Prokhor Zakharov, fictional leader of the University of Planet faction in developer Firaxis Games` Alpha Centauri (AC) is celebrating his eleventh birthday today according to his online profile on Firaxis` website.
According to the storyline, Zakharov was born 1994, Cherskiy, Russia. He will join Kolymar Defense Force out of college, be tested very high in engineering aptitude, and sent to University of Moscow on site for Master`s in engineering. Serving in army during the time of skirmishes with People`s Republic of China in 2010`s as Combat Engineer along the Bering Strait he will develop specialized snowbound powered armor for skirmishers, coupled with profound ability to land heavy machinery in any imaginable conditions. Due to these achievements he will quickly be promoted to Chief Engineer, Kolymar defense initiative. After the skirmishes ended he will be brought back to Moscow to a high-ranking R[esearch] & D[evelopment] position in the Russian Republic Ministry of Defense.
Provost Zakharov is destined to become one of Earth`s greatest scientific minds ever, winning two Nobel Prizes (according to the book GURPS SMAC) and eventually be recommended unconditionally by high-ranking U.N. official for position of Chief Science Officer on ship; selection proceedings security locked until five years after launch. As Chief Science Officer of the United Nation Starship Unity (humanity`s first interstellar colonization ship), Zakharov shall lead his fellowminded colleagues to a landing pod following the disastrous mutiny and ship malfunction. Once on Chiron, he shall take title of Provost and found University of Planet faction, based on unrestricted pursuit of knowledge.
The other faction leaders in AC are `alive` as well now. Sheng-ji Yang, future UNS Unity Chief of Security and leader of the totalitarian Human Hive faction, is six years old. Nwabudike Morgan, future Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Morgan Industries, was born in Kenya this February -- he is seven months old.
Several members of "PC Gamer Podcast"`s (PCGP) audience want to know if game developer Firaxis Games will be re-visiting the Alpha Centauri universe and make a sequel to this, a little space conquest game in the words of one of PCGP`s co-hosts. The person in the hotseat is Firaxis` Director of Creative Development and one of its founders, Sid Meier. Well, it`s certainly a possibility, he begins. [A] great game, a really interesting take on the whole Civilization approach to things... an exciting new world to put it in... it was a really fun combination.
Unfortunately, we have a lot of ideas and a limited amount of time and people to make games, so we`re trying to make the ones that we think will be the most fun for people. Alpha Centauri is certainly a game that we were very proud of, and may be able to re-visit sometime in the future.
The PCGP podcast Meier appeared on and released earlier this week was focused on Firaxis` up-and-coming Civilization IV title. PCGP is the podcasting division of the Brisbane, California-based magazine PC Gamer. AC was released by Firaxis under the Electronic Arts publisher label in 1999 followed by its expansion Alien Crossfire later that year.
One of the hosts of "PC Gamer Podcast"` this week mentioned to their special guest that one of his company's games was mentioned in a book of technological doomsday essays he was reading. The game in question is Alpha Centauri, and the man is Sid Meier, Director of Creative Development at developer Firaxis Games. One of these scenarios of systemic destruction, the co-host continues, is the technological singulairty which is this philosophical idea about how at a certain point in the near future technology's going to become so advanced that it's gonna make human life basically unimaginable from our current perspective. [T]hey use, as an example, [AC]. They said that towards the end [of this game] an unevent much like the technological singularity occurs, and... wow... Sid Meier has actually arrived in the world of futurism.
In response to the observation, Meier commented that Firaxis has had a lot of contact with the academics where they'll find something that... kind of re-enforces or proves... their obscure point that they've been working on for a long time.
The PCGP podcast Meier appeared on and released earlier this week was focused on Firaxis` up-and-coming Civilization IV title.
Hacks and tricks for cheating in Alpha Centauri may be more common in number and use than most had previously thought. Apolyton Civilization Site (ACS) forum user `binTravkin`, also involved in AC multiplayer tournaments mediated by fellow fansite Civilization Gaming Network (CGN), brought one such incident to the ACS community`s attention a couple of days ago.
