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Even though you have left behind the ravaged earth that later in the game you learn self-destructs, the problems apparently inherent in humankind follow it to the stars. A mutiny occurs on board the ship, the Captain is killed, and seven major leaders take over seven different colony pods, to remain independent on Planet, as it is called. The end result is that you start off very similar to how you do in Civ II.
In Alpha Centauri, the landscape is 3-D, with far different terrain types from Civ II. The main differences are that forests are more valuable to to improvements you can build later, fungus exists all over the place that chokes production till later in the game, and trade is no longer generated by roads, but by solar collectors that must be built in addition to any roads you might have in the square. Instead of minor tribe huts from Civilization II, there are Unity Pods, from the original space ship. Mindworms, the equivalent of Barbarians from Civilization II, can inhabit these, or the benifits run the gamut from Civilization II to other similar goodies.
There are many landmarks in Alpha Centauri. These landmarks are collections of terrain types or irregular terrain. Examples are the Sargasso Sea, a section of ocean covered in fungus, Planet Neck, a strip of land connecting two large continents, and so on. These landmarks are almost invariable valuable, and cities near them tend to prosper.
War is conducted in Alpha Centauri similar to in Civilization II. Units have weapon strength, defense strength, movement rating, and reactor type, or hit points, as well as numerous special abilities. Combat is resolved when one unit from one empire attempts to attack another empire's unit by moving into a square occupied by the enemy unit. Combat is then resolved by a series of "skirmeshes" where each side can lose hit points, although it is usually a maximum of three or four per "skirmesh." This is done by comparing the attacking unit's attack value to the defending units defense value and factoring in numerous modifiers, from the type of units attacking/defending, the terrain of the battle, and so on. Combat is done when one unit dies, or is able to "disengage" through speed, and the surviving unit is victorious.
Combat can also exist through "psych war" which is primarily with mindworms. Here the attacker has an attack rating of 3, and the defender has a defense rating of 2. The only modifiers are psych specific ones and the morale of the unit.
The units in Alpha Centauri are completely customized. You pick one of eight chassis and equip them with weapons, armor, equipment, engine/reactors, and/or special abilities. The chassis types are infantry, speeders, hovertanks, needlejets, foils, cruisers, 'choppers, and gravships. The only real innovation here is the gravships, which are air units that never have to refuel. Each chassis has a preset movement rate and cost. Adding anything increases the cost to build it, except reactor's which decrease the overall cost. The special abilities are varied, and do everything from granting "paradrop" abilities to SAM capabilities that allow ground and air units to attack air units.
The units are built from scratch, or you can have the computer apply certain models as technology is discovered that allows new weapons. The interface of the unit design screen is probably the worst part about this game, since scrolling is very slow, and there is now way to jump to a certain unit or unit type, just scrolling through the 64 different units that are available at any one time. Plus, the computer does a poor job of upgrading, prompting you sometimes, and other times not prompting you to upgrade, leaving you with inferior units.
A key part of Alpha Centauri is managing your scientific resources. The scientific discoveries in Alpha Centauri are varied, and allow new improvements, wonders, weapons, armor, social engineering types and more. Every faction regardless of idealology towards science must make use of technology, even if for nothing else than to make better weapons.
You research technology through the amount of trade you have, which is converted into energy, or cash, science, or luxuries. The more science, the quicker your research progresses. It is enhanced by certain buildings in your cities, like network nodes.
Like in Civilization II, money is the great equalizer. Not enough science? Just go check out Provhost Zakharov and exchange some of your cash for important technology. Need an improvement or military unit now? No problem with a little cash. Money is gained in the same way as science is, although you can also get it through loans from other nations.
Happiness in Alpha Centauri comes from luxuries, which are also gained the same way as cash and science. People can also be made content or happy through buildings or secret projects.
Alpha Centauri is geared around the cities. These are your power bases that produce the cash, and science of your cities in addition to the secret projects and units that are your instruments for conquering enemy cities.
A city in Alpha Centauri extends a two-square radius around the city, minus the four corners, in which it can farm, mine, collect energy and so on. These squares can only be used by one city at a time, so cities have to be spaced out accordingly.
Cities have three main commodities: food, industry, and trade/energy. Food is used for city growth. The more food, the faster you city grows. If a city has more population than its food base can support, famine can occur. Industry is used to build Improvements, Units, or Secret Projects. Improvements are buildings that benifit your city. These improvements can boost happiness, efficiency (which is like what keeps your city from corruption), industry, cash flow, science and more. Every city needs certain improvements if it is to contribute to your civilization, but every improvement has a maintainence cost that subtracts from your annual cash flow. Units can be military soldiers, formers that shape the terrain around your cities to benifit yourself, or special units like probe teams which are Alpha Centauri's spy unit equivelant. Secret Projects are Alpha Centauri's wonders, and range from game unbalancing, like the Hunter-Seeker Algorithem, to the useless. These are probably more game deciding on the whole than wonders were in Civilization II, and pretty much you always should try to build almost every single one.
You can win Alpha Centauri as in Civilization by conquering all your enemies. However, their is the option to win by one of three different options: Diplomatically, Financially, or Evolutianary. Diplomatically you can be elected Supreme Ruler of the Universe, or whatever, and if you haven't Planet Busted anybody repeatedly, they should all join you. If not, then well you go out fighting or one of the other ways to win. Financially you can win by "cornering" the world economy. In game terms this means spending enough money to buy every single city in the game not under your control. After a period of time, you win. Evolutionary is probably the highest goal, and it gives you the most points. You have to build the Ascent to Transcendence Secret Project, and your entire civilization pretty much evolves into beyond Home Superior (which you already are by that time in the game) by "mind-melding," just like in Star-Trek, with the Planetvoice who is the collective consciounse of Planet.
Thats right, the music in Alpha Centauri is, er, well, Music to the Ears. It escews Civ II's multi-track song system with a series of Midi files that change depending on the situation. It works well, but I missed the funeral march from the original Civ II. The sound effects also work well, but the laser fire of every single combat gets repetitive.
The graphics in Alpha Centauri are superb, considering there are thousands of unit possibilities, and the pictures look good for each. The terrain is ecspecially good, but the colors sometimes seem a little off or messed up. Overal, though, this is one of the single greatest improvements over Civ II. The 3-D terrain and much more detailed squares and units greatly improve over the original.
This game is definitely one you don't want to pass up. It has anything anyone remotely interested in Science Fiction, Strategy, Turn-Based games, Empire Building or having a good time in general would like. I recommend this game without reservation.