Alpha Centauri

[gin]

For old hands or newcomers, discuss tips and tricks and strategies for your favourite factions etc.

First off, probe teams with heavy armor and PSI defence are the best garrison units...because they help defend against probes and cost no support.

Later on in the game you might also want to design probe teams with airdrop ability, so youc an basically land them anywhere once you get to orbital spaceflight.

Deisgning more expensive supply crawlers is also worth it, later on your cities will be producing more than 30 minerals per turn and even so, if you update a cheap supply crawler into a more expensive airdrop/empath crawler, you'll get more minerals out of it when you upgrade them and use them to hurry wonders. At a much better rate than just investing energy to hurry productions.

The gog.com link
http://www.gog.com/gamecard/sid_meiers_alpha_centauri
It's just 6 bucks.
And here, the AI improvements (and a little bit of balancing and fixed descriptions)
SMAX
http://www.mediafire.com/?mqtn47cmj73c0gb
SMAC
http://www.mediafire.com/?6redidk4z42h1mo

[Uriel]

Ok, lets do this. So, maybe you could shed some light how commerce works in Ac for me. Are there trade routes like in civ series? I forgot all about trade and now I'm baffled. Does trade start automaticaly as a passive bonus when I enter an agreement?

[Uriel]

I guess that guy plays as The Alghoritm.

[gin]

Well, trade happens with other factions if you have signed a treaty of friendship, adding energy to the base tiles of your cities, similar to recycling tanks, except more the more treaties you have and the bigger your bases are, also depending on different other boni, like the Morgans being Morgan.

[Uriel]

Thought so, thanks.

By the way - do you terraform to kill other players? It's hilarious, I love this game for it. Nothing makes my day better than rising huge ass mountain range and cutting Sister from humidity. Basically starving her ass into an oblivion.

[gin]

Well, I rather like to sink cities without pressure domes.
Planetbusters and melting polarcaps...

I still haven't quite grasped the effects of elevation on humidity, is there maybe a helpful guide or something?
Another thing I'd like is a printable tech tree.

[Uriel]

Humidity is simple, it's described in tool tip when you buid first former I think. Basicaly wind in the game blows from left to right in screen space (west to east). So if you make a mountain its left slope will catch humidity and green up and right slope will become arid and loose nutrient bonuses.

[gin]

So...optimally you'll make the east into mountains and flatten the west?

[Uriel]

I think slopes have even higher bonuses, meaning that east slope is more arid than flad tile just east of a mountain. But don't quote me on that. I also hope I don't mess up directions here - just launch the game, find a mountain and check which slope is green.

Also, one slope is better at aggregating solar power than other. Possibly southern does that better than northern one. But now I'm just guessing, havent used that in few years.

[gin]

I thought energy (from solar) was only dependent on height, every 1000m of elevation, one extra point.

Anyway, tried a game as Morgan...it didn't go so well. I should have tried to get everyone united against Yang...who is now bombing my formers and I have to try and hurry an interceptor force...