Bay 12 Games Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  
Pages: 1 ... 5 6 [7]

Author Topic: Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri  (Read 14307 times)

Robsoie

  • Bay Watcher
  • Urist McAngry
    • View Profile
Re: Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
« Reply #90 on: August 28, 2023, 08:28:39 am »

It tells how much quality depth was given to the lore, factions and leaders that even more than 20 years after release people are still discussing Alpha Centauri characters and faction ideologies.

Really one of the most brillant 4X game around even after so many years.
Sad that no other 4X had this level of writing depth and quality.
 
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
PERFECT YANG EFFICIENCY TOTAL PLANET HARMONY OVER 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 DRONES STAPLED

That looks like a big headache management nightmare :D
Logged

Loud Whispers

  • Bay Watcher
  • They said we have to aim higher, so we dug deeper.
    • View Profile
    • I APPLAUD YOU SIRRAH
Re: Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
« Reply #91 on: August 28, 2023, 09:57:43 am »

It tells how much quality depth was given to the lore, factions and leaders that even more than 20 years after release people are still discussing Alpha Centauri characters and faction ideologies.

Really one of the most brillant 4X game around even after so many years.
Sad that no other 4X had this level of writing depth and quality.
It blew my mind one day when I was playing SMAC and opened up diplomacy dialogue. Then I noticed the flashing screen icons in the HUD on the bottom left were actually flashing scenes from the faction leader's life. These were all things you, as your faction leader, would have gotten one of your underlings to collect every piece of information on your rivals to give you an edge. It's literally an intelligence dossier. They put all this work in for a minor detail most people forget, just so they could tell even more story through a UI.

Deidre Skye shows pictures of her childhood family photo albums. Pictures of her in her boarding school, or her being a champion at lacrosse - with newspaper titles of "Skye won't fall." Pictures of her becoming an astronaut, then resuming a career as an astronaut. Pictures of her becoming an eco-activist and joining picket lines in her adolescence, failing to avert the fate of Earth.

Sheng-Ji Yang shows pictures of his childhood in poverty, his parents going through school, him going through education and joining city life & partaking in revolutionary party actions. Amusingly it features a picture of Yang as a glam model, which does go some way to explaining why the U.N. felt Yang was a safe pick for the U.N. mission and could be trusted, as they presumed he may have mellowed out.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Fashion Yang isn't real... He can't hurt you...

Zhakarov's shows clippings of his work as a rocket scientist. His past as a champion chess player, and one really adorable pic of him going to his last day of school.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Protect that smile! I do love how Zhakarov's dossier has one where they have to circle Zhakarov's face because he blends in seamlessly in the background.

Morgan's is special. Some like Yang show their family, but Morgan actually seems to have had a wife, kids, brothers, sisters... Makes him leaving them all behind to save himself seem even more in character for "Morgan." Like Deidre and Zhakarov he is a champion athlete, only this time it seems to have been American football of all things.

Corazon Santiago seems to have had an especially accomplished life. She was born into a military family, a basketball player, a kickboxer, an MMA fighter, a boxer, a marine, a peacekeeper and an astronaut. Seems to have spent some of her youth hitchhiking and camping around the world.

Miriam Godwinson seems to have been the most "public" of the seven, as whereas some of the other faction leaders only have "snippets" of their life, Miriam's seems to have been well-documented with her family life, her religious career, academic carerer and astronaut career all being well-recorded. She seems to have actually had hobbies and a documented normal social life with friends whilst she was in her young adulthood.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Like Morgan and Lal, she was married and had a kid!
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
I do love how Yang and Miriam both have their own version of the embarassing young photo which dispels the whole notion of "we were born stern figures of invincible stoicness."

Lal was a cricket player, a gymnast, a football player, a doctor, a marathon runner - and when he began his astronaut career, something of a stud.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
And he had a family!!! Interestingly his dossier makes lots of references to his hindu faith, he's about on par with Miriam for religious references.

Interesting common features:
-Plenty of embarassing childhood pictures. Some of our faction 7 were wallflowers in school like Zhakarov or Lal, whilst others stood out and were the centres of their childhood social circles like Miriam and Santiago. Ones like Morgan and Yang didn't seem to have common school upbringings or childhoods.