Without getting into details there is no doubt that analisys leaves no doubt that [the user in question] has repeatedly and systematically been using cheats and banned exploits, and were not just talking a couple of times of forgetting stockpile, writes tournament organizer and Alien Crossfire expansion forum moderator `Buster` in the linked-to announcement over at CGN. The cheats are significant enough to the games progress to decisively alter the strength of [their] faction.
[They are] therefore expelled from participating in CGN games. As far as I recall this is the first time I have ever had to do this and I do not do it lightly.
`Buster` advises those players who remain in games involving this person to decide whether they want to continue the game with a replacement or to simply scrap it. They should understand that whoever takes over [this now vacant] position is likely taking over an artificially boosted position. In turn, `Buster` has put together a list of would-be multiplayer participants to be on the look-out for and possible ways to investigate concerning findings. `binTravkin` has modified the write-up to fit participants on ACS. [K]eep in mind that you should keep a store of all your turns at least for the first 40-50 turns of the game, as cheating usually becomes visible in early game and it is also much easier to investigate and find signs of cheating in early years` files, the recommendation article concludes.
Illuminatus reports from the AC-Creation forum: One of most common complaints about Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri is that it has poor graphics. Many claim that color scheme is too exausting for their eyes. But thanks to a member of modding community, wgabrie, there is finally a mod which changes the default terrain look to a much more pleasurable setting.
As its creator says, “it is a Desert based, Coloring book style that`s bright like in a Civ game.” There are also new graphics for several natural landmarks and monoliths. Look here for more information and to get the mod itself.
Installation procedure is simple: just backup your old pcx files and replace them with the ones you can download from the thread.
Certainly a refreshing change for your eyes.
Sample screenshots taken from aforementioned mod are shown on the right. Click on images to enlarge them.
Illuminatus reports: Five days have passed since our last new item about Firaxis survey. As the title says, SMAC is in lead again.
Results to the most interesting question in the survey, ("Which Sid Meier’s game/series (past or present) would you most like to see remade?") have changed in favor of SMAC. Sid Meier`s Alpha Centauri now has a small lead over Sid Meier`s Colonization - 36 versus 35 percent. Silent Service has fallen to 14 percent while Red Storm Rising currently reads as 0 percent. Sid Meier’s Railroad Tycoon is still at 2 percent while all other options managed to get only 1 percent of overall votes each.
It seems that SMAC community has responded to the challenge, managing to pull ahead of Colonization in just five days.
Results to the question about gaming platform of your choice haven`t changed much - most of the options still get more or less quarter of vote each (27 % for Handheld or Mobile, 22 % for `Cube, 25 % for Xbox and 25 % for PS2)
To the question "Do you frequently play games on a laptop as well as a desktop PC?", respondents are still split between yes and no options, with 47 for yes option and 53% for no options.
Results to the final question (Graphics or Gameplay?) are unchanged from our last news report. One percent of voters thinks graphics should be most important, 51% doesn`t care for graphics while 48% thinks balance is the key to success.
Since we don`t know when the survey will end, it will certainly be interesting to see further developments. Vote, if you haven`t already!
Our recently appointed SMAC Stories Editor Illuminatus(you`ll be hearing from him more in the near future) reports from the poll front:
As you already know, Firaxis is holding a short survey on their website. Over a month has passed since the survey was started and here is a update about the current situation.
Results to the first question which is "Which Sid Meier’s game/series (past or present) would you most like to see remade? " have changed the most since our previous news item.
Sid Meier’s Colonization currently has the lead with 37%. Sid Meier`s Alpha Centauri is in second place with 33% of the popular vote. It should be noted that for a time period difference between the two was bigger, but Sid Meier`s Alpha Centauri seems to be catching again with Colonization. Silent Service has 15% of overall votes while 2% goes to Railroad Tycoon. According to results, 9% of survey takers want something new. All other options got 1% in survey.
