Favorite victory?

Mr. President · December 18, 2003, 00:36

I'm in a silly poll kind of mood today.

The Mad Monk · December 18, 2003, 00:47

Transcendence has the best story.

Sarxis · December 18, 2003, 00:50

Spaceship to Alpha Centauri!

Oh wait..

Frankychan · December 18, 2003, 01:09

Military!

I like 'Bustering the other factions into the stone age.

gwillybj · December 18, 2003, 01:23

I generally prefer a Diplomatic Victory, especially when I have to depend on at least two other factions for the necessary votes

But sometimes when I'm lazy

I purposely sputter along in the #3 or even #4 spot, staying just a little bit behind in tech, being financially independent but not isolationist, trading tech when it benefits me more, playing peacemaker among my pacts and treaties... Then, when another faction has done all the gruntwork and finished The Voice of Planet, buy The Ascent to Transcendence

and steal the victory

Frankychan · December 18, 2003, 01:44

man, THAT is devious.

Hercules · December 18, 2003, 06:23

When playing as an Alien , building the 6 sub space generators to create the Resonance Communicator is quite satisfying.

Impaler[WrG] · December 18, 2003, 07:09

Wait you mean its possible to WIN at SMAC?!?!

Jamski · December 18, 2003, 08:27

I like to transcend, launching my PBs the same turn

Phallocentric is a good word BTW.

-Jam

Enigma_Nova · December 18, 2003, 09:23

I often try to transcend, but there's usually this nagging voice in the background:
"You may have my size 1 base surrounded with 20 of your units but I'll still throw scout patrols at you!"

Impaler[WrG] · December 18, 2003, 09:30

I find Economic vicotory to be the hardest to achive, atleast if you can save up that much money its rather pointless as you have to be so far ahead pop, tec, territory, infastructure wise that its easier to win by any other victory method.

Perhaps if your Morgan (which I dont play much) you could find it easier and more fuffilling.

I have wondered if you edited Morgan to have Interest of 1% or 2% would if be a more viable option. I experimented with adding this ability to Morgan (its easy just add "INTEREST, X", X being the percent). Its amazing how powerfull it is, at 3% I had hundreds of credits in just a few turns and was raking in half my income from the Interest alone so I recomed 2% max or your going to break the game balance very badly.

swillwater · December 18, 2003, 16:50

The most satisfying for me is to be able to do it all.

Basically I conquer the entire planet and then achieve all possible victories at suitable intervals.
However, if I cannot get a conquer victory then I will attempt to achieve transcendence; that one has the best story line and it seems to be the ultimate goal for all of the human factions.

Flubber · December 18, 2003, 16:55

The alien victory is nice-- everyone should play the aliens once just top see the little movie.

I generally win a diplomatic victory. Playing out a completely won game is no fun so thats what I usually do.

I don't actually recall ever getting an economic victory unless it was just a situation where I conquered everyone leaving some pathetic remnants while I gathered the cash

Illuminatus · December 18, 2003, 17:09

Transcend naturally. After you win you can have a target practice with PB

And then you watch swarm of mind worms appearing.
And sea levels rise in total a few thousand metres.
Great fun. Where is my nerve stapler?

Blake · December 18, 2003, 17:42

Uh my favourite is probably economic, the cash cost is based on the alignment of the moons of Chiron and Jupiter (remember to adjust for the speed of light) so if you have lots of cash (>3000) then just try economic victory, and it might work, or it might say you need 200,000. Beware trying to save up for an economic victory can be like chasing a rainbow, it's best to take it by suprise and as early as possible.

The great thing about the Economic victory is the other factions reactions, well, you dont see them, but you can imagine it

Mr. President · December 18, 2003, 18:08

Quote:

Originally posted by Jamski

Phallocentric is a good word BTW.

-Jam

I can't take credit for it. I saw it on Alinestra Covelia's web site.

The Mad Monk · December 20, 2003, 04:47

She has a phallocentric website?

Mr. President · December 20, 2003, 06:00

Not really. It was in the Letters From Visitors section, I think.

The Mad Monk · December 20, 2003, 07:07

Quote:

Originally posted by Impaler[WrG]
I find Economic vicotory to be the hardest to achive, atleast if you can save up that much money its rather pointless as you have to be so far ahead pop, tec, territory, infastructure wise that its easier to win by any other victory method.

Perhaps if your Morgan (which I dont play much) you could find it easier and more fuffilling.

I have wondered if you edited Morgan to have Interest of 1% or 2% would if be a more viable option. I experimented with adding this ability to Morgan (its easy just add "INTEREST, X", X being the percent). Its amazing how powerfull it is, at 3% I had hundreds of credits in just a few turns and was raking in half my income from the Interest alone so I recomed 2% max or your going to break the game balance very badly.

Where do you find these extra option codes?

Illuminatus · December 20, 2003, 16:27

In the faction file.
There is a section with all the special rules.

