Alpha Centauri

[RQRose]

I searched for this thread and didn't see it, sorry if it's already been written about.

Everyone who likes Civ likes Alpha Centauri, and if you haven't played it I'm sorry because it is GREAT!!! There are 1000 things about Alpha Centauri that are 99 times better than civ 4 and some that are better than civ 3.

For example, as far back as that you could CREATE your OWN UNITS and alter their strength.

Imagine this, you are facing an riflemen and you're city is defending with archers. Basically, your dead, but wait! You equipped your archers with poison arrows, so each rifleman that attacks is reduced to 1 health at the end of the fight regardless of whether he wins of loses and you have more archers than he does.

You see? Just that TINY option creates a completely NEW situation.

Or how about DOUBLE the cost of a tank by adding MAJOR Armor Upgrades and Weapons upgrades? (adding a few points to it's attack and defense)

Or how about ACTUALLY being able to GUIDE a civilization through history, not the limited BS history that we're CONFINED to!

I don't want a HISTORICAL society, I want MY Society, a custom society that I can REALLY customize, not just LOOKS but NEW Tech Trees! I'm tired of the confinement to technologies, what if my civilization wants to Research BioWarefare and NOTHING else? Soldiers get Steroids and multiple strains of viruses that strengthen and deaden nerves making them MUCH stronger.

My point is when you actually THINK the customization options are ENDLESS.

In Civ we don't get to create a civilization we get to run a civilization someone ELSE already created. I want to be able to Create an aircraft carrier fused together with FOUR others making it a mobile military base.

I want to be able to create Floating Islands that I can put mobile cities on that get +2 food bonuses for food tiles and +1 production using tidal generators.

I'm just tired of the confinement and I don't understand how Sid isn't tired of it too?

With Alpha Centauri we were free, we had COMPLETELY different civilizations to choose from. In these recent Civs we're choosing from the same Civilization 999 times. There's no true difference, just tiny differences that amount to nothing.



I'm going to need some guy's who've played it to weigh in here. There are SO MANY options on Alpha Centauri that you simply don't see in any of the civ games and it's just a SHAME.

 

[Jarlaxe Baenre]

Alpha Centauri is not based on the same concept as Civ. Civ is based on history. Alpha Centauri, well, isn't.

 

[phantom000]

Alpha Centauri is a wonderful game. From what i can tell the people at Firaxis think so to sense there is a number of things they introduced in AC that they put in Civ-4.

But yeah they are based on two very different things. Civilizations is history, AC is science fiction.

I loved how you could customize units in AC and how it sometimes would build on your ideas to make upgraded versions when new technology became available. There were a few other games that had similar features but nothing took it to the same level.

I think if you can put something like that in CIV 5 it would make things so much better.

Hey what about Custom civilizations?

 

[paradigmx]

Creating your own units is a good idea in theory, but a horrible idea in practice, it leads to huge balance issues and the superior Civ ends up being the one that can pump out the most overpowered unit. I've played a number of games with a unit creator and it usually only took me about 2 weeks to figure out what unit combinations dominated the AI's units.

 

[CreepyD]

From my Alpha Cent experience that didn't work.
The costs were multiplied instead of added, meaning if you made a super unit, it would cost waaay more than lots of decent units.

I agree though, I would love to see Alpha Cent 2, as would many it seems. I still own the game and it's addon.
The only single thing I didn't like was that when you got grav-ships and nukes and put them together it became a little easy. Nukes were well overpowered

 

[Robo-Star]

From my Alpha Cent experience that didn't work.
The costs were multiplied instead of added, meaning if you made a super unit, it would cost waaay more than lots of decent units.

I agree though, I would love to see Alpha Cent 2, as would many it seems. I still own the game and it's addon.
The only single thing I didn't like was that when you got grav-ships and nukes and put them together it became a little easy. Nukes were well overpowered

Nukes (a.k.a. "Planet Busters") were payload class weapons - they could only be attached to Missile chassis.

 

[lazyguy]

I found that the interface was obtuse, overcomplicated and confusing to the point of making the game nigh unplayable. But customisation would be nice.

 

[Robo-Star]

I found that the interface was obtuse, overcomplicated and confusing to the point of making the game nigh unplayable.

It allowed access to the Datalinks during diplomacy. During diplomacy!