Results to the question what is your gaming platform of choice (aside from the PC) are almost evenly split between all four options. Xbox and PS2 both have 25%, while `Cube has 23 percent. Handheld or Mobile currently have a small lead of 27%.
To the question "Do you frequently play games on a laptop as well as a desktop PC?", respondents have split between yes and no options, with 48 for yes option and 52% for no options.
Results for the final question have changed the least. Now only 1 percent thinks graphics should be most important. 51% of survey takers doesn`t care for graphics while 48% thinks balance is the key to success.
Survey has been open for over a month, so it could be closed soon. If you haven`t already, vote SMAC!
Firaxis is holding a short survey on their website. It has four questions, the first of which is: Which Sid Meier’s game/series (past or present) would you most like to see remade? Among the choices is Alpha Centauri, which in the current standing is leading by a large margin, with 59% of the vote. Colonization is second with 19% of the vote, followed by I don’t care about remakes, give me something new! in third place with 9% of the vote. The remaining choices each get only 1 to 3% of the vote.
The second question in the survey asks for your favourite gaming platform besides the PC. The Xbox and PS2 both get about a third of the vote, with Handhelds and Mobiles getting a fifth and the remaing 12% going to the Gamecube. On the question Do you frequently play games on a laptop as well as a desktop PC?, 63% of the respondents replies with No.
The final question is simply Graphics or Gameplay? 45% of the respondents said they do not care about graphics at all, while 52% wants a balance between the two. Only 3% thinks graphics should be a primary concern, at the expense of gameplay.
It is not known how long the vote will remain open, so if you want to let your voice be heard in Hunt Valley, vote today! Thanks to slappy and Barinthus for the news tip.
In the April 2005 of PC Gamermagazine, Alpha Centauri does not make the list of "50 Best Games of All Time". As noted by snoopy369 in his news tip, SMAC is still to date tied as the highest rated game by the publication. Civilization II took third, Half-Life second and DOOM first.
Clayton "Alkaiser" Chan is a Senior Executive on the staff of gaming site NetJak, and he recently reviewedAlpha Centauri in a most favourable fashion. He writes that no game more thoroughly embodies my game review philosophy more than [this]. [..] To make a game so engrossing that I forget about eating food for a week means you basically have crafted Beethoven`s Fifth Symphony in game form. [..] If you sit down to play this game, do not expect to get up to do ANYTHING for at least the next 6-7 hours. It’s one of the side effects of a good turn-based game..
In category rankings, `Gameplay` came out on top with a perfect 10/10 score followed by `Audio` and `Replay` with 9/10`s apiece and `Graphics` with an 8/10. The `Overall` score awarded is a 9/10. At the time, this game was the best thing I`d played in a long time, and sadly, it still is. I can`t honestly say I haven`t enjoyed other games as much in the span of time between it and [Civilization II], but this is the last game I can remember that lived up to expectations, shipped pretty much on time, kept me so enthralled as long a duration, and didn`t need to be patched. [..] It`s moments like this that I fondly call to mind when people ask me what my favorite game is, or why I play video games.
Three screenshots are presented at the beginning of the article.
#220 WHAT MAKES A GOOD CIV GAME (PART 4)
In the fourth of four installments, Spiffor l'Omnivore breaks down the fourth and last two of eight points needed towards building a good Civ-style game.
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri a game by Firaxis
& Electronic Arts. All trademarks (graphics,
information, etc.) are the sole property of their respective owners. All Materials in
Apolyton Civilization Site used with permission. All other materials
are the property of Apolyton Civilization Site and Required permission of use on other sites! Best viewed in 800 X 600
Graphics Mode - 16bit colour, with I.E. 4.0 or Netscape 4.0. Links Do Not Necessarily
Suggest Endorsement Names, trademarks, and copyrights are the property of the originating
companies and web sites.