-Every member of our starting seven went to University, except for Santiago, who seems to have gone straight into the military the moment she was fighting age.

-Zhakarov and Deidre may have prioritised their scientific careers over starting a family, or perhaps they did not want to start one, or that information was lost.

-All of them were athletes in some way, except for Miriam, Yang and Zhakarov (unless you count chess).

-All of them were experienced astronauts, except for Morgan. This does suggest that the six astronauts were selected by the U.N. for their merits, but Morgan may have used his clout as head of Morgan Conglomerate to buy his way off the planet.

-Morgan and Yang came from impoverished backgrounds, one rising through economic means, the other through political. Lal and Miriam came from middle-class backgrounds, and both seem to have had the most "normal" lives in the sense that they both started families, went to school & university before joining the U.N. or becoming the head of a religious movement respectively. Deidre seems to have come from a posh upper-middle class background, going to boarding school & managing to engage in eco-activism and then transition into a career as an astro-botanist... Something made much easier by coming from a well-heeled background :P

-Lal, Miriam and Deidre had active social lives with friends. Yang probably was a wild child & bohemian at some point, before taking things more "seriously." Zhakarov & Morgan seem to have been loners, or associated mainly with family, rivals & colleagues. Lal, Miriam & Morgan probably left behind their family when they joined the U.N. mission. Pretty sad if you think about it :[

-Yang, Lal and Miriam (obviously) were living explicitly religious lives at some point in their lives. But Miriam's special - in some of her pictures as an astronaut working in space, you can clearly see her religious iconography reflected in her helmet. She is the only one who didn't leave her faith behind on earth.

-ALL OF THEM won awards, trophies, medals and cups for unspecified things. Needless to say, this is to show us that they were all at the top of their game, and they're playing for first place.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
PERFECT YANG EFFICIENCY TOTAL PLANET HARMONY OVER 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 DRONES STAPLED
That looks like a big headache management nightmare :D
Surprisingly not, one of the very many considerations I put into this design was "standardisation" so that every key node and borehole grid was interchangeable and easily adaptable if they ran over complications or a landmark

i think its really really cool that this game can still spawn discussion around the philosophical interpretations of the factions... and the morality of the gamestates... you don't really get that from Civ, do you? hehe
Civ beyond earth was... Lacking this flavour

I still want to properly learn this since i missed the boat as a youngling. I know this is rich coming from a bay12forum poster, but the UI is kinda horrendous, particularly the unit creation stuff.

isn't there some overhaul mod, too? hmm
I don't know of any UI overhaul mod. I personally love the UI, but you may want to mess with the preferences options. I turn off "auto-design units" because I personally find it annoying whenever the AI keeps trying to fill all my design slots with 300 variants of chopper
« Last Edit: August 28, 2023, 10:08:52 am by Loud Whispers »
Logged

Rince Wind

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
« Reply #92 on: August 28, 2023, 10:05:10 am »

Didn't Morgan basically sneak aboard? I think is company built the ship and he just put himself there without asking for permission or telling the others.
Logged

Loud Whispers

  • Bay Watcher
  • They said we have to aim higher, so we dug deeper.
    • View Profile
    • I APPLAUD YOU SIRRAH
Re: Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
« Reply #93 on: August 28, 2023, 10:10:51 am »

Didn't Morgan basically sneak aboard? I think is company built the ship and he just put himself there without asking for permission or telling the others.
The books say Morgan Conglomerate constructed most of the ship, and Morgan used that to add an extra stasis pod just for him in secret. But not everyone considers the books to be wholly canon compared to the game, because the books characterise some of the people differently. But even going by just what is available in game, it is pretty glaring that Morgan is the only one who isn't an astronaut

Haspen

  • Bay Watcher
  • Cthuwu
    • View Profile
Re: Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
« Reply #94 on: August 28, 2023, 11:30:00 am »

Pretty sure the whole Morgan deal was 'I sponsor you a ship, you get me in' and United Nations was 'okay, sure.' :P
Logged
SigFlags!
Quote from: Draignean@Spamkingdom+
Truly, we have the most uniquely talented spy network in all existence.
Quote from: mightymushroom@Spamkingdom#
Please tell me the Royal Physician didn't go to the same college as the Spymaster.