 

[CreepyD]

Oh I forgot you couldn't combine the two (nukes / grav-ships)
I just have memories of wiping out everyone with grav-ships and nukes at the end game with great ease, even on the hardest difficulty. I guess some of each
I'm gonna play it soon, I just picked up the original AC, and AC:Crossfire from my parents today

 

[JDexter]

I'm gonna play it soon, I just picked up the original AC, and AC:Crossfire from my parents today

And I ordered it for 6€! I've not owned it until yet, just played it a few times and after reading all these AC references in the Civ 5 forum I really want to try it again (and for the first time the expansion).

 

[The_K]

You guys remember civ:test of time? The main thing I remember from it was the little arrows on the mini-map. Where you could switch to another world. Like, in the end, when you sent a space ship to AC, you could move units on it?

So, why didn't they take that idea and implement it in Civ V? You play the game normally, and when you send the space ship you arrive at AC and you can play there too. Since in Civ:ToT the idea was good but the implementation terrible, maybe there should be a mix of the Civ and AC game.
So, upon arriving on AC, you switch to it using the mini-map arrows, there you meet new civs (alien of course). You build new cities and have new research and units and, well, basically a lot taken from AC. All the time, you also control your empire on earth.

Of course, this should not be a standard play but perhaps made possible by a mod.

 

[Kissamies]

Oh, I loved creating my own units, though the interface was so bad that I hoped for an external text file to edit so that the engineers would suggest the units I always design anyways. I'd arranged the design of infantry units a bit differently too, but it was brilliant anyways.

SMAC is a great game and I really wish I'd see a remake of some sort, but if I remember correctly, It's Electronic Arts that currently has the rights

 

[CreepyD]

The K, yea that worked really well, I loved Test of Time.
Not so much the sci fi one, as once you reached the other planet, with it's greater resources, it was easy to get a big lead.
It worked a lot better in the Fantasy one, with the Underworld being below normal land. It would work great for Fall From Heaven.

I'm sure we'll get another AC mod at some point for civ 5

 

[Szpilman]

Does anyone know of a way to digitally purchase Alpha Centauri & Exp. and/or CivII: Test of Time? Even if as part of some bundle.

 

[The_K]

The K, yea that worked really well, I loved Test of Time.
Not so much the sci fi one, as once you reached the other planet, with it's greater resources, it was easy to get a big lead.
It worked a lot better in the Fantasy one, with the Underworld being below normal land. It would work great for Fall From Heaven.

I'm sure we'll get another AC mod at some point for civ 5

Yeah, like I said, the idea to change map (transfer to another world/underground) is great although the implementation (especially the Sci-Fi) was bad.
I simply can't understand why that idea was never looked at again in later civs

 

[Kissamies]

I don't believe I ever played this Test of Time, but Master of Magic had that dual map with Arcanus/Myrror. I loved that game. For Civilization, I'd prefer some other sort of interface for colonising planets rather than other map.

 

[Furiey]

There is a new Sold Out version of Alpha Centauri complete available from places such as Amazon. I think I paid £2.75 for mine. There's also an Alpha Centauri forum in Other Games here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=27. Unfortunately ownership issues means that Firaxis are not free to make another version so we're unlikely to get an Alpha Centauri 2.

 

[RQRose]

I'd like to see a Built In AC2 Mod that ships with Civ5.

In regards to the License, Sid should purchase it back personally (as it's his artwork) then License it to the new company in order to pad his salary.

There's another discussion area about Custom Civilizations and I think that would be a big shot in the arm.

I'm not against there being different modes for Civ5, but the fact of the matter now is that even CURRENT SuperPower National WEAPONS are not being Included in Civilizations.

The US currently has:
Guns that fire 1 Million bullets a second
http://www.metalstorm.com/

Sonic Weapons that can main or kill:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/4418748.stm

EMP Weapons (no link needed)

Neutron Bomb (kills only living material)

and the list goes on and on. And yet NONE of these has ever been introduced into Civ??? Having EMP weapons in Civ 5 would be a strategic miracle! All Tank/Mobile Units could be immediately converted into Damaged Infantry.

How about US automated weapons:
http://gizmodo.com/312443/robot-cannon-goes-berserk-kills-9

http://gizmodo.com/236590/metal-sto...he-air-with-lead-shooting-anything-that-moves

Or how about US Unmanned Drones:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100830/ts_nm/us_usa_immigration_security

My point and I think the points of everyone here is that not only would we like AC2 but also when our Civ Tech hits 'Current History' we would like to see AT LEAST the KNOWN Weapons made available in the Civ game.

