Having originally played Alpha Centuri back in circa 2002 - probably not leaving my room for days as Lady Skye and the Gaians vanquished the Spartans and fought the Believers to a standstill while slowly achieving transcendence - I have been utterly charmed replaying it again these past few days.

It's been a very different experience this time around, playing the Gaians again but on the toughest difficulty setting (I have barely picked up a mouse in the last 6 years - what was I thinking?!) and on the large map. An uneasy treaty with my Morganite continent-neighbors ended after they sent a Probe team into one of my colonies. A short and costly war followed, ending after I successfully seized one of their larger cities. I was trying to play it true-to-character and didn't want to needlessly wipe out their culture. However I'm now wishing I had however, and added their industry to my own. In retrospect I should have followed up my victory by eliminating the faction entirely and seizing their remaining colonies - I later learned I had effectively wiped out their military in that short war. The one city I did seize was more trouble than it was worth - I spent decades trying to get on top of the subsequent Drone riots. I am desperately fighting for my life against an almost unstoppable advance from the Hive. I almost exhausted myself blunting their initial thrust. An attempt at a counter-offensive onto their home continent has revealed a landmass the size of Asia lousy with Hive colony-bunkers all on a military footing. The counter-attack was wiped out and I was lucky to limp home with a remaining Needlejet and Isle of the Deep. The Hive: "They are Legion" and I am in big trouble. They keep coming in a slow, inexorable advance - it's all I can do to stop them taking my cities. My forces are being ground down and I can't replace them quickly enough. I have the most marvelous and enlightened civilisation, with an incredible number of Secret Projects and the second-most powerful military on Planet - and it's probably about to get wiped out by Gaia's own antithesis. There is a certain unutterable horror I feel about my beautiful society being defeated, processed and and assimilated into such a soulless adversary. Gaia's beautiful gardens may soon be burnt to ash, to be replaced with the Punishment Spheres and underground feeding bays of Chairman Yang's communal utopia. We will fight to the last breath!

I mean, wow - what a great game! A relatively simple game (in terms of its story and roleplaying element) from 1999 achieving such a high level of involvement - I am 100% brought into this play-through! I am loving playing it again!

Anyway, I've been reading around Alpha Centuri and the Civilisation series. I've only played Alpha Centuri and Civ 2 and obviously have a lot to catch up on. Are the rest of the subsequent games worth a crack? I've especially noted this game "Beyond Earth", which seems a real successor to Alpha Centuri, although perhaps without the same sense of mystery and plot?

I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts or suggestions.

I looked into beyond earth a while back..... i even watched reviews and people playing the game on YouTube.

In the end i decided it was interesting, but not interesting enough to buy.

SMAC has allot of different game features packed into one game, but the problem is that no game developer wants to do that anymore - they always build on particular traits and or add some new traits, but other things are ALWAYS left out.

Beyond earth is no different..... one example - can you raise/lower terrain in beyond earth? no! This is what i am talking about.

Alpha Centuri does have a fabulous amount of detail - I would have thought that with the vast teams and sums of money being thrown around in the video-game world today that this sort of thing would be easy. In practice it only seems to appear in labors of love like the various crowd-funded projects of recent years.

I think what really captured me about Alpha Centuri was the personality of the factions, and the sense of palpable rivalries and differences between them. The feel of the strange alien future was fabulous, as was the concept of these evolving future-societies. I had no trouble visualising them, which made it very easy to by into each play-through and become emotionally connected.

I've read mixed reviews of Beyond Earth and I wonder if it achieves that.

Yes SMAC is an amazing game.
As for recommendations, you might want to look at Pandorra: First Contact, though I haven't played it myself.

Indeed, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri is a brilliant computer strategy game!

Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth is just as brilliant as any other Sid game. If you are familiar with the gameplay mechanics of Sid Meier's Civilization V, then Sid Meir's Civilization: Beyond Earth should be fairly intuitive for veteran Civ players.

My issue with Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth is that I waited so long for the price point on the retail shelves to drop that when the price point finally dropped, all available copies were snatched up and they were all gone!

:(

Including the expansion pack, Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth: Rising Tide!!!

The circumstance is either I would see the expansion pack in one store but can't find the original Beyond Earth in another store to start the game... and vice versa.

So, I am respectfully requesting from Firaxis a Complete Edition, just like how Sid Meier's Civilization V was packaged.

So how 'bout it, Firaxis?

:D

Complete Edition of Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth packaged with Rising Tide, eh?

