Posted June 19, 2017
I intend this to replace the "gameplay" stickied thread. Though I should see response, maybe post it on alphacentauri2.info. A more technical guide can be found here.
http://alphacentauri2.info/SMACX%20Beginners'%20Guide/Beginners'%20Getting-Started%20Strategy%20Guide%20for%20Sid%20Meier's%20Alpha%20Centauri-Alien%20Crossfire.html
I don't do infinite city sprawl (one base next to another.) I prefer the original and it's factions, though Pirates are fun. I haven't played multiplayer, though I once got 190% on a smaller single player map (conquest, iron man). I usually play Yang, since I wrote the Chinese Legalism page on wikipedia. Which you should read.
Factions
Gaians - By far the easiest and most practical faction to play with on a small map, unless you land right next to the Spartans. Apart from the power of mind worms, if you're playing with any amount of fungus mobility is a huge problem, so that you're probably hemmed in. Even if you have a hard time getting Centauri Empathy (for minworms), you can probably make yourself an empire from one or two factions early on. On a larger map the other factions will probably have anti-worm technology by the time you get to them.
Spartans are probably the second easiest to play with. Technically speaking, morale bonuses have diminishing returns. But for a new person in a single player game, their high morale (not to mention starting with Mobility) makes conquest, defence and colonization easier, including against mind worms, though you should probably still accompany any colony pod with a couple scout rovers. But apart from the police bonus they don't have a lot going for them if you don't have anyone to annex.
The Hive's automatic defence means you can build in enemy territory with near-impunity. But they depend on masses of units or military parity (i.e., weaponry that can defeat the given armour). Attempting to defeat a single synthemetal with average scouts is doable, but isn't at all practical. Their lesser technological (i.e. potentially hard time getting Industial Automation) and income capabilities initially limits their potential as a builder, but with a bit of infrastructure it's very doable.
Given their unit support, police, growth and production, they are theoretically the most capable faction.
Zakhrarov - good technology, early planned economy. drones aren't a problem early on. Needs to use it's muscles in a war. It's a lot more balanced to play than Morganites but I don't think the research bonus is that big a deal. You can probably get industrial automation easy enough but it's hard to fast make a robotic infrastructure out of nothing and the secret projects are making up for your drone problems. Might make it easier to get weather paradigm though. I'd have to ask other players.
Morgans are known for being tricky to play. If you get them rolling you make enough money to quickly buy energy banks with a swift technological pace, provided you advance well enough. If not, technology pace degrades. Their low support makes infrastructure a requirement even for colonizing, and free market makes more drones than Zak, making recreation commons your first building (or psych funding). On the other hand, Factions that have any mobility, like Spartans or Gaians, can make plenty of money from pods and worms if nothing else.
Early Technologies
Security management
I go over basic technologies from a security standpoint.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_management
Security management is the identification of an organization's assets (including information assets), followed by the development, documentation, and implementation of policies and procedures for protecting these assets. Loss prevention focuses on what your critical assets are and how you are going to protect them. Risk reduction must be consistent with the function of the business.
The possibility of eliminating the existence of criminal opportunity or avoiding the creation of such an opportunity is always the best solution.
Ecology (E1)
If you try and skip formers even just to build colony pod you may be wasting your time. Forests provide a big return for bonus tiles in particular.
I personally don't consider recycling tanks as bad a thing to make as others (but what do I know), since they provide an immediate return, but going for anything other than Ecology doesn't really seem to be an option. If you don't have the option of building these you're just going to lag behind.
Because opposing factions can quickly get ahead of you militarily, research tends to be more vital than expansion, and that means formers. Whether that makes Network Nodes better than a new base, I don't know if that is as good a bet, because they are expensive and only provide research (not more energy).
Roads also provide more possibility for defense, though mostly in a pinch.
Industrial Base (b1) and defense notes
Particularly in the expansion, which has walkers, if you're a less militarily capable faction (including yang), synthemetals are vitally important to your survival if you land next to a hostile faction. Otherwise, you probably want Mobility. But you do not want an outlying base taken down the road, so don't miss it. Offensive units are not the best defense if you're the one defending.
It isn't outside the range of possibility to have them gaurd colony pods, though they isn't useful against mindworms and is secondary to rovers. They aren't an unreasonable first build for an outlying base, as this will cut down on their cost if you aren't Democracy.
