History VideoGame / SidMeiersAlphaCentauri

* FridgeHorror - See the bit about nerve-stapling under HighOctaneNightmareFuel, below.

** The Believers: Using any government except Fundamentalist, or running Knowledge values. Justifications: "You're disobeying the will of God!" and "ScienceIsEvil!"

Deidre's got a Network Node\\

* [[RecycledINSPACE Recycled IN SPACE]]! - ''[[{{Civilization}} Civilization II]]'' [[AC:IN SPACE!]] (This is debatable, mind. Part of it was certainly intentional, as the Civilization games play with human history, while Alpha Centauri plays with human futures.)

* ZergRush: Mindworms attack in massive waves, unconcerned about the defenses they face. [[WeHaveReserves Planet has reserves.]]

The game is relatively old, and hard to find in most retail stores nowadays, although British re-packaging firm [[http://www.sold-out.co.uk Mastertronic]] ([[TheTropeFormerlyKnownAsX Formerly known as "Sold-out software"]]) is selling new copies of the original game with expansion pack for some $11/£4.88, likely in honour of the game's 10th anniversary), but it's worth searching out for any fan of hard, complex strategy and simulation games. It is now available on Gog.com for $5.99. Alternatively, you can buy {{Civilization}} IV and download [[http://www.weplayciv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10 Planetfall]], a fan-made Civilization IV mod which takes Alpha Centauri's setting (leaders, quotes, and technologies included, with entirely reworked graphics) and mixes it with Civ IV's gameplay improvements.

*** Even then, leaders might overlook any of these for pragmatic reasons like global politics, [[EnemyMine a faction you both hate more than you hate each other]], good trade relations, one faction's insignificance to the other (either by being far away or by being very small and weak), technology-sharing, and so on. Thus you can have a game where, for instance, the Peacekeepers and the Hive have a long-lasting Treaty of Friendship and never fight even though they share a border, or where the Morganites and Gaians have a Pact. The only real exception is Miriam, who will always fight Zakharov. Always.

*** Even then, leaders might overlook any of these for pragmatic reasons like global politics, [[EnemyMine a faction you both hate more than you hate each other]], good trade relations, one faction's insignificance to the other (either by being far away or by being very small and weak), technology-sharing, and so on. Thus you can have a game where, for instance, the Peacekeepers and the Hive have a long-lasting Treaty of Friendship and never fight even though they share a border, or where the Morganites and Gaians have a Pact. The only real exception is Miriam, who will always fight Zakharov. Always.

** It should be noted that some factions regard this as more serious than others, and this is closely linked to which option you take and how aggressive they are. Morgan won't much mind if you pick Green as long as you don't annoy him too much otherwise--Planned is another story, assuming he has the resources to fight you--while the Believers will declare on you for switching to Democracy or Police State, even if you're not running Knowledge (with which she has a bigger beef).

** The Peacekeepers and the Data Angels: Using any government except Democracy.
** The Gaians and the Planet Cult: Using any economic system except Green.
** The Spartans and the Pirates: Using any value except Power.
** The Believers: Using any government except Fundamentalist, or running Knowledge values.
** The University: Using any value except Knowledge, or running Fundamentalist government.
** The Hive: Using any government except Police State.
** Morgan Industries: Using any economic system except Free Market.
** The Cybernetic Consciousness: Using any future society except Cybernetic (duh).
** The Free Drones: Using any future society except Eudaimonic.

** Units start tough and mindworms just feed them experience points. By the mid-game, the majority of their units will have "hardened" rank or better. Also the only faction that can ZergRush without being crippled by slowed development, as well as start fights with multiple factions in the early game and ''survive''. If the Believers attack them early in the game, the AI controlling the Spartans goes berserk and will often take a large chunk of their territory, wiping them out so early it's rare but satisfying to watch.

* VideoGameCrueltyPotential - Construct an oppressive PoliceState! Use Planet Busters on your enemies! Use Thought Control! Rip apart Planet and despoil her for all she's got! Sure, you might get drone riots, but you can just [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel nerve-staple]] them into submission! Who cares about the sanctions; everyone hates you anyway! Besides, biological and chemical warfare are just so ''fun'!
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman - Humans blasting on aliens with nerve gas is just fine, but ''God forbid'' if you use it against other humans! But then, the aliens make no bones about the fact that they barely consider humans more than undesirable pests and there's a [[KillEmAll reason]] that human bases that they take over drop down to population 1.

* AGodAmI: In the epilogue after you complete your Ascent to Transcendence, the pronouns referring to you are capitalized, just as they usually are in reference to [[{{God}} the Christian God]] in religious literature.

-->''"The righteous need not cower before the drum beat of human progress. [...] Evil lurks in the datalinks as it lurked in the streets of yesteryear. But it was never the streets that were evil."''
-->--Sister Miriam Godwinson, "A Blessed Struggle"

-->--Sister Miriam Godwinson, "A Blessed Struggle"\\

*** Because she is not, in fact Luddite. Many quotations show that she considers technology not as a source of evil but a force that may grow too powerful for people to control. It is the human weaknesses that she is afraid of.

** Units start tough and mindworms just feed them experience points. By the mid-game the majority of their units will have "hardened" rank or better. Also the only faction that can ZergRush without being crippled by slowed development, as well as start fights with multiple factions in the early game and ''survive''. If Believer's attack them early in the game, the AI controlling the Spartans goes berserk and will often take a large chunk of their territory, wiping them out so early is rare but satisfying to watch.

** The University: Using any value except Knowledge, or running Fundamentalist government. (Makes sense, don't it: the Russian academic and the American Bible-thumper being polar opposites...)

* SoYouWantToLiveForever - Though all the faction leaders and Talents have greatly extended lifespans due to advanced medical techniques, the Secret Project titled "Clinical Immortality" shows its rather... [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel unsettling]] [[BrainInAJar long-term consequences]].
** [[ObviousBeta That's what you get when you're an early adopter.]]
** "I plan to live forever, of course, but barring that I'd settle for a couple thousand years. Even five hundred would be pretty nice."

* NewTechIsNotCheap: This has prototyping, where the first unit of a new design has an added initial cost before you can even produce any. This cost is ignored at bases with a Skunkworks.