4X The Unsurpassed Brian Reynolds' Alpha Centauri thread

[Absinthe]

I'm not rewriting history. I remember looking through dev interviews before release to see what they were doing, and they were clear in saying that they weren't trying to become Alpha Centauri but do their own thing instead. And it was pretty obvious to me they were just going to make a bland and mediocre mess, so I lost interest before the game had even launched. Maybe they originally intended to do a SMAC thing only to have the crew go in a different direction because they had their own (much worse) incompatible vision of game design, but in the dev interviews they were explicit about saying they were going to pursue a different direction.

 

[Black Angel]

Not sure what thread to go so here it is. I have several questions regarding the game itself and some technical problems.

Technical problems first: I got the Planetary Pack from GOG since it's 75% off. I installed the PRACX and scient's unofficial patch and get started by trying some of the scenario. But the game crashed every time one of my base spawned a unit. Asked around and apparently I was supposed to install the unofficial patch first *before* PRACX, so I did. This time the game crashes randomly, from when a new unit is spawned to when I get a notification saying my base is under attack. Asked on GOG forum this time and got a reply saying, "Those patches are 'unofficial' for some reason. Try uninstalling them and see if it fixes your problems" and so I did. This time, no crashes after trying out 5 scenarios. Weird, the unofficial patches supposedly fixes many bugs and crashes so what's wrong? Maybe because I'm playing on an ancient piece of laptop, but is there any remedy for my problems?
Now that I think about it, perhaps it's because I installed both the main game and the expansion in the same folder? Should I install them separately into its own folder, and install the unofficial patches to their own (scient's/Kyrub to the main game, Yitzi's to the expansion)?

Anyway, gameplay related questions. Based on my understanding of playing the game so far:

1. Every base building can gather resources on limited amount of tiles around it, right? Which can then be increased by making that base commit to a research, if there's any?
2. Based on the resources being gathered around it, each base has a 'budget' on each (nutrients, minerals, and energy) that they can spend, which can then be spend by either making new units or committing to a research, or create new facility for that base, correct?

If what I just listed above is correct, then

1. Why did I get a notification saying I got an energy overload, which resulted in one of my facility (say Network Node) got destroyed? And why some other time, it notifies me that energy reserves is too low even though everything is being budgeted?
2. Say it is because I didn't use those energy, do I have to order that base in particular to keep making units that costs energy, or do I commit it to researching something that requires energy?
3. On topic of costs, I don't get the UI information regarding what and how much does a unit costs. Is that (for example) 4-1-2 stands for 4 Nutrients, 1 Minerals, and 2 Energy?
4. I keep getting Drone Riots. What is it and why would it ever happens? Would something bad happens if I keep mind probe them to keep them docile for 10 turns? How to prevent Drone Riots in the first place, aside from committing the base to a research/facility building that reduce Drone Riots rate?

 

[Absinthe]

Not sure what thread to go so here it is. I have several questions regarding the game itself and some technical problems.

First, this is not thread necromancy. This thread is still very active. And yes, it is the right thread.

Technical problems first: I got the Planetary Pack from GOG since it's 75% off. I installed the PRACX and scient's unofficial patch and get started by trying some of the scenario. But the game crashed every time one of my base spawned a unit. Asked around and apparently I was supposed to install the unofficial patch first *before* PRACX, so I did. This time the game crashes randomly, from when a new unit is spawned to when I get a notification saying my base is under attack. Asked on GOG forum this time and got a reply saying, "Those patches are 'unofficial' for some reason. Try uninstalling them and see if it fixes your problems" and so I did. This time, no crashes after trying out 5 scenarios. Weird, the unofficial patches supposedly fixes many bugs and crashes so what's wrong? Maybe because I'm playing on an ancient piece of laptop, but is there any remedy for my problems? Now that I think about it, perhaps it's because I installed both the main game and the expansion in the same folder?

