Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri: Alien Crossfire
Chironi Republic and Cosmical Rabbit
Today I revisit one of the first strategy games that stole a cool hundred hours from my youth. I have very many fond memories of beating back hordes of Believers and overcoming the tyranny of the Human Hive. Back in those days, I almost always chose to play as the University, because even back then I was a techhead. I have been thinking about starting this Feat or Fail series for a while, and Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri is the perfect starting point.
Chironi Republic and Cosmical Rabbit
Today I revisit one of the first strategy games that stole a cool hundred hours from my youth. I have very many fond memories of beating back hordes of Believers and overcoming the tyranny of the Human Hive. Back in those days, I almost always chose to play as the University, because even back then I was a techhead. I have been thinking about starting this Feat or Fail series for a while, and Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri is the perfect starting point.
My headquarters at the end of the game
SMAC was one of the very first 4X games I ever played. I believe it came with a computer my father purchased at some point. He was not one for turn-based games, or really, anything that you couldn’t pick up and play in a half hour. I watched him play Dune 2 and Command & Conquer, but I think SMAC was a little too “out there” for him. I, however, fell almost instantly in love. From the unit design workshop and weather patterns all the way to the diplomacy, I was enthralled as much by the mechanics as by the universe itself.
I had never had the opportunity to play the expansion, Alien Crossfire, and today’s after action report is my first official dive into the new experience. I remember when I had learned about the expansion, I was most excited about the new factions available. In that vein, I decided to do this AAR as the Free Drones, the group I was most interested in trying. I won’t lie to you, the rust was real and I could see it from the early power rankings. Especially since I was so used to playing with a tech lead, I definitely felt that research penalty.
I decided to choose the standard map of Planet for this game, because I think it offered the most “balanced” start and because I have fond memories of fighting over it and the larger version and wanted to go back to the “official” sci-fi world of my youth. It didn’t take long for me to meet my first faction, and an old nemesis: Chairman Yang of the Human Hive. He immediately reminded me of our old battle wounds when he declared war at the opening interaction.
SMAC was one of the very first 4X games I ever played. I believe it came with a computer my father purchased at some point. He was not one for turn-based games, or really, anything that you couldn’t pick up and play in a half hour. I watched him play Dune 2 and Command & Conquer, but I think SMAC was a little too “out there” for him. I, however, fell almost instantly in love. From the unit design workshop and weather patterns all the way to the diplomacy, I was enthralled as much by the mechanics as by the universe itself.
I had never had the opportunity to play the expansion, Alien Crossfire, and today’s after action report is my first official dive into the new experience. I remember when I had learned about the expansion, I was most excited about the new factions available. In that vein, I decided to do this AAR as the Free Drones, the group I was most interested in trying. I won’t lie to you, the rust was real and I could see it from the early power rankings. Especially since I was so used to playing with a tech lead, I definitely felt that research penalty.
I decided to choose the standard map of Planet for this game, because I think it offered the most “balanced” start and because I have fond memories of fighting over it and the larger version and wanted to go back to the “official” sci-fi world of my youth. It didn’t take long for me to meet my first faction, and an old nemesis: Chairman Yang of the Human Hive. He immediately reminded me of our old battle wounds when he declared war at the opening interaction.
Chairman Yang must have remembered our past, because he attacked my scout immediately.
After cranking out some early rovers, I was able to strong arm Yang into an early demise (Do or Die wasn’t enabled, so he escaped to the continent I would later find out had the Data Angels). I met the University and began aggressively expanding to the southeast in order to cover as much of my side of the continent as I could manage.
I signed a Pact of Brotherhood with the Data Angels, knowing full well that eventually my friendship with them would lead to conflict with the University. Neither of the Crossfire alien factions seemed interested in being friendly, and I knew that the Data Angels were the only other faction left on Planet I had a chance to ally with long-term.
I signed a Pact of Brotherhood with the Data Angels, knowing full well that eventually my friendship with them would lead to conflict with the University. Neither of the Crossfire alien factions seemed interested in being friendly, and I knew that the Data Angels were the only other faction left on Planet I had a chance to ally with long-term.
Victory City used to be called The Hive
I was pretty nervous with the idea of attacking the Caretakers to the north. Since this was my first time playing Alien Crossfire, I thought they might be a little too far ahead technologically. Knowing that I would need to fight Miriam at some point I sent over a force of three transports filled with rovers. They landed and successfully took over a coastal city but were wiped out by a Probe Team on the next turn. As my (I admit to being fairly reckless during this playthru) defenseless transports were making their way east toward my waters, they were brutally ambushed by Caretaker ships.
