMAX it's the pirates (boats are neat in general, and the faction itself is unique). Also I find Progenitors amusing - being a highly advanced faction which is locked into internal war with its mirror counterpart is also a very rare idea.
>>2215909why not go with University if you want basedence?
holy brap I did it>16x16 map, abundant lifeforms, transcend difficulty, gaians>only me and yang spawn>give yang everything he wants so I can expand in peace>yang launches "surprise" attack in 2212 AD>manage to hold off the initial attack>gear up for nerve gas missile troops and scout meat shields>march into yang's territory, decimating his cities as I go>get very close to victory>worms.txt>lots of fucking worms.txt because I turned native lifeforms up to max>have to spend several turns just clearing worms that are in the way of yang's last cities>finally manage to get enough gas rovers close enough to capture his last city in one turnin retrospect I probably shouldn't have chosen the Gaians. there's not enough time to spec into worm tech for it to be useful. but hey, my first Transcend victory!
>>2216774>beat yang within 30 turns of him invading me
>>2215757>>2215909Interesting. I expected at least one Yang or Miriam for the easy pop booms at least.
>>2217079They're both fun to play once you get the ball rolling, but they both suffer from a slow start. Yang with his economy penalty and inability to either boom with demo+planned or properly benefit from FM, and Miriam's inability to tech ANYTHING at the start has sometimes made me miss all the early secret projects.I see Miriam as the most rewarding faction if you do manage to catch up because the faith offense bonus is a very unique advantage if you're otherwise on equal footing in tech.
>>2217420>they both suffer from a slow startDo elaborate. I'm rusty but I'd name them as THE factions to get that ball rolling early.-2 ECO is like -1 energy per base with you having more bases, and quicker, than everyone (except probably drones) else put together more than offsetting that. And he can boom just fine with creche + planned + gold age or just enjoy that +1/3/6GRO if gold age isn't available yet or for some other reason. If anything he's the king of (early game) wide.Miriam, huh, yeah, no knowledge value can be annoying but those 10 initial turns are hardly make or break and you do get to trade for techs. But that +2SUP is insane for early game and that +25ATT doesn't really fall off. Army of formers not eating your paltry early yields? Sure. Army of ghetto rovers taking over whatever you want? Yes please. You want peace, sure, enjoy my notmujahedeen probing your ass and you don't get to do anything about it.
>>2217448Having to go into golden age to boom is hardly "just fine", especially with the minimal energy Yang has to get it going. And some of that little energy is lost to waste since you're probably at exactly 0 Efficiency, not to mention possibly spending it on bureaucracy drones first. Better to forget booming and grow fast (but not boom-fast like others) on condenser farms. And that -1 energy per base you can definitely feel in the early game when you're trying to rush formers and recycling tanks. The cash just isn't there like it is for other factions. The 10% growth and industry discounts aren't that impressive at the start on transcend difficulty when the AIs also get discounts.I've had plenty of games with Miriam where my starting neighbor isn't impressed with the scout patrols I've only been able to build and they declare vendetta immediately. Good luck tech trading in that situation. Sure you can get lucky, and you can get the former tech from a pod, but that's not something that others have to rely on. Anyone can tech steal with probes just as well as Miriam, but Miriam takes longer to get to planetary networks - and while she's working to get her tech stealing going, those wonders might be going already.>+2SUP is insaneMeh. Everyone gets some free support, and then it's only one mineral if you go above it. Not to mention nearly everyone can run police state for a while at the start if you like free support.Like I said, slow start, but their faction bonuses obviously become very strong once you get the momentum going. Though I'm not sure if Yang's late game is that impressive without ever being able to run Democratic.
>>2217533I have no idea how are you struggling with energy. Do you not go for wide and police state or something?>The 10% growth and industry discounts aren't that impressive at the start on transcend difficulty when the AIs also get discounts.Levels the playing field a bit. The efficiency immunity is where it's at.
>>2217537I'm just saying it takes longer for Yang to finish a recycling tank in each base than it does for others. You do use all your early game energy to rush formers and recycling tanks, right?
