In Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, you have signed on to a UN mission bound for Chiron, the only habitable planet orbiting earth's nearest celestial neighbor. En route, a reactor malfunction occurs, awakening the crew from hypersleep and sparking a mutiny which divides the crew into seven ideologically opposed factions. You lead one of these factions in a desperate attempt to escape your doomed ship as Chiron's gravity well sucks her into a decaying orbit.
At the start of a standard game of Alpha Centauri, your faction has just made planetfall and founded its first base. Bases provide the foundation of your faction's power, producing new military units and base facilities, sheltering your people from Planet's noxious atmosphere, and serving as the centers for your industry, culture, and economy.
You begin the game with at least one exploration unit. Your first tasks: explore your immediate surroundings, build a colony pod, select a suitable site for a new base, and found a second base with your pod.
Scrolling the map and activating units
To scroll around the map, click a square; this recenters the map on the selected square. You may activate units in two ways:
･ Left-click on a unit
･ Press the 'v' key to activate the next unitﾑuse this method if you get lost moving around the map and want to get back to your troops quickly. You may have to hit the 'v' key twice to get to the next active unit.
Units
Each unit has four main physical characteristicsﾑits chassis, defensive shielding, offensive weapon, and reactor type. The chassis determines the unit's movement rate. Units expend movement 'points' whenever a unit moves into a square; different types of squares require different amounts of movement points. The shielding and weapon determine how the unit holds up in defensive and offensive combat, respectively. The reactor determines the amount of damage a unit can take before it is destroyed.
New technologies mean better unit components; your scout crawler, the weakest military unit available in the game, rates '1' in each of the four categories. After you discover technologies which give you new unit components, press the 'u' key to design units based on your advances.
All units also have a morale rating, indicating the training and experience of the unit. Morale helps determine the outcome of a battle; veteran units triumph more often than green troops.
You can move active units around the map using the numeric keypad on the keyboard or using the mouse.
･ To move a unit with the keypad, press the key on the numeric keypad corresponding to the desired direction ('7' for up and left, '8' for up, '3' for down and right, etc.).
･ To move a unit with the mouse, click on a unit and drag a line to the desired destination, then release the mouse button. This gives a unit 'goto' ordersﾑthe unit moves automatically each turn, using the fastest available route, until it reaches its destination.
Researching new technologies
Soon after landing, your researchers set up their labs and begin work studying new technologies to help your faction survive and grow. They will ask you what kinds of technologies they should study, and the wise leader picks a good mix of research. Energy fuels your research; your base workers obtain energy from certain kinds of squares surrounding your bases.
Terrain and good base locations
Three elements compose the terrain on Planet (as your colonists have christened Chiron): rainfall, rockiness, and altitude. These elements correspond to the resources gathered by your base workers:
･ Rainfall=nutrients, which feed your people and grow your population.
･ Rockiness=minerals, which your citizens use to build units and base facilities. Build mines with roads in rocky areas to increase your mineral output.
･ Altitude=energy, which you allocate towards different support functions and towards research into new technologies. Generally, you must build solar collectors before you can get energy.
Rainy squares produce more nutrients than moist or arid squares. Rocky terrain generates more minerals than rough or flat squares, while high-altitude squares produce more energy than sea-level squares.
Regions producing plentiful nutrients almost always make excellent base sites. The Main Map shows rainfall as green areas, so when looking for new base sites, remember that "green is good". Once you have moved your pod into a good, fertile area, press the 'b' key to found a new base. You cannot found a base on rocky or Xenofungal squares, squares containing a monolith, or squares inside the borders of another faction you have made peace with. After you name your new base, the Base Screen for your new base automatically appears.
Base Basics
Bases house your workers, who collect resources from the terrain surrounding the base. The bases then use these resources to build units and facilities, increase energy reserves, grow your population, and other important tasks. The base screen displays a lot of information, but let's start with the most important section for beginners: the Governor options.
Governor
Each base has a governor who can direct the activity in a base depending on the instructions you give. You can tell a governor to concentrate on one of four mandates: Explore, Discover, Build, or Conquer. To activate the governor, click one of these mandates. "Explore" tells your governor to build more bases and grow your population. "Discover" helps you advance your knowledge. "Build" focuses your empire on wealth and infrastructure, while "Conquer" helps you increase the quantity and quality of your units and military base facilities.
If you'd rather manage the base yourself, you can toggle the Governor on or off by clicking the Governor button. To manage the base yourself, you need to understand the most important sections of the base screen: the Resource Collection Readout and the Production Readout.
