Alpha Centauri 2 Forum Community Succession Game

[Mart]

The problem appears when trying to save the file.
Check it - try to save with a new name.
It may work for you though, but Yitzi patch does not fix that problem, afaik.

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Ok, so it is possible to save the file, when the windows saving box is not enabled:
WindowsFileBox=0
in "Alpha Centauri.ini" file.
When someone uses the windows one, the problem is present (at least for me).

[Geo]

For the next player, please see my previous post on page 3.

[Mart]

If someone new joins the game, that person will play after you. If not, we start another round, and it will be me.
We can wait some time, though I will not wait full 3-days. A new player can be added to roster at any time.

[binTravkin]

I could join this if you are looking for more players.
How do I check which (Yitzi) version of game I am running?

[Mart]

I added you to roster.
The patches are in: Resources > Downloads > ...Patches...

And the latest Yitzi, 3.4 is:
http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=291

There is also new alphax.txt. PRACX is included from that version.
It is worth to consider a copy of game folder to keep unedited vanila SMACX.

[binTravkin]

Ye, I made a copy of my supposedly 3.4-patched SMACX, but I wonder if there is any convenient way to check if it's indeed 3.4.

[Mart]

For some time now, Yitzi embeds his patch version into the exe.
It is on a screenie <CTRL>+<F4>
In script.txt is only a reference to a string from exe, so it is not a value that is in txt file.

[Kirov]

I think it's time we started to discuss grander issues. It's certainly fun that everyone acts completely independent, but I'm worried that our overall strategy suffers. Well, it kinda doesn't, because it doesn't exist at all. This mayhem is funny, but it will be triple hard to fight two vendettas and secure lebensraum this way. And we badly need it ASAP. So here are my 2 joules:

Research:

My most standard opening is CE and then beeline to IA. It seems we're doing IndBase now, which is good. But Doc:Mob and NLM would also be tasty. In fact, they're crucial to winning any war. So what do we do? Are we staying on the 'Discover+Build' path? It may stil yield us Doc:Mob the way it gave us AP, but I'm worried this might be not fast enough. I think I vote to add 'Explore' before the next tech. NLM can wait.

Frontlines:

First of all, guys we need to remove that scout patrol next to the Garden of Paradise. I said we needed a unit there, but that's after we get rid of those rovers. We're blocking their movement out with our zone of control, so you can't really expect them to withdraw...

Secondly, we need mobility, infantry is useless without support. The 2-1-1 design is not going to help us, this unit is easily destroyed by a scout patrol before it gets to attack anything (although notice the rocky tile next to the Hive, we can put it there). 2-1-2 and/or mind worms are a must. And I'd kill to have a probe team at this moment.

Thirdly, we need to manage diplomacy. Staying at peace with the PK is unfortunate must at this moment, even at the cost of techs. We'll get our revenge. And we have Demo now, maybe we could contact the PK and ask to withdraw his units? Worth trying. Remember not to call a faction too often, it seems to piss them off.

Social Engineering:

I'm against putting Democracy so early, when we're still building colony pods. Well, what's done is done. Maybe this would allow us to run Planned, but it would be nice if the player who gets Planned consulted it with the others. SE choices can have strong impact on the overall game. Of course, Wealth is a must and we should already have cash for that when researching IA. On the other hand, I feel Green is a no-no for the better part of the game, unless you want to roleplay or something.

The slider is great, let's always try to get max labs without running a cash deficit.

Secret Projects:

I vote against starting anything before we get crawlers. I know some people like to start working on a Project right away, but I find tying one base for 40 turns inadvisable, if only because this indirectly slows your on your path to IA (by not building more colony pods). With IA, we can decide which SP to take and do it quickly. The PTS is my favourite early-game Project, but the WP is also cool.

Please share your thoughts. Don't hesitate to tell me that you're not going to follow my suggestions so I can adapt to that.

[Geo]

We're not playing against human players here, so there's no urgent need for Industrial Automation to snatch extra minerals.
The Democracy setting gives us at this time the best shot at signing a treaty with the Peacekeepers, which in turn is the best shot at asking Lal to redraw his rovers.
With a laser infantry trained, we have the possibility to upgrade scouts through the workshop for instant attack if there's a hostile next to a base. Also, I'd recommend training a synthmetal infantry ASAP if that's indeed Industrial Base we'll researching now.
We could always stop cranking out more colony pods and get energy by stockpiling it in the build queue. We're running out of available land anyway, unless we sneak south pass those PK rovers.
For secret projects, we have an artifact. It will decrease construction time of say the Genome Project by quite a bit. I think at this stage it would be a godsend to manage drones with our bases growing to size 3 all over the place, at least if we don't want to divert from 100% lab output.

[Kirov]

GEO, IA is the best technology in the game, it can't be written off as 'just snatching extra minerals'. There is literally no environment in SMAX where IA is not urgently needed. The early game boils down to making colony pods and getting IA ASAP. Whatever early tech comes to your mind, IA is worth double that. Wealth is the best and most universal SE in the game and in 99% cases stays with me forever, the crawler is the best SMAX unit and wins you most games, not to mention the PTS. The only other option is rushing enemies with 4-1-2s, and the worst drawback of this strategy is, of course, not having IA.

As for the projects - Our best (sigh) bases have 4 mins per turn, that's 50 turns for the cheapest project minus 1/4 (AA is worth 50 mins). So one base basically disappears for 38 turns. With crawlers, we'll have a project every 6-7 turns. I'm afraid I vote to wait. RecCommons are what's needed for the first drones.

And the choice itself - because we're running out of land, it's either early war or the Weather Paradigm, very useful for our purposes now. But again, I say let's wait for IA. I will probably support the PTS then, as is my habit.

[Mart]

So waiting for binTravkin to play 5 turns from 2146.

[binTravkin]

Yes, I will do it tomorrow.

Btw, agreed on IA being crucial. Cases where it's not are few and rare.

[Vishniac]

IA is crucial, yes. But:
1) we are following blind research
2) you are talking about diverting the beelining to get rovers and impactors.

I don't disagree with that, especially when stuck between Yang and Lal, but that means it's gonna be a long time till we get IA. Probably more than 38 turns. So you'll get SPs every 7 turns later but only the remaining SPs...because the AIs will start some soon and they'll get them.
If we can divert a base, I say let's do it and be sure to get our most coveted of the first SPs (WP, HGP, VW). The PTS we'll get later with crawlers.

As for diplomacy, I know Mart is very good at it.
My opinion though is: kill the Peacekeepers ASAP!

[binTravkin]

We have 2 colony pods ready.
Was there a plan for those?

Also, I think we're done expanding for now - out of land/bordering hostile forces.

[Geo]

We have 2 colony pods ready.
Was there a plan for those?

Also, I think we're done expanding for now - out of land/bordering hostile forces.

There's only room either closer to Yang, or south towards Lal for new bases.