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Settler
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Jul 2008
time: 04:40
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Ni hao, peoples. Let me start out by saying that I'm a Civ2 vet and used to play it religiously for awhile. I recently got a hold of Alpha Centauri (just the original, not Alien Crossfire) and it seems just as good, and more interesting than Civ2. The problem is that I have no freaking clue to what's going on. I mean all these new terms and different units that you can customize seem overwhelming. The factions also have much more of a difference than the civs did. I'm not sure if I should only play to a faction's strength (like Morgan and making energy) or trying to make up their weakness (like Morgan's not so good support and military).
Basically, I was wondering if anyone has strategies to help me on my way. Like which faction to ease into, etc. I don't want to have to only play on the easiest difficulty, because that would get boring quickly, like Civ2 did until I manned up and tried harder levels.
Anyway, any help would be appreciated.
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Emperor
New Syracuse, Beta Prime
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Dec 2001
time: 23:40
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Hi StealthKab,
typically the University is the best Faction to start out with. The best way to immerse yourself into the game is to start a game (as the Uni's), and once you land on Planet press the F1 key to bring up the Datalinks. Once in the Datalinks review the Faction profiles (usually one of the Factions strengths and weaknesses will catch your fancy, and you'll tend to gravitate towards them in time): note which Factions are polar opposites, and be aware of this when entering diplomatic negotiations with that Faction(example: the Uni's opposite is the Believers, and they will easily go to war with the Unis), and then the general terms.
Once your done reviewing the Datalinks start playing the game. Once you've researched a technology review what your next research options are, and determine what is best for your Faction (in time you'll figure out what the best technology beelines are). Also everytime you research a tech you get a message box stating what all the tech enables: review each of the items, and think about if they are things you need immediately or not, and if and when you should build them.
Once you start playing you'll probably get more questions. Just post them here, and people will usually be able to answer them.
Good Luck! 
D
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I would start with the Peacekeepers. They have the least factional characteristics.
We started a demogame a month and a half ago with a faction that has no factional characteristics.
We've only played 7 turns. You're welcome to join the game. If you wish to observe, feel free to post questions and comments at the end of the utility thread.
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Settler
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Jul 2008
time: 04:40
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You're right, I do have more questions. I'm leaning towards Morgan Industries. Mainly because I'm reading Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged right now.
Basically, what units should I start out with? In Civ2, I usually build a defensive unit and then a settler to build improvements to the area. But it works a little differently in AC. Also, city spacing. I was never good at this in Civ2 (only in CivRev, which I recently got). But I've read a few posts that seem to say that build new cities around 4 or so squares from each other. Really, I'm looking for generally things I should do for my first few moves (assuming I'm Morgan Industries that is).
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(1) In AC, the settler is divided into two units: the colony pod, which is used to found new bases and the former, which improves land. To build the former, you need to have researched Centauri Ecology.
Morgan's bases are limited to population 4. If the base already has access to a 2 nutrient square, it may be more important to build a colony pod after you have the defensive unit than the former.
Morgan gets bonuses for treaties and pacts. Sending out scouts to contact the other factions and establish diplomatic relations is also important.
Since Morgan's bases are initially small, tight spacing is not a problem initially.
Morgan also starts with an initial 100 energy credits. You can use them to rush build some facilities or units.
Depending on your situation, you might follow this approach:
(1) Your initial build will be a Synthmetal Garrison (1-2-1) (Morgan starts with the ability to build armor 2).
(2) Your initial research is Centauri Ecology.
(3) Your second build is a former, which you will rush as soon as you accumulate 10 minerals (it cost double to rush below 10).
(4) Your next build is a colony pod.
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Settler
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Jul 2008
time: 04:40
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OK, I've played a little bit and understand a little more. I get the colony pod and former differences now. What troubles me is the terrain. Meaning, those xenofungus is hard to move through and I get nutrients? from them. Gaians get more, I believe. But they seem like a hassle because they spawn worms and make it tough to move quickly. So should I usually get rid of them. Also, Building things in the right place is a bit more difficult than I remember it in Civ2. Things like new cities and improvements. Obviously, you can't really go wrong with building roads, but the farms, solar collectors, mines, boreholes, forests, etc are a little confusing. I get the greener the square, the more nutrients I'm getting, and the higher the square the more energy it'll make, and the rockier the square more production.