Resource Collection Readout
Your base workers collect nutrients, minerals, and energy from the terrain around each base. Your colony governor automatically assigns each worker to an individual square; the Resource Collection Readout displays those assignments by showing a resource indicator where a worker has been assigned. The resource indicator displays the nutrients, minerals, and energy collected in a square. A square with a resource indicator means a worker has been assigned to that square. A worker assigned to a rocky square primarily collects minerals, while a worker assigned to a flat square primarily collects nutrients.
If you want to override your colony governor, you can assign workers yourself. For example, if you need more minerals to complete an important base facility quickly, you can assign workers to rocky squares, slowing that base's growth but increasing the pace of construction.
To assign a worker to a different square, click and drag one of the resource indicators on the collection readout. The icon changes to a worker, indicating that a worker is being moved. Release the mouse button over an open square (one without a resource indicator) to which you wish to assign the worker. You can also assign workers to new squares by left-clicking on a resource indicator, which changes them into a specialist, a type of citizen which does not work in the squares outside the base. The resource indicator where you have clicked disappears. Left-click on an empty square to change that specialist back into a worker, who you have now assigned to your designated square.
To restore the colony governor assignments, left-click on the central base square. The governor reassigns any specialists as workers, and places those workers on the best terrain squares. The governor makes balanced decisions when assigning workers, so each base collects a good mix of the three resources.
Production Readout
Your workers build units, facilities, and Secret Projects using the minerals collected from nearby terrain. On the Base Screen, the Production Readout displays the production orders--what the base is currently building. To change the current production order, click the "Change" button in the Production Readout. A list of possible production orders appearsﾑthe items available for construction in the baseﾑand you can select your choice or click 'help' for more information on the selected item. You can also order the base to build several different items in a row using the Build Queue to the right of the Production Readout. Click on the first slot of the Queue and double-click the item you want the base to build after it completes the current production orders. You may have several items in the build queue at any one time; the base governor automatically works on each one in order.
The Production Readout also shows how many turns remain until the completion of the current production orders. You can hurry production, using some of your energy reserves, by left-clicking the 'Hurry' button and following the prompts.
Exiting and accessing the Base Screen
To exit the Base Screen, left-click the 'exit' button in the lower right corner of the base screen. You can access any Base Screen from the Main Map by left-clicking on the desired base.
Terraforming
An important early technology discovery is Centauri Ecology, which gives you the ability to build Former units. Formers build terrain improvements that increase the resources available for collection by your base workers, and Formers can also connect your bases with roads. In the early stages of the game, you'll want your Formers to concentrate on four main kinds of improvements:
･ Roads decrease the movement points required to move through a square. To build a road, move your Former to the desired square and press the 'r' key.
･ Farms increase nutrient production early in the game in squares producing zero or one unit of nutrients, or squares with a nutrient bonus. To plant a farm, move your Former to a flat or rough square, and press the 'f' key.
･ Mines increase mineral production. To drill a mine, move your Former to the desired square and press the 'm' key. Mines built in rocky squares also need a road in the same square to produce minerals at full capacity.
･ Solar Collectors increase energy production in most squares. To build a solar collector, move your Former to the desired square and press the 's' key.
Later on, your researchers discover technologies that increase your Formers' capabilities.
Fomers cannot construct all improvements in all terrain types; your Planetary Ecologist warns you if you try to build an improvement on an inappropriate square. Your Planetary Ecologist can also control Former units for you, so you can concentrate on the larger demands of your empire. To automate a Former, press 'Shift-A'. The Terraform menu lists all possible Former actions and their keyboard equivalents.
Contacting the other faction leaders
After setting up your first two bases, you may want to contact some of the other faction leaders who escaped with you. You begin each game knowing the commlink frequency of one other faction leader. To contact a faction, click the "commlink" menu, then select the faction you wish to communicate with. You can exchange technology, make peace, declare war, and carry out other diplomatic functions when talking to leaders.
Combat
Diplomatic negotiations may result in war when one party remains unsatisfied. In these cases, you can mobilize your military forces and attack your enemy! When sending your units out to attack an enemy, be sure to leave some good defensive units behind to protect your bases, while sending your good offensive units with the task force. To attack an enemy unit or base, simply move your unit into the enemy. Combat resolves automatically, based on the attacker's offensive rating, the defender's defensive rating, and the morale of each participant. Some modifiers for terrain and other factors may also affect the outcome.
Certain kinds of units, such as the native Mind Worms, fight using psionic combat. In this case, only the morale of the participants determines the combat results.