Installing both the base game and the expansion in the same folder is completely normal and the two do not interfere. You probably just installed the wrong PRACX. The latest PRACX on alphacentauri.info is broken for some idiotic reason and the dev moved on to github without properly leaving a notice on the download page (it's mentioned on the forums instead) or disabling the damn download, so this shit now happens. The latest PRACX (and versions before that one) work fine though. But you should install PRACX last, yes. This is because PRACX modifies the exe file and scient/kyrub/yitzi patches replace the entire exe file, so if you apply the patches in the wrong order you just overwrote PRACX.

Latest PRACX releases: https://github.com/DrazharLn/pracx/releases
Installer link: https://github.com/DrazharLn/pracx/releases/download/1.11/PRACX.v1.11.exe

About your questions:

1. Every base building can gather resources on limited amount of tiles around it, right? Which can then be increased by making that base commit to a research, if there's any?

Every base can gather resources on a number of tiles around it equal to the base's population, which you can manually assign. Growing the population is how you get to access more tiles. However, base population is capped at 7 without Hab Complexes (requires Industrial Automation) and 14 without Habitation Domes (requires Super Tensile Solids), after which your population cap is set to max (127). Morgan has -3 population cap and Lal has +2 population cap. You can also add a tile's resources to your base through the use of Supply Crawler units (requires Industrial Automation). There are also resource caps, without which you can only get 2 of each resource from a tile (unless it has a bonus resource on it, in which case the relevant cap is lifted for that tile). Those caps are lifted with the following techs:

• Gene Splicing: Nutrient cap lifted
• Ecological Engineering: Minerals cap lifted
• Environmental Economics: Energy cap lifted

2. Based on the resources being gathered around it, each base has a 'budget' on each (nutrients, minerals, and energy) that they can spend, which can then be spend by either making new units or committing to a research, or create new facility for that base, correct?

Wrong. Every unit or building costs a specific number of minerals and only minerals to build. Energy can be expended to buy extra minerals and thus build faster, however. See http://alphacentauri2.info/wiki/Hurry_Cost Energy vs Research is allocated through the Social Engineering screen.

1. Why did I get a notification saying I got an energy overload, which resulted in one of my facility (say Network Node) got destroyed? And why some other time, it notifies me that energy reserves is too low even though everything is being budgeted?

Those are random events. See http://alphacentauri2.info/wiki/Random_event

4. I keep getting Drone Riots. What is it and why would it ever happens? Would something bad happens if I keep mind probe them to keep them docile for 10 turns? How to prevent Drone Riots in the first place, aside from committing the base to a research/facility building that reduce Drone Riots rate?

Drone riots occur whenever you have more drones than talents in a base. You typically reduce the amount of drones you have with psych buildings and occasionally police units. You can also convert citizens into psych specialists if desperate or dedicate part of your energy to psych (but this is typically considered a waste and requires bases to produce a lot of energy to be effective, unless you set psych allocation really high or your base has a lot of psych multiplying facilities). You can also nerve staple your base to quell riots but this results in sanctions (no energy from trading with other factions). Every single population above the threshold set by your difficulty level becomes an automatic drone. Zak also gains extra drones scaling with population size (and is strongly recommended to build the Virtual World secret project asap). Lal on the other hand gains scaling talents so he has a much easier time dealing with drones than anyone else.

Since it seems you are new to the game, I recommend playing it without the expansion first, since the expansion pretty much ruins the writing and atmosphere and worsens game balance.

 

[Black Angel]

First, this is not thread necromancy. This thread is still very active. And yes, it is the right thread.

I posted this on some old thread, though. I didn't notice this one because I just searched using search function and saw that old thread, but for some reason not this one. One of the rare times the mods doing the right thing.

You probably just installed the wrong PRACX. The latest PRACX on alphacentauri.info is broken for some idiotic reason and the dev moved on to github without properly leaving a notice on the download page (it's mentioned on the forums instead) or disabling the damn download, so this shit now happens. The latest PRACX (and versions before that one) work fine though. But you should install PRACX last, yes. This is because PRACX modifies the exe file and scient/kyrub/yitzi patches replace the entire exe file, so if you apply the patches in the wrong order you just overwrote PRACX.