I have to disagree. I HATED Civ 5. Firstly they removed half of the units, particularly the exotic ones. Then they removed religion. Then they made happiness a civilisation wide issue rather than local to each city. Finally the "one unit to a square rule" (excluding cities) made trying to organise any military attack like those puzzle games where you have to reassemble the sliding squares into a picture.

Beyond Earth was effectively a reskinned Civ 5 WITH UNCHANGED FACTION PROFILES. So you would be exploring space with Attila the Hun, Elizabeth 1, and Julius Caesar. 2K/ Firaxis have dropped a lot in quality in recent years and abuse DLC by witholding core elements of their games to sell as DLC extras.

Dealing with your Yang problem. Firstly Transcend is difficult and I expect few people win consistently at it. Ideally you need to start on a large island to yourself.

You are invariably weaker than the other factions at the start unless you are Sister Miriam, get troop advances quickly, and can quickly take out Deirdre or Mogan as neighbours.

Yang is the second toughest faction to play against on Transcend after Sister Miriam (who on Transcend is a total psychopath). He has industrial production bonuses, population bonuses, and the key issue is that since his bases start with perimeter defences he's well protected.

As Deirdre your military is the weakest in the game (starts at "Very Green" not "Green"). You only have two advantages. The first is you can capture mind worms expanding your military swiftly. You also get bonuses in Psi attacks. Leaving your mind worms in fungus near your borders can enable you to ambush incoming enemy. Remember psi worms treat fungus as roads so they van flee swiftly through fungus too. They can also regain full health after combat in fungal squares.

The second is that you are efficient so your tech should improve faster than Miriam or Yang.

First stage is keep a low profile and hope for the best whilst you build up your bases. If expanding beyond a couple of bases means you have to declare Vendetta you're in big trouble. Restart ?

Get your bases building up quickly - defensive unit, formers, recycling tank or rec comms depending on how fast your city is growing and how good your drone management is, childrens creche.

Keep expanding into all free space, especially if there are desirable resources.

The Human Genome Project is one of the most valuable of the Secret Projects early in the game.

When you start your military development go defence first. I always get one unit of the best basic infantry I can buy and I tend to buy AAA as soon as I have the tech. One good infantry unit can hold off a dozen attackers if they attack singularly although if you're up against Miriam or Yang they tend to attack mob handed.

For me Air Power is the key to victory in SMAC. Three planes can hold off an entire land based army of dozens if they have to attack on a narrow front. One aircraft attacks. As long as it wins no enemy can enter its square unless it has air superiority (interceptors) which needs an enemy to have air power. Next turn the first plane returns to base and the second attacks. Turn three the third plane attacks, plane one repairs, and plane 2 returns to base. Next turn plane 1 attacks as plane 2 heals, and plane 3 returns to base.

Once your air force is strong enough to go on the attack you can position your planes to prevent reinforcements from retaking a captured city.

The next key units are copters and jump troops. Copters are invaluable. I kill more enemy using copters than any other troop. They can attack multiple times per turn and once finished can return to a base with AAA ground troops to protect them. Conventional aircraft are vulnerable to counter attack by interceptors. Jump troops (though expensive) can capture enemy bases without having been exposed outside bases to enemy aircraft. Jump troops can't be used within two squares of an enemy air base but they get a move after landing so if you can land on a road square three squares away you can capture the enemy city (and be restored to full health) in one turn.

The next critical unit are Locusts of Chiron. Unlike copters, needlejets etc they never need to refuel, can fly anywhere and critically CAN CAPTURE ENEMY CITIES.

If enemy air defences are too tough for your copters use a missile attack or two to take out the AAA defending troops so your copters can sweep the rest.

Watch out for enemy Planetbusters. It's worth losing a unit or two to destroy an enemy planetbuster.

As for other games - Rome Total War, Shogun Total War 2, Empire Total War, and Napoleon Total War. They match SMAC for complexity and if bought in a sale are very affordable. Good game mechanics and graphics too.

S.x.

Civ5 is two units per tile, not 1, but still amazingly stupid.

And people seem to love that dicxxxxx idea, just go over to the civ forum, complain about it, and see what happens!

I bought civ5, i played it through to give it a good go, most of it was pretty good, but the 2 unit tile limit is absolutely intolerable, its the biggest gaming disaster choice i ever saw. I never play civ5 because of it, why the hell would i? geez, i can go and play civ4 instead, no problem.

Sure... you can disagree. Doesn't mean you know what you're complaining about but you can certainly... disagree.