How important is armour for defence in general? Heavy armour is important against a concentrated attack. A mass of scouts will not stand up against a concentrated attack.
On the other hand, if there are only a couple lasered units and you have a barrier, they will stand up to it, and you can even finish off the attacking units. it also makes perfect sense to have a scout as the first line of defense, because it is cheap, cetrainly cheaper than losing an armoured unit or rover.
A synthemetal will probably not stand up against a rover on the open field, though it might make sense to send an armored unit into an area with offensive units, such as that of the believers, to test their offensive capability. Maybe with a colony pod behind.
Mobility (E2)
Unless you're going for infinite city sprawl (which is no fun againt the AI), you want is mobility (E2), to protect your colony pods, as they seem to hold their own against mind worms. Trying to protect Colony Pods with scouts is ridiculous. They also come in handy to mop up mind worms in your territory.
You probably shouldn't bother trying to attack an enemy with infantry unless it's a sure bet, unless they're elite. They're likely to get mowed down if they aren't killed by mind worms on the way there. Rovers also raise your military power index, which gives you a boost in diplomacy.
Conquest
At this point, If you were going on a blitzkrieg against an AI, you might have the option of going conquest. This is perfectly valid againt some of the AIs, that is, in those cases where it works; a higher level of military technology is a much simpler affair than any productive capability, making it initially wortwhile to skip any other technology.
Getting military technology with factions like the HIve is still very doable even without stealing it, though the number of level two technologies and lack of necessity for anything beyond a certain point gives it a diminishing return. Other factions probably haven't researched it though.
If you are too late though, your enemy has probes and they might mind control your bases (this can be avoided for units by stacking two). So it's a good bet you want Planatery Networks (D2).
Planatery Networks (D2)
If you get Planatery Networks, and your enemy has military technology, you can then steal the military technology (or whatnot), on top of Planned Economy and not having to worry about probes. Planatery Networks also leads to Polymorphic software, or artillery, which is important for dealing with enemy artillery (not so much for any other reason, as it is ineffective against armour without a technological edge). The Spartans tend to have artillery.
Social psych (B1)
Besides increasing you practical population maximum and limiting the need for police, you probably want recreation commons before you start any secret project. They are also rather necessarily for newly conquered bases, unless you just don't care.
http://alphacentauri2.info/SMACX%20Beginners'%20Guide/Beginners'%20Getting-Started%20Strategy%20Guide%20for%20Sid%20Meier's%20Alpha%20Centauri-Alien%20Crossfire.html
I don't do infinite city sprawl (one base next to another.) I prefer the original and it's factions, though Pirates are fun. I haven't played multiplayer, though I once got 190% on a smaller single player map (conquest, iron man). I usually play Yang, since I wrote the Chinese Legalism page on wikipedia. Which you should read.
Factions
Gaians - By far the easiest and most practical faction to play with on a small map, unless you land right next to the Spartans. Apart from the power of mind worms, if you're playing with any amount of fungus mobility is a huge problem, so that you're probably hemmed in. Even if you have a hard time getting Centauri Empathy (for minworms), you can probably make yourself an empire from one or two factions early on. On a larger map the other factions will probably have anti-worm technology by the time you get to them.
Spartans are probably the second easiest to play with. Technically speaking, morale bonuses have diminishing returns. But for a new person in a single player game, their high morale (not to mention starting with Mobility) makes conquest, defence and colonization easier, including against mind worms, though you should probably still accompany any colony pod with a couple scout rovers. But apart from the police bonus they don't have a lot going for them if you don't have anyone to annex.
The Hive's automatic defence means you can build in enemy territory with near-impunity. But they depend on masses of units or military parity (i.e., weaponry that can defeat the given armour). Attempting to defeat a single synthemetal with average scouts is doable, but isn't at all practical. Their lesser technological (i.e. potentially hard time getting Industial Automation) and income capabilities initially limits their potential as a builder, but with a bit of infrastructure it's very doable.
Given their unit support, police, growth and production, they are theoretically the most capable faction.
Zakhrarov - good technology, early planned economy. drones aren't a problem early on. Needs to use it's muscles in a war. It's a lot more balanced to play than Morganites but I don't think the research bonus is that big a deal. You can probably get industrial automation easy enough but it's hard to fast make a robotic infrastructure out of nothing and the secret projects are making up for your drone problems. Might make it easier to get weather paradigm though. I'd have to ask other players.