I've read the manual and all, but it's not really specific enough IMO.
Edit: Okay, here's a quick run through of my first real game. It was a disaster. After Planetfall (as Morgan) I built the 1-2-1 unitas defense and started the Former. Got that built and who do I run into about 3 square away from my HQ? Freakin' Yang (playing on the standard Planet map). He bullies me and I say no, so he destroys my Former and tells me he has some 2-2-1 unit. I build it and have it go turn some areas into farms and solar collectors. Right when those get down Yang sets down a city right next to that square and his border take it over. I built a Colony Pod and went to make a new city and it gets jumped by mind worms, causing me to have to build another one. Meanwhile, I try to take out his new city, which ends in my only offensive unit being killed off. That sucked. After all of these disasters I figured I better start over on a new game.
Last edited by StealthKab on 15-07-2008 at 00:55
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Petek
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Prince
Berkeley, CA
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Jul 2000
time: 20:40
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Hi StealthKab,
Welcome to the forum!
As you discover certain techs, the xenofungus yields additional nuts, mins and energy. However, it takes a long time before xenofungus is useful to work. Here's how I terraform each base:
(Note: nuts = nutrients and mins = minerals.)
* First priority is to have a square that produces at least two nuts. This allows a base to grow quickly to size 2 so that it can produce a Colony Pod without having to abandon the base. (Doesn't apply at lower difficulty levels.)
* Next, build a road on a flat square. This takes only one turn and helps to connect your bases. Best choice is a flat arid square, because ...
* Then plant a forest on the roaded square. Since a forest produces 1 nut, 2 mins and 1 energy, no matter what the underlying square (some exceptions apply), you get the same result on an arid square as just about anything else. A nut special is also a nice place to plant a forest in the early game.
At this point, you'll have one square producing at least 2 nuts and another producing at least 2 mins. That's good for the early game.
Your former can now help build a road network, or improve some other base.
Another important point to remember when terraforming is that, with certain exceptions described below, no square can supply more that 2 factors of production (FOPs) of nuts, mins or energy until after certain techs a researched. So, there's not much point in building a farm on a rainy square early on, since you'll not get additional nuts. The main exception is that squares with special resources are not limited by the FOP restrictions. (Example: a square with a nut special can produce more than 2 nuts, even pre-Gene Splicing)
As mentioned above, Gene Splicing lifts nut restrictions. Also, Ecological Engineering lifts min restictions and Environmental Economics lifts energy restrictions.
If you're in doubt about how to improve a square, forests are usually a good choice: They spread on their own and increase in value as the game progresses.
This page contains a nice article on terraforming, plus other basic information.
Petek
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Settler
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Jul 2008
time: 04:40
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I see, that explaination makes a lot of sense. I think I get it somewhat. I read somewhere that it's a good idea to build a sensor pod on a square you plan on making a base because of the defense upgrade.
Anyway, I started another game and it went a little better. I didn't play it all the way through because I just wanna learn before I go into it for real. I managed to build 2 other bases that were about 4 square from the HQ (I was Morgan again and I figured overlapping isn't a problem because they have low population). Played the standard Planet map again and ended up getting boxed in by the Peacekeepers north, Gaians in the west, and Spartans to the east. South was ocean. I ended up being able to build up those cities fairly well and my research was going at a decent speed. I built the Human Genome Project and that Market-whatever SPs. For some reason the Spartans wanted to fight and I couldn't really counterattack, but I could hold my defenses. It was basically a stalemate. My best unit was a 4-3-1 infantry guy...I'm not good with the names of things in the game yet.
