# Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sid-meiers-alpha-centauri/622384
**Category:** The Game Room
**Created:** [May 19, 2012, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sid-meiers-alpha-centauri/622384 "2012-05-19T02:12:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2012, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sid-meiers-alpha-centauri/622384/1 "2012-05-19T02:12:30Z")
Alpha Centauri is currently on sale at good old games ([gog.com](http://gog.com)) for $2.99. It’s worth ten times that.
Sadly, they don’t have the expansion available though. I sent an email to the company asking them to carry the expansion, and the response I got had no indication that they ever intend to. Either way, if you want a game that costs less than your lunch that you’ll play for 200+ hours, this is it. Have fun!
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### Author:  [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2012, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sid-meiers-alpha-centauri/622384/2 "2012-05-19T09:14:03Z")
I’ve never played the expansion, seems like it was only available in retail for a fairly short time, but based on what I’ve read about it I get the impression that it didn’t really add all that much to the game?
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### Author:  [@Mekhazzio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mekhazzio)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2012, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sid-meiers-alpha-centauri/622384/3 "2012-05-19T09:44:01Z")
The expansion added rather a lot, I thought. The new factions were significantly different from the base and the new projects, buildings and mechanics had a big impact on the endgame. I’m not sure it was all that balanced though, the biggest example being the project that gave an airbase in every city. In the end, I prefer sticking with the base game.
Alpha Centauri is still the best iteration of the Civ genre, if you ask me. It’s disappointing how little love it got.
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### Author:  [@srzss05](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/srzss05)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2012, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sid-meiers-alpha-centauri/622384/4 "2012-05-19T10:54:43Z")
Although I have both the original game and the expansion, I’ll have to say that the couple of mods based on the game for Civ4 are a bit better (plus I don’t need the CD in the drive for Civ4).
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2012, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sid-meiers-alpha-centauri/622384/5 "2012-05-19T17:07:51Z")
Well, you won’t need to have the CD in the drive for a game from GOG, either (and it was probably ridiculously easy to circumvent even before that).
I’m torn, here. I’ve heard so many good things about SMaC, and I’m sure I’d love it, but I don’t know if I can justify paying money (even a bargain price) for a game that probably won’t run on any of my computers.
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### Author:  [@Strinka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strinka)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2012, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sid-meiers-alpha-centauri/622384/6 "2012-05-19T17:46:50Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> Well, you won’t need to have the CD in the drive for a game from GOG, either (and it was probably ridiculously easy to circumvent even before that).
>
> I’m torn, here. I’ve heard so many good things about SMaC, and I’m sure I’d love it, but I don’t know if I can justify paying money (even a bargain price) for a game that probably won’t run on any of my computers.
It runs fine for me on Windows 7, so don’t let that stop you. It really is a fantastic game.
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### Author:  [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2012, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sid-meiers-alpha-centauri/622384/7 "2012-05-19T19:09:14Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> Well, you won’t need to have the CD in the drive for a game from GOG, either (and it was probably ridiculously easy to circumvent even before that).
>
> I’m torn, here. I’ve heard so many good things about SMaC, and I’m sure I’d love it, but I don’t know if I can justify paying money (even a bargain price) for a game that probably won’t run on any of my computers.
I’m not sure what computer you have but GoG doesn’t sell games “As is”, they make them work on current computers.
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### Author:  [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2012, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sid-meiers-alpha-centauri/622384/8 "2012-05-19T19:27:53Z")
Yeah, any game that is too old to run on a current Windows box comes with a built-in emulator that Just Works. I think other games that aren’t old enough to run on DosBox, but are too old to run on a current PC, have engine modifications or emulation layers that give you all of the original 3dfx Voodoo graphical glory. Which is a huge part of why I’m so happy to give GoG my money.
I just bought Master of Orion 1+2, which I’m playing (with DS9 reruns in the background for the full nerd nostalgia effect).
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### Author:  [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2012, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sid-meiers-alpha-centauri/622384/9 "2012-05-19T19:50:05Z")
I loved _SMAC_ and still have my original copy. If only I weren’t so overwhelmed with amazing games (_Skyrim, Diablo 3, Guild Wars 2_ on the horizon), I’d seriously consider getting back into it.
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### Author:  [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2012, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sid-meiers-alpha-centauri/622384/10 "2012-05-19T20:07:48Z")
SMAC is great. It’s actually kind of funny playing it on a modern machine. I remember back in the day when the animation for moving units (especially my hordes of formers) was quite ponderous. On my current machine, I’ve had late-game moments when I can send units from one end of my bigger-than-Asia empire’s mag tube network to the other in less than a second. The funny part is when the game has a dialogue box pop up every 0.4 seconds asking, “Continue moving formers?” because back in 1999 it might have taken several minutes to move that far; it must have been annoying to have your finger slip and then have to wait a few minutes before you could reload.
N.B. Because of how eco-damage is calculated, it’s easy to get stuck in a positive feedback loop around mid-to-late-game that will wreck your shit. Don’t be discouraged, though. There is an easy way to avoid this problem, and it is possible to achieve high-production bases with no pollution even if you have a negative planet rating. If you need the solution and can’t find it online, ask me and I will tell you.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2012, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sid-meiers-alpha-centauri/622384/11 "2012-05-20T00:47:23Z")
> [@Mosier](#):
>
> Alpha Centauri is currently on sale at good old games ([gog.com](http://gog.com)) for $2.99. It’s worth ten times that.
