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Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (PC)

GENERAL INFORMATION

GENRE/STYLE

Strategy/Empire-Building

RELEASE DATE

02/DEC/98

ESRB RATING

EVERYONE, Mild Animated Violence

DEVELOPER

Firaxis Games

PUBLISHER

Electronic Arts

ALSO AVAILABLE ON

Macintosh

TRAITS (member-attributed "LIKES")

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HOW IT'S PLAYED #USES

GENERAL TONE #USES

DESCRIPTION

Mankind's last best hope, the Unity Mission, is in trouble. The UN sponsored colonization ship carries with it enough men, women and technology to seed a civilization. The ship is populated with experts and scientists from every field and contains an extensive payload of supplies necessary to outfit and guarantee survival until the fledgling colony can become self-sufficient.

It was a good plan, or so the sponsors believed, until an unforeseen and devastating accident aboard the ship caused the travelers to awaken from cryogenic sleep much too soon. A cataclysmic loss of communications with Earth exacerbates the situation, leaving the colonists isolated and awake until the ship reaches the still far-distant earthlike planet Chiron in the Alpha Centauri system.

Over time, the factions within the ship polarize into seven distinct groups, each with specific goals, beliefs and agendas. The leaders of each group build a following — dedicated people who share their ideology and plans for colonizing Chiron. As a microcosm of mankind on Earth, the factions pull steadily away from one another until clear battle lines are drawn with each group determined to mold the future of mankind based on their own philosophy.

In Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, designer Brian Reynolds has taken the Civilization ideas a step farther — colonization of a planet in deep space. The game is turn-based with each turn representing a full year on Chiron. Gameplay follows the same pattern for every turn — planet (native) and enemy faction movement, faction updates and then player movement encompassing defensive, offensive and tactical maneuvering.

As in many Sid Meier games, the player has multiple customization options. These include scenario challenges, random or customized map generation with choices of land to sea ratios, erosive forces on terrain (strong, average or weak), frequency of encounters with indigenous life forms and cloud cover and weather conditions (sparse, average or dense). There are six levels of difficulty ranging from novice (Citizen) to expert (Transcend) with progressively smarter and aggressive behavior by the AI.

The seven factions and their philosophical bent include Gaia's Stepdaughters, environmentalists attuned to and protective of the planet, the Human Hive embracing harsh collectivist and authoritarian principles and the University of Planet, elitists dedicated to knowledge exchange and research. The Morgan Industries group is an organized corporate-type that follows capitalistic and economic avenues and benefits from commerce between the other factions.

The final three factions include the paramilitary survivalist group, the Spartan Federation, with their deep and abiding doctrine of the right to bear arms and The Lord's Believers, consisting of those who follow the path of righteousness, prayer and worship. The last faction, the Peacekeeping Force, employs humanitarian principles and follows in the footsteps of the long-ago and far-away United Nations.

Each of these groups has distinctive, diverse and specific advantages and disadvantages when dealing with both the planetary conditions and other factions. Diplomatic concerns play a large role during gameplay and establish the basis for which of the five possible outcomes is eventually attained.

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri is basic point-and-click with keyboard equivalents for many of the actions. The game has comprehensive in-game tutorials to help with the learning curve, a random 3D world generator to ensure unlimited replay value and supports up to seven people on a LAN or the Internet. Modem or serial link multi-play is also available.

Other features include the option to design and customize your own fighting units or accept those offered by the AI. More than 75 technological advances to discover and utilize, secret projects available to each faction, over 60 upgrades from which to choose for increasing base strength and 32,000-plus unit types for building your war machine are but some of the choices available. ~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (PC)

GENRE/STYLE:

Strategy/Empire-Building
RELEASE DATE:

02/DEC/98
TOP TRAITS:

Turn-based strategy, Computer AI, Empire building
DESCRIPTION:

Mankind's last best hope, the Unity Mission, is in trouble. The UN sponsored colonization ship carries with it enough... more

players 306

followers 2

#1686

POPULARITY: PC PLATFORM

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Past 14 days

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revisit the great classics! by: goodone

“if anybody still plays Alpha Centauri, and would like 2 have someone 2 coop with, b sure 2 give me a buzz!”

created 20/MAR/2013

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (PC) by: goodone

“the best tbs ever! sid meier needs to revisit this franchise! enough said.”

created 23/JUL/2012

Just re-installed by: ObieQuiet

“Such a bad idea. Back to the 'one more turn' that destroyed me before! 3am sessions are not good! I love coming back to this game with a new perspective, I must have been horrible at this before.”

created 07/FEB/2011

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (PC) by: Palebane

“This epic sci-fi masterpiece kept me up many a late night back in those summers between college classes.Its one of those perfect games. Everything fits. Everything has a function and a reason for being the way it is. I love the vareity of factions...”

created 31/JUL/2012

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (PC) by: Sybrsean

“This is definately one of my all time favorites. The turn based really allowed for deep development into the extensive and interesting tech tree.”

created 31/AUG/2009

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (PC) by: Raltar

“Still the best strategy game of all time in my opinion. some people claim the Civilization series is better but its just a dumbed down version of this game. The tech tree is bigger, you design your own units, you can make your own faction, ect.”

created 31/MAY/2009

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (PC) by: deadpool002

“Just as addictive as the Civ games. They only down side is the tech tree doesn't explain what the different advances do. Led to lots of guessing where to go next.”

created 19/MAY/2009

criddles played Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri on 15/MAY/09

“trying to re-acclimate myself to it after over a decade in preparation for discussion on Vintage Game Club. ”

created 16/MAY/2009

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (PC) by: Nazkah

“Lady Deirdre<3 so... hippie. And those mindworms are truly cool, as well as the nervestapling... nomnomnom, science-fiction! Also loved those little adds in the end! ^^”

created 02/MAY/2009

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (PC) by: Veruca

“One of the first PC games I played obsessively, Alpha Centauri is not for the casual gamer. That being said, fewer games make turn-based strategy so addictive and challenging.”

created 09/APR/2009

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (PC) by: Tjuhl

“Civ III > Civ I > mediocre rest”

created 17/MAR/2009

Command and Capture! by: XyberDAWG

“Everytime I play an RTS I have this issue. Anything that can be Captured I will try and Capture. I try not to build many buildings except one main base. After that It is capture every possible...”

created 11/MAR/2009