landmarks

[D4everman]

What do you consider the best landmark to have under your control? I'm sure it depends on the faction used and the style of the player, but I was just wondering what people's opinions are. I usually play as the UoP, the Cyborgs or the Peacekeepers.

As far as landmarks go I'm usually happy if I can snag the Moonsoon Jungle, but it can be detrimental at the start of a game, especially as the UoP. The population grows a little faster and drone problems occur faster because of that, unless you can get things under control (build rec commons fast get the VW).

I never noticed any real advantage to the having the Manifold Nexus.

Geothermal Shallows or the Fossil thing has done little for me as I don't build a lot of sea bases. By the midgame I won't build any because they take too long to get up to speed.

Mt. Planet has been useful, plus I like the idea of having my own volcano. (At least it doesn't erupt and do a Pompeii on me....or does it? Maybe theres a random event I've never witnessed.

The Borehole Cluster- I like it! I wonder if its better to just have it in your borders and use crawlers on it or if its better to build a base in the center of the boreholes?

Unity Wreckage- Fine if you get there first. Other than that I'm not a big fan. Last time I had it within my borders I took all of the stuff out of it and used the area to build a few boreholes and crawlered 'em.

Pholus Ridge- For some reason everytime I try to colonize it someone attacks the bases there exclusively. Last time it was Miriam.

Sunny Mesa and Garland Crater- it might be just me, but for some reason when I get these two things it takes a LOOONG time before my formers can reap any benefits. For once I'd like to make either one of them useful.

Any other opinions?

D4

[cbn]

The Monsoon Jungle is my favorite even with the university. Control the drones by building pods to create even more bases or just use a doctor or two until you get the proper facilities or can use better specialists. I see no disadvantage to growing faster and with a small bit of care you have multiple size 7 bases in no time flat

The borehole cluster-- I will plunk a couple of bases down so they can share use of the boreholes (great for micromanaging your builds). I will only crawler boreholes if there is some reason that I don't want a base in the area OR if the energy is going to be crawlerd inro a super-science city.

Geothermal shallows-- A great place from which to crawl energy. build tidal harnesses and go from there .

MT Planet, crater, Pholus ridge -- all great spots--

The ruins-- I love this area-- 3 to 4 bases can go around the fringes and require zero terraforming for years.


Sunny mesa-- its high-- little extra energy is ok but no big deal

[Ned]

I like the Manifold Nexus the best. That +1 Green really helps in pod popping.

Ned

[xeno7667]

Yes, Manifold Nexus is best. With a base on it you can choose a green stategy (except Miriam) even if you are not Deirdre or Cha Dawn.

[death_head]

I love putting a base in the center of the ruins...very high production, and good luck trying to sneak attack it if you build a sensor array...

[Avenoct]

I played many games trying desparately to get the Jungle, and I hated the ruins with all that fungus...but the biggest tragedy was that I usually ignored or just incidentally used the Uranium Flats. They are now my favorite landmark. The jungle is all and all more useful in more situations, as is the Nexus, but in a few games, where you need tech quickly, those Uranium bubbles sure do the trick, especially if you find or make a river there. On huge maps, this isn't as important as the Jungle. And the ruins! Miriam managed to plunk a base in the middle while we were at tech parity and I was busily trying to attack her bases to give to Yang. It was very tough to get a unit in there, keep it alive one turn, and counterstroke. Needless to say, native life (or the Xenoempathy Dome) negates this effect, but for the early game on a small map surrounded by hostiles, the ruins are like having a base in the bank.

Do you ever name your own landmarks? It's quite fun, and useful on large or huge maps...I often name areas for events that havn't happened yet, like 'Miriam's final Frontier' when I'm guessing she'll plunk a base down there and it'll be the first one I take from her. The best guess I ever had doing this was 'Sheng-ji Peaks'. I hadn't even met Yang, didn't know where he was, but 15 turns later a little blue rover popped up on those very peaks, hailing a large, though failed attack by the Hively one.

-Smack

[Kassiopeia]

I recently had a LAN party playing SMAC. Asides from the hilarious way we backstabbed ourselves all the time - reflecting from the fact that I was backstabbed first from the guy I least xpected it from - I had a quarrel with a guy all the time. We expressed it by naming sites of our respective terriotories with awful insults. And when I my unready lowtech defenses were overrun I had to submiss to the Gaians, I named the remainer of by bases as Polish cities. The invasion and tech difference was THAT big.

[death_head]

Yes, ever since I found out how to name a region, multiplayer became a lot more fun...

[Kirnwaffen]

I'm a diehard Pirate, so Geothermal shallows is my favorite, followed closely by the Manifold Nexus and the Monsoon Jungle.

K

[Blake]

In all my LAN games naming landmarks becomes a game in itself. That's a truly great novelty to have, because you can personalise your territory, and taunt your enemy. (Once I was engaged in a "war" over the naming rights of the Sunny Mesa, teehee)

My favourite landmarks are probably Mt Planet, Garland crater (for the minerals), altough I would have to put a vote in for the FW sea, because it's such a great food basin, and a reasonably secure place to put trawlers.

As for the jungle: what were they smoking when they put that in!

The mesa has one benefit, it provides a perfect site to drill boreholes, both on the top and around the base.

[Avenoct]

Ah Blake, you are right! I'll have to stop hating the Mesa. It's so ugly!

[Clear Skies]

How does one name a landmark anyway?

[Blake]

Shift-N, that brings up a dialouge to enter a name, if an existing landmark is near the selected tile then it renames it. You can use this to rename Mt planet, or whatever. Ctrl-shift-N deletes a landmark. Both of these can also be done via the network menu.

