Hrm. For the past few months, it seems like all of my Alpha Centauri games have been the same. Growth, Limited Conquest, Diplomatic Victory. All the time I tell myself "alright, OF, you're going to win THIS game by transcnedence". Unfortunately, after 300 years all of my capable oponents lie conquered or sworn to serve me and I can't stand just hitting the "turn complete" button over and over again so I break and click the "Unite Behind me as Supreme Leader" button.

So my question to you SMAC players: How do you build up the patience for transcendence victory? It is taking me forever to even get close tech-wise (breakthroughs every 5 turns). How do you guys stand the wait?

------------------
"Companions the creator seeks, not corpses, not herds or believers. Fellow creators the creator seeks -- those who write new values on new tablets.' -- Friedrich Nietzsche
The Store of Bruce
Return of the Webboard Theory Site

I actually beat it the first time through transcendance. With the Gaians, no less. The trick is to concentrate as much of your power on research and development as possible. (I had it very, very strong. I got up to whatever the bonus technology is, level 8 or 9 before completing the ascent to trancendance.)

I just conquered anyone stupid enough to attack me, and swore permanent alliance to the University. I think all that was left in the end was us and the Believing. But the Believing wasted too much on its war with me, and consequently had horrible tech. (Thank gods for mind worms. )
Because of the Believing being my enemies, I couldn't win diplomatically without wiping them out, and they were too far-spread, and I lacked offensive power after wiping out the other factions.

Great game, but it does take alot of patience.

------------------
"Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so."
-Ford Prefect
Anomalous Arts

I just played as the university. First time I had the full game, too.

But: I managed to conquer every single faction in the demo with the spartans. That was a lot of fun.

------------------
Kinescope: heh heh... that just inpired me to a potential new quit message
Kinescope: Read error: Connection reset by illiteracy
Kinescope: no offense to those who cannot read, of course....

I'm also playing as University. I know how to get there and all, but it just takes a lot of time.

My question, which none of you really answered, is what do you guys DO durring that time while you're just researching and finishing the last two projects? I can't stand the boredom.

------------------
"Companions the creator seeks, not corpses, not herds or believers. Fellow creators the creator seeks -- those who write new values on new tablets.' -- Friedrich Nietzsche
The Store of Bruce
Return of the Webboard Theory Site

If you chunk your research up to the max, there is a lot less waiting around. If you still have time to spare you could have fun lobbing planetbusters at your allies and just about ruin your chances of diplomatic victory. Or you could go and make toast.

Az

------------------
___
"Your superior intellect is no match for our primative weaponry!"
Don't ask, just click.

Generally, I make social choices such that I have breakthroughs every 1-3 turns and enough money to buy the last secret project or two.

------------------
"Not believing in force is the same thing as not believing in gravity."
-Trotsky

Well, the closest I came was playing as Morgan. I got to the point where I was only 200 years into the game, 1 step away from the Singularity Cannon and earning a little more than 1200 a year. Problem was that it took half an hour for 1 turn at that point. I would have taken the world before I got to transcendence, but that's the closest I've come. Good game though.

------------------
"You will find that your device is highly non-functional...." - Bad Guy
My Webpage!

What difficulty are you playing on? Trust me, on some of the higher difficulties, if the rules are set correctly, you will always have your hand full. Of course, if this is still not challenging you could do what I do and vote off the atrocities and test your nuclear weapons on people's bases.

------------------
"The supreme happiness in life is the conviction that we are loved -- loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves." -Victor Hugo

This is a game I always wish I had. It seems so much more interesting than Civilization III, which itself seems like a rehashing of CivII. I actually ordered the game once form outpost.com, but a few days later I was told it was out of stock.

That and I want to nuke people.

------------------
35. The liberal hates you.

I was busy squashing the hive with my singularity max-armour clean 'copters and planes.

Twas fun, I took the main city with 20+ planes and 1 infantry unit.





------------------
Kinescope: heh heh... that just inpired me to a potential new quit message
Kinescope: Read error: Connection reset by illiteracy
Kinescope: no offense to those who cannot read, of course....

Infantry with drop pods are fun

------------------
Blää varför spenderar jag min tid här finns faktiskt bättre saker att göra...nåja
Propaganda, so click
Warcraft3 nick gN.Gremling on europe

Not as much fun as heavily armored drop anti-air probe hovertanks with quantum power. Nor as expensive.

------------------
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said "We routinely never discuss intelligence issues.''

Wow. Heh, looks like I'm missing out on a lot of fun by getting Supreme Leadership while I'm still on Chaos Guns and Fusion power. I've only gotten to hovertanks twice and quantum and singularity once (same game). I've yet to get to orbital insertions, which I hear are also quite enjoyable.

------------------
"Companions the creator seeks, not corpses, not herds or believers. Fellow creators the creator seeks -- those who write new values on new tablets.' -- Friedrich Nietzsche
The Store of Bruce
Return of the Webboard Theory Site

I have looked all over the place for a copy of SMAC. Everyplace I check doesn't have it in stock. I played the demo and since then, I have been looking for SMAC. It's much more fun then Civ3.