>>2217652>You do use all your early game energy to rush formers and recycling tanks, right?Not really. I'm more of the run on all fours, dick out, frothing at the mouth and colonize as much as possible inclination. My early game formers, and there are few of those, build roads and sensors. Plant a forest now and then when available. Yeah, you'll lose on some early wonders and yeah an early war will slow you down but when you have 15 bases to his four-five and you don't spend too much income on building upkeep or those free support slots on formers you can have a pretty meaty peacecorp available. I had a feeling from picking your brain you're one of those perfectly manicured empires tallfags, and that's fine. But we have a different approach. I play on trannycend too so there's no confusion.
>>2217679>you're one of those perfectly manicured empires tallfagsHardly - I'll make use of every inch of land and sea, but I find that there's usually enough room to expand that I can leave some space between bases to let them grow later. I don't like going tall in AC because hab domes are stupidly far away in the tech tree, but I also don't like to go ICS with too many tiny bases to micromanage.I guess I prefer a rectangular approach, being both tall and wide; build bases as tightly as I can but not within the fat cross of another base, fill the land with forest, some condenser farms and all the boreholes I can fit, and meanwhile hit pop caps everywhere and never stop expanding. I find that this is a comfortable way to play that guarantees victory against the AIs but also makes use of all the game's mechanics, and it gives value for secret projects that speed up terraforming and keep the drones under control.
>>2217779>hybridEww. Nah, just kidding but I was close enough. I can see hive not being your go-to if you're used to rushing your infrastructure with energy, without, you know, mostly ignoring it until crawlers come online. Thankfully the game has enough flavors to cater to different playstyles.
omw to another 16x16 Transcend win. this time as the Free Drones
>>2216778What's the best way to get every single "achievement"?
>it's possible to play by emailinteresting. I'm tempted to see if we can get a game together ITT by passing the save via catbox, but it'd also probably be very slow>>2224458you mean in a single game? not sure if that's possible
>>2224498>a game together ITT by passing the save via catboxBrother, I'd rather have all my teeth pulled out my ass while listening to k-pop over joining that game.
>>2224498I don't think you're going to find seven people on this board with the patience to play PBEM in 2025, but I'd be down to playing a succession game with players taking 10-20 turns each.
>>2225911>>2224498What about online multiplayer? https://pastebin.com/X3br4PvHhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsJTV2rArVEPeople actually play it this way.
>>2214768Peacekeepers. I love pop booming.
>>2223396>eliminate the ayys and the pirates>only remaining rival is the Cybernetic Consciousness, >get immediate diplomatic victoryAki Zeta-5 is so addicted to Big Drone Cock that she can overlook a little gassing
>>2226126>07:50 monoliths upgrade your troops' morale and heal themhuh, didn't know that
>>2171416her criticisms are usually religious in nature, though. Take the Bulk Matter Transmitter quote:>And what of the immortal soul in such transactions? Can this machine transmit and reattach it as well? Or is it lost forever, leaving a soulless body to wander the world in despair?
>>2227253Based and "the transporter kills you" pilled
looking for an old screencap about how Miriam is the one who wants better for her people, anyone have it?
>>2228503That's when I find it of course
>>2170480I still own this on CD. That's how old I am
>>2228504This was written by a 14 year old moron.Miriam is an ultra conservative whackjob who hears voices and thinks she can do whatever she wants because "god speaks to her". Deidra doesn't want to make the mistakes of the past and remembers why they're there, solely because they fucked over the environment of Earth. She's the only one with a long term plan on a hostile alien world while the others are in a race to the bottom developing ever increasing weapons of mass destruction. Her sole motivation is "if we go down this path we'll leave this planet lifeless and die along with it so I'd better fight to save it".
>>2229023>This was written by a 14 year old moron.
>>2229023>t. The Believers have renamed Gaia's Landing to New Eden.
>>2229023worm covered fingers typed this post
>>2229023*tips fedora*
>>2228504That's a slight misunderstanding of the Morgan quote. It's less about "fuck the future" and more "I will make the present a golden age that lasts forever"
>>2228504>>2229023I doubt it was written by a 14 year old, more likely Anon was playing devil's advocate but the result does read like something that only a teenager would take at face value.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQfYKbKdlBM&t=730sIsaac Asimov speaks about necessity of planet wide federal council to address global problems in 1989Does it not sound naive? Even in a game like SMAC you can bribe whole nations or representatives and we all know how UN can't do shit against a certain country that has enough power or small allies to block resolutions.