Radio Controlled

  • Bay Watcher
  • Morals? Ethics? Conscience? HA!
    • View Profile
Re: Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
« Reply #95 on: August 28, 2023, 01:23:26 pm »

Quote
Lal, Miriam & Morgan probably left behind their family when they joined the U.N. mission. Pretty sad if you think about it :[

Not entirely sure this is correct for Lal actually, based on one of his quotes:

Quote
I loved my chosen. How then to face the day when she left me? So I took from her body a single cell, perhaps to love her again.
-Commissioner Pravin Lal, "Time of Bereavement"-
(Quote for when you discover "Technology: Biomachinery", which then leads to the cloning vats)

I think she died and he was trying to clone her? Either she died on Planet or during the transit, or on Earth and he took some cells with him (or a full corpse, but that seems unlikely seeing the limited space on the ship). I'm guessing it was on Planet.

It fits with the good commissioner being stuck in the past, looking backwards rather than forwards. It's sad and tragic, but also a bit... unsettling? He -really- can't let go of the past.


Fakedit: I looked it up and found this:
The division of the colonists into factions thwarted the U.N.'s original plans, but many U.N. loyalists chose to follow Lal in the starship's final crisis. Unfortunately, Lal's wife, Pria, was mortally injured in a firefight moments before the final exodus to the escape pods. On Planet, Lal continued to claim legitimate authority over the colony, although he refrained from claiming the title of Governor. He worked tirelessly to make the Alpha Centauri colony a humane venture, and to unify the quarreling factions.
[...]
If he has a tragic flaw, it is his devotion to his own loved ones, which is one of the few things that could cause him to violate his ideals. For example, he used political "pull" to have his wife admitted to the Unity crew, despite her mediocre talents as a physician.
(but no sauce was given so not sure of canonicity)


Personal note: I liked playing as Lal and unifying Planet by making sure all the hostile factions who wouldn't sign peace treaties, had a little enclave for themselves, but making it so they couldn't exterminate other factions. That way the full set was still there when it was time for convergence.
« Last Edit: August 28, 2023, 01:25:03 pm by Radio Controlled »
Logged


Einsteinian Roulette Wiki
Quote from: you know who you are
21:26   <XYZ>: I know nothing about this, but I have strong opinions about it.
Fucking hell, you guys are worse than the demons.

Loud Whispers

  • Bay Watcher
  • They said we have to aim higher, so we dug deeper.
    • View Profile
    • I APPLAUD YOU SIRRAH
Re: Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
« Reply #96 on: August 28, 2023, 03:10:22 pm »

Pretty sure the whole Morgan deal was 'I sponsor you a ship, you get me in' and United Nations was 'okay, sure.' :P
If Morgan's +100 starting energy credits is anything to go by, he even stashed his treasure with him when he boarded the ship  :P

Quote
Lal, Miriam & Morgan probably left behind their family when they joined the U.N. mission. Pretty sad if you think about it :[
Not entirely sure this is correct for Lal actually, based on one of his quotes:
Quote
I loved my chosen. How then to face the day when she left me? So I took from her body a single cell, perhaps to love her again.
-Commissioner Pravin Lal, "Time of Bereavement"-
(Quote for when you discover "Technology: Biomachinery", which then leads to the cloning vats)
I think she died and he was trying to clone her? Either she died on Planet or during the transit, or on Earth and he took some cells with him (or a full corpse, but that seems unlikely seeing the limited space on the ship). I'm guessing it was on Planet.
I think she died on Earth, just because the U.N. mission seems to have been not one of ambition or volition, but a final act of total desperation

Quote from: from the game manual
Soon after the new millenium begins, humankind’s oldest enemies — war,
famine and disease — are winning the battle on planet Earth. The United
Nations decides to attempt the mission that has been the dream of countless
science fiction writers and fans for generations: the colonization of a New
World, before it is too late. The establishment of a new outpost for mankind
as an alternative to the decaying situation on our mother planet seems to be
the last and best hope for the continued existence of mankind.
Code named “Unity,” the plan is simple. Send enough men, women and sup-
plies to the earthlike planet, Chiron, orbiting the primary star in the Alpha
Centauri system. Give them the seeds for planting a new society — technolo-
gy, knowledge, and experts of every kind. Insure that the mission, U.N. spon-
sored, stays on track by carefully monitoring its progress from Earth. Then,
when the time is right, and if the need still exists, begin shuttling others to
the New World at Alpha Centauri.