; TECH = Free technology at start. Parameter
; is either a tech id (e.g. "Cen") to
; indicate a specific technology, or a
; number (e.g. 2) to indicate a number
; of player-selected technologies.
; MORALE = Morale modifier (if 0, indicates an
; exemption from negative modifiers from
; other sources).
; PSI = Percentage combat bonus for PSI Combat.
; FACILITY = Every new base gets this free facility.
; Param indicates facility (e.g. "4" is
; a Perimeter Defense) from the facilities
; list. Do NOT attempt to give satellites
; and secret projects this way.
; RESEARCH = Free research points per base per turn.
; DRONE = Extra drone at base (per "param"
; citizens, rounded down)
; TALENT = Extra talent at base (per "param"
; citizens, rounded up)
; ENERGY = Free energy reserves at start
; INTEREST = Energy reserves interest.
; Non-zero = constant percentage per turn (including negative)
; Zero = +1/base each turn
; COMMERCE = Increased commerce rate
; POPULATION = # to be added to population limit of
; each base for purposes of Habitation
; domes, etc.
; HURRY = Percentage change in costs of "Hurry"
; button on construction (e.g. 125 means
; 125% of normal cost, so 100 costs 125).
; UNIT = Extra free unit at start; param is
; index from units list (e.g. 0 equals
; Colonists, 1 Terraformers, 2 Scout
; Crawler)
; TECHCOST = Modifier % for tech research rate.
; (e.g. 125 means each discovery costs
; 125% the usual number of research
; points).
; SHARETECH = Gain any technology known to # other players
; TERRAFORM = Halves terraform raise/lower cost
; SOCIAL = Gives a modifier in the named social effect category
; ("SOCIAL, +EFFIC" raises the EFFIC rating by 1;
; "SOCIAL, --POLICE" lowers POLICE rating by 2);
; ROBUST = Halves the intensity of minus effects in the named
; social area ("ROBUST, EFFIC" halves minus efficiency
; effects in social model).
; IMMUNITY = Immunity from minus effects in the named social
; area. ("IMMUNITY, ENERGY" prevents minus energy
; effects in social model).
; IMPUNITY = Impunity :-) from minus effects from a particular
; social setting. "IMPUNITY, Police State" prevents
; all - effects from "Police State" setting.
; PENALTY = Opposite of impunity: doubles the negative effects
; of a particular setting.
; FUNGNUTRIENT= Modifier to NUTRIENT produced in fungus squares
; FUNGMINERALS= Modifier to MINERALS produced in fungus squares
; FUNGENERGY = Modifier to ENERGY produced in fungus squares
; COMMFREQ = Gets an extra comm frequency (another faction to
; talk to) at beginning of game. (Parameter is ignored)
; MINDCONTROL = Vehicles and bases immune to mind control
; FANATIC = +25% bonus on attack
; VOTES = Multiplier for governor votes
; FREEPROTO = Prototype cost reduced to zero for this faction

Illuminatus · December 20, 2003, 16:38

Almost forgot. For SMAX look in alphax file where you will find this additional options
; AQUATIC = This is a sea-based faction
; ALIEN = Non-human faction
; FREEFAC = Free facility when appropriate tech is discovered
; REVOLT = Additional % chance that other revolting bases will defect to this faction
; NODRONE = Number of drones per base made content
; WORMPOLICE = Mindworms do double police duty
; FREEABIL = All appropriate units have this ability when requisite tech is discovered
; PROBECOST = Percentage of normal cost for probe-team actions (default is 100)
; DEFENSE = Percent modifier for defensive combat (default is 100)
; OFFENSE = Percent modifier for offensive combat (default is 100)
; TECHSHARE = When used with SHARETECH, requires one to be spying on the other
; factions (by probe, Empath Guild, Governor, or Pact). Parameter is ignored.
; TECHSTEAL = Faction steal a tech when it captures a base. Parameter is ignored.

Andemagne · December 21, 2003, 19:35

Trancendence.

Googlie · December 21, 2003, 20:40

Quote:

Originally posted by The Mad Monk
Where do you find these extra option codes?

You also get them when using the facedit program:

(Which is actually a lot easier to use in smax than ever it was in smac)

G.

Illuminatus · December 22, 2003, 14:39

For some reason my facedit has all options blued so that I cannot read a thing

It is like running a window with dozen blue options. Anyway I used to manual modifying of files - probably because of constant tinkering with alpha.txt file.

Impaler[WrG] · December 23, 2003, 06:40

Hey Googlie ware can I find this Program your refering too? I like to edit my Alpha a lot and have been thinking of editing the Factions too. Particularly adding more things to the Original Factions that are in line with their Ethos such as giving Morgan Interest and using some of the other un-used paramiters like FreeAbility for all units (I think Morgan could have Free Fungacidal Tanks so as to destroy native life faster

)

Enigma_Nova · December 23, 2003, 08:11

Step 1. Buy Smax
Step 2. Locate facedit.exe

geniemalin · December 23, 2003, 12:50

Economic.

But then again, my favourite faction is the Morganites, so it's probably to be expected.

Mr. President · December 24, 2003, 02:52

How the heck do you do an economic victory? It always tells me "You need 600,000 energy credits to corner the energy market" and the like.

geniemalin · December 24, 2003, 09:35

You amass the required number of credits. Then you claim economic victory. The other factions have 20 (I think) turns to eliminate you or achieve victory themselves - if they can't, you corner the global energy market (and therefore win) at the end of that time.