>>223418812:10 I forgot embeds cut off the timestamp
>>2234188a single world government will be necessary, including a single global planned economy
>>2228504When a 14 year old outwits the academically educated then you know something's off in 2025.
>>2224498>>2226126What about playing it in MP? >>2226126
>>2174813demographic shifts
>>2229023ok Quill
>>2235998>shiftto what?retard mode?
>>2236772yes
>>2236813we live in the Future...
>>2236825we must dissent
guys is organic superlube safe for sex? asking for a friend
>>2239341Organic Superlube? Oh, it's great stuff, great stuff. You really have to keep an eye on it, though - it'll try and slide away from you the first chance it gets.
>>2239355what is superlube made from anyway? Deidre's snail slime?
>>2171435It's not like as if having strength to defend yourself really requires much justification or ideological embellishment. Regardless, the Spartans receive no love or attention in their in-game exposition. Even what few quotes they have are low-effort. The right to bear arms? Come on now, that's not an aim, just a means, and not even one that's mandatory. It would be like as if the Gaians claim that their core ideology is to recycle.
>>2171435>she's supposed to be a survivalistBrazilian/SA guerilla more like it. Everyone else, except Morgan that simply bought a place, was a UN/ship officer. She was a terrorist infiltrator and likely killed the captain.
>>2239423I don't know but I've been toldDeidre's got a network node.Likes to press the on/off switch.Dig that crazy Gaian witch!
I want to cum inside DeidreI want to make tiny worm children with DeidreI want Deidre to surrender all her worldly possessions to Planetthank you
I love the game but it always makes me feel so overwhelmed after 100 turns or so.
another gas extermination win. these runs are fast but also they're getting kinda boring because the solution is always to gas everyone
Transcend difficulty is stupidly and unfairly hard.AI units start appearing near my borders even though I hit Ctrl+K to reveal map and discover they had no means to get to my landmass because they don't even have foils yet.By the time I get to 10 cities, fucking Yang has neeedlejets and hundreds of ground units, while I'm struggling to create a few units of missile infantry.I'm just going to pre-emptively nuke these cockroaches.
>filtered>better cheat!>still filteredlmao
>>2242392>hard difficulties become harder until the computer is cheating to such an extent you need beyond perfect play to beatNo shit.
>>2242392git gud scrub
Fine, I'll reinstall it again, Jesus
This game is too intense. One bad decision or miscalculation can set you back immensely. I get anxious everytime Yang, Miriam or whoever is the dominant faction leader wants to contact me.
>>2242739with Yang it's always "give me tech or else" and then he attacks anyway one or two turns later. never give in to Yang. if he offers truce but puts a price on it do not accept. he will always break it
>>2229023i thought there was canon lore for the plot of this game? IIRC the Spartan faction died out first by starting an early war and losing. Church people lost eventually and Miriam commited sudoku by teleportation or something. i forgot who won. probably the worm sluts.
>>2236940i dunno. stop buying Paradox games?
>>2242410this. every single 4X computer player cheats.
>>2242988I don't think Spartans started the war. Gaians kept sending secretly controlled worms at them until they've weakened them enough to take them in a fight.
>>2242988There is no canon lore. Someone managed to hallucinate an entire story from tech quotes and put it on the internet. The closest thing we have to canon are the books, which ends with everybody dying, and everybody pretends doesn't exist (the ending that is, everybody refers to the books when it contains a titbit about a character they don't like.
>>2227253The only thing 'religious' is the use of the word 'soul', which isn't itself inherently religious since she's really talking about consciousness.
>>2244931I don't know what's more retarded, him thinking he's onto something how a biblethumping notmormon is actually biblethumping or you doing whatever you're trying to do now. You people will bitch over the most pointless shit nowadays.
>>2244977maybe they're trying to pull a Žižek>actually atheists are the real Christians>Christians? atheists>I am very smart
>>2245018You mean embracing that incel mindset and the pent up bullshit spewing that comes from it? You might be onto something here anon.