Latest PRACX releases: https://github.com/DrazharLn/pracx/releases
Installer link: https://github.com/DrazharLn/pracx/releases/download/1.11/PRACX.v1.11.exe

I actually downloaded PRACX from there, though. I didn't get my info from alphacentauri.info, instead I go to PCGamingWiki which so far has been reliably up-to-date.
The problem is probably from my laptop I guess. I just installed scient's unofficial patch without the PRACX and no crashes whatsoever.

Anyway, thanks a lot for your help, mate! But,

Since it seems you are new to the game, I recommend playing it without the expansion first, since the expansion pretty much ruins the writing and atmosphere and worsens game balance.

So installing both the main game and the expansions somehow affected the main game, too? Even though they have separate .exe?

 

[Absinthe]

They don't affect each other. They are run separately. If you open Alpha Centauri, you are playing the base game, but if you open Alien Crossfire, you are playing the game with the expansion. Anyway, if the game runs fine without PRACX, you don't need it. It's mostly used if the game is crashing from resolution compatibility issues or you want a bigger resolution.

 

[L'ennui]

I hope you enjoy the game, it's one of the all-time greats.

 

[Black Angel]

Thanks a lot!

Just won my first Quick Scenario. Though I stupidly set the difficulty to Citizen. Another question; does Research something that happens by itself in the background? Or can we manually direct it other than when we're questioned whether we want to focus on Explore, Discovery, Build, and Conquer? Is this automated if I turned on the Governor? Because I only got one base with Governor turned on and it just went on being automated and churning many, many breakthroughs seemingly out of nowhere.

 

[Absinthe]

Oh yeah, the game starts with Blind Research enabled by default, doesn't it? The overwhelming majority of players turn that rule off. Blind research is predictable though if you know how the AI makes research decisions. Governor only affects base AI. Not faction research. If you get multiple breakthroughs out of nowhere, then you probably teched a Secrets tech (which give a free bonus tech to the first player discovering them) or got bonus techs from secret projects, major breakthrough random events, or found bonus techs in pods.

 

[Black Angel]

Just got my ass handed to me by Chairman Yang and his army of choppers and airdrops

 

[Silva]

Just got my ass handed to me by Chairman Yang and his army of choppers and airdrops

Getting raped by the best leader in the game.

Tip: do not underestimate probe teams, specially against cash broken opponents like Yang. Defensively, have at least 1 probe guarding each city in the front to deny their own probes and to subvert advancing combat units. Offensively, reserve some cash and then send a couple probes to a vulnerable part of his territory to try and capture some cities. If you manage to get some good ones you can cripple his power and turn the table on him.

If you end up loving probe teams (like me) consider giving Morgan a try, or the Angels in the expansion, as they excel on using it.

 

[Black Angel]

Tip: do not underestimate probe teams, specially against cash broken opponents like Yang. Defensively, have at least 1 probe guarding each city in the front to deny their own probes and to subvert advancing combat units. Offensively, reserve some cash and then send a couple probes to a vulnerable part of his territory to try and capture some cities. If you manage to get some good ones you can

I learned this lesson immediately after fucking Zakharov, of all people, keep sending his probes against me

Damn, I can't salvage the save in question because even though I managed to keep good relationship by keeping out of everyone's way in conquest while simultaneously giving them credits and research data, Yang eventually came out on top as the Supreme Leader™

I guess I'll restart at lower difficulty to truly get a hang of it and learn the ropes as I go.

 

[RK47]

just play as Yang and COVID the fuck out of everyone else with cheaper units and mass low pop colony sprawls

 

[Absinthe]

If you end up loving probe teams (like me) consider giving Morgan a try, or the Angels in the expansion, as they excel on using it.

Don't forget the Believers. They're the only faction in SMAC with a bonus to PROBE.

 

[Cael]

If you end up loving probe teams (like me) consider giving Morgan a try, or the Angels in the expansion, as they excel on using it.

Don't forget the Believers. They're the only faction in SMAC with a bonus to PROBE.

The Believers' research penalty is pretty crippling, though.