It all rests on how much the U.N. was willing to split families, but because there are no mentions / snippets / cutaways where the faction 7 talk about meeting with their family... I think their family members didn't qualify for the mission. This lines up with the books and the gurps stuff (which may or may not be canon) stating 7,000 were selected for their physical fitness & specialised skillsets to give the best odds of establishing a colony. And it seems this may be the case, given that all of the (authorised) leaders + Captain Garland fit the description of highly athletic, intelligent leaders at the top of their disciplines with astronaut experience. It's possible they would have been allowed to bring family though, I just don't think this is the case. Especially since your faction leader treats your up-and-coming-psionic-secretary who becomes your first mindworm boil leader as a kind of surrogate child, which would be odd if your faction leader had an actual child with them already

It fits with the good commissioner being stuck in the past, looking backwards rather than forwards. It's sad and tragic, but also a bit... unsettling? He -really- can't let go of the past.
Fitting for a guy trying to keep the U.N. mission alive long after the United Nations died

Fakedit: I looked it up and found this:
The division of the colonists into factions thwarted the U.N.'s original plans, but many U.N. loyalists chose to follow Lal in the starship's final crisis. Unfortunately, Lal's wife, Pria, was mortally injured in a firefight moments before the final exodus to the escape pods. On Planet, Lal continued to claim legitimate authority over the colony, although he refrained from claiming the title of Governor. He worked tirelessly to make the Alpha Centauri colony a humane venture, and to unify the quarreling factions.
[...]
If he has a tragic flaw, it is his devotion to his own loved ones, which is one of the few things that could cause him to violate his ideals. For example, he used political "pull" to have his wife admitted to the Unity crew, despite her mediocre talents as a physician.
(but no sauce was given so not sure of canonicity)
I think that's from the books, but I think you are right because it does make sense. Lends more credence to the idea that the others left their family behind, if Lal's wife was the exception to the rule brought on solely through political clout. As far as flaws go, I love Lal. He's a real human bean; IIRC in the books Lal does clone his wife, but realises very quickly his clone wife is not his wife and just lets her be as she's clearly someone else who needs to find her own way and her own identity. In the dark sci-fi deep end of Alpha Centauri, cloning your dead wife gets a pass from me XD

Personal note: I liked playing as Lal and unifying Planet by making sure all the hostile factions who wouldn't sign peace treaties, had a little enclave for themselves, but making it so they couldn't exterminate other factions. That way the full set was still there when it was time for convergence.
I'll never forget the sheer shock I had when I accidentally achieved a cooperative victory. I was playing a true moral + honourable Peacekeeper run. The Spartans were the last ones yet to sign a pact of brotherhood with me, and I actually got them to sign up for one willingly. At that point the game abruptly ended because everyone was either in a pact with me & each other. Victory by jolly cooperation

Robsoie

  • Bay Watcher
  • Urist McAngry
    • View Profile
Re: Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
« Reply #97 on: August 30, 2023, 12:06:40 pm »

I was reading this article and out of the obvious WTF thought , it got me to remember Alpha Centauri ...
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/29/9/23-0351_article
Logged

EuchreJack

  • Bay Watcher
  • Lord of Norderland - Lv 20 SKOOKUM ROC
    • View Profile
Re: Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
« Reply #98 on: August 30, 2023, 06:21:55 pm »

I was reading this article and out of the obvious WTF thought , it got me to remember Alpha Centauri ...
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/29/9/23-0351_article
Hello Nightmare Fuel!

Loud Whispers

  • Bay Watcher
  • They said we have to aim higher, so we dug deeper.
    • View Profile
    • I APPLAUD YOU SIRRAH
Re: Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
« Reply #99 on: August 31, 2023, 01:51:55 pm »

I was reading this article and out of the obvious WTF thought , it got me to remember Alpha Centauri ...
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/29/9/23-0351_article
The mind worm burrows through the eyes, ears, nose, planting its ravenous larvae in the nervous tissue of its host... :D

Ironically Lal's Peacekeepers may be the hardest to defend.  They shroud themselves in the laws and rules of the old world.  What does that even mean, as a transcendental ideology?  While classically liberal, it's inherently backwards.
And not even cherishing the old-human identity as the Believers seem to.  The failed states...