After that experience I have a few more questions now. One involves the government/social engineering types. I ended up with Fundamentalism and Free Market because those seemed the best at the time. Was that the right idea with Morgan? I had like 2800 energy went I resigned. The other question is how often should I expand? I didn't build too many bases because I didn't want to have to stretch myself too thinly, and basically because the other factions beat me to it and boxed me in. Like how many bases should I have by what year?
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(1) Xenofungus - basically it is a nuisance unless you are playing a "native" strategy. In this strategy you pursue the "Centauri" techs. Successive techs allow greater production from fungus (more nuts, mins or energy) and to build native life, which you would control. You want to boost your planet ratings so you increase your chance of capturing native life. Under these circumstances, fungus is your friend. It becomes highways for your native lifeforms and they get advantages if they are attacked in fungus.
(2) Terraforming - Overall, your faction has to balance nutrients, minerals and energy. As Petek has stated, forests are good for arid squares early on. I look for squares with bonuses.
(3) Sensor arrays - You can't improve a base square once there is a base and most improvements don't survive the base being formed. A sensor array is one of the exceptions. Unlike a sensor array outside the base, it can't be destroyed by enemy action. Since a sensor array gives a combat advantage, it is a good thing to have.
(4) 4-3-1 has the best attack/defense that you can achieve in the early game. In terms of defense, note that your formers can increase the defense of a unit by building a forest under it!
(5) Against the Spartans, you shouldn't expect to win wars by conventional means. Have you started playing with probe units? They are early units (require Planetary Networks, which requires Information Networks, which is a beginning tech). Because Morgan makes lots and lots of energy credits, Morgan can afford probe team actions. You can acquire solitary units (so the Spartan unit is now your unit), you can sabotage Spartan base production or facilities, you can even acquire a Spartan base (as long as it is not the HQ). Start playing around with probe units.
(6) Social Engineering = it depends on what you are trying to achieve. Getting an Economy rating of +2 is an important goal of some players, because every square that is worked gets an extra +1 energy. Since Morgan starts with +1 economy, all Morgan needs to get to +2 is Wealth. Popbooming is considered important. In Civ 2, you needed a Golden Age. In AC, you need +6 Growth. Most players go for Democratic and Planned (both give +2 Growth) and build Children's Creches in their bases for the final +2.
(7) Fundamentalism would make sense if you were engaged in a lot of probe actions or if you were fighting (because it gives a +1 morale). Free Market was probably not your best choice. Morgan already has +1 economy. Wealth would bring it up to +2.
(8) Unused energy credits - The 2800 energy credits doesn't do any good in your account unless you were going for an economic victory. You should have used it to (a) rush units and facilities, (b) probe actions, or (c) raise a lot of terrain for an energy park.
(9) Number of bases - Ideally, every square within your territory should either be worked from a base or have a supply crawler convoying nuts, mins or energy. If you are being boxed in, consider building bases between existing bases (you can have bases as little as 2 spaces apart) or building sea bases. Also consider sending colony pods on transports to islands and other continents. You might consider a strategy of sending colony pods out to grab as much territory as possible and then plant colonies behind the frontier bases.
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Settler
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Jul 2008
time: 04:40
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Yeah, I built Probe Teams, but they kept getting intercepted by the Spartans. I was never good with the Spies in Civ2 either. I knew I had too much money just doing nothing, but I wasn't sure what to use it for. The reason was because when I went to build Nano Labs or Command Centers, they generally only took anywhere from 2 to 7 turns and I figured why waste the money. In all of my bases I had Command Centers, Perimeter Defenses, Children Creches, Nano Labs, and Hab Complexes (I see those are important to Morgan). Along with a few others depending on what was needed because of where the base was.
As a side note, what really impresses me in this game is that even though your units may become old and weak over time, you're given a great amount of freedom in actually designing a unit to a specific job. I find some times it's cheaper and faster to build a unit of 4-1-1 and a 1-3-1 than a single 4-3-1. You can use those two units for much more than just the one, and it's not a killer to have one of them die than it would be for the 4-3-1 in some freak worm attack or something. BTW, what's a good ratio of Formers to have? I think had the highest, I had 4 Formers roaming around to my 3 bases.