Alpha Centauri is a wonderful game. From what i can tell the people at Firaxis think so to sense there is a number of things they introduced in AC that they put in Civ-4.

But yeah they are based on two very different things. Civilizations is history, AC is science fiction.

I loved how you could customize units in AC and how it sometimes would build on your ideas to make upgraded versions when new technology became available. There were a few other games that had similar features but nothing took it to the same level.

I think if you can put something like that in CIV 5 it would make things so much better.

Hey what about Custom civilizations?

 

[RQRose]

Now that you mention it I DO remember this!

It took a while to colonize the new world, but that was really awesome and for such an antique game they still haven't been able to repeat it.

Does anyone notice a trend in the gaming world toward more 'graphic' and less 'feature'?

I mean, consider, Civ ToT had another world to Colonize, AC had Customizable Tech Trees and Units (and YES I know it took a while to learn, but once you did as other's have mentioned you could dominate), even Civ 3 had some interesting features, I geuss civ 4 had corporations and a few cool units and they were interesting, but they didn't change the game-play mechanics that much. Civ 4's scenario's DID seem to be much more robust though, with the 4 superpowers going at it.


Here's a question. What about Undersea Civilizations? 2/3 of the World is covered by water, and yet no one has thought to create an undersea power-stations followed by an undersea cities? What are the characteristics of a city? The ability to have food, trade, populous, and research, correct? Ok, it starts as an undersea powerstation, but is expanded to support undersea kelp and fish farms, then the families move down because food and electricity are incredibly cheap so close the powerstations and farms and they miss their daddy/mommy. The engineers are constantly coming up with ways of innovating in order to make everyone more comfortable and improve effeciency. A girl gets pregnant so a doctor and infirmary are setup.

Economics, Research, Population growth, and even a Hospital.

Or moon based cities? Same Scenario.

Or the floating cities that were featured in AC?


Ok forget all that right now.

Lets talk about the T word, yes TERRORISM. How about an option that can be turned on/off where under a specific set of circumstance your civilization is attacked by Terrorists? For example, you sack a city, yes barbarians are spawned, but how many children grow up with only your death on their mind? Or you attack a civilization in a certain region (we all know which one). You adviser can warn you that you need to station more troops in each city and build police stations ect in order to lower the percentage of a terrorist attack. The terrorists could have the same effects as a riot with great and greater damage (if not mitigated) culminating in your Great Wonders being destroyed if you don't do enough about it.

Also, in the espionage area, you should be able to initiate terrorist attacks if you are a 'select few civilizations (we know who they are).

Ok, actually forget all that T stuff, still I <3 and want AC2 and more SciFi Options at least.

You guys remember civ:test of time? The main thing I remember from it was the little arrows on the mini-map. Where you could switch to another world. Like, in the end, when you sent a space ship to AC, you could move units on it?

So, why didn't they take that idea and implement it in Civ V? You play the game normally, and when you send the space ship you arrive at AC and you can play there too. Since in Civ:ToT the idea was good but the implementation terrible, maybe there should be a mix of the Civ and AC game.
So, upon arriving on AC, you switch to it using the mini-map arrows, there you meet new civs (alien of course). You build new cities and have new research and units and, well, basically a lot taken from AC. All the time, you also control your empire on earth.

Of course, this should not be a standard play but perhaps made possible by a mod.

 

[RQRose]

Yeah I loved it too!

I got so good at Unit Customization that I decided to play an entire game with only WORMS. I played the Nature Civilization and just wormed it up. And actually, it is AMAZINGLY effective. If I remember correctly, the worm swarms were incredibly difficult to kill because they had around 22 life and you could stack them and they were super easy to build at a certain point.

Now I'm not one for the 'impossible' settings, but I cranked AC up to Emperor with everything set on Max Difficulty and I was STILL able to (lets say) 'Consume' all the other civilizations.

(Hey Sid, thanks for making a great game! I've been playing Civilization and AC since I was a child. I'd really just like to see the great features of the past brought back.)

Oh, I loved creating my own units, though the interface was so bad that I hoped for an external text file to edit so that the engineers would suggest the units I always design anyways. I'd arranged the design of infantry units a bit differently too, but it was brilliant anyways.

SMAC is a great game and I really wish I'd see a remake of some sort, but if I remember correctly, It's Electronic Arts that currently has the rights