But, no, they champion democracy.  Maybe I should give that more credit.  Maybe the Peacekeepers are ruling by rational consensus in this transhuman age.  Yes, that is why their people count more.  Because they are allowed voices.  Many factions can run democracy, but I think it's fair to imagine that it's more meaningful under a Peacekeeper dome.  Because I almost compared to them to the University's "rational consensus", but there are many indications that University society is extremely tiered.  The Peacekeepers are more egalitarian, mechanically.
I love the peacekeepers philosophy. I always tended to underrate them as a faction because of their whole dilettantish playstyle, but it's worth noting that mechanically they get relaxed pop limits of +2 because their bases are able to accommodate people by providing adequate social care and restrictions on predatory behaviour by more powerful segments of the population.

They have this odd mix of extreme conservatism (maintaining the direct continuity of Earth instead of trying a new start, a highly ordered & managed bureaucratic society) and extreme idealism (attempt to make the dreams and ambitions of old Earth a reality, instead of the pitiful U.N. they had which watched Earth burn). The extra talents is really just more evidence of how much care the U.N. Peacekeepers have for humanity, in allowing its people to flourish whilst also keeping it in check to avoid anyone crushing the weaker. This is reflected in their default base names - they all have a common theme of either focusing on "authority" like U.N. Headquarters/U.N. Commission/U.N. Marine Authority or "humanitarianism" like U.N. Great Refuge/U.N. Disaster Relief/U.N. Port Refuge.

And also just their name, the U.N. Peacekeepers. That flame of hope and optimism, that stubborn insistence on trying to maintain peace between the seven factions... It warms my heart, you know? It's telling that the Peacekeepers share so many traits with the best of the other factions. They share the environmental concerns of the Gaians without seeking to doff their humanity. They share the Believers' concerns with how technology like the Mind Machine Interface are being used to reduce humanity to the status of weapons and tools. They share the Spartans' eagerness to adapt technology and the University's love of innovation, but unlike either, who pursue it for martial prowess or knowledge's sake, they tend to muse philosophically on the nature of how this technology will shape human development. Peacekeepers really try to be the best of everyone, like the Morganites' love of liberty without their hierarchical society, or the Gaian pacifistic tendencies whilst retaining the ability to be forceful.

(Amusingly in the extracanon gurps supplement, they posit the University would favour elites with a great grasp of mathematics and physics, whilst holding those of biological/social/psychological/humanities in disregard. So one can imagine the gaians attracting the biologists, the believers the psychologists & the peacekeepers the philsophers). Peacekeepers are good boys

I've been thinking about this.  Some factions are more suited to a military victory than others.  Conquest always helps, but Diplomatic or Economic victories are very possible without painting the map.  Whereas the "tech" victory is basically impossible unless the player is intentionally holding back.

Which factions would be happy letting the others exist?

I say the Morganites would.  As the literal Power Company, secure to pursue hedonistic bliss.

The University - why not?  They only want to study.  Atoms, stars, humans - If they are allowed their little projects, why should they care that other people exist?

The Spartans, ironically.  Yes they're geared for war, but Santiago's quotes are not about conquest.  Simply obsessive self-defense.  Sure they probably want a shitty police state where weak babies are thrown in the vats (little nod to Earth's Sparta there) but maybe -  *maybe* they're so obsessed with training that they'll never need to use their arms against others.  I'll give them the benefit of the doubt there, maybe they're not just a repeat of fascism.  Maybe.

The Hive, perhaps.  Yang wants to transform humanity.  Does he need to transform all humanity?  Much like the Spartans and University, I see the Hive as looking inwards for perfection.  I see Yang as a true believer, who would rather that people join his little... experiment, willingly.

The Peacekeepers obviously.  They're willing to form a coalition like the UN, and chat ruefully about the human rights abuses.  Maybe even enact those "sanctions" as the game jokes about.

