02-01-2004 21:22									#1
	Free Market and Police Support Increase Your PM Length

According to the AC manual, a police rating of -5 results in "Two extra drones for each military unit away from base." But in a recent SMAX game, playing as Morgan and using free market with its -5 police rating, I noticed the following. Land and naval units only caused extra drones when they were outside of my territory, not when they were outside of their respective bases. Needlejets, on the other hand, *always* led to two extra drones, no matter where they were--in other words, their mere existence led to drones. That effectively means that a free market cannot support an air force. Have others had this same experience? And just what is the rule regarding a -5 police rating?

	03-01-2004 00:17									#2
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I'm not sure, but I believe interceptors will not trip the extra drones if kept in base.

	03-01-2004 00:45									#3
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The AC manual has many inaccuracies.

Sticking to straight interceptors means eating the combat negatives if you use it as a bomber. I can generally support a small number of regular planes or choppers via specialist intense bases until P-Sphere tech. Then you can always build a p-sphere or two at mineral rich bases and home all your air units to those bases.

	03-01-2004 02:24									#4
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If you don't have the tech for P-Sphere. You might have to switch out of FM to Green. It is also a PIA to home all you fighters to that punishment sphere.

	03-01-2004 03:33									#5
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Monk's right, if you have only interceptors (on needle or chopper chassis) you can have as many air units as you need, but if you're trying to field a large air attack force under FM, forget it.

Really, for most factions, staying in FM once you've got Air Power isn't really a swell idea anyway, unless you're at peace with most folks and already atop the powergraph, in which case the commerce boost can be worthwhile. Generally, however, the midgame is all about cranking your pop up with a boom, then switching to green for the efficiency and worm capture.

	03-01-2004 05:38									#6
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What I usually aim do when warring under FM is have my core of uber cities, p-sphere one, use it to launch the initial assualt, once I get a base on another continent I p-sphere that instead and re-home all my aircraft to it. As I take over other factions I build more p-spheres and focus all my military production in the captured bases, boosted with funds from home.

So you can have a perfect democratic free market homeland with only a token military presence, while your overseas holdings are brutally opressed and forced to wage war against your enemies. Probably not the most economic method but it's fun. (The great thing about p-spheres is they elimintate all drone problems forever, meaning no more micro as those crummy AI bases grow from orbital food)

	03-01-2004 23:03									#7
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There's something really NICE about your approach, Blake

Well... FM had to have some kind of penalty.

-Jam