 

[Absinthe]

It's only truly crippling once you add Fundamentalism on top, but then you're obviously probing the shit out of enemies for all their techs with your +3 PROBE so your own research speed doesn't really matter. The SUPPORT rating can be used to maintain an army of terraformers allowing you to develop base tiles much faster which offsets the slowdown -2 RESEARCH poses, and you don't really need the Knowledge value when you can go Democracy+Free Market+Wealth and use your high income to research at high speeds with sliders set to higher research allocation, while being able to build up more quickly, and you don't even eat -2 SUPPORT (or become an easy target for warmongers) like the rest do. Miriam's builder game is pretty decent tbh.

 

[Cael]

It's only truly crippling once you add Fundamentalism on top, but then you're obviously probing the shit out of enemies for all their techs with your +3 PROBE so your own research speed doesn't really matter. The SUPPORT rating can be used to maintain an army of terraformers allowing you to develop base tiles much faster which offsets the slowdown -2 RESEARCH poses, and you don't really need the Knowledge value when you can go Democracy+Free Market+Wealth and use your high income to research at high speeds with sliders set to higher research allocation, while being able to build up more quickly, and you don't even eat -2 SUPPORT (or become an easy target for warmongers) like the rest do. Miriam's builder game is pretty decent tbh.

Problem with probing is that it means the enemy has the tech advantage on you.

I prefer a high Planet for the mindworm spam, but that is just me

 

[Black Angel]

Democracy..... Miriam

These two things don't go well together perhaps because I had Intense Rivalry turned off that her and Yang only ever get pissed and launched a vendetta against me as long as I got Democracy turned on.

On side note, I've been playing for an overwhelmingly unhealthy amount of time in the solitude of my own home, to the point I nearly get sick of playing the game. Been fiddling around with Deidre because I quickly find her rather enjoyable with her innate bonus to gaining nutrients from fungus tiles, to quickly grow the base which translates to more workers ready to gather more resources around. Coupled with terraforming forest and only forest, get Tree Farm-Hybrid Forest and couple secret projects where I can gain also minerals and energy from fungus I can create several huge bases ready to spawn Locusts of Chiron, in addition to not causing too much eco damage which incurs the Planet's wrath. So even if you aren't larping to get Transcendence Victory, it's still pretty much possible to get other victories based on how you orientate your resources.

 

[Silva]

Some nice reflections on Miriam..

https://paeantosmac.wordpress.com/2015/07/10/first-impressions-the-lords-believers/

 

[Black Angel]

I watched the videos on the secret projects the other day, and as the comments there pointed out, many of them got Miriam's comments, and how despite of her opposition to knowledge and scientific method, it's.... what, eerie? That Miriam became a voice of reason as the technologies and secret projects became more and more 'extreme' as we approach the endgame techs.

" Will we next create false gods to rule over us? How proud we have become, and how blind. „
~ Sister Miriam Godwinson,
"We Must Dissent"

 

[Silva]

Yeah, her quotes are very good. They feel prophetic somehow. I like Yang's too. His one about controlling the input to master the output is also eerie as fuck. The guy is a freak.

And Black Angel , a good challenge after you grasp the game well is trying Ironman mode. But I would avoid Transcendi diff level though, as it feels too oppressive. Thinker is the highest I go that's still fun, and even then I lose sometimes.

After that, the only challenge is facing the Aliens in the expansion (Ironman Thinker too), with a weak faction like Planet Cult or the Angels.

 

[laclongquan]

The problem with Fundamentalists is NOT their leaders or founders as such, but their followers.
Speaking about challenges, it would be facing new factions in the world designed specifically for their strength.

 

[Reality]

That feeling when the 8-5-2 guy has so many secret projects that he beats 12-3-2 guy's army.

 

[CuckMasher]

I havent played this in years. What, if any, are the must have mods?

 

[Cael]

That feeling when the 8-5-2 guy has so many secret projects that he beats 12-3-2 guy's army.

Umm... 8-5-2 has a great chance to beat the 13-3-2 guy's army. He just has to position it so he gets to attack first.

 

[Absinthe]

I havent played this in years. What, if any, are the must have mods?

Scient/Kyrub's patch for vanilla. Yitzi's patch for the expansion. PRACX for resolution/display issues (download this one from github, not alphacentauri2.info).