But not the two remaining factions.  The Gaians and the Believers cannot abide the others.  The Gaians cannot watch as Planet is stabbed deep by boreholes and scorched with fungicide.  The Believers... have an evangelical doctrine.
Looking at how the factions play in game and the lore surrounding them, I'd say of the most willing to co-exist, it's (in order):

The Peacekeepers, Morganites (the peace-makers and the deal-makers)
The Spartans and the Hive (we don't care what you do, unless...)
The University and the Gaians (we are your friends, but not really)
The Believers (not even a chance)

-U.N. Peacekeepers. Only one that is 100% on board with unifying humanity peacefully under the U.N. charter. Interestingly, I've found Lal is the least responsive to any form of diplomacy at all. It's hard to bribe him, trade with him, threaten him or blackmail him - he tends to build alliances slowly and keep them. This also ties in with his in-lore character as a shrewd politician (their whole faction gets double votes to represent them knowing how to game parliamentary politics lmao) who is no fool, whilst also being someone who really believes in their ideals.

-The Morganites. Whilst not exactly "altruistic" about their intentions to keep all the factions alive (it doesn't make sense to kill your customers) and clearly angling for domination, there is clearly a world of difference between the world being pressed under the heel of the Human Hive versus being bought out by Morgan Industries or everyone's network nodes being bundled with MorganSoft office packages. I've often found that Morgan is incredibly pliable in diplomacy. One reliable thing I've found is if you are militarily overwhelming compared to him, he is eager to sign a pact with you. You can then begin threatening to cancel the pact in exchange for stuff, and he usually obliges. Or you can choose to forgo the pact completely, and he still usually concedes to you. If you are about equal strength, or even weaker than him, he is incredibly responsive to trades "e.g. name your price." Just a really swell, easy to negotiate with guy.

-The Spartans. Despite being militiaristic as hell, Corazon Santiago is an opportunist not a conqueror, so it's pretty easy to keep her happy by "understanding the realities of survival on Planet." As a result, she is basically the only one besides Morgan who will reliably set her mood to "submissive" without being conquered whenever dealing with a partner who is trustworthy & vastly more powerful. A lot of times you can threaten her and it doesn't seem to affect relations all that much, because if you have the strength to back up your claims, you are just conforming to her worldview by threatening her. Although she is one of the factions willing to launch surprise attacks on you, this really only happens when your strength is so great you're about to dominate the planet, or you're so weak she no longer has need of your friendship. In lore... Yeah, once the cloning vats and the bioenhancement centres start getting made, she is going to fuck Lal up. And she doesn't get along with Zhakarov for his love of secret weapons development (jealousy).

-The Human Hive. Even more violently isolationist than the Spartans, I've often found as long as you don't run democracy or fundamentalist, or have bases/troops on his borders, he's an incredibly reliable partner. Fits in with his image of building dwarf fortresses in the ground (hence why all of his bases get free perimeter defences). Even in all of his dialogue he just talks about wanting to be left alone to conduct his "social experiments." He basically only responds to threats from a much more powerful faction, or overtures of submission and police-state from a weaker faction diplomacy-wise.
Granted, Yang's diplomacy is fucking wild. Every time one of the AI factions starts dropping planet busters or other atrocity weapons, it's always Yang. If you vote to repeal the U.N. charter, Yang will ALWAYS vote YES. The absolute madlad. Also even if you leave him alone, there's nothing stopping him steadily build bases towards you. I always pray he starts on an island so I can just quarantine the "Yang Island" and its infinite army. Whilst it can't be said he is willing to "co-exist" with anyone, he is willing to ignore you if you are capable of being ignored.

-The University and the Gaians. Both more or less the same diplomacy-wise. The University loves knowledge (offer them tech) and the Gaians love everyone (friendship and trust usually get far with them). Both lore-wise are secretly planning ways to fuck with other factions covertly "we are not developing retroviral weapons capabilities" - man developing retroviral weapons capabilities, and the Gaian secret war. Of the two, I would say the University is the easiest to keep happy. I've sometimes stayed friends with Zhakarov for the entire game, but the Gaians usually always turn on me when they get powerful enough, no matter what faction I play. Pretty accurate for Deidre being sneeki breeki