[Clear Skies]

Thanks! I'll try it.
Most useful landmark? I like the Borehole Cluster and the Pholus Ridge quite a lot.
Is it true that there are other landmarks whose presence is not made felt in vanilla SMAC/X? Do you have to alter the alpha.txt or something in order to see these landmarks?

Oh, and the Great Dunes can be quite useful - as long as you stick a base in the centre of them and then gift it to one of the really irritating factions. You get the added kudos that comes from gifting a base and you get to see their formers go mad trying to generate enough nutrients to keep the base alive!

[Earwicker]

The Ruins are my favorite, esp if I can get there in the early game. As a typically Green player, it makes good worm-hunting grounds, is easy to defend, upgrade units, etc. And its pre-restriction-lifting production of 2-2-2 in eight squares is awesome! Manifold Nexus also suits my play well.

The Wreckage is good to hunt and find early, but is somewhat overpowered at that stage of the game. Most other landmarks reuire terraforming to fully exploit but this one gives you 2 free units, a huge energy boost, and com/locations -- quite a payoff for very little effort.

I'm a big fan of the Crater, uranium, shallows, and fresh sea for easy productivity boosts.

The fossil ridge is hard to exploit, since deep-water terraforming arrives late (pirates only), and raising the seafloor obliterates the landmark. Hmmm.

[NorthSwordsman]

I just take any landmark I can and make the best use of it. I do enjoy the Uranium flats or the crater- both really help boost producing. Other than that, I'll take whatever I can get and use them.

My least fav? Pholus Ridge. Between the worms and AI... sigh.... always get blasted off it for one reason or another.

[DilithiumDad]

In theory Pholus Ridge is great --+1 energy for quite a few tiles (I believe it's six). But for some reason the map generator always covers it in fungus (this is also true in Map of Planet and in my own Ultimate Builder, sad to say).

Mt. Planet is best because it is +mineral AND +energy AND high elevation.

Garland Crater is also excellent. Farm/solar is a good choice. Actually, putting a condensor in the center tile may be all the terraforming you really need for the whole thing (gives you 2-2-0 with no terraforming and 4-1-0 for the center tile).

Uranium Flats and Geothermal are only good if they're near your HQ --otherwise you lose the energy to inefficiency unless you crawl it out or are playing high-efficiency factions.

The Wreckage stinks --it's another desert with some cheap trinkets.

Nessus Canyon is great --there's usually a river in it and +1 minerals in about 6 tiles. It only appears in maps made with the Scenario Editor, though.

[death_head]

That never seems to be the case when I see the Pholus ridge... maybe it's cause I rarely see it...

[Avenoct]

Oh, one more thing... I like the Desert! Forested, it's just normal, but with a borehole cluster, intermixed with condensor farms, it makes for easy terraforming as it's flat!

[JustinSane]

My favorite landmarks to have, at least on the huge map of planet, are the monsoon jungle, the freshwater sea, and the manifold nexus. I almost always have worms for the bulk of my army, so the nexus adds directly to their combat effectiveness. The monsoon jungle is fairly self explanatory. The freshwater sea is useful because it lets one fight for naval superiority with 4 or 5 coastal bases, but with only one exposed to enemy sea attack. Generally, there is a trade off between increased potential navy and increased vulnerability to amphibious assault. With the freshwater sea, it's all good

[Clear Skies]

On the SMAX huge map of planet the only way into or out of the freshwater sea is by building a base somewhere along a stretch of about three land squares. Plonk one down in the middle of those squares, garrison it properly, and you have your own little safe sea! No enemy can get into it, and you're perfectly free to get out of it using that one land base as a go-between.

I like the Freshwater Sea - Aquafarms and Kelp Farms combined give you...is it 5 nuts? I forget...
Anyway, good place to plonk a few bases and foil-crawl in some serious nutrients!

[Earwicker]

Heck, yes! And the AI always ignores it. For some reason, every time I play on map of planet, I start right next to the fresh sea. Happy times.

[death_head]

The A.I. never seems to ignore it when I play, they just attack the garrison city (and lose )

[Kassiopeia]

I have nver seen/heard before about "Nessus Canyon". ?

[Avenoct]

The Nessus Canyon is not used by the game directly, but is included in the data. You have to use the Scenario Editor to plonk it down on the map...it's sort of an upside down Phollus Ridge in shape. Wouldn't it be fun if there was a way to create your own landmarks? Hrm...I'd make a variation of the Ruins, maybe a Temparate Forest-+1 minerals +1 energy in every square.

-Smack

[Vytae]

As a hardcore Morgan Player Mt Planet and Uranium flats are my fav's the energy and minerals and high elevation (more energy) are a huge boost. The uranium flats are excellent,if you luck out and have your HQ near(or in it) plus a energy bonus or two. And your HQ can power your whole empire,can anyone say boreholemuch?

Manifold Nexus is a big plus and i always take if i can,that way when i run freemarket i dont get my selfmade borehole clusters raped as bad.

[death_head]

How hard would it be to mess with the game data? You'd just have to follow the same format...of course, I don't know anything about editing...

[Hoek]

Manifold nexus is the best...if you get it early, you get a big boost in all the native life you can capture, and you usually win in battles w/native life...the worst one with any real benefits is the fossil ridge...it actually hampers production since it's aways in ocean squares and can't be developed...I like the geothermal shallows because it's usally big enough to form some nice sea colonys. Have we forgotten about the fungus sea (i forget what it's called)? If you have X-Dome or lots of alien units, its the perfect hideout

[death_head]

The fungus sea is awesome late game, because all you have to do is put a base in the middle, and voila! 2-2-2 per square guaranteed, not counting satellites, bonuses, etc.

[Kassiopeia]

The "Fungus Sea" is "New Sargasso".