>>2170480Please tell me there's a way to field all 14 factions in a single game.
when i was a kid and this game was new i had a big tech tree poster on my wall next to my monitor, it's just not the same playing it without it
>>2245267sent the fix by email
>>2246370Thanks!
>>2244931No, the quote only has any meaning at all if you are religious in the first place due to the unspoken implication of a soul as inviolable (in the Abrahamic tradition). Just like the Swampman thought experiment (of which it is a rephrasing), Miriam's quote for the Bulk Matter Transmuter is just gibberish to anyone who uses the secular meaning of soul until they realize what's going on. At which point Miriam's entire quote is dismissed as schizoid ramblings or a disingenuous and poor attempt at a gotcha. After all, consciousness is clearly recreated in-universe (and in most fiction) by the teleporter, which is anathema to orthodox (lower case) Christian doctrine. Not to mention the idea of a soulless body having despair, which is also gibberish to the secular definition of souls.A non-religious person, when asked whether their soul travels along for the journey would say one of the following 1. Dunno, don't care, no one asked, fuck off you nerd.2. I die, and there's a new me. Shit sucks, but oh well.3. I guess it's like sleeping, maybe it sorta counts as continuity of thought if I'm philosophically minded, or the details of how the matter/information moves.but at no point would they ever consider the possibility of the body on the other side to have no soul. At worst, just a creation and copy of the original soul.tl;dr the last sentence of the quote makes zero sense if she's talking about consciousness.
>>2247430why is there a difference between a Bulk Matter Transmitter creating a human and a womb or cloning vat creating one?
>>2247818Dunno, you'll have to ask Miriam. I'm sure Miriam would had also objected to the cloning vats on exactly the same basis. While you're at it, you should also ask Miriam whether she thinks the children of these teleported bodies would have souls. I'm sure those real-life theologians who would agree with Miriam's position on teleportation would enjoy the resulting mental contortions.Unless you're asking about real life, in which case it's just a matter of en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creationism_(soul) being the lead doctrine and the other theories being unpopular (indeed, most followers of the Abrahamic religions, if they even think about it at all, wouldn't even be aware of these alternatives). Which then leads naturally to accusations of teleportation as playing God since it is creating life and hence, the soul. Of course, this doesn't actually exclude God creating a soul for a teleported body, except that you can see why theologians would draw a line between womb-creation (based and trad, and clearly involves souls by author fiat) and teleportation-creation (scary and unnatural and easy, also creates awkward questions about how can a soul be immutable if they can be copied like that and the new soul already has memories of the teleported body attached).
>>2247818>>2247988you can compare it to the jupiter fundies in eclipse phase
>>2248368>Eclipse PhaseNot really. The Jovians have very reasonable concerns about the continuity of consciousness with regards to virtualization (A concern that Alpha Centauri does not share, which goes fully down the transhuman rabbit hole, to the point that having Planet kill all human life and run SimHuman.exe is considered a win condition). They don't deny that a copied body has consciousness, just that it is not the same person as the person on the other side.
>>2248474yes, and i'm sure miriam would say something similar about the transmitted person being a person, just not the same one, because their views come from the same christian background
>>2248488No, the Bulk Matter Transmitter quote very clearly shows that she doesn't even consider the transmitted person to have a soul.The Jovians consider that the transmitted person would have a soul, just not the original soul.
>>2248491clearly that's just because they needed her to be retarded
>>2248491actually no, i went and read the quote and she isn't claiming that, she's phrasing it as a question
Does infantry units get a damage boost when attacking units inside bases?
>>2248646infantry is the counter to ECM garrisons if that's what you mean
Does pressing start new game start a new game?
>>2248658What is an ECM garrison?
>>2248698https://civilization.fandom.com/wiki/Comm_Jammer_(SMAC)
>>2248695There's some good guides for that on youtube.
>>2248744I only use tiktok
>>2248646Yes, infantry always has a bonus +25% when attacking bases. That's besides ignoring ECM.
>>2247430>>2248368Unless "matter transmitter" is a misnomer, it implies it transmits matter, not just information to create a copy, so it's not the same as cloning/uploading consciousness, where the original could still exist. It's really just religious rambling whether there's something in a human that science can never measure no matter how advanced, if it could, that would be recreated too.Or maybe there's a fine print on matter transmitter EULA saying that an insignificant amount of unimportant data might be lost in process, then the "soul" quote would have some rationale.
