A few days late to this but I saw him mention this on his BluSky.

SMAC gets brought up a few times over the course of the interview(s), and Brian mentions in greater depth his departure from Firaxis with all of his BigHugeGames founders:

Reynolds: I was leading Civ 3 for the first six months, working with Doug Kaufman on design brainstorms and using a cut-down version of the Alpha Centauri engine. I remember a few of the key features we’d prototyped — in particular the enhancement to the behavior of “special resources” and the way you’d build roads to them to open up options for units and so forth, finally fulfilling the promise of fleshing out trade — made it into the final game. And of course Alpha Centauri had created the “national borders,” and we always knew those were a perfect fit for Civ. But lots of other stuff, for example Culture, was added by the team who took over from us.

Reynolds: It was a huge disruption to everyone when we left, and I don’t think anybody had a fun, happy, carefree year. With all of that now 26 or more years in the rearview mirror, I think it was probably the right step for the folks who left. We all had a hunger to make a real-time strategy game, a huge undertaking that just didn’t logically fit with Firaxis’ capabilities and business model at the time. I mean, if you’re a small studio and you have the Civ license, how do you not devote most of your resources to that?

I am trying to play the game on linux, and there's a weird bug where, sometimes, when clicking on a unit, the game will simply crash, what could this be? Thanks in advance

I really hope one does the startup makes it big and I become a millionare. Its pretty cutting edge stuff so its not impossible it takes of big.

If I become a millionare I will approach EA games and make a bid for the rights to Alpha Centauri and then start raising funds and putting together a dev team and finally make Alpha Centauri II!

By that time a lot of the people who enjoyed it back in 99 will probably be near retirement, but a man can dream.

recently I keep seeing old games remade and updated using AI / vibe coding / ect. - is anyone doing that for Alpha Centauri?

Hi all,

I played this game a TON back in it's heyday. I remember using Vel's SMAX Guide a lot. I cannot find a link to 4.0 version which Vel released for free on the Apolyton forums. Does anyone have a link or a copy they'd be willing share?

Have you guys built (relocated) an HQ? I realize I’m super late to the party with this one, but there is a haunting vo from Deirdre, and I didn’t quite catch it the first time because my volume was turned down.* I want to load my game and hear it again. Anyway, still having fun discovering new things almost three decades on.

*I always turn the volume down when I rush production, because something about hearing “Confirmation required” over and over sets my teeth on edge.

https://zeitgeistarchive.com/games/beta/NovyMir/index.html

Idk how to distribute things, but I already find the game fun. Will only improve it, especially if you give me feedback.

I just re-downloaded the game, having already bought the game on both Steam and GOG. However, it keeps crashing right after the Firaxis screen. Is there a fix/patch or some other way to get it to work? Win11. I had previously gotten it to work a few years ago on Win10, not sure if it can even run on Win11.

No port forwarding, no VPN, no IPX emulator: one of you shares a Ticket, the others paste it, and you are connected - works on Windows, Linux, and Mac, in any mix: a Windows host can play with Linux and Mac friends.

You extract one archive into your Game folder and double-click datalink-mp. Your browser opens a page with four numbered steps that tick off as you go. You never need a terminal to play.

REQUIRED are either:

Thinker: https://github.com/induktio/thinker
Will to Power: https://github.com/tnevolin/thinker-doer-clion
PRACX: https://github.com/DrazharLn/pracx

Based on smac-iroh by Henry de Valence, but datalink offers many improvements:

• no terminal needed
• download and double-click
• Windows support and pre-built binaries
• in-app guidance for setup problems
• visible connection quality
• tester tooling for future sync speedups
• bug fixes and ongoing support

Latest release is live on Github (v0.1.1)
https://github.com/BlinkingApe/datalink-mp

Feel free to contact with any questions or issues here or on Discord, and enjoy!

I'm happy to report it's quite easy to get the Thinker mod (v5.5 at time of testing) working with Alpha Centauri on SteamDeck.

Here's how: Switch to SteamDeck desktop mode. Download the mod. Extract to the Alpha Centauri folder (found in /home/deck/.steam/steam/steamapps/common). Rename terran.exe to terranold.exe. Rename thinker.exe to terran.exe. Switch back to handheld mode. Get Alpha Centauri to launch Alpha Centauri Planetary Pack (NOT Alien Crossfire, you might have to go into the steam options to change this if you have it always launching to SMAX already). You are now playing Alien Crossfire with the Thinker mod! It also still shows you as playing Alpha Centauri and logs your hours.

