Heavy Terrain

A Scenario created by Joseph Balderson

ay527@torfree.net

SMAC v.4.0 required



ALTERATIONS TO ALPHA.TXT SPECIFIC FOR THIS SCENARIO:
To take full advantage of the scenario, you must substitute the following lines into alpha.txt:

10,      ; [!]Combat % -> for attacking from higher elevation [default 0]
7,       ; [!]Combat penalty % -> attacking from lower elevation [default 0]
25,      ; [!]Combat % -> Mobile unit in open ground
5,       ; [!]Combat % -> Defend vs. mobile in rough [default 0]


INTRO:
As your unity pod streaks away towards Planet, you 
are pleased that at the last minute your technicians managed to
download a copy of the recovered data from the wreck of the Unity 
that was found by the now asassinated Captain Garland. You thought 
you might have to rebuild everything from scratch, reinvent new 
technologies, recreate civilization anew. But much was saved of 
the original files, which has greatly accelerated your initial progress 
on Planet. From last you heard, the other factions also had the 
exact same data upon their arrival.

Your findings have shown Planet to be replete with rolling, 
mountainous terrain, with large tracts of Xenofungus everywhere. 
And then there are the mind worms...

But you have not had much luck finding the other factions. 
Until now. As head of the $FACTION3, you have recently acquired 
the commlink signals to two of the other factions. 

And until now you have not paid much attention to the survey 
records made by the original Unity pod. Looking again at the 
findings of the pod's AI as it made its way to planetfall, you 
notice several spots on Planet that might be of interest to 
future growth and colonisation. And one picture of what seems 
to be some evidence of debris, or a structure of some sort... 
another faction, or evidence of a non-human civilization? 
You are unsure...

Start Date: 2200
  End Date: 2500

You will find one base with all the basic facilities and a population of 10, along with some units. All factions have been given all level 1, 2 and 3 technologies. Each faction begins the game with commlinks for two other factions. Each faction begins with one Secret Project.


OBJECTIVES:
Win by acheiving Transcendance.
Win by acheiving Diplomatic Victory.
Win by acheiving Economic Victory.

All other victory conditions are disabled. This does not mean you cannot cooperate with, or even conquer other factions in this scenario. Just that you can only win by these conditions. There are no objective bases to conquer.


SETTINGS:
Difficulty is set at Thinker.
The terrain altitude is very high, the xenofungus and the cloud cover also high.
All natural settings of v.4.0 are represented in the game.

This is a difficult scenario to play multiplayer, as it takes too long time to acheive scenario objectives unless a substantial amount of time is devoted, but can be quite a rewarding multiplayer experience. It is also a challenging scenario to play, because of the new terrain rules and how it affects strategy.


A NOTE ABOUT TERRAIN:
The changes in alpha.txt makes terrain very important, the high ground very strategic. Attacking from the high ground can mean the difference between victory and defeat. That is why all the bases have been placed in the highest local elevation. Natural regions such as Mount Planet and Sunny Mesa now take on added strategic importance. Reconnaissance, by air when you acquire it, and Deep Radar, become key technologies that enable you to survey your route of attack before you encounter it.

For a faction to be able to build sea units, they must build a base on a coastline downhill, making it vulnerable to attack. Sensor Arrays now become of major strategic importance -- imperative for coastal cities. Attack high, defend high. This, I believe, also applies for air units, although on this I am unsure. Build sensor arrays within 2 squares of your lower elevation bases for protection, and bunkers for your supply crawlers. 


KNOWN PROBLEMS:
- none as of yet -


EPILOGUE:
The reason I have set the victory conditions such is that often it is too easy, even at higher levels for the more experienced players, to win by conquest. Better to keep your enemies alive so they can work for you, either by warring against your enemies for you, giving you trade or stealing their technologies, even if the game does not inherently favor diplomacy and trade over conquest. This is more of a builder scenario, without necessitating the extreme game modifications, such as SNAC 1.2, for example. A successful strategy is to war successfully against your enemies, make them subservient to you, while you skyrocket up the tech tree, or scoop up that wealth or garner in those votes. The high terrain makes for good energy collection, although not very useful for borehole construction, making flatlands such as the Great Dunes and Monsoon Forest, and the borhole cluster very strategic. Good luck!

And I have always thought the 'Advanced Start' rules option quite inadequate for playing the kind of game where most of the starting techs have all been discovered, and the game is about to enter into the 'intermediate' phase of the ascent up the tech tree. I also wanted to see a scenario where the terrain was more interesting, and a lot more pivotal to strategy. So I created one with quite a bit already established, begining at what I consider the middle phase of the game.


CONTACT:
If you have any suggestions, problems, complaints, etc, please contact me at 'ay527@torfree.net'

This is still the first version of the scenario, so if you have any comments about game balance or anything else, please contact the above e-mail address.


Enjoy!