HtH Ladder Earthmichael vs. Kirov - TTT

[Earthmichael]

Unless I am playing a faction that can't run Wealth, I always beeline to IA.  I don't find it critical to get CE first, because my expansion comes first, as you guessed.  And since Planned helps expansion, I almost always go for Planned right off the bat, except for Morgan, who I try to get to FM ASAP.

D:Flex is rarely a priority for me.  The exceptions are if my starting continent is extremely small, or if there are pods worldwide (not just at the landing site).  On the vets map, unless you are in a big hurry to get to the center land area, I don't really see much point in getting D:Flex early.

The thing I differ with respect to your Morgan strategy is that I go for FM even before Recycling Centers.  This is a judgement call, but it is what I prefer.  The reason I say it is a judgement call is that expansion is faster with Recycling Centers, but teching is faster with FM. 

Anyway, let me know how you want to proceed with our game.

[Earthmichael]

Kirov,  you need to pick an option to proceed.  The way I see it:

1. We play the scenario as made, but I play Morgan and you play Aki.

2. We change the scenario to put Aki in slot 1 (you tested and that works, right?); put Morgan in whatever slot you want.

3.  ??  Do you have another suggestion ??

[Kirov]

Hey mate, I think we'll go for option 2, you will play Aki in slot 1 and I get probably slot 3 or something. I'll prepare it soon, it's just recent days I seem to can't get my head around SMAC-related stuff, personal things and all. Sorry for that, maybe it's holiday laziness and I'll get over it soon. Please give me a moment or two.

[Earthmichael]

Sounds good.  I appreciate your preparing the game.  Once you get the scenario file made, can you post or send it, and I will give it a run through to make sure that everything is OK.

Thanks!

[Kirov]

Earthmichael, something's really weird with my scenario editor, I can't put my finger on it. Out of a sudden, when I create a new scenario and want to put units in it, those units are not visible in that bottom left box and bottom line. This thing persists even when I start the game. Can you check the file below if you (don't) see the same? This is a small thing, but would be extremely annoying during the play, I don't want that. I've never experienced such a bug, never heard of it and never saw any reference to such or similar quirk.

PS. I checked when writing this and the problem seems to go away with turn 2. Still, I want to check it, I want you to check it and I want to consult a CMN on this. We don't want this issue to come back with turn 50.

[Kirov]

I think I see the problem - MY set. I changed it to 2101 and everything seems fine. But please click around to make sure.

[Earthmichael]

Looks perfect to me!

How do we get started? 

Since I am in slot 1, am I to go first?  It does not matter to me either way, as long as the tech tree remains the same.

Problem is, I don't know how to kick off a multiplayer game from a scenario file.

Again, thanks for creating this!

[Kirov]

No problem, it's a useful thing to know how to create a simple PBEM. I guess I can stand in as a poor man's CMN for people who play predefined maps.

Yes, you're first to go. You select 'multiplayer', then 'PBEM', then 'Multiplayer Scenario' and load ours. Add Aki, when asked if you want another human player - add Morgan, then no, you don't want another human player, then you can start and set your password.

Would you mind if we discussed some strategy-related stuff here every now and then? I still feel I don't run at my best SMAC capacity, whatever level that was. I don't remember things I was once thoroughly familiar with and bouncing some ideas around could stir some creativity and give me food for thought. Right now I'm in the middle of losing my first PBEM after a long time (after a long time of not-playing, that is). To be honest, I don't really blame my choice of strategy or execution thereof. It's a standard-sized 99%-water map with no fungus, which effectively plays as a tiny map, so a Miriam player can only pancake a poor Morgan chap. Still, losing is not winning and I keep wondering if there's something I don't see about that game.

I started several threads in the general strategy section, but I guess we still don't have a critical mass of people necessary to sustain any given discussion.

Obviously I don't want to pry into your strategy for our game, so we can keep it as general as possible. But first thing does relate to the Vets map, because I keep thinking about that jungle patch in the middle. At first I wanted to dash for it reasonably ASAP and assumed that's what all people do. But then I got to thinking - overseas bases considerably weaken your defences and are very easy to probe. They can be easily captured and used as outposts into your mainland. On the top of that, neither Morgan nor Aki enjoy Mongoon Jungle as much as the others, as we both need to expand horizontally if for slightly different reasons. So not asking about your plans, what is your experience, what do people usually do? I played Vets only once or two as a replacement, I don't remember that much. I can think that in a 4-player game I would expand in the middle island somewhere in the early midgame, say 10 turns before I get D:AP and can defend new bases from air. But it's just a general idea. I imagine that if one player goes for the middle and the other is passive about it, that alone can secure his loss.

