What the heck is this? Planetfall Lurker thread

[Mardoc]

For those with only half a clue.

[Mardoc]

Glad to see that Selrahc's not the only one with a bad start. I was tempted to reroll when I saw that, but apparently I didn't need to.

[Ichabod]

Crazy game!

But it seems very interesting too. I hope the players keep updating.

[pling]

Wonder if the poor starts are deliberate from the map generator with better terrain elsewhere, or if the terrain is overall poor (ie everyone's expectations are "unreasonably" high for this mod)?

[Bigger]

what the heck is this? Alpha Centauri mod?

I can't beleive an AC game started and I didn't catch it . Woulda been all over this.

[Bigger]

If this game plays out like SMAC does, Sareln is absolutely screwed. Besides the bad start, Miriam REALLY needs tech trading on to compete. She's actually my favorite to pick in single player SMAC, but you really need to be the tech broker, taking any trade offered (whereas w/ other factions I'll be very careful in my trades, since the techs don't have a fixed cost like they do in civ - instead every new tech you get increases the cost of hte next one).

He does always have the covert ops out tho.

[SevenSpirits]

What does Miriam have to do with tech trades (in SMAC)?

[Azoth]

I discovered this mod a few months ago and played a few games.
It's quite well done, mechanics- and flavour-wise.
(This, from someone who has never played the original.)

The map generator is horrible at generating balanced starts, though.
Even more so than BtS.
Nicolae's start is much, much better than Selrahc's, for example.
Unless it happens to be surrounded by Mindworms.
In which case, an early elimination is not out of the question.

[Bigger]

What does Miriam have to do with tech trades (in SMAC)?

she sucks for self-teching. I mean, she really sucks - much more so than any leader in Civ4. She isn't even allowed to start researching until she is 10 turns into the game!! She more than makes up for it with her military capabilities (specifically support, which is much more important than morale) - but that doesn't change the fact that you're gonna lose to Zak or morgan or even dierdre if they have 6-3 units and you have 2-2 units.

the easiest way to overcome this is by being a tech broker. Tech's in AC don't have the same system as civ 4, where every tech is worth a certain cost. Instead, the first tech you research, regardless of what it is, is worth Y, the second is worth Yx 1.1 (or whatever, I don't know the exact formula), and they go up from there. So for any faction except miriam, it is very smart to avoid researching or trading for useless or less useful techs, as they slowdown the beeline to the ones you really need (if you pick up a tech you don't need right now, it immediately makes the one you are currently researching more expensive).

To put it another way, every tech, from lvl 1 to the last tech, "costs" the same amount, so if you bee line by skipping early techs you don't need you can get really deep into the tree (a common exploit in smac, for instance, is to research the covert ops tech, and use the covert ops unit, which has a move of 2, to make a prototype of a military unit with a move of 2, making it unnecessary to research the rover tech).

This means in a MP (really, even in a SP game) a lot of the factions are going to have gaps in their tree - and the best miriam strategy, imo, is to be the one willing to take any trade, to get whatever she can get. turning tech trades off is a big disadvantage to miriam - maybe even breaks the balance in the game.

The only other play Miriam has is to find Zak and invade him with covert ops doing "steal tech" missions. But if Seralhc builds the hunter-seeker algorithm (which is very possible, it comes quickly in Zak's usual tech path), then there's a good chance its gg for Sareln, even if he did have a good starting spot.

That said, I'm curious to find out how much this mod is similar to SMAC. the mod page specifically says its not meant to be a clone, so maybe the strategies I'm used to won't apply - I don't know.

Why are there not 7 players? Seems silly to play w/ 5 in an AC game. While I don't miss Santiago (worst faction, imo) I wish there was a Morgan player.

[Bigger]

I discovered this mod a few months ago and played a few games.
It's quite well done, mechanics- and flavour-wise.
(This, from someone who has never played the original.)

The map generator is horrible at generating balanced starts, though.
Even more so than BtS.
Nicolae's start is much, much better than Selrahc's, for example.
Unless it happens to be surrounded by Mindworms.
In which case, an early elimination is not out of the question.

yeah, SMAC was never good at that either. Whoever started by the jungle always had a tremendous advantage. Although i rarely get plunked down in a field of fungus. I mostly build forests everywhere anyway, so not overly concerned about rain patterns .