I think there may be a problem. I started a game on 1.04 and finished it after updating. It was only normal difficulty and had been a fairly easy game. The score came out to be over 10,000. Should have been maybe 1/10th that. ~SDC~
Defensive ships. As a non-agressive player, I am still stuck on defensive ships but you are probably right. When I started playin SMAC I built armored units but the better I got at the game the less I cared for armor. The attack bonus is so strong, the armor just isn't worth the credits and a passive defense usually lost the game anyway. ~SDC~
I also wonder what N/A means on the difficulty level? ~SDC~
Ahh! I never thought of that. That is what's going on with them. I thought perhaps they degraded due to wear and tear until you researched repair. ~SDC~
I have never seen any comment on this ship. With 60+ HP, light attack and zero maintenance, they seem to be a perfect defense unit. ~SDC~
I have noticed that SB start losing HP after they have been around for awhile, (not at war with anyone). Is this due to lack of repair research or lack of defense modules or both? Also, do culture modules have any value if they are not near rival systems? I know they will effect nearby sectors but I don't know what the range is. ~SDC~
I'm not sure I will ever beat it. The buying star bases strategy is the best idea I have seen. I plan to spend my time at lesser difficulty. ~SDC~
I just tried a Maso game tiny. Had a warm relationship with the Altarians and they declared war on me for building a shopping center on a base near their system. They did offer me the choice of surrendering the base but I figured I was toast anyway so I refused. Then I tried to bribe the Arceans to attack them and they declined flat out. It's a nasty level. :) ~SDC~
I don't have a big problem with economy but being a less than great player, The difficulty levels are not that high. Obviously at all levels you need trade routes and deals that pay you extra cash. I usually go with the Battle Ax for planet defense. Those big ships are too expensive to use for defense. ~SDC~
I tried the cheat mod. It is a pretty good learning tool and fun to play around with. The AI doesn't take long to figure it out and everybody is playing with 100+ planets. :) It appears that it will need to be removed to play a straight game. I assume the AI would use it even if you don't. There is something going on with the economy but I don't think it is your mod. It seems to be a scaling thing. I think that when the research slider is up and you are getting next month techs, there c
1) Do you manually pilot USS Hero or do you set it to Auto-survey? Can't imagine anyone manually piloting Hero for long. That would be the ultimate in micro-management. I might use it for exploring for a few turns, then it goes on auto-survey. 2) Are ship-based techs worth the effort or should I be working on diplomacy or industry or trade-goods? Ship tech is critical. You need speed, range, hitpoints, upgrades, etc. etc. The AI is more reluctant to sell/trade ship tec
Played a tiny map with rare planets and got some answers to questions I had. * The Alexians will culture flip and they are apparently the only minor that will. * I finally had a surrender from a defeated major due to warm relationship. * Made one evil choice (religious sect) and the Altarians went permanently hostile. * Love being able to tell AI to "kiss my ass". ~SDC~
Even short wars followed by cultural victory will give you much better scores. There is absolutely no reward for pacifism. You have to get into the fray. ~SDC~
planetary defense affects ships in orbit, not sure about the others ~SDC~
Yes I noticed this when I picked up a minor civ planet with a mfg capital. You do keep the bonus plus any other assets that the planet has. ~SDC~
Does the AI ever surrender to anyone other than the race making war on them? I constantly have hopeless case minors and majors pleading for help but I can't seem to flip them even with culture palaces, huge influence and strong military. I get plenty of random culture flips but it seems only force or the threat of force will induce the release of a star system on the diplomacy screen. ~SDC~
When there is no resource you can make the SB a weapon to increase the effectiveness of your fleet in it's area. The ultimate offensive level is the Death Star or whatever they call it. I use them to win cultural victory. Build them near alien planets, add the cultural upgrades and watch the screen turn blue. I would think that usually they are (with or without resources) a key to winning. I would like to hear if anyone wins without building lots of them. ~SDC~
It is not related to trade routes. You do it on the diplomacy screen. The AI will pay huge amouts for exclusive franchise stuff like Diplomatic Translators, Grav Accelerators, etc. However, it seems that trading those goods is quite risky ~SDC~
I don't care how difficult they make the game on the higher difficulty levels as long as lousey players like me can win at a low level. My all time favorite game is SMAC. I had to play a lot of games at citizen level to get to the point I could win on Transcend and I only did it a couple of times just to say I did it. ~SDC~
This can obviously be a big can of worms. I was playing a tiny map and I was a bit behind the Altareans but catching up. I had cornered all of the exclusives up to that point with the exception of frictionless clothing. I traded Spices to the Altareans for a ton of money and influence, thinking that morale was not a big problem for them anyway. BAM! Their influence took off and before I knew it they assimilated me. Resistence was futile. >:( ~SDC~
On a big map I name the first colonies (close to sol) agter family members. I add compass points to later stars. ~SDC~
Well maybe it is pinkish purple but there is nothing special about it so far. Just another PQ 17 system now that it is upgraded. :) ~SDC~
As far as the resource the answer is yes. Some of the modules have to do with trade routes, influence, etc. and I believe that location is important in those cases. ~SDC~
In a current game, gigantic, I found a pink star with a 15 planet. Is this a bug or does it have any significants at all? I also wonder how many colonize 14 PQ on smaller maps? ~SDC~
What is the down side of colonizing 14 planets on a tiny/small map? If you don't get a boost event you can raise the quality with soil enhancement and hab improvement. Is it still better to go with a couple or three systems than 5-6 with subnormal planets? ~SDC~
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