P.S. I don't like the Spartans. They're mean. Also, is it a good idea to loan money to people? Seeing as I have a large amount sitting around, wouldn't it be better to loan it to a stable, friendly faction (Peacekeepers or Gaians) and just have it earn me more money in the long run? Everyone kept asking me for loans and I ended up giving the Spartans one (bad idea I realized a few turns later when I got into a war with them). Do they repay it when you make peace with them?
Edit: I mean Network Nodes. See, I'm not good with the terms.
Last edited by StealthKab on 15-07-2008 at 22:15
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Petek
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Prince
Berkeley, CA
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Jul 2000
time: 20:40
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quote:
Originally posted by StealthKab
Yeah, I built Probe Teams, but they kept getting intercepted by the Spartans. |
The Spartans start with rovers, which makes it easier for them to intercept your probes. You might want to try sending several probes simultaneously against a base. One might get through. You also might want to design Probe Foils (Probe weapon with Foil chassis). They stand a better chance of getting through, especially if the AI hasn't researched Doc:Flex yet.
quote:
Also, is it a good idea to loan money to people? Seeing as I have a large amount sitting around, wouldn't it be better to loan it to a stable, friendly faction (Peacekeepers or Gaians) and just have it earn me more money in the long run? Everyone kept asking me for loans and I ended up giving the Spartans one (bad idea I realized a few turns later when I got into a war with them). Do they repay it when you make peace with them? |
I seldom make loans. Instead of keeping extra cash around, I prefer either to rush build, or to upgrade older units. However, yes, the AI will resume loans payments when you make peace.
Petek
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(1) Probe Teams being intercepted by the Spartans - subvert solo units! Instead of thinking of those Spartan units as interceptors, think of them as targets. Consider putting armor on your probe units. Although the probe unit will still be a non-combat unit, it will cost the Spartan unit some hit points to destroy it (as opposed to no cost for an unarmored probe unit).
(2) Energy credits - If you are saving your energy credits for an Economic Victory, I can understand saving energy credits. Otherwise, saving a turn to six turns for a base to build a facility creates "turn advantage." Every turn you accelerate is a turn your base can do something else.
(3) Energy Banks - how come you aren't building energy banks? An energy bank costs 1 energy credit to maintain and increases your energy output by 50%. So if your base is producing more than 2 energy credits, it makes sense to build an energy bank. And if Morgan is in Wealth, then that should be true for all bases.
(4) 4-1-1 - Have you checked on the cost of a 4-2-1 unit? I think it cost the same as a 4-1-1 unit.
(5) With Morgan's -1 support, 1 former per base is good in the early game. As former's can do more and those improvements take more turns, I'll go to two formers or more per base. I like specialized formers, so a speeder former is useful for building roads, since it can move into a flat or rolling square and build a road the same turn. If you have a lot of fungus, a former with the fungicide special ability (and when you can have two special abilities, the superformer ability) can clear fungus quickly. If you are doing a lot of improvements, you might consider formers with the super former ability.
(6) Loans - if making a loan can improve your diplomatic relations with a faction, then it might make sense. Otherwise, like Petek, I can find better investments than making loans.
What difficulty level are you playing at?
Are you still playing the standard size map of the planet?
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Settler
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Jul 2008
time: 04:40
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The games I've described have been in standard Planet maps on the second difficulty, Specialist I think. And I DO build Energy Banks, I just forgot to mention them. I figured they are very good for Morgan. I generally build most of the buildings I can if I don't need specific units or a Secret Project. I recently played another game on a random large map and did fairly well. Yang and Lal were kind warlike and I sorta got boxed in again, but managed to Probe Team one of the Peacekeeper's bases and flipped it to me. Didn't realize that started a war. I thought it was a little more subtle. Oh, and the Believers were gobbling up territory like crazy. Took out the Gaian's and half of Peacekeepers.