>actual chatgpt response lel
>>2248821any atom is as good as any other atom
>>2249042Uncertainty principle, spin?Also how is transmitting information the same as transmitting matter?
>>2249214matter = information = energy
>>2248593A rhetorical question.
>>2248525>needed her to be retardedNot at all, this is an accurate rendition of what Christian theologians say about the subject.
>>2248798>Yes, infantry always has a bonus +25% when attacking bases. That's besides ignoring ECM.Nice, so a well rounded battalion would have at least one artillery unit to weaken fortified units, one or two infantry to finish them off and a few pure defense units to take the attacks.
>>2249521I prefer stealth carriers with gas jets and a single copter but you do you
>>2249521>Nice, so a well rounded battalion would have at least one artillery unit to weaken fortified units, one or two infantry to finish them off and a few pure defense units to take the attacks.Too slow and exposed to enemy counterattacks or air strikes. Infiltrate or get yourself a planetary governor position to see the garrisons, and the good odds are the enemy base defenders won't even have ECM in the first place (AAA is probably more likely when aviation gets available).In any case rovers with maximum weaponry and minimal defense are superior to infantry simply because they have enough movement to strike a nearby base in one turn. Plus, they function as discount marines long before you get amphibious ability: you can unload a unit with 2 or more MP on the flat tile next to a base and attack the same turn.
>>2249779>Plus, they function as discount marines long before you get amphibious ability: you can unload a unit with 2 or more MP on the flat tile next to a base and attack the same turn.But can they attack sea or sea-adjacent bases?
>>2249803amphibious rovers should be able to attack adjacent ones
>>2249779>rovers with maximum weaponry and minimal defense are superior to infantry simply because they have enough movement to strike a nearby base in one turnElite infantry is even better, because they get an extra move and still keep the +25% bonus vs bases
>>2249513please show me where christian theologians have seriously discussded teleportation
>>2250092>Elite infantryWe got a Spartan ova here!
>>2246370The what?
I'm a zoomer and I really want to enjoy this game. I've played a lot of older games, mostly from the 2000s, so this one is a bit tough to get into. Civ 3 and 4 were easy to handle, but this one feels harder. Even with PRACX and Thinker, I still find it difficult to invest my time in the game. Any advice, uncle?
>>2250840electronic email
>>2252844Trying to force yourself into playing it will only make you less interested in it.It's fine if you don't want to play it, you don't have to force yourself just to prove something. SMAC is a demanding game and if you're autistic about building, organizing and planning stuff like I am, the game takes a lot of time and can easily burn you out.Go play other stuff or maybe take a break from videogames for a while. Then come back and try it again when you're feeling like it. If you still can't get yourself to play it then it's just not for you and that is fine.
>>2252844Start on easy and go from there, experiment, go from there ramping up the difficulty until you find your comfort zone. Some people like to rush everything, some enjoy playing notsimcity with improvements and some like me just enjoy launching fusion and fungus missiles on everyone and playing with their food. It's a sandbox game so enjoy yourself if you can.
>>2250472>He held off four waves of mindworms is what he did. He was a brave Morgan soldier. And in this house, Recon Rover Rick is a hero. End of story!
>>2252844>Civ 3 and 4 were easy to handleCiv 4 was already peak complexity for a Sid-shilled Civ game. every before and after Civ 4 was simpler or dumbed down.AC is just modified Civ 2 AFAIK. play as the wormslut Gaians so you don't get graped by worms as much?like any Civ game, easiest way to win is to kill 'em all as soon as possible , once you get a tech advantage.
>>2257347>every CIV before and after Civ 4 was simpler or dumbed down
>>2207606Lol, a Bright showed up. I'm sorry your parents put you in Sunday schoolEvidence for abiogenesis, beneficial mutations and macroevolution when?"Deeptimedidit/deep time of the gaps" isn't an answer either
>>2207606Half of that quip is Zaharov, if I remember right
>>2252844>Any advice,Learn hotkeys for common unit commands. Saves a lot of time, and makes micromanagement smooth.>>2257347>AC is just modified Civ 2 AFAIK>justLiterally almost everything "complex" in Civ 4 aside from religions was borrowed from SMAC: the UN, civics, production & science overflow, combat unit counters etc. And even then combat and diplomacy is better in SMAC than in 4.
