Recreation Commons (SMAC)

Recreation Commons
Requires	Social Psych
Cost	4 rows
Maintenance cost	1
Effects	-2 Drones per bases.

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"The entire character of a base and its inhabitants can be absorbed in a quick trip to the Rec Commons. The sweaty arenas of Fort Legion, the glittering gambling halls of Morgan Bank, the sunny lovers' trysts in Gaia's High Garden, or the somber reading rooms of U.N. Headquarters. Even the feeding bay at the Hive gives stark insight into the sleeping demons of Yang's communal utopia."
– Comissioner Pravin Lal, "A Social History of Planet"

Recreation Commons is a base facility in Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri.

Strategy

Unless you're playing on one of the easiest difficulty levels, or you are using at least +2 Police per base, you're going to have to find some way of dealing with Drones in the early game. Of all the facilities available, Recreation Commons give the best cost:effect ratio, and are available with one simple starting-level technology, Social Psych. A 1-1-1(police) unit is actually a lot quicker/cheaper to build, and with decent Support on the SE table won't cost you anything in upkeep, but not everyone has the ability to use Police.

Now let's look at the numbers. Recreation Commons are actually one of the biggest production-boosting facilities. They enable 2 more tiles to be worked or two more useful (i.e. non-Doctor) specialists to be made in the base. Before restriction lifting that's a possible extra 4-4-4 against the initial cost of 40 minerals ( = 80 ec ) + 1ec/turn. Assuming maximum energy and mineral production from the two workers (and the food is a bonus) then it will take only 7 turns before the facility is making a mineral/energy profit for you. And a big one too, with a possible converted ec value of 11 ec/turn - all before restriction lifting. After lifting you can double that value. Very few facilities offer such huge gains from such moderate outlays.

All factions benefit from the use of Rec Commons. Police-based Drone quelling is limited in the numbers it will subdue, and Psych spending cuts into your Econ and Labs at 4 times the cost of a Rec Commons (although other facilities will make Psych spending more efficient in the long run) The trick, as always, is in the timing. Ideally a base should build the Rec Commons exactly one turn before it will grow to a size where Drones would riot, or exactly one turn before building a new base that will push you over another Bureaucracy Limit and give you a B-Drone in that base. Always try and stop Drone Riots before they happen. Losing a whole turn of production is no way to win a game, especially against human opponents. There's ALWAYS time to check your bases before pressing "End Turn".