I was pretty nervous with the idea of attacking the Caretakers to the north. Since this was my first time playing Alien Crossfire, I thought they might be a little too far ahead technologically. Knowing that I would need to fight Miriam at some point I sent over a force of three transports filled with rovers. They landed and successfully took over a coastal city but were wiped out by a Probe Team on the next turn. As my (I admit to being fairly reckless during this playthru) defenseless transports were making their way east toward my waters, they were brutally ambushed by Caretaker ships.
This was my southern expansion, racing against the University for land
Fall of Tau Ceti
My invasion forces were positioned in the University jungle cities, so it wasn’t far for them to be redirected to Tau Ceti Memory, the only Caretaker city on our continent. Once I had the ability to start construction of Needlejets I began mass production in every available base. After fighting off the lackluster invasion of Anvil Canal, my Needlejets began operations to liberate the Caretaker mainland. Rovers landed on the eastern shore and rolled into each defenseless base the Needlejets opened up.
War in the north
On the homefront, I finally switched my social engineering to Democracy and Knowledge around 2371. I normally would have made both a priority to switch into, but drone riots prevented me earlier. Having spent most of my SMAC life below this difficulty level, I am fairly sure that I had developed a great many bad habits, especially regarding drones.
Next was the war with the Believers, this time I was ferrying troops in from the former Caretaker island instead of my homeland. I captured the eastern shores and the Believer HQ around 2390. Believers had anti-aircraft weapons so my air force took heavier losses. But once again this was a clinic on why SMAC’s AI is often weak: they simply cannot deal with a user with air superiority.
Believer HQ shoreline captured
The last Believer city fell in 2411, and the University eradicated the Caretakers in 2419. By 2421 I moved into a Free Market economy and immediately experienced widespread drone riots. I launched my first satellite in 2426 (Angels were first in 2418) and helped the Angels fight back against the Usurpers. The final Usurper city fell in 2437 and I knew that the time limit (and an inevitable showdown) was coming close.
Usurpers down
Between 2440 and 2460 I moved my forces back to my mainland and began major preparations for a full-scale invasion of the University. Yes, I was scrupulous, and I was preparing to betray my longest ally, but I knew that logistically there was no way I would be able to invade the Angels and come out ahead. They had already become so big and had such an enormous military that it would have been certain suicide for the Republic of Chiron.
University war
In 2470 I declared war on the University and by 2484 the University mainland cities had all fallen to my rovers. They only held the former (and final) Caretaker island and a dozen sea colonies. Just before the time limit rang loud, Roze of the Data Angels called a vote for Supreme Leader. Obviously, with her population she was positioned to win the game, and at that moment I decided it was better to be on the winning side than to lose to her at the time limit.
End of a friendship
So in 2488 Datajack Roze became Supreme Leader and Cosmical Rabbit became the Panultimate Leader. Looking back over the game, I can see that the rust contributed greatly to my second-place finish. I didn’t prioritize Secret Projects at all (University got most of them), it took me nearly forever to get my core cities developed with Formers. Also, I didn’t maximize my Social Engineering well enough, nor invest in Psych to keep the riots at bay. I also could’ve used more Probe Teams, as I know I didn’t utilize them much after getting all the faction datalinks stolen. The only reason I survived as long as I did was 1) the enfeebled AI, 2) spoils of war, and finally, 3) air superiority (see point 1).
So in 2488 Datajack Roze became Supreme Leader and Cosmical Rabbit became the Panultimate Leader. Looking back over the game, I can see that the rust contributed greatly to my second-place finish. I didn’t prioritize Secret Projects at all (University got most of them), it took me nearly forever to get my core cities developed with Formers. Also, I didn’t maximize my Social Engineering well enough, nor invest in Psych to keep the riots at bay. I also could’ve used more Probe Teams, as I know I didn’t utilize them much after getting all the faction datalinks stolen. The only reason I survived as long as I did was 1) the enfeebled AI, 2) spoils of war, and finally, 3) air superiority (see point 1).
Scoreboard
I enjoyed returning to Planet, and I definitely plan to do another Feat or Fail without the Alien Crossfire expansion in the future. I didn't find the "always war" aspect of the Aliens to add much, and I can't lie that I missed some of the original factions. I hope that you enjoyed this first installment of Feat or Fail, and I encourage you to make suggestions for making this series better in the future.
Verdict: Fail.
I came in second place, even if I did piggyback my way to the victory screen.
Thanks for the assist Data Angels!
Settings:
Difficulty: Transcend
Available win conditions (all)
Difficulty: Transcend
Available win conditions (all)
Higher Goal
Total War
Peace in our time
Mine, all mine
Tech stagnation
Spoils of war
Blind research
No unity survey
No unit scattering
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