Anyway, the newest question I have now is how to you keep your borders secure. I mean not having every damn faction doing whatever they want in your territory? I didn't have sensor arrays in the interior, so it was hard keeping track of their movements. I suppose I can place units all over the border, but that eats up a lot of minerals, especially if you have wide borders. Yang and Lal kept coming into my territory to fight each other...which was fine by me, as I was at war with them both at different times.
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(1) I believe you can try for total thought control and have your probe actions not lead to vendetta. Note that total thought control has a lesser chance of success.
(2) If you have a truce or treaty, you can demand the other faction withdraw from your territory. Of course, that could lead to vendetta ... Because Morgan has -1 support, you have to be a little more thoughtful about stationing units at your borders.
(a) You could try to find chokepoints and put a garrison unit or a base there.
(b) Crawlers do not require support. You could line your border with armored crawlers. If the AI isn't inclined to start a vendetta, that will keep those units from wandering in.
(c) Once you've acquired the "clean" special ability, you can create units that don't require support.
(d) The Prima Strategy Guide suggest using formers to raise terrain. If you raise a ridge, the western side will be green and the eastern side will be barren.
(e) You could also plant a lot of forests, or, better yet, fungus to discourage movement.
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Settler
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Feb 2004
time: 04:40
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I play Morgan a lot and for the same reasons (was reading Atlas Shrugged when I first got into AC).
Your goal with Morgan is to hit critical mass with your Energy income where you can start rush-buying stuff left and right. You rush buy facilities that give you more cash which allows you to rush buy EVEN more facilities that give you more cash - until your income gets so ridiculous you run out of stuff to spend it on.
Zak has the early game tech advantage on Morgan, but I say Morgan overtakes him by mid game simply because Morgan can turn his tech advances into facilities so much quicker.
Fundamentalism is bad. Morgan is an amazing techer and going Fundy removes one of his best strengths.
Important techs for Morgan:
Industrial Automation: Gives you the Social Engineering Choice: Wealth and opens up hab complexes to get around your low initial population cap.
Environmental Economics: Allows you to get more than 2 energy per square. If Morgan runs either Free Market or/and Wealth (which he definitely wants to) he gets +1 energy to every square, however he often can't use it because it goes over the 2 per square limit. You want to remove this restriction as soon as possible. Also, Tree farms are awesome.
Bio-Engineering: This is the tech that allows Morgan to support a large army. Note that the tech allows you to give your units the "Clean Reactors" upgrade. "Clean Reactors" make a unit a little more expensive, but totally remove all support costs associated with the unit. Once you get it, you generally want to upgrade all your old units with it and only build units with that upgrade in the future.
Generally my opening with Morgan is:
Research Biogenetics
Rush Build Recycling Tanks at my first two bases (and every base afterwards). Due to Morgan's support issues I think it's better to rush-build Tanks instead of Formers and the extra 100 credits he gets make it really easy.
Also, you want to do everything in your power to stay out of war in the early game (before you get Bio-Engineering). You have to swallow your pride and give into most demands.
You might want to make some energy farms with your formers. Basically you use "Raise Terrain" till everything in a cities radius is at max altitude. Throw in some Echelon Mirrors and solar collectors and most of your city's screen witl have +8 energy.
You also want to set yourself up to switch to Free Market as soon as possible - you need to get around the -5 police rating with Rec commons and energy producing squares to turn into psych.
quote:
Yang and Lal were kind warlike and I sorta got boxed in again, but managed to Probe Team one of the Peacekeeper's bases and flipped it to me. Didn't realize that started a war. I thought it was a little more subtle. |
You can choose the "Total Thought Control" option when Mind Probing bases or subverting units - it has a chance of failure but won't trigger war if you succeed.
Last edited by QuixotesGhost on 16-07-2008 at 11:31
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quote:
Originally posted by QuixotesGhost
I play Morgan a lot and for the same reasons (was reading Atlas Shrugged when I first got into AC).
...
You also want to set yourself up to switch to Free Market as soon as possible - you need to get around the -5 police rating with Rec commons and energy producing squares to turn into psych.
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I haven't played Morgan, so this is a question based on curiosity.