-The Believers. Holy god damn fuck chill the fuck down woman. Diplomacy-wise, NOTHING WORKS ON MIRIAM. If you threaten her she says "fucking come at me bitch" and declares war on you. If you talk to her, her first interaction is always "give me your technology or I will declare war on you." If you run anything other than fundamentalism, she declares war on you. If you try to bribe her she says "thanks" and then declares war on you. If by some miracle you managed to get a pact with her, it won't last very long. She is not interested in trading with you. She is not interested in commerce. If by some miracle you manage to secure a treaty of friendship, it's usually because she's too busy killing someone else to kill you. But when she's done? If she hasn't already declared war on you, she will begin stationing a billion soldiers all over your territory just daring you to ask her troops to withdraw. I have to keep troops on the border just to intercept all her attempts to camp on top of my farms. Because if you ask her to leave your territory?
That's right.
She declares war on you.
Probe teams everywhere.
ZERO CHILL.
Matches with her lore, where SHE ALSO HAS ZERO CHILL. SHE KNOWS WHO YOU ARE, SHE KNOWS WHAT YOUR FACTION DOES. In the lore, the Peacekeepers fight the Morganites. The Spartans fight the Gaians. The Believers menace everyone. She can't be bargained with, reasoned with, she does not feel pain or fear. She's a little angry human terminator so juiced up on God juice and rejuvant treatments that she probably doesn't even sleep anymore, she just lies awake constantly thinking of ways to fuck with your bases. I honestly think the only reason they gave her -1 planet was so she didn't become utterly unstoppable by starting next to the manifold nexus.

hector13

  • Bay Watcher
  • It’s shite being Scottish
    • View Profile
Re: Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
« Reply #100 on: August 31, 2023, 02:16:34 pm »

Don’t the Believers also have penalties to research so they basically have to have probe teams to keep up with the other factions?
Logged
Look, we need to raise a psychopath who will murder God, we have no time to be spending on cooking.

If you struggle with your mental health, please seek help.

Haspen

  • Bay Watcher
  • Cthuwu
    • View Profile
Re: Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
« Reply #101 on: August 31, 2023, 02:18:56 pm »

-2 Science and inability to actually progress any Tech until year 2510.
Logged
SigFlags!
Quote from: Draignean@Spamkingdom+
Truly, we have the most uniquely talented spy network in all existence.
Quote from: mightymushroom@Spamkingdom#
Please tell me the Royal Physician didn't go to the same college as the Spymaster.

Loud Whispers

  • Bay Watcher
  • They said we have to aim higher, so we dug deeper.
    • View Profile
    • I APPLAUD YOU SIRRAH
Re: Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
« Reply #102 on: August 31, 2023, 02:40:22 pm »

-2 Science and inability to actually progress any Tech until year 2510.
*The year 40,000

Don’t the Believers also have penalties to research so they basically have to have probe teams to keep up with the other factions?
In AI hands yeah. In player hands you can just run free market + democracy + wealth Miriam where you expand across the entire world. As Believers are the only faction which can run democracy and still keep their starting colony minerals, with the planetary transit secret project the Believers HAVE to be crushed militarily otherwise they will just overrun the world (every colony pod produces its own successor colony pod in the same turn it founds a base). The ridiculous support + the high expansion rate of the believers really lends them to building a gorillion terraformers for free, and things like golden ages & boreholes cover any research penalties really quickly

Egan_BW

  • Bay Watcher
  • Strong enough to crush.
    • View Profile
Re: Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
« Reply #103 on: August 31, 2023, 05:18:03 pm »

In AI hands yeah. In player hands you can just run free market + democracy + wealth Miriam where you expand across the entire world.
Televangelist Miriam as opposed to the AI's holy crusader Miriam.
Logged

Loud Whispers

  • Bay Watcher
  • They said we have to aim higher, so we dug deeper.
    • View Profile
    • I APPLAUD YOU SIRRAH
Re: Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
« Reply #104 on: September 01, 2023, 02:10:48 am »

In AI hands yeah. In player hands you can just run free market + democracy + wealth Miriam where you expand across the entire world.
Televangelist Miriam as opposed to the AI's holy crusader Miriam.
WAGWAN CHILDREN O GOD, WE IN YOUR BASE MAKING A DRONE RIOT
Pages: 1 ... 5 6 [7]