Sealurk pros and cons

Iskandar Reza · April 20, 2001, 15:57

Sealurks, what's the use?

The pros:

1. I can only think of one, killing units on the shore
2. This cannot be a pro, since the AI know's where your units are, hidden or not (so you know what I'm talking about)

The cons:

1. Very rarely do you actually catch it.
2. Can't transport units.
3. Can't move freely in fungus (i think this is a bug)
4. You can build it only late in the game, better spend those minerals on something else

Tell me I'm wrong. Tell me there's other uses for my lone sealurk (great boil, great pet, poor warrior)

Fitz · April 20, 2001, 16:46

Pod Popping! Just make sure you save movement points, 'cause I think native life will attack a sealurk.

Good warior against enemy navy if:

1. High moral (you did say DemonBoil, right?) as navy is typically green in the early game.
2. You have the Neural Amplifier (since they can always find you).
3. You are lacking fusion but your opponent isn't.
4. You have the Dream twister.
5. You have a severely bad weapon to enemy armor ratio.

Basically, all the normal advantages of native life. Now if you're asking 'whats the advantage of a Sea Lurk over a Isle of the Deep?', the answer is that it attacks Coastal Bases (big whoop, right?).

Personally, I've always wanted to try the Spore Launcher/IoD combo, but I've never gotten around to it.

WhiteElephants · April 20, 2001, 16:46

Yeah, I'm a little miffed that they don't move freely through fungus too. I guess that's the price you pay for invisibility. In MP it's like a sub only it doesn't carry anything and defends with psi powers. Against the AI its probably worthless. Against a human it's a promotion up from worthless.

Cybergod · April 21, 2001, 07:23

quote:

Originally posted by Fitz on 04-20-2001 04:46 PM
Pod Popping! Just make sure you save movement points, 'cause I think native life will attack a sealurk.

Nope, strangelly the AI alien lifeforms seem ignore my lone sealurks (the invisibility thing strangely works against aliens!). I popped several pods with IoD but when it came to the next turn, the IoD just ignored my sealurk and moved on to my shores...

Jokka das Trevas · April 21, 2001, 15:11

quote:

Originally posted by SMAC Fanatic on 04-21-2001 12:40 PM
Well, say your Treatymate has got a ship sitting right next to one of your bases or something and you hate that. (Morgan does it to me all the time - why can't you order ships out of your territory?) You don't want to risk a Vendetta by probing, so just wander a Sealurk up next to him and release it into the wild! It works wonders, trust me!

Sorry, but I couldn't catch what you meant by "release it into the wild" :P

------------------
-----
Long live THE HIVE!

Rift · April 21, 2001, 15:35

quote:

Originally posted by Jokka das Trevas on 04-21-2001 03:11 PM
Sorry, but I couldn't catch what you meant by "release it into the wild" :P

Well, if you release a native lifeform into the wild, they will usually go and attack the closest unit, which in the situation presented above, is your ally's ship. If you attack the ally directly with the sealurk in your command, you will be forced to pronounce vendetta and suffer a reputation hit. But by releasing it into the wild, the sealurk attacked the ship on it's own accord, so you cannot be blamed, even though you set the assault up...so in other words, your reputation would not be stained. And in case you don't know how to, to release a unit into the wild, just click the turn over control option in the action menu. If the unit is in an ally's territory, then two options will come up, one for releasing into the wild, and one for turning it over to your ally.

Clear Skies · April 22, 2001, 00:40

Well, say your Treatymate has got a ship sitting right next to one of your bases or something and you hate that. (Morgan does it to me all the time - why can't you order ships out of your territory?) You don't want to risk a Vendetta by probing, so just wander a Sealurk up next to him and release it into the wild! It works wonders, trust me!

knowhow2 · April 22, 2001, 17:51

quote:

Originally posted by Fitz on 04-20-2001 04:46 PM

Good warior against enemy navy if:

1. High moral (you did say DemonBoil, right?) as navy is typically green in the early game.
2. You have the Neural Amplifier (since they can always find you).
3. You are lacking fusion but your opponent isn't.
4. You have the Dream twister.
5. You have a severely bad weapon to enemy armor ratio.

Question: how do plan to get the twister without getting the Fusion Power first?

Earwicker · April 23, 2001, 09:15

quote:

Originally posted by Jokka das Trevas on 04-21-2001 03:11 PM
Sorry, but I couldn't catch what you meant by "release it into the wild" :P

On that unit's turn, hit Ctrl-Shift-U, and it says "release into the wild?" yes/no.

I've never noticed that Lurks can't move through fungus. Even before I have the XenoDome. I captured one fairly early in my current game, when the Gaians still had the Dome.

But when all is said and done, I haven't found them to be that useful. Pod-popping with IoD's is more practical for AA's, and beyond the early game alien life isn't that good for attacking bases or other ships.

Lurks have a great, creepy sound, however, and that appeals to me.