Since Morgan can get to +1 energy per square by choosing Wealth, why is Free Market better than Planned or Green or Simple? Does + 1 commerce overcome -3 Planet and -5 Police?
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Settler
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Feb 2004
time: 04:40
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quote:
Since Morgan can get to +1 energy per square by choosing Wealth, why is Free Market better than Planned or Green or Simple? Does + 1 commerce overcome -3 Planet and -5 Police? |
I always thought +Economy was doing more than the descriptions said it was. I just loaded up a game of mine and realized +Economy is!
Looking at the base square with Morgan (and not accounting for recycling tanks), you get:
2 Energy at your base square with no SE Economy modifiers
2 Energy at your base square running just Wealth
4 Energy at your base square running just Free Market
6 Energy at your base square running both Wealth and Free Market.
You get this Energy Immediately upon founding a base and in the early game before caps are lifted it can make a big difference. There's a point where the +2 Efficiency with Green trumps the +2 Economy with Free Market, but you need to get fairly big before that happens. And to be honest, if you're not at pop cap, I think the -Growth is a bigger drawback than the -Police and -Planet.
-5 Police and -3 Planet don't really matter if you can get people to leave you alone and you don't have to go to war. If you need to press an offensive war - sure you may need to drop out of FM/Wealth - if not at war, however, why not? And you can get around the police drawback by supporting your army from a base with a punishment sphere.
Also, don't write off +commerce. Commerce is HUGE for Morgan. Getting Trading Partners is Vital for securing an Economic Victory. If random AI calls you up and says, "I'll be your Pact Brother in exchange for going to war with Random AI X", you need to think long and hard before turning him down. It's often worth it to fight a defensive war simply to reap the massive Commerce returns from your Pact partner.
Last edited by QuixotesGhost on 16-07-2008 at 18:01
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Settler
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Jul 2008
time: 04:40
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Yeah, I usually get a faction to ask me for a pact. Mostly Peacekeepers, Gaians, or University, but the others sometimes ask. I've always turned them down because they are almost always at war with someone else, usually another faction I have a treaty with. Also, I just don't want to get dragged into a war.
As for Recycling Tanks, I ALWAYS build them in my bases. I haven't rushed them because the most they've taken to build was 10 turns and I was using my money to upgrade units and whatnot. Since I'm a newbie, I realize I should probably not start playing as Morgan. He does have a lot of disadvantages, but he also seems to me to be extremely powerful if played correctly.
Should I bother with Command Centers if I'm running the Free Market/Weath SEs because of the negative Morale? I'm not sure if the CCs help make my units even in or slightly stronger in terms of Morale. And, I've never thought of raising my terrain around the bases before. Would that destroy any improvements I've made to those squares?
I finally got far enough to build Crawlers and I wasn't really sure what they did even after reading the Datalink. But after building them and, to use an Army term, up-armored them I see why they are very valuable. Even more so, because one of my bases had a disaster happen where it wasn't producing any nutrients for 10 years and the Crawler was the only thing keeping it alive.
Lastly, I think I've come to the conclusion that xenofungus sucks. I tend to terraform it out of my base squares and in places where I want to make roads. I haven't really gotten any of the techs that make them a positive to me, so I really don't know any better.
P.S. What are the Special Project that are really important to Morgan? I tend to build the Human Genome Project and that Market one (can't remember the name). Anyway, thanks for all of the help you guys have given me. I appreciate it.
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Emperor
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Jul 2004
time: 04:40
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Hello StealthKab
Welcome to this place you can enter but never leave 
For Morgan I would say that you WANT to hurry RT's . You need those extra resources it gives.
CC's are useful, but build only in your weapon factory. Wait for the SP that gives a free CC in every colony.
Crawlers are essential both for your unit support, but also for hurrying SP's. Done right, you can get them all.
 xenofungus sucks immensely in the early years, so get rid of it, but don't make it a first priority - often planting forrest can do it for you - the techs that makes fungus valuable comes pretty late except one xenofungus empathy wich allows you to use it as roads. A little hint - if you have units close to fungus and suspect that there are enemies in there, then watch carefully during the AI move - there are a small glitch when they move.
