Tough Gigs

[Velociryx]

Since SMAC is such a wonderfully customizable game, I've been having a good deal of fun staying up much later than I should and playing with different factions/game settings, just to make my life more difficult.....If you're looking for a supreme challenge or a royal romp, I recommend any of the following (on Transcend Level):

REALLY Tough Gigs:
Morgan - Tiny Map - Aggressive opponents

Gaia - Tiny Map - Few Alien Life Forms

Univeristy - Tiny Map - Slow tech dev.

Peacekeepers - Tiny Map (I've found these guys to be just plain hard to play consistently on a tiny map....esp. with aggressive opponents)

On the other hand, if you're just looking to see how high you can jack up your score, I'd recommend any of the following (again, on Transcend level):

Easy/Fun:
Spartans - Tiny Map - Average Alien life - Aggressive Opponents - Slow Tech Dev. (you almost can't lose)

Gaians - Tiny Map - Abundant Alien Life - Slow Tech Dev.

University - Huge Map - Avg. Alien Life - Slow Tech Dev. (again, you almost can't lose)

Morgan - Huge Map (configure the rest as your mood dictates....it won't really matter!) :-)
-Vel.

[HolyWarrior]

Here's what I see as the ultimate challenge.
The Believers go for Transcend victory on huge map.
As for a romp, I think the Believers would have an even easier time than the Spartans on small maps. They can support 4 units per base, and once they get the probe teams going, look out!