Im going to play SMAX again but want some advice

[SMIFFGIG]

Hi i want to start playing SMAX again but i would like some advice first from some of you SMAC veterans .

First off i have read the FAQ and taken note of that Pentium 4 issue (as I own a P4 machine)

What i would really like to know is, is there any good modpacks I should download before playing SMAX, like SAP for CtP2 is like a standard modpack that u have to have to play the game really. Anything like that for SMAX ?

And thats all really thanks for the help in advance

[Mongoose]

Nope. Not many modpacks for either game at all. None are widely used. Absolutely none are used in multiplay.

Just be sure you have the latest versions patched. SMAC4.0 (comes with Alien Crossfire) and SMAX2.0.

[Pandemoniak]

Build the Virtual World as soon as possible, get many NetNodes

[Urban Ranger]

Build the Weather Paradigm, that way you can put boreholes everywhere

[CEO Aaron]

I agree with Urban Ranger, the Weather Paradigm is the single most ubiquitously useful Secret Project in the game. I can't think of a single faction that can't make use of this one, and there's no base facility that will give equivalent benefits.

[SMIFFGIG]

Cheers for the advice guys, what does that wonder do exactly?

[CEO Aaron]

Its in the Datalinks, of course, but it speeds the completion of all terraforming done by formers you control by 30%, iirc, and allows all types of terraforming, regardless of tech advances, including raising and lowering terrain, and the construction of thermal boreholes.

This project gives turn advantage, plain and simple, and is the first one I build in every game.

[MariOne]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
Build the Weather Paradigm, that way you can put boreholes everywhere

CAVEAT:
obvious pitfall for unadvised players.
(sorry, I can't help chiming in everytime I see this happen again and again...)

The LEAST useful benefit for the WP is to build boreholes.
The WP does indeed allow advanced terraforming regradless of tech requirements.
The catch is, that you can thus build BHs, but only the normally required tech (Ecological Engineering) will lift mineral resources restriction. And the tech lifting energy resources restrictions comes even later.
So, even if thanks to the WP you can build BHs prior to EcoEng, you will only collect 0.2.2 from them (0 nutrients, 2 minerals, 2 energy) until you DO discover EcoEng anyway.
With the WP, a BH takes 16 formerturns to build.
A forest, requiring only 3 formerturns, yield a more balanced 1.2.1, much more useful in the early game.
The only applications for BH with the WP and prior to EcoEng are these:
- schedule your terraforming tasks, so that you complete forming your BHs *just in time* for when you discover EcoEng. At that moment they'll yeld a decent 0.6.2, and it would be useful if you have some operational ready -to-exploit, while WPless players can only *begin to build* them then.
- build BHs on mineral or energy specials, which lift the respective restrictions. Those tiles can yield 0.8.2 or 0.2.8 prior to EcoEng/EnvEcon. That will make them worth.
(Note that building a Mine+Road on a MinSpecial rocky tile will yield 0.7.0 and requires only 6+2=8 formerturns.
A BH on a MinSpecial yields 0.8.2, and although it requires 16 formerturns, its yield is regardless of a road and of underlying rockiness)

Apart the 50% increase in terraforming speed (=33% cutoff in terraforming tasks completion time), the WP is much more useful for:
- building Condensors early. Contrary to BHs, these DO lift the related restriciton (nutrients) on their own, effectivley allowing you to have 4-nut-tiles where you would have been limited to 2 nuts per tile. Various nutrient bonus make early Condensors even more desirable (see the table in this forum FAQs thread).
Early in the game, nutrient-intensive tiles can be even more important than minerals, as they tremendously boost your expansion: you'll have little use for too many minerals/forests, if you don't have enough bases and enough workers per base to exploit them (pre-crawlers)
- raising land earlier, and for this terraforming task the requisite tech (EnvEcon) would come even after EcoEng.
Raising land with the WP is fast and cheap, is more time-effective than seaforming in the early game, and apart "real-estate" expansion, if wisely used will also improve the raininess of your teritory. Not mentioning that it might give you easier access to other resourceful islands/continents, via landbridges

___

All this was only to shed correct light on the comment about WP and BHs...
To SMIFFGIG, I'd say that there is actually no single achievement that wraps the game, and this makes it so appealing.
It's more a matter of finely tuning and balancing all the game components so that you hum to the goals fitting your stile of play. You must focus on expansion and efficient exploitment of available resource in order to beeline to the goal you chose.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

I would tend to agree with Mario.

In order of usefulness I would rank WP beenfits as follows:

1) WP is extremely powerful SP. Early game use can be critical especially when used to provide extra nuts via condensor/farm combo as nutrient limit is bypassed for this combination. Especially important if in a tech hindered game such as blind or blind tech stag.

2) It is also extremely helpful to allow raise of land. Go to war across a land bridge etc. Especially useful if stuck on a smallish rock.

3) Increased t-forming speed. Means less formers means more mins put to other uses. Over the long haul this could be HUGE.

4) Boreholes are of minimal immediate early game use. Only rare situations make sense such as a finding a coastal min or energy special. Else you most likely want to wait until restrictions are lifted before contemplating a mess of boreholes. Your formers are better served speeding your growth via condensor/farms, foresting and mining/roading rockies (mostly in and around min restriction lifting) in the early game. After energy restrictions are lifted only then does BH enmasse make sense.

All in all the same conclusions as Mario.

[Alex]

Originally posted by SMIFFGIG

What i would really like to know is, is there any good modpacks I should download before playing SMAX, like SAP for CtP2 is like a standard modpack that u have to have to play the game really. Anything like that for SMAX ?

No need for mods, standard SMAC (or SMAX) is a game good enough on its own.

[Kirov]

So, talking about SP's, how would you guys rank those early-game SP's (HGP, WP, Merchant Exchange, Command Nexus, Virtual World, Citizen's Defense Force)?

For myself I think it would be:
1. HGP (I just hate these drones, and really like to force Golden Age having Wealth without FM)
2. VW (of course for UoP it's number one)
3. WP (I admit I once have been delighted by this SP, but at now I find it simply useful)
4. CDF (who wants to loose a base?)
5. CN (superior training and superior weaponry...

What do you think?

[Method]

my list is

1. WP
2. HGP
3. VW
4. CN
5. CDF
6. PTS

almost never even try for the ME

[CEO Aaron]

Its hard to rank the relative value of Secret Projects, since my builds largely are constrained by the techs I've received. Given that in almost every game where I'm not pressed from the outset, I'll be grabbing Centari Ecology, Biogenics, then beelining for Industrial Automation, the Projects I build first would be:

1) Weather Paradigm
2) Human Genome Project
3) Planetary Transit System
4) Virtual World
5) Merchant Exchange

I often will miss out on Command Nexxus and Citizen Defense Force if my tech is being outstripped by another faction. I may reprioritize if I'm playing certain factions or certain styles of play. If I'm the University, obviously Virtual World becomes critical. Human Genome is more valuable with Peacekeepers, as is the Empath Guild.

Of the early SPs that I can most afford to let slide: Command Nexxus. Great wonder if you're going to play momentum, but I build frequently, and will often maintain only a couple Command Centers to provide my modest garrison and troop requirements, only building more in cities that are near an invasion threat.

Virtual World and HGP are nice to have, but if I'm playing Yang, Miriam or Santiago, I can easily rely on police to brutalize my drones into submission, and I will rarely bother to enhance my research capabilities, relying on probe teams to keep my tech current.