AbstractIn this paper, we introduce a strategy for studying simplicial commutative algebras over general commutative rings R. Given such a simplicial algebra A, this strategy involves replacing A with a connected simplicial commutative k(℘)-algebra A(℘), for each ℘∈ Spec(π0A), which we call the connected component of A at ℘. These components retain most of the André–Quillen homology of A when the coefficients are k(℘)-modules (k(℘)=residue field of ℘ in π0A). Thus, these components should carry quite a bit of the homotopy theoretic information for A. Our aim will be to apply this strategy to those simplicial algebras which possess Noetherian homotopy. This allows us to have sophisticated techniques from commutative algebra at our disposal. ...