Morgans are known for being tricky to play. If you get them rolling you make enough money to quickly buy energy banks with a swift technological pace, provided you advance well enough. If not, technology pace degrades. Their low support makes infrastructure a requirement even for colonizing, and free market makes more drones than Zak, making recreation commons your first building (or psych funding). On the other hand, Factions that have any mobility, like Spartans or Gaians, can make plenty of money from pods and worms if nothing else.
Early Technologies
Security management
I go over basic technologies from a security standpoint.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_management
Security management is the identification of an organization's assets (including information assets), followed by the development, documentation, and implementation of policies and procedures for protecting these assets. Loss prevention focuses on what your critical assets are and how you are going to protect them. Risk reduction must be consistent with the function of the business.
The possibility of eliminating the existence of criminal opportunity or avoiding the creation of such an opportunity is always the best solution.
Ecology (E1)
If you try and skip formers even just to build colony pod you may be wasting your time. Forests provide a big return for bonus tiles in particular.
I personally don't consider recycling tanks as bad a thing to make as others (but what do I know), since they provide an immediate return, but going for anything other than Ecology doesn't really seem to be an option. If you don't have the option of building these you're just going to lag behind.
Because opposing factions can quickly get ahead of you militarily, research tends to be more vital than expansion, and that means formers. Whether that makes Network Nodes better than a new base, I don't know if that is as good a bet, because they are expensive and only provide research (not more energy).
Roads also provide more possibility for defense, though mostly in a pinch.
Industrial Base (b1) and defense notes
Particularly in the expansion, which has walkers, if you're a less militarily capable faction (including yang), synthemetals are vitally important to your survival if you land next to a hostile faction. Otherwise, you probably want Mobility. But you do not want an outlying base taken down the road, so don't miss it. Offensive units are not the best defense if you're the one defending.
It isn't outside the range of possibility to have them gaurd colony pods, though they isn't useful against mindworms and is secondary to rovers. They aren't an unreasonable first build for an outlying base, as this will cut down on their cost if you aren't Democracy.
How important is armour for defence in general? Heavy armour is important against a concentrated attack. A mass of scouts will not stand up against a concentrated attack.
On the other hand, if there are only a couple lasered units and you have a barrier, they will stand up to it, and you can even finish off the attacking units. it also makes perfect sense to have a scout as the first line of defense, because it is cheap, cetrainly cheaper than losing an armoured unit or rover.
A synthemetal will probably not stand up against a rover on the open field, though it might make sense to send an armored unit into an area with offensive units, such as that of the believers, to test their offensive capability. Maybe with a colony pod behind.
Mobility (E2)
Unless you're going for infinite city sprawl (which is no fun againt the AI), you want is mobility (E2), to protect your colony pods, as they seem to hold their own against mind worms. Trying to protect Colony Pods with scouts is ridiculous. They also come in handy to mop up mind worms in your territory.
You probably shouldn't bother trying to attack an enemy with infantry unless it's a sure bet, unless they're elite. They're likely to get mowed down if they aren't killed by mind worms on the way there. Rovers also raise your military power index, which gives you a boost in diplomacy.
Conquest
At this point, If you were going on a blitzkrieg against an AI, you might have the option of going conquest. This is perfectly valid againt some of the AIs, that is, in those cases where it works; a higher level of military technology is a much simpler affair than any productive capability, making it initially wortwhile to skip any other technology.
Getting military technology with factions like the HIve is still very doable even without stealing it, though the number of level two technologies and lack of necessity for anything beyond a certain point gives it a diminishing return. Other factions probably haven't researched it though.
If you are too late though, your enemy has probes and they might mind control your bases (this can be avoided for units by stacking two). So it's a good bet you want Planatery Networks (D2).
Planatery Networks (D2)
If you get Planatery Networks, and your enemy has military technology, you can then steal the military technology (or whatnot), on top of Planned Economy and not having to worry about probes. Planatery Networks also leads to Polymorphic software, or artillery, which is important for dealing with enemy artillery (not so much for any other reason, as it is ineffective against armour without a technological edge). The Spartans tend to have artillery.
Social psych (B1)
Besides increasing you practical population maximum and limiting the need for police, you probably want recreation commons before you start any secret project. They are also rather necessarily for newly conquered bases, unless you just don't care.
Post edited June 20, 2017 by BlaneckW