>>2257433The entire thing is. Fits here, tho.
>>2257436>almost everything "complex" in Civ 4 aside from religions was borrowed from SMACyes and he supposedly played Civ 4 just fine. SMAC should be "easy to handle" for this guy >>2252844
>>2257430im not a fundie but god finds a way. or a planet worm god does anyway. we are all pawns of greater forces at work.
playing my first Big Boy game on Transcend difficulty. that is, on the normal map of Planet. my strategy is>peacemaxxing>crawlermaxxingI'm sending out supply foils all over the map to nab all the sea bonus squares. so far things are progressing smoothlyI just need to make morgan and the spartans stop fighting since both are my neighbors
>>2257631The core problem, IMO, is still the UI not mechanics. Tile improvements in 4 are:- all available in the worker's action panel for clicking;- have clear icons;- provide info on what they do.Meanwhile in SMAC they are:- hidden behind two pop-up menus;- have no icons;- don't tell what they do - you need to consult in-game help or manual.Tile improvements in SMAC are definitely more complex than in 4 but if SMAC had the same interface, the problem would be gone.It's not terribly difficult to learn hotkeys but they require some adjustment time.>>2257678>need to make morgan and the spartans stop fighting since both are my neighborsWhat's the stratagem here? I'm not sure if the latter follows the former: Santiago is likely to fight you when you choose to adopt anything but power in values civics.
>>2257691you can sometimes just ask other factions to call of their vendettas. this is surprisingly effective. feels a bit like acting "team mom" for all of Planet
>>2257678>peacemaxxingUnironically good luck with that>>2257691>>>they don't tell you what to doWhat's more goddamn intuitive than a farm gets you more food or roads make you go faster? And that's if you turn off the annoying in-game recommend tutorial popups and reqs.
>>2257744>What's more goddamn intuitive than a farm gets you more food or roads make you go faster?What about sensor arrays, condensers, or echelon mirrors.
>>2257764What about them? You've got ingame tutorials for everything, including those, conveniently put under HELP. And they're automatically on and in your face if you're playing on I believe the first three difficulties. The game quite literally tells you when you select a former building a farm *goes to point* here is a good idea and here's why.
>>2257678I love terraformaxxing
>>2234711t. gay cuck
>>2257448>>2257430
>>2257691That menu is obnoxious, but everything has easy to remember hotkeys like f for farm and r for road. Those menus are pretty much just instruction manual, you could print it out and use as a cheat sheet.
I had never played any 4X game before, nothing like SMAC ever, yet I had no problem figuring how to navigate the UI in short time.I don't understand how some people have so much trouble with it, but then I'm not retarded.
>>2170480Haven't played it for a long time.But try to get the secret project like the "The Merchant Exchange" ASAP as Morgan nothing else matters.Setup a shitton of cheap supply crawlers for energy and solar panels etc, before you reach that secret project.You'll be printing energy like you are the Federal reserve on cocaine/amphetamine.And you can just churn out units like its nothing by insta building them.Energy is just fun coupons for you at this stage.Total Morgan domination.
>>2260719this is giving me >>2257678 an idea: flip my armada of crawlers to energy, convert that energy to beakers and push for a transcend victory
>>2260719>>2260730yes capitalism good. purge space commies.
>>2258054who the fuck were you trying to reply to? or you just love posting random xtian hate on a space fun guy game thread?
>>2262137>>2250840>>2252891
What's the nicest thing an AI ally did for you in SMAC? For me it was when during our joint war against Lal, Morgan gifted me a rover and garrison infantry. Both of them with the top weaponry and armor respectively at the time.The manual didn't even say AI could do that, I was blown away by that feature.
>>2264212Aki Zeta-5 giving me tech for free every time I try to trade techs with her
>>2264387>tfw no emotionally distant waifu to hook up to my datalink
>>2264421hey baby. wanna "trade technology"? uhuhuhuh
