Does Alpha Centauri age well?

[allinwonder]

I heard it's such an amazing strategy game.
I'm an avid old school strategy game player and played a lot of HoMM3, but somehow never tried Alpha Centauri. Graphics aside, does this game age well (control, interface design, etc)?

 

[s0m3th1ng]

I couldn't get into it. It seems needlessly complex... have you tried Ascendancy?

 

[Iron Lightning]

I heard it's such an amazing strategy game.
I'm an avid old school strategy game player and played a lot of HoMM3, but somehow never tried Alpha Centauri. Graphics aside, does this game age well (control, interface design, etc)?

Well it's more of a management sim than a strategy game. The strategy game aspect only really comes into play if you decide to do some conquering or get attacked by MIND WORMS (it's as fun to type as it is to say.) The interface is a bit clunky. Most on-field actions are commanded via a drop-down menu which can be circumvented if you learn the hotkeys. You can either use the numpad for unit movement or you can left-click and hold the mouse to plot a multi-turn course (which you can order your unit not to follow at the start of each turn if the situation changes.)

You can customize most geological aspects of the planet if you so desire and the diplomatic AI is surprisingly good. So yeah, it's a pretty good game.

As for the complexity goes, yes it's rather daunting at first, just pay attention to the tutorials and I'm sure that you'll do fine.

The outcome of combat is determined by how technologically-advanced and experienced your (custom-made) unit is in relation to the other unit. I did not use the plural term: "units" because fights are always one-on-one (if two units want to attack one unit they'll have to take turns) which makes the system favor quality over quantity, a nice change from, say, Starcraft. It's also dependent on whether your units is attacking or defending, since the strength of attacking units is determined by their weapons while the strength of defending units depends solely on their armor. You can also bypass an opposing unit's technological advantages by training MIND WORMS for use in psi combat which bypasses technological advantages to start a battle of wills based solely on the opposing values of experience.

To sum: it's a fairly deep and engaging game. I believe that you would enjoy it.

 

[Evil Smurf]

I still play it

 

[Fr]anc[is]

The controls are clunkier than more modern Civs. Deal with it and play this game, it's worth it.

 

[Kahunaburger]

It's awesome, and holds up very well. I played it after playing Civ 3, then tried Civ 4, then went back to AC because you can do stuff in that game like altering local rainfall patterns by terraforming mountains.

 

[teh_gunslinger]

Don't bother with the drop down menu. Learn the keyboard shortcuts and live a happier life.

And the interface for designing units is shit, as is the system surrounding unit design. Even Brian Reynolds thinks so.

But play the game! And then please, come back and tell up how Planet was cleansed in nuclear fire because you got sick of Miriam Godwinson and her never-ending religious crap and threats.

Captcha: upper crust. That will be missing in huge chunks after you drop the planet busters.

 

[MammothBlade]

I can still play it, but it needs a sequel, badly. It could be better in several ways - unit design interface, graphics (obviously), and battle mechanics.