Pandora First Contact Gold Edition contains the main game and Eclipse of Nashira DLC.
In the future, factions have risen up from opportunities and ideologies independent of governments. Private corporations and religious movements have started wars over greed, ideology and power. Many have died an...
Pandora First Contact Gold Edition contains the main game and Eclipse of Nashira DLC.
In the future, factions have risen up from opportunities and ideologies independent of governments. Private corporations and religious movements have started wars over greed, ideology and power. Many have died and many lands lay in ruin. Planet Earth has been exhausted and colonial attempts on other planetary bodies have been in vain.
Finally, after decades of exploration, an interstellar probe has brought promise of a new world many light-years away. The most powerful factions have gathered their best men and women to send on a long journey to Pandora.
Far from desolate, the earth-like planet has been found to host a plethora of indigenous life forms. While the gigantic monstrosities inland and at the oceans seem relatively calm, human-sized bugs and fungus are threatening to stop mankind's expansion.
As the various factions strive to take control, each will research and develop numerous new technologies, discovering new weapons and industry, whilst opening trade agreements and forging alliances with other factions to gain a foothold. As they spread, they will discover ancient ruins from alien civilizations that will grant them advantages over their rivals.
Explore a new world harboring a variety of eco-regions, from the frozen ice lands of the north, to vast deserts and lush tropical forests in the south.
Survive encounters with the planet's dangerous wild life. Deadly swarms walk the lands and agile predators fly in the skies. There is even talk of a giant creature in the oceans.
Live in harmony with nature or use it to further your cause. The indigenous life will react to your actions and treat you accordingly.
Discover ruins and artifacts, the relics of an ancient alien civilization long forgotten that can give you an edge against the planet life and other rivaling factions.
Found new cities to expand the borders of your empire. Manage cities by adjusting the tax rate, choosing production and assigning colonists to jobs.
Operate a fully globalized and pooled resource and growth system. Specialize one city to harvest minerals while churning out units in another.
Adapt your empire to pressing demand. Your colonists will migrate between cities based on factors such as pollution and living space.
Shape the landscape with terraforming, construct farms, mines, forts, and other improvements to increase the productivity of your colonies or to fortify positions.
Progress through a vast randomized research tree spanning dozens of technologies providing operations, buildings, units, weapons, and more.
Negotiate trade and research pacts with other factions for mutual benefits. Forge alliances to stand united against common foes.
Design your own units by choosing from a range of different classes, armors, weapons, and devices to maximize the strength of your forces.
Command vast armies across the battlefield against enemy factions, making use of the variety of terrain types to gain an advantage.
Unleash hell on your opponents with powerful military operations, ranging from drop pods behind enemy lines to black hole generators eradicating entire landscapes.
Prove yourself in multiplayer with friends or strangers and discover entirely new strategies.
Customize your experience through easily moddable XML data and well-known image and audio formats.
It is an mediocre game, it does feel like a better Civilization Beyond Earth, but it is become a button mash on the end turn button, and the AI seems to declare war on you 24/7 no matter what. And even praises you during the war... The diplomacy is broken beyond recognition. There seems to be no logic behind what pisses them off and what don't.
But except for that, seems to be an ok game, especially for the price I got it for.
but nothing is as good as Alpha Centauri.
It's pretty, though, and runs on even the worst machine imaginable. The gameplay is as expected, and the factions are dumbed-down caricatures of the interesting ideas in SMAC.
I'm not telling you to play SMAC instead of Pandora. You've already played SMAC. But this is good too, even if it never catches up to the original.
I was streaming this game no in June 2025. First time playing it. I love turn based strategy game.
Felt like a mix of Beyond Earth, SMAC, Civilization series.
Really enjoying the setting, the lore, even the graphics. Then we came under attack from the native aliens.
That's not the problem. The problem is there is no camera focus, no zooming in, no combat animation while the enemy attacks you. If there is any battle after you click on end turn, then all you get is small text info about the result on the right side of the screen where you get the rest of the game notifications. That's it.
No animation.
No idea battles are taking place and where.
You have to click on each result to see where the battle took place, not that you can see anything other than the now surviving units.
WHERE IS THE FUN IN THAT?
For me it ruins all fun in the game. RUINS IT.
I am not giving it 1 star because I am sure many people don't care about this issue, but I do. Two stars,
If the game had the option to see the battles, I would give it at least 4 stars out of 5, based on what I have seen so far.
As is, I refuse to continue playing like this.
Pissed off.
I wish I could ask for my money back, but it's been years since I bought it. Not GOG's fault I just played it.
While this game does not have as much depth as Civ V, SMAC or Beyond Earth, it's still a good strategy game on its own merits. As game mechanics you have base building, a very fleshed out research tree, excellent unit design, diplomacy, a market to trade food and mineral resources, an innovative "operations" mechanic, and of course an engaging combat system. For some people this might appear minimal compared to the additional mechanics we have come to expect from such a game, such as social policies or a religion/belief system which this game is lacking. There are also no bells and whisles, no nice animations or sounds when completing special constructions or when conquering a city. Only a minimal plot that is advanced when certain criteria are met.
Despite this, I think the game makes up for this by shining where it truly matters: the core elements of what makes a good Civ-like strategy game are polished, and most importantly, the game has a competent AI. I love SMAC as much as anyone, but the terrible AI that is so characteristic of the early Civ-games has made it borderline unplayable over the years. The design of units, weapons, aliens and the terrain are also very satisfying.
The only mayor grievance I have with this game is the lack of graphs and statistics. There is a way to see how you measure up against your opponents as a short summary on the diplomacy screen (e.g. "Strong economy"), and the advisors will also provide a short phrase of how you are faring in a specific area, but I would really loved to see more, graphs and numbers of population, economic stats, etc. For me this is a must-have in any Civ-like game.
But overall this does not distract from the fun of playing the game, and the "just one more turn" effect is very strong with this one. Be warned.
For an indie effort the game is pretty good technically. The basic concept are good and solid.
It is easy to get into it if. But after several games, I found that the game lacked depth and variety compared to other Civ like games. It doesn't feel like a living world and the world lack character.
If you are new to the genre it is a decent introduction. But then I rather play something meatier
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Ok, got it
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