I'm looking forward to the next GotM as well. That Nomads play and discussion was fun.

[Buster's Uncle]

K, I've really appreciated your contributions all over the forum in the last month, while I've been in a non-talkative mood.  Much of the trick to getting those strategy discussions going is persistence.

Would you be interested in becoming a CMN, perchance?  Ask sisko for training.

[Earthmichael]

Kirov, thanks for the instructions!  I have attached the first turn.

I would be happy to discuss strategy with you, both about the vets map, and about SMAC in general. 

The scenario that you are having trouble with Miriam, was that a scenario you created with the 99% water?  I personally don't much care for most heavily water maps, except the one time where all 4 players were Pirates.

Most people do not race to the middle on the vets map; they develop the primary features of their own continent first.  I personally tend to build a land bridge to the continent before I develop the middle too far, so that it is easier to defend.

[Kirov]

Thanks for the input, I'll reply later, now just sending the turn. As is tradition, good luck and have fun!

[Earthmichael]

2102

[Kirov]

The scenario that you are having trouble with Miriam, was that a scenario you created with the 99% water?  I personally don't much care for most heavily water maps, except the one time where all 4 players were Pirates.

I didn't create any scenario, I'm playing an MP with funbot and Dolgorukov, premade by t_ras. I'm personally fond of watery planet as they really change the situation. If you think about it, it's hard to create preset conditions more different from a standard game than a water world. The problem is, without tweaking it is also very pro-momentum. Without forest to crawl and without cheap crawlers I don't have industry to match the attacker's, and without sensor arrays (or fungus to hide) I can't think of any tactics which would minimize my losses (patrolling units have as much chance to attack sb as to be attacked, but with 2-2-4 design on both sides their expected survival rate is negative against Believers). Still, I enjoy it and want to play more on half-water planets. It increases the value of navy, which automatically decreases the value of air. On the con side: MCC comes to be a game-breaker.

Most people do not race to the middle on the vets map; they develop the primary features of their own continent first.  I personally tend to build a land bridge to the continent before I develop the middle too far, so that it is easier to defend.

When you said you use that energy bonus on the top I guess you meant building a solar collector? I'm going to forest it I think. Good idea with this land bridge, I keep forgetting about raising terrain because it spoils my improvements so much. If I remember correctly (do I?), it affects rockiness so that you can end up with rocky under a condenser or rolling under a mine. Unexpected fungus also can occur, not to mention the impact on moisture.

[Kirov]

K, I've really appreciated your contributions all over the forum in the last month, while I've been in a non-talkative mood.  Much of the trick to getting those strategy discussions going is persistence.

Thanks, BU! I know what you mean, but it can also be dismaying if your topic gets close to zero replies. And it's not like I have real questions that bother me, I just could use some general idea bouncing and brainstorming to get into the mood. I was thinking about doing an AAR but the kind where people would discuss what to do next every 10 turns or so. Maybe this could foster some discussion.

Would you be interested in becoming a CMN, perchance?  Ask sisko for training.

Ah, commitments, commitments. I've always thought about CMNing as a big deal and commitment, maybe because of Darsnan, who really knew it all. And although I spend here considerable amount of time, much more than I planned , I didn't want to be _expected_ to do so, if you know what I mean. But I'll think about it somewhere next year. I believe what we really need is not necessarily another CMN, but another balanced map for MP.

[Earthmichael]

When you said you use that energy bonus on the top I guess you meant building a solar collector? I'm going to forest it I think. Good idea with this land bridge, I keep forgetting about raising terrain because it spoils my improvements so much. If I remember correctly (do I?), it affects rockiness so that you can end up with rocky under a condenser or rolling under a mine. Unexpected fungus also can occur, not to mention the impact on moisture.

Raising terrain can affect the nearby terrain in various ways, sometimes increasing rockiness, sometimes decreasing or increasing moisture level, redirecting rivers, etc.  It is often a good idea to do whatever raising you intend before you get too involved in terraforming the affected squares, because sometimes the terraformming you did does not make sense anymore when the terrain changes after raising a nearby area.  But in spite of this, I do change the terrain level a fair amount in mid to late game.

As for the energy bonus square, both options have their pros and cons, depending on what end result best meets your strategic needs.  Foresting is much faster, and provides more mineral than any other choice.  Solar collector takes longer, but gives more energy and less mineral than a forest.  I think the one thing you do not want to do is ignore this great square.

That is one of the things I most like about Alpha Centauri: there are so many options for what you can choose to do compared to other civ games, especially for terraforming!

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