30-05-2005 04:40									#1
	How useful is the Tachyon Field? Enter the AD-FREE zone

How useful is the Tachyon Field?

It is not often this question comes up but....

The manual quotes:

Increases defence multiplier by one. This is cumulative with Perimeter Defence, for a net tripling of defence strength at base.

Now the advent of air power tends to negate the perimeter defence but what does a regular unit, say 1-<4>-1 with AAA in a base with an aerospace complex and Tachyon field defend with? And if there are modifiers such veteran and sensor how is this calculated into the equation.

I tended to think the Tachyon field worked with the perimeter fence and against ground units I didn't think it worked with defences such as that provided by the aerospace complex and against air units.

Last edited by Hercules on 30-05-2005 at 19:03

	30-05-2005 07:31									#2
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Moved in from democracy game forum.

	30-05-2005 10:43									#3
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It's totally useless, Herc, you don't need to build any in Vets7 (but nice try asking the question in the Demo subforum).

In fact, I think I heard somewhere that if you have an odd number of Tachyons on an even day of the month, your faction's morale is reduced by 1 level for every 10 Tachs you have.

	30-05-2005 15:31									#4
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quote: Originally posted by johndmuller In fact, I think I heard somewhere that if you have an odd number of Tachyons on an even day of the month, your faction's morale is reduced by 1 level for every 10 Tachs you have.

That's what I always tell people how I drink my coffee, on an odd day in an odd month it was with milk and sugar, or was it just milk I think I forgot.

ontopic:
Tachyon fields double all defense by one, so an aereal assault on the 1-<4>-1 unit with aerospace would be:
4*2(AAA)*2(Aerospace)*2(Tachyon) = 32
Not taken into account the morale. If morale = elite (*1.5), then the total defensive factor would be 48.
In one occasion one of my AAA cruisers survived a missile attack because of the Tachyon field (SP by the way). Maybe I had a flechette as well (SMAX only), I cannot remember.
But with a high maintenance of 3ec/turn I do not build those Tachyons very often, only in highly contested bases and bases in chokepoints.
I do build flechettes in the outer core though (SP), because they are vulnerable to those pesky hiver missiles.

	30-05-2005 18:04									#5
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quote: Originally posted by Major Guz Tachyon fields double all defense by one, so an aereal assault on the 1-<4>-1 unit with aerospace would be: 4*2(AAA)*2(Aerospace)*2(Tachyon) = 32

Tachyon fields and other base defense facilities (perimeter defense, naval yard, aerospace complex) stack additively instead of multiplicatively:

1-<4>-1 defending against air, aerospace complex only:
Defense = 4 * 2 (AAA) * 2 (aerospace complex) = 16

1-<4>-1 defending against air, both tachyon field and aerospace complex:
Defense = 4 * 2 (AAA) * (2 + 1) (aerospace complex and tachyon field) = 24

1-<4>-1 defending against air, tachyon field only:
Defense = 4 * 2 (AAA) * 2 (tachyon field) = 16

	30-05-2005 18:34									#6
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If you're willing to specialise, defense is possible in SMAC. One has to ask though if the mineral cost of successful defense is higher than that of equivalent offense.

	30-05-2005 19:09									#7
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quote: One has to ask though if the mineral cost of successful defense is higher than that of equivalent offense.

Actually a 1-<4>-1 plus Tachy plus AC is not any big deal
if it kills 4 enemy 6-1-10 choppers, upgrading its morale 2-3 levels.
It is likely to survive to Elite morale (elite at least with creche) and at that point it's defense is 24*1.5 = 36 which is an awful lot.

	31-05-2005 05:42									#8
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Considering that most intelligent players will realize to put blink displacers on all there bombers, tachs are nil...however, because of the time slot between unified field theory and matter editation (or is it transmission), it can be advantageous at some times...

	31-05-2005 07:07									#9
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If you have blink displacers, why isn't the game over?

	31-05-2005 12:30									#10
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quote: If you have blink displacers, why isn't the game over?

Yeah!

	31-05-2005 20:36									#11
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That is true, except that some players like playing the game longer than needed...also keep in mind that if Transcendence is not a victory option, say only conquest is, then the game does not end at threshold of transcendence, but maybe at transcendent thought 317...

	31-05-2005 21:27									#12
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That would be a first, a player holding off attacks on his bases by blink displacer troops for a hundred turns or so.

	31-05-2005 21:52									#13
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Even without transcendence, by the time one player has gotten to blink displacers, it's very likely that player has claimed enough advantages from being the first to several important techs that he's irrevokably ahead of everyone else, and if nothing else could nuke the planet into magma or drop string singularity behemoths everywhere you hold dear.

This results from the positive feedback from being ahead. Most mechanisms in the game reward you for being in the lead in some way, allowing you to continue to be in the lead. The game is still a competition since there are many ways to come back, the most obvious of which being a well-designed attack. However, by the time of the rest of the secrets techs and such secret projects as the Telepathic Matrix, it's almost certain that someone is too far out in front to catch.

	01-06-2005 01:49									#14
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Well JohnDMuller( I presume) and myself thank you for your observations gentlemen.