Civ3 was a major upset. There is really nothing new from Civ2. Which I enjoy more then the new one.

-thrawn

------------------
mailto:thrawn@ev-nova.netthrawn@ev-nova.net Just Tech: For all your problems www.ev-nova.net
Smart kids don't do drugs.

Interesting that it is out of stock. I played the demo in late 98' (I think) and knew I had to have it. I have usually been wimpy and only played on an easy level, but I've played on some of the harder ones once in a while. I wanted the expansion pack but never did get around to getting it, I wonder if it is even available anymore...

I love the orbital power transmitters and Nessus mining stations. You stock up on those and you are set, especially if you have a large civillization.

For science I put my main city in the middle of the geothermal sea area, put tide harnesses all over, happened to have 2 energy resources within city bounds and also built ALL the science doubling special projects there. Another great way to up energy is to send out supply convoys and have them sit on Boreholes or solar panels. You could get a super-productive science city.

------------------
"You will find that your device is highly non-functional...." - Bad Guy
My Webpage!

Don't bother. Aspyr.com sells it for like 10 bucks, but its not of much quality. There are just too many imperfections. Faction bases and artwork is one color while their borders are different colors. The alien units look cartoonish and totally out of place. And if you wish to play as an original faction, your bases are clear and your borders white, and the same goes for all other original factions in that game.

------------------
"Companions the creator seeks, not corpses, not herds or believers. Fellow creators the creator seeks -- those who write new values on new tablets.' -- Friedrich Nietzsche
The Store of Bruce
Return of the Webboard Theory Site

When it doubt, buy it on eBay.

------------------


[This message has been edited by UE Crusader (edited 07-22-2002).]

Heh, thanks for the tip. It did look a little off to me...

------------------
"You will find that your device is highly non-functional...." - Bad Guy
My Webpage!

I generally find that even at the higher difficulties, that the AI isn't challenging enough. I prefer to keep the other factions in a state of competition with each other. Essentially, if I notice that , say, the believers are about to wipe out the morganites, I cede to morgan an outlying city far away from miriam, and help morgan get back on his feet. maintaining tension among the enemies is a major improvement over Civ2.

The best game of SMAC that I ever played was as the hive. The majority of my cities were within the monsoon jungle. By about 2400, the Peacekeepers, the Spartans, and the Believers were in submissive pacts with me. I was making 6000+ energy a turn. With the help of the cloning vats, I had 15 cities with populations over 40. Unfortunately, I didn't play this game through to the finish, my massive population led to sea levels that rose every turn. The Believers began to drown en masse, and my beautifully set up system of borders was sinking beneath the waves. Planet really messes with you by transcend difficulty.

------------------
True wisdom means acknowledging that you know nothing.

I only have the demo, but I have had funny games. Here's one that has happened many times:

I was the university, and I had the Galting Gun. Everyone else kept saying "Surrender, or be crushed by my surperior weaponry!" or something like that, and then got wiped out as they tried to defend themselves with puny laser cannons. Finally(in about the last decade of the demo), the Believers were left, they called me and said "We have working models of our Sythenal Sentinals on the production lines! Prepare to be crushed!" Something on those lines, anyway.

------------------
"Hmm? Defense fleet? What defense fleet? I haven't seen any defense fleet around here. Just radioactive debris."-me
"If it's not on fire, it's a software problem"-Matthew Burch
Just guess
Ooooooooooh,Ahhhhhhhh!

I think the funniest thing was when the Beleivers declared war on me in one game... I had Silksteel armor and Plasma shard weapons on this cruiser of mine. Well, all of sudden up pops this foil

"I'm gonna smite you! <blah blah, whiney whiney whine> End transmission"

So she tells her laser foil to attack my ship.

10 seconds later - laser foil 0, Cruiser 1. I thought it was pretty funny that the unit she declared war on me with was immediately destroyed in its first attack.

------------------
"You will find that your device is highly non-functional...." - Bad Guy
My Webpage!

While we're on the topic of funny stories ... In the first complete game I played, I was the Peacekeepers and was on the verge of taking over the planet, and all that was standing in my way was Morgan. Needless to say, my full squadron of Singularity Gravships demolished all the Plasma Sentinels he had readied to defend himself ... I think it took 20 turns to take him over completely. It was fun, though I settled for becoming Supreme Leader (having twice as many votes as everyone else combined, because I was the UN of course ) when I should probably have gone ahead and crushed my allies out of sheer sadism.

------------------
Visit my EVO web site at http://www.evoverride.com!
"What a piece of work is man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form and moving how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?" -- Hamlet, Hamlet, II.ii

[This message has been edited by shayborg (edited 07-30-2002).]

My friend has been playing a game at my house for like a year now (I tell him to leave but... ) and he's beaten everyone but Morgan and the Unoversity. He has nukes and so I advised him to simply wait and build enough nukes to destroy every city in the world. Morgan has 1 city left which he is protecting, and he is allied with the University. It'll be bye-bye for Morgan, war with the old allies, and then every single enemy city destroyed in one turn... It'll be sweet!

------------------
"You will find that your device is highly non-functional...." - Bad Guy
My Webpage!