Wish I’d known that before I ruined my boxed copy. So not my type of game. The number Civ clones I picked up in my youth was ridiculous, and I never liked one. They were always on sale so people wold get them for me, knowing I liked computers.
And GOG does not release games they can’t make work on Win7 64-bit. The compatibility is their whole claim to fame.
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### Author:  [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2012, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sid-meiers-alpha-centauri/622384/12 "2012-05-20T01:04:44Z")
I don’t really care to replay it, although I did enjoy the game. Still… three bucks…
SMAC was the first game that I found detailed online discussions about, and it busted up my illusion that being better than my friends at a game meant I was good at it. I actually took that pretty hard, sad to say.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2012, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sid-meiers-alpha-centauri/622384/13 "2012-05-20T16:58:16Z")
That compatability would be nice if I were using Windows 7 or Windows XP or Vista or whatever. But believe it or not, those aren’t the only operating systems in existence. I can get some Windows games to run on my Mac or Linux machines via Wine, but not all. For a free game, sure, I’ll give it a try, why not, but it’s hard to justify paying for a game that way.
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### Author:  [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2012, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sid-meiers-alpha-centauri/622384/14 "2012-05-20T17:24:55Z")
I not only have my SMAC disc but also the manual and box which were gems from an earlier era of expansive PC game packaging. Needless to say a great game as well, though to be honest I only played it seriously for a year or so more than a decade back. Like its counterparts in the Civ series the late game with hundreds of units does become rather tedious even on the smallish maps which I prefer to play on. And it is kind of difficult to justify 5-10 hours for a single game.
I have no illusions that I was good at it compared to the regulars on Apolyton but I did manage to beat the highest level consistently. The expansion pack, Alien Crossfire, was rather difficult to obtain for a few years but I managed to buy it eventually as part of a combined disc. I played a couple of games with the pirates IIRC, but I didn’t really get into it.
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### Author:  [@srzss05](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/srzss05)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2012, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sid-meiers-alpha-centauri/622384/15 "2012-05-20T18:37:36Z")
> [@Lantern](#):
>
> The expansion pack, Alien Crossfire, was rather difficult to obtain for a few years but I managed to buy it eventually as part of a combined disc.
This may be a coincidence, but my copy of the Crossfire is one of the few discs I have that has troubles installing due to either a semi-damaged disc or corrupted files. Whenever I try to install it now, I have to jump through hoops to properly install it (the movie files are what gives me the biggest problems). Maybe my copy wasn’t ‘special’ and there were problems others had with the discs as well.
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### Author:  [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2012, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sid-meiers-alpha-centauri/622384/16 "2012-05-20T21:10:25Z")
> [@Lantern](#):
>
> I not only have my SMAC disc but also the manual and box which were gems from an earlier era of expansive PC game packaging.
I don’t have the box but I do have the manual, which was a 247-page reference tome. I look at it from time to time and reminisce about the days when game publishers actually _did_ something for their money. Contrast that with the contents of the box I got with _Diablo III_: A booklet with installation instructions and some minor storyline information, a small pad of notepaper, some guest passes and the disc.
Gotta give the _Diablo III_ folks some credit, though; at least they do their own game programming.
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### Author:  [@srzss05](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/srzss05)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2012, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sid-meiers-alpha-centauri/622384/17 "2012-05-20T22:56:12Z")
> [@Sudden\_Kestrel](#):
>
> I don’t have the box but I do have the manual,
I still have the manual, but not the box. Say what you will about the lack of packaging nowadays, but the clamshell disc boxes (or even the jewel cases) are far better than the cardboard ones of yesterday.
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### Author:  [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2012, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sid-meiers-alpha-centauri/622384/18 "2012-05-21T03:38:52Z")
> [@srzss05](#):
>
> I still have the manual, but not the box. Say what you will about the lack of packaging nowadays, but the clamshell disc boxes (or even the jewel cases) are far better than the cardboard ones of yesterday.
Hmm…_Diablo III_ came in a cardboard box, with the disc in a cardboard sleeve. In fact, I think my last few PC software purchases have included only paper or cardboard sleeves for the discs. It seems like it’s only console stuff that comes in clamshells.
I don’t much care about the packaging (or lack thereof). I do miss a good paper manual, though. When I’m playing a game in full-screen mode, it’s inconvenient to refer to a web-based manual.
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### Author:  [@srzss05](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/srzss05)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2012, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sid-meiers-alpha-centauri/622384/19 "2012-05-21T03:46:36Z")
> [@Sudden\_Kestrel](#):
>
> It seems like it’s only console stuff that comes in clamshells.
Granted, I haven’t bought any PC games for almost 3 years, so my discs may not be the present day norm. I have at least 2 dozen that are in clamshells, and dozens more in jewel cases (and scores that I had to buy new cases for that I bought many years ago in cardboard boxes).
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### Author:  [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2012, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sid-meiers-alpha-centauri/622384/20 "2012-05-21T04:07:21Z")
The only reason why I haven’t jumped at this offer (I am a GOG fan and member) is that as a freelance developer, I am unsure of what would actually happen if I were to have a Civ type game on my machine. I can easily see sitting up here in my office for days on end, wandering down for food occasionally and refusing to answer my email.
That having been said, I will probably buy this next week sometime.
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