If you observe real-life civilization history, what every country, in every continent, have in common is how content that population is, which is a benefactor to its growth and success. Sid Meier's Civilization V made Happiness a relevant gameplay element that is global I agree with.

A formation of units together on a single hex tile is a much better solution than the way it was done in previous Civilization versions. Now, the game looks and feels like a classic strategy game (Y'know, like Chess...?) than a haphazard attempt at one.

It's too bad you put all your effort into expressing hatred for Sid Meier's Civilization V because it would've been much more interesting to share, read and write about opening, mid game and end game decisions along with favorite civilization and leader choices and lots of other strategic gameplay elements the game offers.

Instead, all we get is a reply like yours.

I don't make it a habit to peruse the online Civilization forum (you're referring to CivfFanatics, ...yes?) if that kind of feedback is littered all over the place. I registered an account after reading a few interesting and inspiring topics over there a few months ago regarding Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth and Rising tide, posted my appreciation of the game and a reply came in how that person was dissatisfied that the game wasn't as detailed as Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri... I just shrugged off the comment and never posted again.

Hey, I understand all the intricacies surrounding unpleasant follow-ups to a hit video game series. starcraft 2 is a perfect example of an extremely mediocre follow-up to the original game that released a decade and a half ago but the Civilization series doesn't compare because Firaxis Games produces a brand new variation of the same theme in the series every few years. No caparison, at all.

I love Sid Meier's Civilization V. I believe the game is brilliant. Sid Meier's Civilization V is the one successful version that exploded into the mainstream, maintaining most of the core elements of the original so the critics over at CivFanatics can just grin and bear it 'cause I 'get it'. Apparently, a lot of the new fans 'get it', too.

At the moment, I am 328 turns in a fantastic game choosing to play The Iroquois at Prince difficulty, disabling Domination and Cultural Victory on a small custom map that the computer generated for me that is so well designed that it is the only map that I play on, mainly because I know where all the Natural Wonders are, all the Mountain placement, all the continental islands, most of the Strategic Resources, rivers and fertile territories, ...just as the Artificial Intelligence does, as well.

The goal is to build a space ship to fly to Alpha Centauri with a Science Victory or build a United Nations wonder and get myself elected World Leader with a Diplomatic victory, whichever comes first.

I set the world for 2 other civilizations and 4 city-states. One civ is The Ottoman Empire and the other, America.
How ironic is that?
;)

My Military Advisor thinks my war with the Ottoman Empire is "...not going well."
Little does he know...
---I have total control of the map! However, one false move and the whole plan falls apart but that's not going to happen with my steady leadership.

I don't remember having any other problem with the game other than the 2 unit tile limit.

If i heard someone made a mod with at least a 3 unit per tile limit i would be back in there like a shot! but the 2 unit limit is just too much, awful, i cannot bear it, that one thing destroys the game utterly for me, no matter how good everything else is, sorry.

Aw, don't let that minor quibble be the show-stopper for you. Go 'head, fire up the game and show 'em whatcha got!
Sid Meier's Civilization V is magnificent!

:)

hehehe, well yes, that was my thought too the first few days of playing the game. But i will tell you the truth, without exaggeration, i actually physically got a headache thumping in my brain from the frustration over the 2 unit tile limit..... but because i was concentrating on the game i did not realize at first, then suddenly it dawned on me like a revelation how much i hate the game..... HATE

No.... the 2 unit tile limit is not a minor quibble, its a black hole of despair relentlessly sucking all the fun out of the game.

Some great comments, ideas and suggestions there guys - thank you all very much! It's marvelous to see so much passion and thought about the games after all this time - nearly 17 years now!

From the sound of it I shall be sticking with SMAC for a while. I did pick up a copy of Civ IV a few years ago in a bargin bin - and have never found the time to install and play it, so that's something to look forward to.

I've heard a lot about the Total War games, but have never actually played any of them. I was under the impression that they were predominantly historical warfare simulators. Am I right in saying that they are games of tactics? Or does a more strategic element come into them at all too? And is there a social (i.e. society/world-building) aspect to them at all?

If I could motivate you further, pick up a world atlas book to bump up the fun factor in the Sid Meier's Civilization series.
Seriously... when you find your most favored country inside the atlas and rename cities in the game as an attempt to recreate what's in the atlas, the Civilization takes on a completely different perspective.

I've learned more about the names and location of countries through Sid Meier's Civilization V than I ever did in any history class in public school!

;)