You mention that you have trouble monitoring other factions units in your area. If that's the case you either have too much fungus they can hide in or your bases are too wide spread.
You ask what is The most important SP for Morgan - well, while different facs can have benefits from certain SP's, I think that the most important for all is WP.
I've attatched a sample game I've just played - it's a bit messy since I haven't played SMAC/Morgan/Easy for several years. I admit I was luckier than you - just had spartans as a close neighbour. Only improvement are roads and forrests. Morgan Collections are my armour factory and Distribution, Robotics and Studios was my crawler factories that fed the SP's in Industries.
When you have land to expand in, then reserve a base or to to produce CP's even if they fall back in infrastructure.
Hope I have been to some kind of help.
Oh, just out of curiosity - how the heck did you manage to pile up 2800 ? Well, I have a good idea It's just a waste *) - you should have pumped those into research - use the slider in E at least for every second round. Also note, Morgans research isn't linear - you might get the same research paying less.
*) On higher levels you are at high risk to loose them due to a chrash in the energy market, so get used to not stockpile unless it's for a purpose.
PS If you post a pic or a save, we can say more than just general things.
 Attachment: morgan of the morganites, 2240.sav
This has been downloaded 8 time(s).
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Emperor
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Jul 2004
time: 04:40
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Forgot to say one thing - that save is won in some six turns when choppers become available - that unit is the most powerful unit in the game.
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(1) You're not a newbie. You are an experienced Civ 2 player. Civ 2 was my game since it came out. I owned AC for many years before I played it.
(2) Assuming you mean Command Center and not Children's Creche, Command Centers more than make up for the morale hit from Wealth. Morgan starts from 0 Morale. Wealth reduces it to -2 Morale, which is -1 morale, + modifiers halved. Command Center gives ground units built there 2 morale upgrades, so they end up at +1 morale. In addition, it only takes a ground unit one turn to completely heal in a base with a Command Center.
(3) Raising terrain will not affect your improvements. It can affect landmarks, e.g. monsoon jungle squares become normal squares if they are raised. I think I read where occasionally squares become rocky, which would destroy a farm or a forest. But there wouldn't be a problem with echelon mirrors or solar collectors if you're building an energy park.
(4) Crawlers are a feature that distinguishes AC from Civ 2.
They can do a lot: harvest a factor of production (nut, min or energy), allow several bases to contribute to a secret project or prototype (their full mineral value is transfered to the secret project), convoy a factor of production (nut, min or energy) from one base to another (can prevent the enemy from successfully starving your frontier base).
Because they don't require support, and, in fact, can contribute minerals (or nutrients or energy) to their home bases, an armored crawler on a forest square or a mined roaded rocky square will slow down an invading force. You can even put the radar special ability in the crawler to create the ideal sentinel: no support cost, pays for itself eventually, detects units moving two squares away and hurts attacking units. Since sentinel units don't move, you can even upgrade them to your most advanced armor at any time at their station!
You've already seen how versatile they are. They can change from harvesting minerals to energy to nutrients as your needs change.
(5) Xenofungus is another element that distinguishes AC from Civ 2.
Think of the defensive applications of xenofungus. If you research the right tech, you can build mindworms. Imagine a situation where the enemy is struggling to penetrate a fungus barrier and your defending mindworms are zipping through the fungus as if the fungus were roads (and mindworms in fungus don't require support and heal quickly; and mindworms attack at 3-2 and defend at 1-1 modified by morale and get an additional combat advantage from being in a fungus square.) The Xenoempathy Dome allows all of your units to treat fungus as roads!
(6) Ascetic Virtues increases the pop limit of your bases by 2 (which compensates for Morgan's inherent -3 pop limit). Empath Guild allows you to contact any leader (Morgan benefits from treaties and pacts with far off factions). Living Refinery adds +2 support (which eliminates Morgan's -1 support). Network Backbone gives you research points equal to the commerce at the base the Network Backbone is in.
(7) You're wel | |
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