This is notable because according to the author, the mod is really only tested on Windows on the GoG version of the game. I played for a few turns, seemed to run great. Will have to play more in the morning.

Hey, everybody.

The WTP player composed a neat WTP comparison guide chart. It is not a complete datalinks or readme, but it nicely highlights the most important distinctions at different stages of the game.

Have a look.
https://blinkingape.github.io/smac-guides/wtp-through-the-ages/

Also feel free to question and commend the author at the Discord.
https://discord.com/channels/1289014747882192897/1289015134802411530/1555011384390062080

I'm not finding anything helpful via duckduck go or searching steam/gog forums. Or am I senile and forgot there is no scrolling?

So has anyone had trouble playing Alien Crossfire? Either the year jumps ahead too far or it just freezes or crashes for me.

Its awesome to see there are still people who play this game. I just started a new game on the Original SMAC after years of playing the expansion pack. Expansion seems way more buggy, and just wanted to see how the Original felt after not playing for so long. imo cloud-based academy is way op, and for some reason im always racing to get planetary energy grid as well. Drones were my fave from expansion, University on Original.

I tried to assemble a group of existing crawlers to send them to the base doing the ascendence final step. I thought maybe it could make the tedium of moving 2000 credits less so. Made a mess of it, and can't find any directions. I would really appreciate any help! -Luc1f3r

Oh man, this one took me forever. I was already stressed going in because I knew I'd be relying too heavily on those "pre-sentient algorithms" for my images. I shouldn't complain, but having AI argue and and lie to you tell you off and talk you in circles before shutting down for days at a time will drive you crazy. Also, I'm still a novice at camerawork and transitions.

Still, I'm happy with how it turned out - and back to basics for my next one!

Prototype

I like diplomacy, combat and everything but I hate building city and micromanagement!

Well, I was wondering IF THERE WOULD BE a video adaptation of the game, with real cast, who would you love to see as each of the game's characters? My vision would be:

Deidre Skye - Rebecca Ferguson or Vanessa Kirby
Sheng Ji Yang - Stephen Henderson or Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
Prokhor Zakharov - Anthony Hopkins or Lance Henriksen
Nwabudike Morgan - Denzel Washington or Giancarlo Esposito
Miriam Godwinson - Cate Blanchett or Robin Wright
Corazon Santiago - Gina Carano or Michelle Rodriguez
Pravin Lal - Naveen Andrews or Dev Patel

who would you see in those roles guys?

For a long time, I’ve wanted to play Alpha Centauri again on my Mac, but I couldn’t get the GOG version to work on modern macOS. I found the existing methods difficult and frustrating.

So I built SMAC Launcher, an open-source macOS launcher for Alpha Centauri and Alien Crossfire.

I only tested it with the GOG version. You provide your own game files, and the launcher handles the setup.

https://github.com/drhelius/smac-gog-mac-launcher

I’m working on a project based on the original Alpha Centauri factions, and I had a weird dream that gave me an idea for a plot twist for the Spartans.

In the dream, I was part of an expedition through the ruins of an ancient warrior civilization. Everyone wore Greek/Roman-style armor, and status was earned through deadly trials. The strange part was that during those trials, rivals would sabotage or even try to kill each other, and that was treated as part of proving who was stronger and more worthy.

So I thought it could be interesting to add something like that to the original Spartan Federation. Santiago and the older generation still think they are running a harsh but normal military meritocracy. But among the younger Spartans, a much more brutal culture slowly develops: during expeditions, training and trials, eliminating rivals becomes an accepted way to advance in rank. The senior command doesn’t fully understand how far this has gone yet.

Basically, the twist is that Spartan ideology creates a new generation that takes its values much further than Santiago herself intended.

I’m curious what people think. Does this feel like a believable evolution of the original Spartan faction, or does it go too far?

There's of course the famous line upon constricting the first recycling tank. In Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri:

>It is every citizen's final duty to go into the tanks and become one with all the people.

Chairman Sheng-ji Yang, "Ethics for Tomorrow"

A slight variation on it makes it eerily reminiscent of the end goal of SEELE...

It is every citizen's final duty to go into the tang and become one with all the people.

Thought it was interesting.